XTAR VC4

[markr6]

Use a hobby charger or something like the Opus BT-C3100 which charges, discharges, then recharges to determine the capacity. Looking forward to getting mine. It's been in the mail for a couple weeks now.

 

[RtOaNn]

Has anyone tried the VC4 with an Anker 25W 5-port charger? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DVH62J2/?tag=cpf0b6-20
or the 40W version?

 

[KiwiMark]

I've just ordered a VC4, good price and the USB power source will be very useful.
I have a Blitzwolf 40W USB charger that can power the VC4 while also charging my 10" tablet and my cellphone and my GoPro style action cam.
I also have a 12V USB charger that plugs into the vehicle cigarette lighter socket.
And I have several USB boxes running off batteries including one that is powered by 4 x 18650 cells.

I have better chargers like my 2 hobby chargers, but I'm running those from a computer PSU and it is a big and unwieldy to take on trips with me.
On a trip I'd like to be able to take one charger that can charge my 18650 cells and my Eneloop cells, the VC4 looks like a really good option.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I've just ordered a VC4, good price and the USB power source will be very useful.
I have a Blitzwolf 40W USB charger that can power the VC4 while also charging my 10" tablet and my cellphone and my GoPro style action cam.
I also have a 12V USB charger that plugs into the vehicle cigarette lighter socket.
And I have several USB boxes running off batteries including one that is powered by 4 x 18650 cells.

I have better chargers like my 2 hobby chargers, but I'm running those from a computer PSU and it is a big and unwieldy to take on trips with me.
On a trip I'd like to be able to take one charger that can charge my 18650 cells and my Eneloop cells, the VC4 looks like a really good option.

I just finished the USB charger/solar panel/power bank exercise with the addition of my VC4 (MC1+/XP1) and I like it as a charger, although 4x500mA is a bit slow. This isn't my 'go-to' charger (Maha C9000/VP2,) so it's fine for the role it's intended for.

I'm pretty much done with my portable power/light kits--maybe adding something like that new Fenix lantern, or a couple of StreamLight Siege jobbies.

It's been fun and interesting putting this latter gear together.

Chris

 

[Timothybil]

I just finished the USB charger/solar panel/power bank exercise with the addition of my VC4 (MC1+/XP1) and I like it as a charger, although 4x500mA is a bit slow. This isn't my 'go-to' charger (Maha C9000/VP2,) so it's fine for the role it's intended for.

I'm pretty much done with my portable power/light kits--maybe adding something like that new Fenix lantern, or a couple of StreamLight Siege jobbies.

It's been fun and interesting putting this later gear together.

Chris

Now that you are all done, can you give us a breakdown of what all you have in your solar setup? I wouldn't mind tapping your knowledge of all this for my own future reference. Thanks.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Now that you are all done, can you give us a breakdown of what all you have in your solar setup? I wouldn't mind tapping your knowledge of all this for my own future reference. Thanks.

I have two, one a 12v 60w (2x30w rigid mono panels) system that I wrote about here, three years ago:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?342073-Portable-solar-charging-setup-I-just-built

It's more a moderately portable system, that runs my Maha, Xtars, NiteCore chargers and other sundry USB devices, along with a couple of 12v AGM/SLA mother batteries (12Ah/22Ah.)

Then, last month, I wanted one of the smaller 5v USB solar panels in the 6w-15w range that we all were talking about and settled on a Sunkingdom 14w folding USB panel, a Ruinovo (HKJ's review) 4x18650 power bank and a few Xtar USB chargers: XP1, MC1+ and the VC4. I bought an OEM 2.4A Apple wall wart and together, they allow me more portability, as I can carry the stuff around, say to the beach, or even use them out on my patio.

I can't run 12v stuff off of the latter, but my bases are covered with the mother batteries and 12v system and then the smaller USB stuff.

While we haven't had many hurricanes in Miami over the past 9 years, power does go out and at least I can run my 12v fan and have plenty of light, between my flashlights and lanterns.

Everybody should have something along these lines and the two systems sans chargers, adapters and lights probably cost me in the range of $500-$600 when all was said and done. I might have saved a bit on the rigid system, but it is what it is.

Chris

 

[HopelessGearhead]

I have two, one a 12v 60w (2x30w rigid mono panels) system that I wrote about here, three years ago:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?342073-Portable-solar-charging-setup-I-just-built

It's more a moderately portable system, that runs my Maha, Xtars, NiteCore chargers and other sundry USB devices, along with a couple of 12v AGM/SLA mother batteries (12Ah/22Ah.)

Then, last month, I wanted one of the smaller 5v USB solar panels in the 6w-15w range that we all were talking about and settled on a Sunkingdom 14w folding USB panel, a Ruinovo (HKJ's review) 4x18650 power bank and a few Xtar USB chargers: XP1, MC1+ and the VC4. I bought an OEM 2.4A Apple wall wart and together, they allow me more portability, as I can carry the stuff around, say to the beach, or even use them out on my patio.

I can't run 12v stuff off of the latter, but my bases are covered with the mother batteries and 12v system and then the smaller USB stuff.

While we haven't had many hurricanes in Miami over the past 9 years, power does go out and at least I can run my 12v fan and have plenty of light, between my flashlights and lanterns.

Everybody should have something along these lines and the two systems sans chargers, adapters and lights probably cost me in the range of $500-$600 when all was said and done. I might have saved a bit on the rigid system, but it is what it is.

Chris

Thanks for sharing your info. I have a couple of 100W panels sitting around (torpedoed travel trailer project) as well as a charge controller & 2 deep cycle batteries. I've been wanting to do something along the same lines with them, but haven't been sure where to start. Thanks for the push.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Thanks for sharing your info. I have a couple of 100W panels sitting around (torpedoed travel trailer project) as well as a charge controller & 2 deep cycle batteries. I've been wanting to do something along the same lines with them, but haven't been sure where to start. Thanks for the push.

You're already in like Flynn, as we say.

Solar, at least for smaller things, might just be the nail in the coffin if you need to keep some power going.

I wish I could have afforded 2x100w panels at the time, but I'm in a condo and I wanted to keep things lighter and smaller, hence the 30w panels.

I'm no prepper, but I needed to have some sort of 'car camping' rig that I could use in the event that a hurricane blew through town again and the power went out. GF had her power out for 2 weeks during Wilma, boss had his out for 3 weeks and my uncle/aunt were out for about 8 days, so it happens.

I was out for 18 hrs during Andrew and 15 for Wilma, but former Senator Bob Graham's family owns the town I live in and he pulled some strings for us, lol.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Chris

 

[KiwiMark]

4x500mA is a bit slow. This isn't my 'go-to' charger (Maha C9000/VP2,) so it's fine for the role it's intended for.

At home my 'go-to' charger is my iCharger 208B which is capable of 20A or 350W and can charge 1-8 Li-Ion cells in series or 1-25 NiCd or NiMH cells.
I also have an iCharger 106B+ that has a bit less grunt but can still handle 10A or 250W charging output, up to 6 Li-Ion cells or 17 NiCd/NiMH cells.
My iChargers can charge NiCd, NiMH, LiCo, LiMn, LiFePO4 & Lead acid - they are VERY versatile chargers!

But when I'm on holiday and travelling around the country I do it on a Motorcycle (either my Honda ST1300 or my Suzuki DR650) and am not going to take all my good charging gear.
I'm fine with 2 x 1A or 4 x 500mA limits, good enough to get some Li-Ion or NiMH cells charged up, even if I need to leave it going for a few hours to do it.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

But when I'm on holiday and travelling around the country I do it on a Motorcycle (either my Honda ST1300 or my Suzuki DR650) and am not going to take all my good charging gear.
I'm fine with 2 x 1A or 4 x 500mA limits, good enough to get some Li-Ion or NiMH cells charged up, even if I need to leave it going for a few hours to do it.

I hear ya. I don't mind that my VC4 only does 4x500mA because it does most other things that I want in a USB charger. It's not as small as my VP2, but it does both NiMH and ICR/IMR chemistries and seems to be a bit better a charger than my multi-chem NiteCore i4 v.2, so it'll do.

Chris

 

[SigmaTheDJ]

Hey guys. I just signed up to ask a couple of questions about this charged as I bought one today, but I'm not sure it's working properly.

I first charged a couple of 18650 batteries. They fully charged and everything was fine.

I then put a couple of AA Eneloop Pro batteries into the 2 inner charging slots. After about an hour, I put a couple of AAA Eneloop Pro batteries into the outer 2 charging slots.

The AA Eneloops fully charged, except the Voltage meter went up to 1.55 Volts - as high is it goes. Should it go up that high? I thought these batteries were either 1.2 or 1.4 Volts? They work fine after charging, but I thought I would ask anyway.

The AAA Eneloops fully charged according to the charger, but when I placed them back into my cordless phone, they only showed as being about a third charged - they were nowhere near full.

Any advice/answers you can give me would be great, as I'm not sure if my charger is faulty. Thanks!

 

[KiwiMark]

The AA Eneloops fully charged, except the Voltage meter went up to 1.55 Volts - as high is it goes. Should it go up that high? I thought these batteries were either 1.2 or 1.4 Volts? They work fine after charging, but I thought I would ask anyway.

Sounds fine to me. These batteries are 1.2V as an operating voltage, while charging they will go much higher. If you put these batteries in a device and turn that device on then the voltage will quickly drop to somewhere around 1.2V just like their specs say. What you describe is completely normal and expected.

For the AAA batteries - I'm not sure, I'd suggest putting them back in the charger and seeing how much more charge they will take - maybe they terminated early for some reason?

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Sounds fine to me. These batteries are 1.2V as an operating voltage, while charging they will go much higher. If you put these batteries in a device and turn that device on then the voltage will quickly drop to somewhere around 1.2V just like their specs say. What you describe is completely normal and expected.

For the AAA batteries - I'm not sure, I'd suggest putting them back in the charger and seeing how much more charge they will take - maybe they terminated early for some reason?

1.2v is their nominal voltage, where they're pretty much depleted, although my Maha C9000 discharges down to .90v with it does its discharge and my LaCrosse BC-700 is 1.00v, IIRC. There's really nothing left in the tank much below 1.20v, although battery vampire lights and eek out the rest.

I believe the Maha reaches 1.47v and the LC hits 1.51v, when terminating charge, so our VC4s might terminate a bit higher, hence the 1.55v marking on the dial.

Chris

 

[KiwiMark]

1.2v is their nominal voltage, where they're pretty much depleted,

Or the normal operating voltage . . . depending on the load placed on the battery.
The fact is that the voltage is a pretty fluid thing - voltage under a load, resting voltage, voltage while charging, voltage under a larger load, etc.
1.2V was chosen as some sort of middle ground under some sort of load, but the voltage will vary greatly depending on what is happening.

Similarly 1.5V batteries can be 1.7V with no load when brand new and 1.0V under a decent load.

 

[SigmaTheDJ]

Sounds fine to me. These batteries are 1.2V as an operating voltage, while charging they will go much higher. If you put these batteries in a device and turn that device on then the voltage will quickly drop to somewhere around 1.2V just like their specs say. What you describe is completely normal and expected.

For the AAA batteries - I'm not sure, I'd suggest putting them back in the charger and seeing how much more charge they will take - maybe they terminated early for some reason?

Thanks very much for the response! You've set my mind at ease about my charger possibly being faulty.

I tried some other AAA batteries in the phone and it also said that they were 1/3rd charged, even though they were full too, so I think it's the phone that has issues rather than the batteries.

 

[Timothybil]

Well, I'm sold. Got my VC4 the other day, along with my TM16 and four Nitecore 2000 mAh IMR cells. I had been thinking about upgrading from my i4 for a while, and finally took the plunge. I was happy with my i4, but it was just so slow in charging my cells. After playing with my TM16 for a couple of days, the little blue blinky told me I was down to 50%, so I decided to see how the VC4 looked. It looked really sharp all the way. I like how the display kept sliding over one channel as I added cells to the charger. The channel voltmeter's said 3.7 volts for each cell, and the charge indicator stayed rock solid on .5 amps. After a little over two hours, all four cells were recharged and ready to go. I really like the fact that it is a USB charger, so that it will work straight from my power banks/solar panels if needed, without having to use my homebrew USB to 12v boost circuit.

 

[crea7or]

How the capacity indication works? Discharge and then full charge?

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Charge then discharge to see capacity.

,Bill

 

[crea7or]

Charge then discharge to see capacity.

Thanks!
Is it standard behavior for this function in chargers? I heard that Opus is better in this function (maybe I misunderstood something).

 

[KiwiMark]

My charger arrived today, connected it to the Blitzwolf and put in a Li-Ion battery - couldn't be easier to use. It is definitely a charger I'd prefer to let someone else use rather than my more complicated hobby chargers. For $25 this charger seems like pretty nice value for money and it is capable of charging almost every battery I've got (all but my LiFePO4 cells I think).