XTAR WP6 II Charger for 6X10440/14500/14650/17670/18650/18700 3.6V/3.7V Batteries(25 days available 13/06/2011~07/07/2011)

Damned, just ordered thisone for 45.83 USD from yours

Think I it started it a little after my post;

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/2331#comment-45126

and

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/2514

Can we still arrange that I can also take profit of this action please?

My fault, patience is not my strongest characteristic

Just ordered one.

Turned out my gas and electricity suppliers owed me a lot (US$1400). Just got them to refund it - which took two hours on the phone and threats of legal action. Not to mention the threat of interest at credit card rates - around 38% per annum around here. And big legal bills. My lawyer comes free. Theirs don't. Mentions of court orders got them to submit fairly quickly - after an hour on hold.

I have my reservations about this charger so expect serious testing on it. I'm hoping it'll replace a couple of (not so) cheap hobby chargers. But am not optimistic.

It definitely replaces them on convenience factor, however coming from hobby chargers, you lose the data feedback.

Nice deal though. I did however recently get shipped a single cell charger from KD (instead of a "fenix flashlight diffuser" which was the only item in the order?? LOL?) which doesnt float above 4.19V after leaving the cell on overnight.

The WP6 II charger looks awesome, and I like the design. I must say that the spacer design is VERY neat! And a great deal too.

Wouldn't have the option for australian plugs on the power supply?

I look forward to getting it here to play with test. I really don't need any more chargers - I can charge something like 30 lithium ion cells simultaneously already. But who cares?

Meters will be attached....

Could've used this a couple weeks back when I had 20-30 cells to charge. Had to break out all 3 2-cell chargers, and it took days, lol.

I have my finger on the trigger of this buy, bit will wait till I read your results and opinions :)

Same here. The first version was pathetic junk that several of us returned after testing. Hopefully they resolved a few problems, but I have serious doubts. The big one was a failure to terminate the continuous trickle charge after completing the recharge cycle. Also (if I remember correctly) it would not charge a battery unless it was below 4.10V. Also, charging results between channels were different and inconsistent. Ive withheld my reviews of their 2 new dive lights pending a discussion with their company rep. IMO, Xtar has a long way to go before they can be tiered with the Chinese "x-fire" products. Luckily, they dont make their own newest 18650's as Im sure they would probably explode.

I just received a new Xtar single channel 18650 charger that came with one of their dive lights... its complete junk.

It would also take days with the WP6, it takes about 7 hours for 6 cells with 2400mAh.

I wonder how you test chargers, the old WP6 does turn charge current off and you are correct that the voltage has to drop below 4.1 volt before it will restart charging, anything higher would have been bad.

The new WP6 has changed the charging algorithm, it is using CC/CV but check the voltage with charge current turned off.

The single channel charger does use a CC/CV charging, but is slow and says ready before it is finished with charging (battery is charged to about 95%).

Aloha and welcome to BLF jamjar and HKJ!

Thanks for the welcome :)

So where is your proof that these are "complete junk"?

Real tests suggest otherwise:



Yes, but with this in addition to the 6 bays total I have, the time is cut in half.

In my experience XTAR products are a major step up from the x-fire type products. The trickle charge you quote isn't really a charge. It's way below even 1ma and is there to monitor the amount of charge in the battery and once charge sinks below a pre-determened level, to signal the charger to automatically top the battery off if one were to leave the batteries in the charger a long time. Its not enough current to do damage to the battery or to overcharge it.

I have one of the single cell xtar chargers, the mp1. Yes it is slow and the charge current terminates early, but I'd rather have it terminate early than late. Yes it also won't recharge a cell unless it is below 4.0 volts. this is by design and is likely meant to be a safety feature. In other words, its not a good charger for top-ups of slightly discharged cells, but otherwise it is a solid, safe charger. The only thing the mp1 is guilty of is being designed to be overly safe and being slow. The slowness is a matter of it being designed to be charged via a USB port which are not capable of putting out much current.

I test with an annually calibrated Fluke DMM. Unfortunatley, I was one of the first to buy a WP6. The results from the 1st WP6 were legendary and thats why so many were sent back for a refund and most of the inventory remained unsold. My test results were confirmed by many others so I'll spare you the details. Anyone with a cheap DMM can test and produce reliable results as long as they monitor time, voltage and amperage. No, you actually do want the charger to continue charging if the battery has a resting state of 4.10V after inserted! Also, these chargers are not CC/CV. Their charging voltages and currents change throughout the charge process. As voltage increases, current decreases but not at a steady rate. If they were constant current and constant voltage, they would be just that... constant.

My new single channel xtar charger changes the light from red to green @ 4.01V then takes many hours to charge the remainder of the cycle. It also does not charge current or voltage at a constant rate.

Again, I'll wait for others to report results on the new version WP6. Hopefully the huge charging variations between channels, the inability to top off a battery greater that 4.10V, and the constant trickle charging have all been resolved. If it has, then great, I'll buy one and so will many others. If not, I'll continue charging with my current charger and buy a quality hobby charger.

Are these the new versions of the chargers?

I believe this would be a huge disadvantage for most people. Unless Im afield, I maintain the LICO's I have in use at around 4.15V and they seldom drop below 4.0V during casual use. Most unregulated lights seem to dim considerably at around 3.85V if allowed to do so. I usually replace my batteries far before that point.

This is the newer version review
candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?315587-Review-of-Measurement-on-Xtar-WP6-II-charger

Using a calibrated meter is no guarantee for getting the correct measurements or interpreting the results correct (I like this setup). The first WP6 may not follow a nicely drawn CC/CV curve, but it does never go above a CC/CV curve, this means that it will charge slower than a perfect CC/CV charger, but it is handling the cells just as gentle as a perfect CC/CV charger.

A old cell may have a resting voltage near 4.1 when fully charger, you do not want a charger to start charging on that, at least not if you hope to get a long life from you batteries.

Again with the MP1, the only price for the sloppy curves is time. The fact that it says ready before the battery is fully charged is annoying, but as long as it is at 95% capacity it is acceptable (But a two level indicator would have been perfect). But yours obvious says ready way before that and I that is not acceptable!

I have not checked how the WP6 II is on topping up cells.

A hobby charger is the best charging tool, but most only handles one cell and they are not as convenient as multi channel cradle chargers.

Is this the same charger as the one Manafont sells for $35.50?

It looks like there is two adapters included with this one?

Mine left Singapore on Wednesday - hopefully it'll be here in a week so I can test it properly. Since I have some 3100mAh 18650s coming too, I will even have some new cells to test it with.

I'm a little surprised that szws are using Singapore Post - it really isn't that near China. As in 2600km apart.