High amp 2 or 4 18650 usb charger

novarider said:

Why only a usb input charger?

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ElectronGuru said:

They may be mutually exclusive. Xtar was transitioning to all USB and then changf back to proprietary for the 2 amp SV2.

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ChrisGarrett said:

USB and fast charging don't really go together. You might see on paper 4 cells at 500mAh and 2 cells at 1A, but don't always expect those rates. You'll also need a solid 2.4A 12w+ USB wall wart to have a chance.

We can do 2A and more for two bays on some of the 12 v chargers.

Chris

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White7561 said:

For travels

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novarider said:

Do you mean to other countries? You could get one of those adapters that you change the country plug and you should be able to use it anywhere.

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White7561 said:

Can you tell me what is the best one we can get for usb charging? Thx

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ChrisGarrett said:

Well, for a four bay USB charger that does 4.2v li-ions and NiMH batteries, I have an Xtar VC4. It's got a voltage display and mAh readout (on charge,) for each channel.

It can sometimes be slower than 500mA/1000mA, but I have gotten a pair of cells to charge up at 1000mA over 3.5 hours, so it's 'fast' and sometimes it's not.

There's also the Xtar VC2 Plus Master 2 bay USB charger, if you want something slightly smaller.

I also just bought two of the Liitokala Lii 202 2 bay USB multi chem chargers, but I haven't run any tests over time. It does 500mA and 1A, but there are no numerical voltage meters, nor a capacity counter. Still, at $7, they're cheap enough to buy a couple of them.

Chris

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White7561 said:

thanks so much for suggestions .. so the best 4bay usb charger is Xtar VC4?

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ChrisGarrett said:

For a USB based 4 bay charger, it's pretty good and tests out well, although there are a few nits with some of us, with NiMH batteries not always terminating quickly and perhaps charging slower than advertised.

Here's HKJ's review:

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar VC4 UK.html

Here's his review of the smaller VC4 Plus Master:

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar VC2 Plus Master UK.html

Here's the NiteCore UM20 2 bay USB charger:

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Nitecore UM20 UK.html

Like I said before, if you have to have USB and I got this charger to work with my USB solar panels in emergency power outages here in Miami, then this is probably the best and safest choice to buy. Mine is kept at my GF's place, so I have something for her, if I need to charge stuff up while there.

Chris

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White7561 said:

Okay. Thank you so much for your help. If you have a better product for usb 4 bay charger. Please quote me. thanks

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ChrisGarrett said:

The second HKJ review I posted should have said VC2 Plus Master, not VC4, but that should be obvious upon clicking on it.

Frankly, we don't have a ton of quality choices and certainly not any that will do four bays at 1A. If you had something like the Xtar USB dock, you could buy two of the Xtar VP2 Master Plus chargers and run each at 1A each, for a total of 4x1A.

It would cost slightly more, but that's a work-around until somebody comes up with a better solution.

I guess you could always buy a quality, multi-port (at least 2x2.4A) USB hub, buy two Liitokala 202 chargers, like I have and run them. They'd run you ~$14 shipped, the USB hub would add more, but there you go. 4x1A charging, more flexible (all chemistries/voltages, so-so power bank) than the VC4 and cheaper.

Chris

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