Xtar VC4S killing batteries?

VaKo · 2019-08-18T12:17:18.000Z

Recently purchased a Xtar VC4S from Amazon as my trusty VC2 was getting a bit long in the tooth and I had a lot of 18650’s I wanted to drop down to storage voltage.

However out of my stock of batteries, 7 have now died after charging them in the VC4S. Some of my older Efests that were charging fine in the VC2 just died instantly when I put them in the VC4S (voltage dropped to zero, never came back), whilst 2 Samsung 30Q’s got really hot whilst charging, made a pop sound and stopped charging (batteries were so hot I had to throw them out of my study onto the lawn for safety).

Is this a bad charger or a case of batteries which were close to dying already and just failed because I charged them?

mertinator · 2019-08-18T15:27:02.000Z

They might be old cells. I have the vc4s and I have no problems so far. My usb adapter has both quick charge 3.0 and regular usb output ports. I use quick charge 3.0 when i charge 2 or 4 new cells but if I’m charging older ones, i just use regular usb output to lower the charging current.

VaKo · 2019-08-18T15:56:55.000Z

Mainly older cells, the 30Q’s weren’t terribly old and hadn’t been used much though. Still somewhat concerning that had I not had a USB fan pointed somewhat at the direction of the charger the battery would likely have caught fire.

Big_Sam · 2019-08-18T20:44:33.000Z

It sounds like your charger has an internal short circuit that is draining the batteries down, that could be very dangerous if one vents. Is it a genuine XTAR and not one of the many knock offs? I would return it if possible, and definitely stop using it!

VaKo · 2019-08-18T22:02:28.000Z

Bought it from Amazon so who knows, more fakes on Amazon than Taobao at this point. Already been refunded and Amazon want some details from me.