right, i read that c4 evo experiences thread and it was very illuminating! O.o If the bugs were worked out, I bet it would be cool w/that replacement case that fits the Noctua fan.
So, the VC4 is AMAZING!!! It charges anything!!! I tested with multiple “C” and “AAA” nimh batteries w/less than 0.5 volts on the MM and it charged every last one.
Now, some C batteries it charged to over 4000+mah (per its’ display) and some to only <100mah, so I guess it doesn’t do much of a ‘recharge’ function here, but now I can try to ‘refresh’ them to see if any storage can be recovered.
I also bought a Vapcell S4+ 3.0 and am hoping that the ‘repair’ option will work similarly to the Opus Discharge/Refresh mode. But, without the Xtar charging ALL of these cells to a sufficient voltage, I would be out of luck to even try this (without connecting a bunch of batteries in serial and putting one the wrong way, bc i have that kind of luck). So, thanks again for that great smart–but not too smart?–charger recommendation!
Overall the VC4 is not the best NiMH-charger, it sometimes make a to early termination; but not to compare with the VC4SL which is much more awful.
I use the VC4 only to give low-voltage-NiMHs a 1st boost, maybe I charge 100-200mAh and then I use the Vapcell S4+ because it terminates problematic, deep discharged NiMHs much better than any other of my many chargers
But still I don´t believe in the refresh/repair-function of chargers. No miracles would happen with it, a worn cell will be not good again. And it takes a lot of time, but maybe OK for ppl who can wait and don´t want to charge/discharge manually every time
I’ve got the Xtar VC8S and have noticed it may “spit the dummy” at low voltage NiMh Eneloops, but if I leave them in the charger (and come back later) they are then charging fine. This usually happens where I’ve used them in night lights in 4S config where one obviously gets flattened more than the others.
Over-discharged NiMHs causes 3 typical problems in my experience
Voltage is to low for some chargers
The voltage increases very fast and can get higher than a typical max. voltage for NiMH, some chargers terminate very fast
The max. voltage even at full charge stays at 1,43-1,46V and some chargers (like Nitecore UMS4) never stop charging (except it have a max. time) which causes very hot cells
If I know these cells are problematic I use mostly my Vapcell S4+ and don´t leave the charger to long alone