Thank you Xtar, i am certainly a fan of your chargers and remain so..................that dragon is so tempting!!! But again, some of my cells require less than a 0.5 rate. I could still use another charger for those so no major deal deal breaker(cant please everyone i know, the vp1/vp2 with 0.25/0.5/1a works very well for me) The % readout is a deal breaker though...............I need V read out for learning my cells/usage/lights without having to use the probes. Would be great to have it as a V read out, then the option of % for those who want to see that info.
Cheers
ven, you've got to pick up at least one Dragon charger, to round out your XTAR collection. I love mine!
I currently own fourteen of their chargers (2 VP2s; 4-VC2 Plus; 2 SV2s, 2 VC4s, 2 MC1 Plus, 1 MC6, and the amazing Dragon (but only 1, so far :-(.
The % readouts aren't a big deal to me.
As for the MC6 charger, this one is, by far, the
least favorite XTAR charger that I own, and I would not recommend it to anyone who is charging multiple-sized (large and small) batteries simultaneously, or even multiples of a smaller battery (14500, 16340, etc.)
For the readouts to work properly, you have to pre-load the batteries in the charger before plugging in the charger. With the MC1 Plus units, this is the case, if you have a mostly-charged battery (otherwise, you end up with the charger indicating all four bars lit up, when you only have a partial charge); but at least they
tell you to first install the battery, then plug in the power, in the instructions.
It doesn't say that, in the MC6 manual. Why?
I don't believe you should have to have a heavy-use charger not plugged in, before you can get it to work properly, if you're regularly charging batteries. Seems kind of counter intuitive (especially for the novice, charging batteries), and it's a huge inconvenience. I don't mind that, with the MC1 Plus units, because I just keep those in my car, they see rare use, and they're never left plugged in - and only get plugged in, when I'm in need of charging a battery while on the road, on-the-fly.
If I decide to charge six 16340 or 14500 batteries (which was primarily how I intended to use this charger), the charge rate jumps up to 1 amp/hr, on some banks, as I start removing the fully-charged batteries. I do not want to be charging batteries of that low a capacity at any higher than .5 Amp/hour, nor do I want to leave fully-charged batteries in the charger, regardless of the smart charging having terminated safely. I understand that the charging rate is dynamic, based on how many batteries, but I hoped this charger would auto sense the size, and limit the charge rate, accordingly - even after removal of some of the batteries that are already charged.
It
is fine for charging four 18650 batteries (using Banks 1,2, 5, and 6), at 1 Amp/Hour, simultaneously, though - and that is the only way I use this charger - and only when I've exhausted the space in all my other chargers, while doing a big run of charging 18650/26650 batteries; but still, if I'm just topping off batteries, the bar graphs show as fully charged, unless the batteries are pre-loaded before plugging in the power. I think that's a poorly-thought-out design for a multi-bank charger.
Incidentally - I'm changing up my power supply situation, and I just ordered that U1 hub, earlier today. It will be used exclusively for powering my four VC2 Plus units