Xtar VC4SL charger experiences

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
1

Hallo,

I decided to make a new topic because I don´t want to hijack the review thread completely

But there are almost some - mostly bad - experiences posted in this thread:

Made some tests 2day, 500mA with a 1,2A-power supply from Lenovo

1. Inserted 4 different AAA, rated capacity 800-1000mAh

1. Charged correct
2. Stop at 370mAh
3. Charged correct
4. Stop at 270mAh

2. Charged 2 different AAA, both 900mA, bay 1+2

1. Terminated at 1273mAh, which means it hammered almost 200mAh more in the cell that my C3100 which held the negative record for this cell
2. Charged correct

3. Use two different AA, tried to charge with 1000mA, used the Xtar QC3.0-power supply, the 1,2A Lenovo and 2A from LG

I didn´t wait for the finish, maybe in the next days I try again.

With all 3 PSUs I wasn´t able to charge on 1A/cell.

I know some Xtar-chargers start with a lower current, with 500mA it started at ~ 240mA and after some minutes it was at ~ 490mA. But with selected 1A it stays at ~490mA with all 3 PSUs

2

My VC4SL is all over the place. Just tried to charge an 18650 and it would not select 1A charge on this particular slot (slot 3), but it shows 1A on the other empty ones.
Moved the battery to slot 2 and voila it charges at 1A.
Some NiMh are recognized as Li-ion at random.
Some other bugs, as you mentioned, some batteries charge, others just don’t, or they stop prematurely.
Every time I try to check the capacity on a NiMh battery, it shows wildly different data. Completely useless.

I was hoping this charger would solve all my issues with my other chargers, but I was wrong. And to top it all, this is the second Li-ion charger from Xtar that I have problems with. Hopefully some other company comes up with a decent charger soon.

3

Had similar prob lems but (still) not the same.

Managed so far 1A charge only in bay 1, sometimes. If I insert cells in other slots the charger shows a short moment also 1A and mostly go down to 0,5A. If I have luck I can charge 1A at one cell and in 2 other slots with 0,5A; but sometimes slot 1 go also down to 0,5A if I insert 2 additional cells.

And yes, the empty slots show 1A if you selected it.

Maybe it could work with charging 4 cells at 0,5A/each

The manual says it can charge 4A

I don´t use it often because it´s an annoying charger

User “cihan” made some interesting experiences with it, so I´m trying if helps to change the PSU.

I think I will try a bit in the next time but the result will be not good, I´m sure

I don´t know which special features you need but my favorite charger atm is the Vapcell S4 Plus. It have some good features, it works also good with NiMH.

If you just want to charge cells without any special features I think Nitecore UMS4 could also be interesting for you.

4

Here are some experiments with the VC4SL:

Xtar 2A PSU QC3.0 with another cable

1. Insert in Bay 1 AA and switched to 1000mA
2. Started with ~ 350mA
3. The current increase to ~ 1000mA
4. Insert in Bay 2 2nd. AA
5. Started with ~ 250mA
6. Later on the current in bay 2 stays at 500mA
7. Insert a AAA in Bay 3
8. Started with ~ 250mA
9. Later on the current in bay 3 stays at 500mA
10. Changed the AA in bay 1
11. Started with ~ 350mA
12. The current increase to ~ 1000mA
13. Insert a AAA in Bay 3
14. Started with ~ 250mA
15. Later on the current stay at 500mA

Two of 3 cells stopped loading to early, 2 don´t reached 50%

AA 2500: 1424mAh
AAA 1100: 327mAh
AAA 800: 194mAh

LG and Realme 2A PSUs without QC

1. Insert in Bay 1 AA and switched to 1000mA
2. Started with ~ 250mA
3. The current increase to ~ 1000mA
4. Insert in Bay 2 2nd. AA
5. Started with ~ 250mA
6. Later on the current in bay 2 stays at 500mA
7. Insert a AAA in Bay 3
8. Current in Bay 1 decrease to 500mA
9. Eject AAA in Bay 3
10. Current in Bay 1 increase to 1000mA

With the LG one cell stopped also to early, with the Realme-PSU it finished loading

Note: Tried 2 Samsung-PSUs, 15W and 25W. The charger did not work with it. With one PSU I saw the display light up for a moment, and then it was dark; with the other one it stays dark.

I think I don´t need to mention that my Skyrc NC1500 and different Mobile Phones work with these PSUs?
Notes:

With 2 cells it´s possible to charge the cell in the 1st bay at 1A, in bay 2 max. 500mA

With 3 cells all bays can only load 500mA

Termination (if charging really finish with full cells) is awful with some kind of NiMHs. The VC4SL seems to beat the NC1500 in overcharging. I will show soon some values and compare what capacity other chargers show at loading the same cells.

The charger starts with a low current and need some minutes to reach the full speed (which is rarely the selected). Even if I wait till the selected current is reached and calculate the time/charge-capacity it´s much slower than displayed current:

Camelion 2500mAh 1000mA = 747mA real speed

EBL 2500mAh 500mA = 380mA real speed

5

I can confirm now the to early termination also happens with a Non-QC-PSU.

Maybe not the often but sometimes 2 of 4 cells stop charging to early.

Defect by Design :confounded:

6

Tried a PD-PSU with a short cable.

And again, some cells started to stop charging <250mAh

Otherwise, It loaded a 2300mAh cell with ca. 3800mAh

So the VC4SL still gets the lable “Worst charger ever” from me.

7

Xtar mentiones that it supports QC but it also supports PD which is not mentioned on the cardboard box. So I had same early termination problems with PD power supply too.

I didn’t use the charger for a while so I don’t have something new to tell about early termination with non qc charger.

By the way recently I bought 2 clone imax b6 chargers for like 18 USD each. I wanted to charge some Nimh with it with a cell holder. Unfortunately it’s useless. It doesn’t measure nimh voltage with charging current off. So voltage termination isn’t possible. It uses negative delta V and you can set it on settings menu but it doesn’t work. It terminates very very early all the time. Charging current is like 90% of the value you set.
However discharged capacity and discharge current is way off. It only works close to real discharged capacity when you set discharge current to 0.8 A. And real discharge current is maximum 570mA no matter what current you select. Discharged capacity almost always shows less than real discharged capacity. It can be useful for only charging lithium and Pb batteries. But it’s useless for measuring capacity and not usable for Nimh. So anyone considering a clone imax b6 for Nimh, just forget it. I’ll return both units.

8

Well, I will also stop use the VC4SL for now, I think it will covered by dust in the next years.

The german support for Xtar is useless, answer was fast but not really helpfull. The guy who answered me thinks a charger that have manual charging and the overriding automatic is a feature of a real good charger.

He don´t respond to my professional questions and wrote the Vapcell S4+ (which I named because manual charging setting works, also termination) is a infereor charger if the cells getting lukewarm.

I wrote the VC4SL charge sometimes 300mAh more in a cell than other chargers and the cells getting more than lukewarm, but after that he didn´t answer again.

BTW, that was lie, after that conversation the VC4SL charged 1403mAh more in an AA-cell than my C700.

In the past I think about the VP4 Dragon, but Xtar is now for sure on my not “wanted” list

I don´t know your exact needs but many ppl think Maha have very good NiMH-chargers

9

I have a VC4SL - how do I test if my charger also has some of these issues? I have no other equipment available to me (multimeter or sth). Ideas?

10

Somehow deplete the battery in anyway. Then charge it with vc4sl using quick charge power supply and observe if it will terminate earlier before the capacity of the cell. And check if your charger detects cell impedance very different in different bays of the charger.

11

Charger is problematic even if it charged without problems with non qc power supply. In any way it doesn’t work as it is supposed to. A big minus for Xtar.

I wish HJK reviewed it and wrote all on his website. Then Xtar will certainly have to take into account these criticism. :slight_smile:

12

I think HJK is inactive since two years or so. I think he will also not see all problems, I´ve learned in te last month that some chargers are work good if you use good cells but react sensitive with some cheap cells.

And like I said, I have the early-termination-problem sometimes also with my Non-QC-PSUs, at least in one bay. Maybe it was coincidence but with the LG-PSU mostly bay 4 had problems, with the Realme-PSU it was bay 4.

But not sure if it was also coincidence.

And with my 2 Samsung-PSUs the charger don´t work

13

I think there was somehow a communication problem with the Samsung charger. Somehow qc communication of Samsung charger and xtar is probably not compaitable.

14

Yep, I think Samsung made something different and don´t use QC or PD-compatible protocols. With one of these PSUs I saw the display of the Xtar lights up for a moment and then it stays dark.

However, different Smartphones works with it, also my Skyrc NC1500

15

I feel like voltage on and off durations cause problems with xtar charger.

16

Did your display also flickering, even with charging at low current?

This charger is a collection of bad engineering

1 Thank
17

I never had flickering problem with a charger with decent voltage like 5.2A. But the screen brightness is reduced when I used a lower voltage non QC adapter and yes screen flickers during charging because cell voltage is measured when charging is off. So screen is brighter when cell voltage is being measured and again darkens when charger starts drawing current from the power supply.
Xtar chargers always demand like 5.2V when they draw current rather than 5V. So a power supply which can ramp up voltage with current is more suitable. It compensates cable voltage loss.

18

I think it should not happen, especially with a powerful PSU.

I read in a Youtube-Video the delivered cable from the VC4SL is not QC-compatible; the list of failures getting longer.

19

Made the mistake and used the VC4SL again, can confirm it´s useless.

Huawei 1A USB-PSU

First insert 2 AA, charged them with 1A, it worked! This is a surprise this mostly/never worked with a 2A-PSU oder QC-PSU

Next inserted 2 AA, charge at 500mA, both stopped charging after some hundred mAh, <50%

20

I try to tested 3 problematic AA, rated from 2400-2600mAh, these cells are a challenge for every charger because the voltages reaches max. of 1,46V, most chargers wont terminate at this voltage.

The VC4SL behaves typically and decrease the current to 500mA

Cell 1: Stopped at 1575mAH, reinserted it, stopped manually at next 1610mAh because over 3000mAh is enough

Cell 2: Manually stopped at 2753mAh

Cell 3: Manually stopped at 2585mAh

Reinserted Cell 2+3, now it was possible to charge with 1000mA

Cell 2: Shows full after 150mAh

Cell 3: Shows full after 154mAh

Not sure if it was a real working termination or the usual wrong termination of the Xtar.

If it was a working termination, a new weakness of this charger is shown: Decreases mostly the charging current to 500mA and it´s not able to get a good termination with this low current.