Wanted- Advice on decent charger for newbie

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
1

Now that I have been in the hobby for a bit I suppose its time to upgrade my $20 charger.

Whats a good basic charger? Xstar vc4plus?
I have 10440-21700’s. I dont need anything fancy as I am still learning.

Thanks

2

Hi

I’ve been using Liitokala Lii-600 for some time now and I can recommend it. Fits 21700, has manual current settings (up to 3A), capacity measure. Downsides - it’s power supply makes high pitched noise (at least my sample) when charger is in “idle” (sound goes away when charger is in use) and You can’t charge LiFePO4 with it.

2 Thanks
3

I don’t like the VC4 plus ( I have 4 from a super deal) it’s an automatic charger – if you put one AAA or any battery at all, it will charge at rates up to 2 amps — I would suggest the Vapecell S4 Plus – Great charger with discharge function also – I set mine on manual

4

For LiIon I can recommend the Vapcell S4+ and the LiitoKala Lii-600.

My Lii-600 power supply is mostly quiet, the Vapcells supply is more annoying.

Semi-automatic, I would say. It´s very similar/the same as the VC4SL, you can choose a max. charge current but the charger decides if it use the current or decrease it. And you can´t set different currents for the slots. Overall it´s not comparable with the Vapcell and LiitoKala, neither in max. Power or Features

If a simple charger without speed records is enough maybe the Nitecore UMS4 is also a good recommendation

5

Xtar seems to get the best writups lately although you couldn’t go wrong with the Vapecell either.

6

Bought this one for my mom and tested it for a little while to make sure it was reliable.
MiBOXER 18650 Battery Charger, Smart Universal 4-Bay Charger, Automatic LCD Display,Fast Charging Rechargeable Li-ion LiFePO4 Ni-MH Ni-Cd AA AAA C 18350 18500 18700 20700 21700 26650 RCR123 Amazon.com
DON’T BUY this one:
4 Bay Smart 18650 Charger with LCD Digital Display Universal Battery Charger for: 26650 20700 18650 18350 17670 17500 16340(RCR123) 14500 AA AAA SC C Batteries Amazon.com
I ordered it prior to the Miboxer and it was horrible. The price is almost the same!

8

This is something very general, which Xtar? After owning some Xtars I can say the quality is very different. And except the MX-4 Xtar and some 1,5V-LiIon-chargers Xtar have no new 4-bay-chargers since years (except you also count the slot-length-updated chargers like the VP4L)

If you want to charge different cells at same time Xtar have no one charger with individual slot configuration

9

It was a general answer to a general question.

10

I don´t think it helps the topic starter :grinning:

11

Personally I have the Vapcell VC4 plus and it seems like a nice charger. I had it for 3 years and seems reliable so far. I like the manual mode so I can choose the current for the charging. I also got it for a very good price.
I only have one other charger - Xtar VC2, but that is very basic, I cannot really compare the 2.

12

Would also vote for the Vapcell. Don´t know the Lii-600 but I have Xtar VC4 and VC4SL, I´m not confident with both. Less performance, less features, the VC4SL is petulant with the IR

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13

Not sure I have an answer or just more questions now…

14

Conclusion: Take the Vapcell :slight_smile:

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15

I have a couple of Vapcell S4 Plus chargers.
They’re very nice, and what I recommend to most others, depending on what they’re looking for. :+1:

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16

Thanks folks! Vapcell on the way

17

I upgraded and bought one of those and seem to be very happy with it. I do not have a lot of experience with chargers, but no problems so far. My originals were the cheap 2 slot chargers.