Your suggestions for developing a new 26800 charger?

I would take the adapter, its very spiffy and can be customized to many sizes!

Well, one adapter for one 26800 would probably be cheaper than an entirely new charger.

Indeed, plus its future proofing, whatever new size comes out just buy an adapter.

I like that ….

I would also like to have an adapter to use with my existing chargers.

An inexpensive 2x 26800 charger (starting at 2Amps or higher), which means if it is USB-powered, this may have to use USB-PD (maybe only use QC3.0 if the price difference is going to be really big for USB-PD vs QC2/3).

As for a full-featured charger (capacity testing), I think a higher discharge current (maybe 0.75A or 1A) would be desired to grade large capacity batteries (a 6800mAh battery at 300mA discharge current is going to take around 23 hours to discharge, and that does not include the charging phase yet). Although 1A may need proper cooling (cooling fan may add cost)

Too True.
I’d say make 18650 the smallest battery it will take. Trying to make a charger that fits everything - means it’s a poor choice at the ends of the size range.
Consider this a charger for larger higher capacity batteries. The world is full of chargers for smaller batteries and NiMh.
Don’t cripple the design by trying to be a one size fits all device.

As far as power supplies - A 12v-14.4v power supply included with the charger would be ideal.
Then the charger could be connected to a cars 12~14v power for charging in an Auto or other 12v portable source.
All the Best,
Jeff

  1. Dual bay.
  2. 3A/ channel.
  3. Li-ION chemistry only.
  4. Support 18650 to 26800(with few extra mm).
  5. PD support would be nice.
  6. Provide all those extra features from Dragon VP4 and more.
  7. No "speedometer" style display please.
  8. Willing to pay up to $28.

I’m going to say no to adapters at this point it’s a bad idea. Look we have a company that is the largest builder of Lithium-ion battery chargers. That company with a really great reputation came here and said “We would like to build a charger for you, give us some ideas.” We’re already offering a compromise instead of a from the ground up new product. Lets be bold and take them up on the offer.

1. Single bay stretched ANT-MC1 Plus just stretched to 90mm’s
2. Dual bay, 2A each channel, battery voltage, charge mAh, compatible with 18650 - 26800, test battery real capacity.

USB C PD - Absolutely MUST HAVE.

Charge current up to 4A
Don’t worry about trying to fit any cell under 500mm length
If 1 slot, make it as compact, simple and lightweight as possible.
If 2 or 4 slots, do more fancy screens, discharge meter, internal resistance measurements, etc.

The best solution is two chargers.

  1. Simple, one slot for $ 10 - 15
  2. Best on the market, 4 slots, better than the Skyrc MC3000 for $ 100 - 150.

As these batteries become more prevalent. The low end chargers will start to appear from other makers.
A famous saying: “There’s always room at the bottom”

Meaning that a cheaper charger will always be the choice of many (even if it’s not the same quality).

I suspect most of the lights will have built in charging - limiting the customer base for external chargers to enthusiasts who will want to test batteries or have multiple batteries charged and ready for use.
Or need to charge the batteries at a faster rate.
Hence the 5a charge rate I recommend.

Build a charger that sets your brand apart from the rest.
All the Best,
Jeff

I’d go for an extra large version of the PB2S that covers down to 18650. My PB2S is probably the best flashlight-related product I’ve bought, including the actual lights. It’s perfect. Everything else has some major weakness, but not the PB2S.

The ribbon makes it super easy to remove the batteries, so there shouldn’t be a problem squeezing your fingers between cells or damaging wrappers.

USB-PD is an absolute must. I can’t think of a new product that should be charged with anything but USB-C PD. A portable charger with 2 26800s and power bank support would be pretty awesome.

A longer ANT MC1 Plus with USB-C PD input. Would it allow unstable solar power input with less than 500mA?

It might be better to upgrade one of your flagship 4 slot chargers instead so that those who are willing to pay for extra features will also get 26800 support.

What I want in a charger…

Display for each slot including voltage, current, mah charged (and discharged if feature present) / Internal resistance of the battery

Proper LED indicator coloring. Red = Charge, Green = Full, Blue=Discharge? I just don’t want to see Red charge Blue full etc.

Temperature sensing to cut off charging on overtemperature of cell

Capacity test, discharge test, charge / discharge & measure / charge test… Basically what the Opus chargers do for testing batteries

Minimum of 1 amp on all slots

Dual stage spring so small cells have sufficient tension.

Ability to handle NiMHs (Talking about D sized batteries here)

Multiple power inputs. USB-C is ok, but also have like 12v in to provide higher charge rates and mobile charging from vehicles, solar generators, etc.

Discharge to storage charge option

2, 4, and 8 slot options, with all features available in all slots (i.e. not like the VC8 with only 4 slots having most of the functions. I would pay more to have all 8 slots work the same as the left 4)

If you really wanted to go over the top you could have some PC connectivity options.

Obviously fits all the batteries, just got a protected 21700 which fits in none of my chargers but at least has USB charging on the cell. Still, I can’t do a capacity test and label the battery to later compare it’s initial capacity after years.

Audible tones like the Dragon VC4 has are useful. Also power bank function might be useful, though I’ve only used it to drain cells down to a storage charge manually.

I have > 300 lights and about as many batteries, so the semi annual battery maintenance chores have me wanting multiple good 8 slot chargers.

I think I mentioned it in the other thread, but really a MiBoxer C4-12 is a nice design and using that as a platform and extending the bays would be great.

Power input: PD and such would be fine but personally I would not buy this new charger if it does not have a standard AC/DC input with a transformer/brick. Most of us would need AC power and a wall wart anyway if PD were the only option, but that is not widespread for consumers yet (and would add significant cost if a proper wall wart needed to be purchased to use the charger). If PD/usb input is the only option then I would rather continue using the adapter I made for the 26800 despite its drawbacks.

I think a four-bay would be good, and it would be great if the slots can still support smaller 14500 cells at a minimum (and taking the smallest cells like xx350 would be even better). I thought about the idea of a unit that only had two extended bays (like #1 and #4) that could do the higher amps and longer cells, with the two middle bays being shorter/standard lengths. If the charger is designed like many where only two bays can deliver higher amps, then this might be a good idea (nobody wants to wait a hundred hours to charge four 26800 at 500mA……that’s worse than the magnetic chargers at 700mA and those take a lonnng time to fill up a 26800). Would need to be sure that the thickness of sliding contacts is enough to handle without bending, that the springs are up to the task and providing firm contact, and that both are still mounted well to the circuit board (i.e. maybe a little engineering time is necessary for this adaptation).

Basically I’d like a full-featured 4-slot charger here…would possibly consider a 2-slot. Full range of current selection would be nice (like 100mA increments at least up to 1A so small cells can be treated more gently).

Would love to have NiMH support and discharge function as well, and would be willing to pay for a unit like that if it’s good quality…but a Li-ion only would be fine, too.

Also, many of us like actual numbers and data, but if this charger had the “speedometer dials” I could maybe live with it. :slight_smile:

Thanks for your interest and willingness to support us enthusiasts with a new model, Xtar!

I don’t know if anyone makes a protected 26800 cell…? So any extra length might be handy for tinkering but may not be necessary. The 26980 or whatever doesn’t seem to be a very good cell at all so far…maybe no need to try and support that.

So weird… I got out my Nightwatch NSX4 today that runs on 26800 batteries. I have 3 batteries and yet my charger has vanished. I was about to post a thread to see if any one knew where I could get a 26800 charger because the slots on my Gyrfalcon aren’t long enough to fit!

I would be interested in a full-range charger with two dissimilar slots: one large slot that supports cells from 18650 up to 26800+, and one small slot that properly handles 18350, 14500, and other small cells that are not always well supported on general chargers. Each slot size should have charging characteristics tailored to that size range of cells.

A larger version might have two of each size slot.

Any updates XTAR. Hank has the battery tube ready but lots of us don’t have a charger to charge the 26800. Please help.

Of course it won’t make everyone happy (need to characterise the cell, as in capacity, internal resistance, etc.) but just for charging weirdo cells, I use one of those magnetic stick-on chargers and let it go. I’m almost always not in any itchin’ hurry to get a huge cell topped off immediately, so if it cooks overnight, I’m good with that.

I agree and often they can be had for around 10 bux. I have several vapcell 21700 I charge with one of those. Works well for me.