I managed to destroy my VC4 charger by accidentally connecting it to 12V DC :person_facepalming: . For a brief moment before death it managed to show some light on the screen. There was some smoke and bad smell also.
Canāt seem to find (visually) anything burned on the board. Is there a way to salvage this or should I convert it to a nice battery holder?
That is one of the reasons why I sold my VC4, the cable invites mistakes like this and it was never a reliable cable for me.
sorry to hear you lost your charger, I liked the display on this one
Yes, it is a bad cable design, easy to make a mistake. I ordered new Liitokala 500 right away.
If my Xtar cannot be repaired Iāll stuff four TP4056 modules inside the housing and use it like that.
That is a terrific idea, with the huge number of breakout board clones available you can save the device.
I did the same thing to my first VC4. Even got away with it the first time, before burning it up.
I take yellow model paint and write the charger model name/number on the 12vdc wall warts, so I donāt do it again.
Chris
How does it invite mistakes?
Xtar needs 5V to power up and operate but uses a 5.5mm x 2.1 (or 5.5mm x 2.5) common round connector instead of micro usb. That connector is commonly used with most ābrickā power supplies which use much higher voltage (like laptop power supply).
I get it, thanks. I purchased an Xtar charger as well and keep them together.
C'mon Guys , the roads and the cars invite us to drive madly and crush ?
VC4 is a good charger , and I consider the round 5.5 x 2.1 mm being more reliable than the micro USB .., just pay attention , use a dedicated wall charger , write down on it " 5V ONLY !" and you'll be good...
Sorry for your loss Cula , s..t happens sometimes , but the charger didn't plug in , itself.., we all make mistakes...
I think the best solution would be to permanently leave the cable attached to the VC4. and ideally also never unplug it on the usb end either.
While I really like the display, the cable itself had to be replaced by the vendor once (when I touched the cable the entire device resetted and many times charging just stopped out of the blue). With newer 18650 high capacity cells I found the charger fairly slow as well.
Overall the build quality was fine though, no sharp edges or parts that looked out of place.
My replacement is kept at my GFās place in its bag, with USB cable, since itās slow for my needs and sheās all USB anyhow.
There a rule in ammo reloading to āalways keep only one can of gun powder on the bench at any one timeā. Too many of us have grabbed the wrong powder when reloading, or mixed the leftovers with a different can of powder.
Probably something to think about if, like me, you have a lot of chargers.
Chris
New birthday for my XTAR VC4 
.
1. Manage to scrape four TP4056 modules, one voltmeter and one buck converter (Up to 30V and 5A) from my workshop. Plan is to stuff those modules inside, TPās are going to sit on aluminum heatsink.
2. Kapton taped aluminum heatsink, TPās are going to run cool. Original XTAR board is stripped and isolated with electrical tape.
3. All is wired, output set to 5V.
4. All done, DC converter and voltmeter are glued to the plexiglass so they are above TP chips. Drilled a small hole trough plexi so I can access potentiometer and fine tune it if necessary.
5. Charging. Iām getting 0.92 A per channel. Now I can supply this charger with any power supply between 5V and 30V.
This looks cool, reminds me of the windows we used to put into modded/lighted PC cases. really like the outcome.
Looks really cool, it works, and you saved something that others would have simply trashed. :+1:
Oh , nice job there ! And most of all I like the fact that you were sad for short time , and then found a solution !!!
By the way , how the buck convertor standing the 4 x 0.9 A ? I think is the one with XL 6009 or something like that , and for sure needs a heat sink ! As I remember the max. power with no heat sink is around 10+W ...Will you check this for me , please ? I was thinking about doing this with an old , defective Digicharger... Thanks !
Love it. Nice job and recovery. :+1:
Those blue leds are mesmerizing :laughing: .
Small project to kill time during a rainy afternoon. I really enjoyed salvaging my XTAR.
Thanks 
.
Liitokala 500 is in the mail as we speak, Iāll use this only as a backup charger but if heat should become a problem Iāll cut a āwindowā above XL4005 and attach a small heatsink like this one:
3er-Set aus Pure Cu KĆ¼hlerkĆ¼hlkƶrpern fĆ¼r Raspberry Pi Sale - Banggood Deutschland-arrival notice-arrival notice.
It will be exposed to air and provide enough cooling like that. Done it before and never had a problem with this buck module.
Thanks Cula !
Hi,
Sorry to dig up such an old thread but this has just happened to me, and I can see that itās blown the top off a chip on the display board.
I can see that itās a 74HCxxxD chip but I can no longer read the part number.
Any chance you or anyone else who has one could tell what U9 is?
Thanks.
Paul
Just contact XTAR : Contact Us|ShenZhen XTAR Electronics Co., Ltd
They have a āleave a messageā popup menu on the page.
Just say that your XTAR charger is out of warranty and that you would like to fix it yourself because you really like it.
They need the charger model and that āU9ā location.
They were very friendly when I asked them for a part number because I blew my XTAR VC4S due to a bad battery.
I asked what the part labelled āāD14KFā was and within a day I got a reply that itās a āDTS2314ā.
There was some Chinese in the reply but Google can translate that for you.
It was a really nice surprise to get such great service.