XTAR VP1 - when finished?

[yellow]

... now that charger has a Voltage display ...

when "in a hurry" ...
--> wait till the display does no longer "move" the bars (meaning charging is finished)
or will the cells already be fully charged, when the 4.20 is reached?

 

[HKJ]

... now that charger has a Voltage display ...

when "in a hurry" ...
--> wait till the display does no longer "move" the bars (meaning charging is finished)
or will the cells already be fully charged, when the 4.20 is reached?

From my review:

At 175 minutes the voltage reach 4.20 volt, but you can see the blue curve (capacity) increases about 10% more if you wait.
The exact percent will depend on the actual battery and charge current, but it will usual be in the 5% to 20% range, you get more by waiting.

You can see these curves in both my charger and battery tests, if you want to see them for more battery types.

 

[moldyoldy]

I concur with the additional capacity increase after the bars stop moving. How much increase is dependent on the specific cell (aging/quality). Note that the final voltage may not be 4.20 volts even though the display may have read that at one time. I have had the displayed voltage drop as far as 4.17 after reaching 4.20 volts. That characteristic can also be observed on HKJ's graph after the yellow bar. Older cells seem to drop more in voltage after the end-of-charge level.

 

[hiuintahs]

In order to push current into a battery, a voltage has to be put onto the battery that is higher than its resting voltage. The lower the current the more narrow the difference between when the voltage the charger terminated at and the following resting voltage.

If wanting the battery to be sitting at 4.20 after a charge, one needs to select the lower charge setting of 0.25 amps which should terminate at 25mA and then the resting voltage of the battery will be closer to 4.20. So you would first charge at the high rate and then select the lower rate so that the charger continues to push current into the battery.

I think most agree on here that its not necessary to get a 100% charge because allowing for a slightly lower charge might actually prolong battery life..........although I have no idea by how much............and I'm not sure how many really want to mess around with trying to get the last amount of charge pumped into a battery.

 

[__philippe]

What I'd dearly love to see is a variation of the current VP1 charger, (shall we name it "VP1-CTSL" ?),
including one positive Charge Termination Signal LED per channel, like so:

Cheers,

__philippe

 

[__philippe]

Wish granted, "CTSL" suggestion implemented...

(photo courtesy Xtar-Norge)

Cheers,

__philippe

 

[yellow]

in order to mod the VP1 to charge 26650s, I cut away those unnecessary "fins" extending around the cells...

and then noticed that I like that setup much better, because when charging 18650s the cells tend to slip out of my fingers and get "shooten" away by the force of the spring.
In normal build the battery simply can not be gripped good enough.


please give me a charger like:
* WPII --> SMALL charger,
* with the looong slider of the VP1
* maybe with, maybe without the funny but unnecessary feature of a voltage display and with
* a useful USB outlet (working from when the charger is put into electricity sockets)

 

[__philippe]

Verily I say unto You, merely ask an Ye shall receive...

(picture courtesy Xtar-Norge)

Cheers,

__philippe

 

[GoSmitty]

So, where (and when) can we get the CTSL version? That thing is kewl!

~Smitty

 

[__philippe]

So, where (and when) can we get the CTSL version? That thing is kewl!

~Smitty

Xtar VP2 is the official reference for this new "CTSL" charger.

When: First batch currently available from a select few retail outlets

Where: Check post #10 in this VP2-specific thread :

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?378397-XTAR-CES-2014-VP2-charger

Cheers,

__philippe