Test/review of Vapcell S4+ fast charger

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
57

I tried Cap test in manual mode on the Vapcell S4 plus upgraded version (July 2020):
Slot 1: 10440 Vapcell 320mAh finished with 4.20V 330mAh
Slot 2: AAA LADA 900mAh finished with 1.53V 940mAh
Slot 3: EagleTac 18650 3400mAh finished with 4.20V 3196mA (9:45h)
Slot 4: EagleTac 18650 3400mAh finished with 3.12V 3191mAh (6:42h)

The 18650 in slot 4 finished the discharge step but it didn’t complete the final charge step. Maybe it was interrupted when I pulled the 10440 cell out of slot 1 when it had finished (alarm).

Cap test in auto mode #1:
Slot 1: 18650 GA 3500mAh finished with 4.20V 3468mAh (12:22h)
Slot 2: IMR18350 1200mAh finished with 3.33v 961mAh (2:33h)
Slot 3: IMR18350 1200mAh finished with 4.20V 975mAh (5:14h)
Slot 4: 18650 GA 3500mAh finished with 4.20V 3492mAh (12:5h)

The 18350 in slot 3 finished the discharge step but it didn’t complete the final charge step.

The 18650’s in slot 1 and 4 charged at around 1500mA initially, discharged at 500mA and then charged again at 500mA.

Cap test in auto mode #2 at night:
Slot 1: IMR18350 1200mAh finished with 4.20V 975mAh (3:35h)
Slot 2: 18650 30Q 3000mAh finished with 2.95V 2997mAh (6:25h)
Slot 3: 18650 30Q 3000mAh finished with 2.96V 2934mAh (6:34h)
Slot 4: IMR18350 1200mAh finished with 3.25V 1053mAh (2:25h)

The cells were all around 3.75V to start with. When they reached 4.20V, the charger didn’t seem to want to enter the discharge step. I pulled the power plug and plugged it back in 10 seconds later. Selected Cap test mode again. They started charging to 4.20V and each eventually reached 100%. Slot 1 and 4 started discharge first. A few hours later slot 2 and 4 had started discharge.

Slot 2, 3 and 4 stopped after the discharge step.

The room temperature changed from around 18 C to 10 C at night.

Cap test in auto mode #3 during the day:
Slot 1: 18650 GA 3500mAh finished with 4.20V 3476mAh (12:26h)
Slot 2: 18650 30Q 3000mAh finished with 2.68V 3010mAh (6:48h) 2.95V at 12:26h
Slot 3: 18650 GA 3500mAh finished with 2.82V 3442mAh (7:17h) 3.02V at 12:26h
Slot 4: 18650 30Q 3000mAh finished with 4.20V 3045mAh (10:33h)

Slot 2 and 3 stopped after the discharge step. They counted up to 100% when I pressed DISPLAY to switch to CH2 and CH3 at the end of the discharge step (alarm sounded).

Room temperature started at 15 C but gradually rose to 18 C after 6 hours. Discharge seemed faster in slot 1 and 4. Cell temperatures reached around 54 C.

Sometimes the voltage displayed while charging in Charge mode is 4.20V when it’s actually 4.07V when measured on a UT210E. Even though it might show 4.20V, it also displays >90% and keeps charging. If I take the cell out and put it back in, it then shows 4.07V and gradually goes up as it charges.

Overall, I’m happy with the charger. :smiley: It’s fully charging my NiMH and Lithium cells. Discharge mode is awesome! I can finally put cells into storage without using a torch to drain a cell down to ~3.75V.

58

@contactr, well, I had some high hopes.

For some reason, I thought that the S4+ actually had higher current NiMH charging than I thought.

59

I put 4x button top 30Q’s (auto mode) for Cap Test and got similar unexpected results:

Slot 1,3,4 did a full discharge but only recharged to 3.0x volts. Slot 2 fully charged to 4.18V (after hours of resting). This was with 1000,500,500,1000 discharge rate.

Before this I had mostly been testing small batteries and NiMH. It’s a little suspicious that TimMc and I both have these same issues and purchased at the same time?

60

I’m guessing this only applies to the “upgraded” model since no one mentioned this before now. Here’s slot 1-3 which never complete Cap Test and slot 4 still discharging. Shows 100% on first three slots but all are below 3V

and here’s a video of what happens. It “beeps” indicating it’s done then just counts up to 100% and stops:

61

They confirmed today that they were able to reproduce the issue. It looks like they’ll fix the firmware going forward…

62

Vapcell S4 plus upgraded version (July 2020):

NiMH Cap test in auto mode #1:
Slot 1: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.51V 0000mAh (08:31h)
Slot 2: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.52V 0709mAh (03:51h)
Slot 3: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.53V 0685mAh (04:21h)
Slot 4: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.52V 0684mAh (03:53h)

Slot 1 and 3 had cells that started off at around 1.35V.
Slot 2 and 4 had cells that started off at around 1.45V.
Slot 1 took a while to begin the discharge step. When it did start to discharge, it just switched between ~500mA and 0000mAh. Eventually it finished discharge and charged back up to 1.52V. 0000mAh displayed for capacity.

NiMH Cap test in auto mode #2:
Slot 1: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.53V 0729mAh (04:19h)
Slot 2: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.52V 0700mAh (04:01h)
Slot 3: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.53V 0704mAh (04:02h)
Slot 4: AAA eneloop 750mAh finished with 1.52V 0674mAh (03:14h)

63

These messages don't give me much hope. I will wait till they fix these issues.

It's literally been on my wishlist for a month or so, but since the new one was announced I kept postponing, and I feel like it was released a little prematurely.

64

Yeah I bought one many months ago and generally like it, but it’s not without it’s faults. If testing would have identified these problems before production, this would be an amazing charger.

65

Maybe I'll just wait for the BLF UC4 charger to be produced.. I just want a charger that can take my 21700 protected cells.

66

I just bought the original, and I have a 21700 cell that does something like this.

I put my cell in slot #4, charged it at 1000mAh… and it would charge up to what it claimed was 4.20V, but my meter always read 4.07V.

So, just for laughs, I took that cell, put it in Slot #1 and set it to 1500mAh. Oddly, it seemed to realize it wasn’t full. Screen displayed 4.20V, 99% the whole time. I terminated the charge early after 25mins…. was too worried the cell would grenade.

Off the charge… with my meter it now states 4.11V

Not sure if it’s a slot, or charging current issue (on my part). I’ll have to try it again in slot #4 at 1500mAh next time.

67

Is the S4+ meant to be able to automatically select 250mA when charging 10440 cells?

I noticed the S4+ charging my Vapcell INR10440 cell at 500mA in auto Charge mode. It was around 4.07V. I quickly took the cell out and switched the S4+ to manual mode and charged the cell at 250mA until full.

To see whether it would automatically select 250mA to charge 10440 cells, I discharged two Vapcell INR10440 cells to around 3.96V (measured with DMM). I then put them in slot 1 and 4 using auto Charge mode. They started charging at 1000mA.

It seems like 230-270mA is selected automatically when the 10440 cell is near 4.20V in auto Charge mode. But a higher current is used if the cell voltage is less than or near 4.00V. The current is reduced when the cell is nearly full.

68

Per my observation, the S4+ uses the battery resistance measurement to determine charge current when set to Auto mode.
This would mean a low-resistance small battery may be charged at possibly too high current… although I’m not sure how this would look like in actual (eg. what are the cut-off resistance values versus the automatic charge current applied.)

69

Can confirm. Put in two vapcell 10440s. Resistance was in the mid or high 80s. Both at 500 on auto. I changed it by long pressing in auto mode.

70

IR was about 67mOhm for the 10440s when they started charging at 1000mA and started with 3.96V.

71

I bought this a few months ago and I generally like it. I noticed that it will charge smaller batteries like a 10440 at a higher charge rate than expected in auto. It also displays voltage at 4.20 when the battery is at 90% and charging. It would nice if the firmware could be updated somehow.

72

I removed the piezo speaker from my S4+ with some insight from oweban.

While removing the speaker, I noticed a date 2020-5-28 printed on the PCB.

It would be nice if Vapcell added a switch to turn the speaker on/off.

73

It would make a nice on/off slide switch

74

does anybody know if vapcell updated the firmware version to fix this issue reported by contactcr? and also is there a way we can check firmware versions?

75

Also, if you had an older one, can you get the FW updated?

76

Does anybody know if this will fit a Fenix ARB-L21-5000U with USB-C port without stressing anything?

the cell is about 77mm long

I know that HKJ measured 76.9mm, and I just want to hear from somebody with experience that this battery will fit normally without stressing, bending or anything.