XTAR PB2S

The Rofis protected 26650 (69.6mm) fits, butt the Rofis protected 21700 (75mm) does not.

Yep, that’s how I charged my Cometa in a pinch.

Using the scientific miracle of a small wad of Al foil, I was wanting to charge a 14500 yesterday, too, but stopped when I saw it was charging at close to 2A. Didn’t want to cook it. Laptop port, too, so was hoping it’d be limited to 500mA.

So how does it work on smaller devices or did they screw the pouch again

I tested it in my review with 0.1A and it worked just fine.

Yes, the low current mode, accessed by holding the side switch, will charge my MP3 player and bluetooth headphones. The display blinks to indicate you are in low current mode.

I just received mine, how do I get it to fast charge the cells at 2 amps? I used a fast car charger, and a fast wall plug. It only said 5.1 volts input

The PB2S will need a USB charger/power adapter that supports QuickCharge 2.0 (QC2.0/QC3.0 or higher) protocol (or I think USB type-C PD2.0). I’m not very certain re the USB-C PD since that seems to function erratically, as per some people’s comments.

Just bought from illumn on sale.

I’m puzzled, does this have two output channels, with one of them using the labeled “input” socket?

AHA, edit,” HJK noted”:https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Xtar%20PB2S%20UK.html:

The little enclosed manual is printed in the smallest font I’ve ever seen. An online copy would be welcome if anyone has one.

Yes, it can output over both channels.

HKJ also noted:

Finally, a charger that will work with my little solar panel input.

Has anyone taken one of these apart? The other xtar chargers I have use screws and this one does not. As long as it is not glued, it will likely pop apart.

This form factor is begging to have a wireless charge receiver wedged in the case below the cells if it will fit.

Now that would be nice!

Yes, I’m on my way. I bought at Fasttech for $ 18.8 with a discount code. I like the versatility, the information display and the support for fast charging and low current charging. Other power banks do not detect low current and turn off. I bought a yellow color.

Just as d_t_a has mentioned, I’ve just bought a PD charger and tried it with the PB2S. It performs pretty erratically I would say. The charging percent is not accurate at all. I’ve been trying to charge 2 batteries at 12 volts, but using pd chargers might not be a good idea in this case. However, some USB-A wall adapter(s) does charge 2 batteries at 12 volts (for example, an adapter that comes with my Nokia 7 Plus), while most QC3 supported wall chargers, I believe, will charge at around 9 volts.

is this just for charging phones or anything with USB ?
can I charge 18650’s , and carry the PB2 with me

Just about anything should work.

Finally got a new phone for my wife and I, S10+ and love them. The PB2S charges them at 9 volts and 1.4 amps. The Samsung charger works well with the PB2S also.

A caution — I just made my annual check through batteries and power supplies, and found the XTAR PB2S 21700 batteries (bought with the device) completely dead. My various other power supplies seem to have held most of their charge for a year.

I would guess there’s no low voltage protection on the PB2S, and it must use a little power all the time watching for someone to insert a demanding device or press the button to wake up the PB2S.

Could be the batteries just didn’t hold the charge that long, rather than got drained. I’ll store them outside of the device starting now, and will check back next year.

The S is the rubberised one, and the C is the hard plastic one?

My S seems fine, at least I didn’t keep cells in it long enough to discharge, but when I was set to review the C, it drained 2 cells down to almost nothing after something like a week or so. I charged them back up, but after a few rounds couldn’t really figure if it was the cells or the charger or both that were acting up.

I generally don’t use those as “powerbanks” so much as small convenient chargers that I can take back’n’forth to work back in the day, etc.

The PB2S is the larger, fancier successor to the original PB2 that can take 21700s, with a more detailed display, and supports USB-C/PD/QC.

The PB2C lacks the digital numeric display of the PB2, in favor of Picard’s “four lights,” but adds a USB-C port. Not sure about the coating, but in my experience with that kind of thing, it gets ugly when it wears off, so hard plastic may actually be preferable.