Heh. Im in the exactly same boat as you. Lol! I already have a good NIMH charger technoline bc-700 I think. What’s up with thr 3 voltages stuff? Any way to ‘set and forget’ one voltage?
Most of the time you would use the middle setting, but some cells allow charging to a higher voltage, and the LFR cells require charging at the lower setting. So you could set to the middle voltage and leave it unless you use LFR. You would have to be more careful the current (amp) setting, maybe someone else can chime in on what current the VP2 defaults to.
.25a, (just turning it on)
Cool. So if you just “set and forget it”, you’re not going to damage your cells, but it’ll take forever to charge a decent 18650
Have you tried on 1.0A with quality protected batteries? It’s quite fast actually.
I was referring to if you just kept it at 0.25a.
Mine is supposed to be delivered Thursday
I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned, but I noticed that a fast double press on the current selection switch while charging will display the charge voltage setting without changing the charge current.
I don’t have any 4.35v cells but noted the comment in the review:
How does one verify the voltage of the charger first? Do you rely on the display? Use an external meter accurate enough to tell the difference between 4.30 and 4.35 reliably?
Just asking in advance of needing to know.
An inexpensive DMM has more than enough resolution. Confirm that the DMM is accurate by checking known-accurate power supplies with it.
Just got my VP2 from Gearbest, everything looks fine even if i will test it more extensively during the days.
I just wanted to say thank you to HKJ, you’re doing a fantastic job with all your tests, it helps us a lot !
Thank, pal ! 
> I would have preferred that there was a overload cutout.
Does anyone sell (or, how hard would it be to make) a USB power cord with a circuit breaker or fuse holder built into it?
I know the little board-mountable resettable breakers are easy to find, so are replaceable fuses.
Just starting to wonder why I haven’t seen this kind of protection readily available for USB power sources like this charger
A fuse is basically worthless, it is ways to slow and requires very high current to blow. There is also a little detail about looses in any fuse, that will be significant at 5 volt.
I hope Xtar will add overload protection in their next charger.
Xtardirect is “sold out” of the VP2 as of today.
(edit: perhaps reason to hope their next charger will come soon?)
On overload protection — how do they do that inside a charger?
— is there any way to do that as an addon, inline in the USB cable (given that fuse or breaker aren’t practical)?
Something like the protection applied to individual protected cells?
Just curious.
Same way as you always do it, place a small resistor in series with the current and measure the voltage drop across it, when the drop gets to high you shutdown the output. When inside the charger you can place the resistor before the regulation and the output will be stable up to the trip point.
Look at this curve from a usb power supply, it is rated for 2A and the output is protected at 2.2A:
You could do it inline, but it will always cost some voltage drop. Something like the cell protection circuit is not very practical, there is to wide tolerances on it.
Any way you can charge 2 batt’s at .5A and take a thermal pic? Would like to see the temps 
Thanks in advance!
The power is about half when charging at 0.5A, this means considerable lower temperatures:
M1: 32,8°C, M2: 33,5°C, HS1: 42,7°C
As suspected the charger temps are cooler. Thanks kindly
Also noted in the WP2H review thread
— at present, from Xtardirect, both the WP2H and the VP2 are in stock, and both cost the same $29
HKJ, got a quick question and since you are “the guy”…………
I am upgrading my charger in the house to the vp4 Dragon, which uses the 12v-3A dc power supply. Where my charger is in the house, getting behind the cabinet to the plug is a pain, and there is only room for one wall wart. The VP2 is going to live in my truck for the most part.
My question is, would the Xtar VP2 be safe to operate on the heavier 3A power supply on occasion (assuming the same physical diameter of the plugs ) ?
I still like its 0.25A charge for my 10440s, and 4.35v charging capabilities once in a while.
Thanks,
Jim
As long as voltage and polarity is the same it is no problem, this means you can use any Xtar charger with 12V input on your Dragon supply.