Charger for longer length batteries.

[wjv]

I recently bought a Wurkkos WK30 flashlight that takes a 26650 battery. While can charge the battery while in the light, I wanted to be able to also charge the batteries (I have 4 of them) outside the light so that I don't tie up the flashlight, using it as a charger. The batteries I have are the XTAR protected cells that are 68.2 mm long.

I have some Nitecore chargers (Intellcharger I2 and I4) but the batteries barely fit in the slots. They fit but I had to really force them in. If they had been just a fraction of a mm longer I would have needed a rubber mallet to get them in! While t worked, I didn't like putting that much pressure on the button top and potentially damaging the battery.

Did some online shopping and found the Nitecore UM4 charger which was listed as handling just shy of a 80 mm battery.

I have to say it is a very nice charger. The display provided a significant amount of information on a slot by slot basis: Battery condition, Voltage, Charging Amperage and such. Most important to me, it really can handle the longer batteries.

Comparing the I4 and the UM4 side by side you can see the significant gap at the bottom where the UM4 can accommodate the larger cells. The contacts can slide all the way to the bottom of the housing. I measured the gap and it was ~0.4 inches.or 10-11mm in added length.

So if you are branching out into lights with larger cells as many of us are, the UM4 seems like a pretty good choice.

The only downside was that the charger only came with a USB-C cable but no AC wall charger. I solved that by buying a 3-pack of 3A USB Wall Charger off of amazon for $14. So there is no direct to AC connection like the I2 and I4 chargers.

 

[richbuff]

I solved my not enough slots, too short, too low power charger problem, up and downstairs, in four rooms, all at the same time, by getting four Vapcell S4 Plus chargers. No more bottlenecks charging four or eight ultra long, usb, protected 21700 cells. I kept my five Xtar (3 x VC4 and 2 x VC8) for smaller recharge tasks that do not need the large ac/dc adapter that the S4 Plus thrives on.

 

[wjv]

I was hoping that some members here would list more chargers that they are using with the longer batteries!

When shopping for a charger it's not easy to tell the max battery length as many companies don't list that spec. Several companies that claim that they work with protected 21700s have a 70mm limit and/or will only work with flattop cells. .

 

[xxo]

I use a olight UC to charge longer cells.

 

[john61ct]

Buy the proper holders used for cap testing

then any hobby charger designed to handle 1S to 6S or 8S, paralleling boards

just generic supplies from the RC world.

Soldering up pigtail adapters, harnesses, different connector plugs etc is a basic skill everyone should have.