Xtar VC4 charging problem

[keithy]

Recently my Xtar VC4 has not been functioning correctly. I got it in 2015 and it has been lightly used as a spare charger, mainly as a plug and play charger for the family to use. But it's been working fine as far until now.

Now when charging 4 x NiMH cells, it appears to work correctly, displaying 1.2V or less for all slots, and then charging at 0.5A. However after 11mAh of charge, it stops charging.

I know the inserted Eneloop cells are still flat, and have discharged them in a Maha MH C9000 and Lacross BC700 to make sure.

When the cells are fully discharged again, I try them in the Xtar VC4 and have the same issue again. After charging 11mAh on all slots, it stops charging and displays green LEDs and 0A in the charging current display. If I put a cell in slot 1, it starts charging again (showing 1A in the display), but as soon as I put a cell in slot 4, it stops charging and all slots go green and shows 0A on the display.

So far I have tried a different USB power supply, tried a spare USB to barrel connector cable, and tried different batch of discharged Eneloop Pros, and still have the same problem.

I am currently discharging some 18650s and 14500s in another charger to test if the VC4 is having this issue with Lithium cells or if it is only with NiMH.

Anyone else experience a similar issue with their Xtar VC4 and NiMH cells charging?

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

It is possible that it's reading those Eneloops as high internal resistance, and thus stopping the charge after a bit of analysis? How old are the batteries?

Have you tried it with batteries are aren't drained flat?

My personal experience with Xtar chargers, is that they're best for charging lithium-ion cells. While they do work with NiMH, they don't seem to be optimized for that chemistry.

 

[keithy]

Cheers. The high IR might be the issue.

Strangely, I just tried some older Energizer 2300mAh AAs from about 2012, and they seem to be charging fine. I have another batch of 4 AAs that I will charge again once these are done. It seems only my Eneloops are giving me this issue. I think they are Gen 3s but will check the date and test their IR as well.

I also use the Xtar VC4 as a family friendly charger mainly for 14500 and 18650s that the family can "plug and charge". I still mainly use my Lacrosse BC700 and the Maha MHC9000 when I charge my own NiMHs.

Anyway, I saw the VC4s was released so I just ordered that as well. The individual slot readout displays are an improvement on the VC4.

 

[usdiver]

Do you have the standard VC4 or the Dragon?

 

[keithy]

Do you have the standard VC4 or the Dragon?

I have the VC4 - the one with the USB A cable to barrel connector for the power supply. The Dragon is the Xtar VP4.

I have done some more testing, and it seems that NiMH charging is now very odd.

It worked with older Energizer 2300mAh cells from about 2012. But I only charged 3 x AA cells. Did two batches in Slots 1/2/4, and 1/3/4, and both these times it charged them fine.

When I tried my Eneloops again (Japanese Made 3rd Gen from about 2014 and 2018), and tried to charge 4 x AA in all slots, it stops charging at 11mAh.

When I tried 4 x Ikea Ladda White (japanese Made similar to Eneloop Pros made in 2018) the same thing happens. It stops charging at 11mAh.

I have to investigate the Internal Resistance of these cells. I only have the Liitokala Lii500 and the Opus C3100. The Lii500 doesn't seem reliable for IR reporting.

The VC4 was charging fine for NiMH since 2015. Only about 2 weeks ago this started happening. But it is strange that it only seems to affect my Eneloops/Eneloop Pros/Ikea Ladda whites.

Charging 18650 and 14500s seem ok at the moment, but I am only using slots 1 & 4 to charge these, not all slots at once.

 

[peter yetman]

This is from HKJ's review...

"For charging at full current the charger is fairly demanding of the used usb power supply. It is possible to use weaker supplies, but the charging will be slower or sometimes much slower. With the current dial it is easy enough to see when that happens and it is time to get a better usb power supply. I would have liked slightly better performance with weak usb power supplies."

I know you've used a different USB supply, but it may not be giving you enough power.

Also have you tried changing them in the higher current slot and seeing what happens? The current dial shows the maximum current possible, (rather than actual) is this any where near the current selected?

P

 

[sbj]

Try charging them with 1A.

 

[keithy]

I know you've used a different USB supply, but it may not be giving you enough power.

Also have you tried changing them in the higher current slot and seeing what happens? The current dial shows the maximum current possible, (rather than actual) is this any where near the current selected?

The first thing I thought was that the power supply was at fault, so I tried a few others, but all with the same result when charging NiMH. I have used a Blitzwolf QC3.0 BW-S7 40W 5 port charger (with nothing else plugged into the other USB slots), and an Anker PowerPort 5 40W 5 Port charger (also with nothing else plugged in), and a single slot QC3.0 USB charger.

I have used my spare USB to barrel connector as well, just in case that was the issue.

I did try just using slots 1 & 4 (the high current 1A slots) with two of the Eneloops, but it stopped charging again at 11mAh.

I only had success when charging two batches of 3 x Energizer AAs in slots 1/3/4 and 1/2/4. When I tried only using 3 slots on the Eneloops, it stops charging again - showing 0A and all LEDs green, but still displaying the voltage at 1.2V.

As I mentioned, my VC4 was working fine with the same power supply and cable for the past few years. It was only recently when family members were telling me that AA batteries charged in the VC4 were not lasting long. Then I discovered that my VC4 wasn't charging them fully.

I will put this down to a faulty unit, since I haven't been able to find anyone on the net with a similar NiMH charging issue.

I will report back when I receive my VC4S and test it using the same Eneloop cells that aren't charging in the VC4. I will keep the VC4 for charging Lithium cells only.

 

[peter yetman]

Bummer.
P

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

As I mentioned, my VC4 was working fine with the same power supply and cable for the past few years. It was only recently when family members were telling me that AA batteries charged in the VC4 were not lasting long. Then I discovered that my VC4 wasn't charging them fully.

I will put this down to a faulty unit, since I haven't been able to find anyone on the net with a similar NiMH charging issue.

I will report back when I receive my VC4S and test it using the same Eneloop cells that aren't charging in the VC4. I will keep the VC4 for charging Lithium cells only.

IMO, you should ditch the charger altogether. If it recently started failing for NiMH cells, that might indicate a future problem with lithium-ion cells. You don't want to use a flaky charger on lithium-ion batteries. At the very least, monitor very closely.

 

[mrmarcie]

The first thing I thought was that the power supply was at fault, so I tried a few others, but all with the same result when charging NiMH. I have used a Blitzwolf QC3.0 BW-S7 40W 5 port charger (with nothing else plugged into the other USB slots), and an Anker PowerPort 5 40W 5 Port charger (also with nothing else plugged in), and a single slot QC3.0 USB charger.

I have used my spare USB to barrel connector as well, just in case that was the issue.

I did try just using slots 1 & 4 (the high current 1A slots) with two of the Eneloops, but it stopped charging again at 11mAh.

I only had success when charging two batches of 3 x Energizer AAs in slots 1/3/4 and 1/2/4. When I tried only using 3 slots on the Eneloops, it stops charging again - showing 0A and all LEDs green, but still displaying the voltage at 1.2V.

As I mentioned, my VC4 was working fine with the same power supply and cable for the past few years. It was only recently when family members were telling me that AA batteries charged in the VC4 were not lasting long. Then I discovered that my VC4 wasn't charging them fully.

I will put this down to a faulty unit, since I haven't been able to find anyone on the net with a similar NiMH charging issue.

I will report back when I receive my VC4S and test it using the same Eneloop cells that aren't charging in the VC4. I will keep the VC4 for charging Lithium cells only.

Do you have any news on this already?

My charger is giving problems lately. Not charging fully, while it displayes it full. Etc.
I have done some googling but I'm afraid the charger is dying after only three years of use :huh:

 

[keithy]

sorry mrmarcie - haven't logged in for a while.

With my VC4, I tried:

• Changing the USB - Barrel connector cable
• Changing the power supplies - ended up trying 5 different ones all capable of > 2.4A at 5V, including some multiport USB chargers
• Testing new batteries, as well as older batteries

One of the power supplies seemed to work for a while - a QC3.0 plug I had. But after two charges, my NiMHs would again stop at 11mAh.

I also tried different brands of NiMHs, from my Eneloops/Eneloop Pros, to Energizers, to Aldi ActivEnergy and Ikea Laddas. Tried brand new NiMHs as well to elimitate whether it was high IR of older cells. They would also generally stop charging at 11mAh.

I also had some issues with 14500s. Again these would start charging as normal, but would stop charging early. Changing power supplies and resetting the charger would sometimes work, but not always.

So I think I eliminated the possibility it was the charging cable or the power supply, or the batteries at fault.

Mine is from 2015, but has been lightly used as I have quite a few other chargers.

I cancelled my order for the VC4s, and have been using the LittoKala Lii500 and my Nitecore chargers for Li-ion and NiMH cells, and I am looking for an alternative charger for family to use "plug and play" without messing with settings but one that will show the cumulative charge of cells when completed.

 

[mikeybhoy]

Signed up to this forum to report same issues as Keithy. For past week or so my Xtar has been getting to 11mah when charging and going no further. Also found that the button which cycles between ch1/ch4 and ch2/ch3 doesnt work when it reaches 11mah. This is on a variety of battery makes Eneloop, Tronic, Amazon. Power cycling the xtar doesn't fix.

Trying with a better charger that does the full 2A output (previously 1.8A but worked fine for years)