Before I blow myself up, how do I use this thing?

[Utsuru]

The manual is in Chinese.

I've never used a battery charger like this and want to be safe, can someone give me a quick rundown or provide a link? I did a quick search and didn't find too much helpful info regarding these specific batteries I want to charge. Thank you for your help, a friend sent me a mod and I'm dying to use it, but I don't want to die before I get to use it.

 

[juggler86]

Put batteries in positive side toward xtar and wait. The charger will let you know when it gets to 4.2v. It is so RARE for something to go wrong will charging batteries especially with a deceny charger. A tip dont charge them over night, this is were problems come into play on cheap chargers

 

[Monotremata]

And make sure its set to 3.6v. Thats weird, my MC2 definitely came with an english manual. You can download it at Xtar Direct though.

 

[Utsuru]

Put batteries in positive side toward xtar and wait. The charger will let you know when it gets to 4.2v. It is so RARE for something to go wrong will charging batteries especially with a deceny charger. A tip dont charge them over night, this is were problems come into play on cheap chargers

Thank you for the reply, I'm most concerned about the switch on the back for the 3.2, 3.6, and 3.8 charging settings, I'm assuming the 3.6 is the setting I want because the batteries say 3.7v which I assume is their limit, am I correct in this?

The other question I had is there is a setting to change the "out current" from 0.25A, 0.5A to 1.0A, this setting I am unsure of which is best.

Thanks for your help ECF. I'd still be smoking cigarettes if it weren't for you all.

 

[Utsuru]

No one can chime in on this? Every post I pull up about this thing is a 3,000 word essay about every single thing about it. I just want to know how to use the out current setting safely without scouring the far corners of the internet for an answer to a really easy question.

Thank you.

 

[Monotremata]

Well that depends on how fast you want it to charge, its simple. .25a is probably going to take half a day, .50a is what most chargers use and will take about 4-6 hours to charge, and 1a is well twice as fast as that. I already posted above that 3.6v is what you need to set the voltage too, and the manual is available for download on Xtars website in English.

 

[Utsuru]

Well that depends on how fast you want it to charge, its simple. .25a is probably going to take half a day, .50a is what most chargers use and will take about 4-6 hours to charge, and 1a is well twice as fast as that. I already posted above that 3.6v is what you need to set the voltage too, and the manual is available for download on Xtars website in English.

I'm currently looking at the manual now, however it is incredibly fine print on my computer screen, thank you for the help. I'll just set it at 1.0A.

I appreciate it.

 

[Cool-breeze]

This is a semi educated assessment on your current controls: You can charge a battery based on a specific voltage or on a specific current. If you decide to research it you'd look for "current source vs voltage source" and get a lot of electronic technical stuff. Things advertised as 'quick chargers' typically use a current source. What does it all mean you say? Not too much. Adjusting current and voltage on a charger is like adjusting voltage and watts on a mod. You can not adjust them seperatly. as far as which one is better I suspect in this case it's about the same thing though that is the point I'm least confident on.

 

[Monotremata]

This is a semi educated assessment on your current controls: Yuo can charge a battery based on a specific voltage or on a specific current. If you decide to research it you'd look for "current source vs voltage source" and get a lot of electronic technical stuff. Things advertised as 'quick chargers' typically use a current source. What does it all mean you say? Not too much. Adjusting current and voltage on a charger is like adjusting voltage and watts on a mod. You can not adjust them seperatly. as far as which one is better I suspect in this case it's about the same thing though that is the point I'm least confident on.

Not in this chargers case. The voltage switch is for different types of batteries, and determines what voltage the charger stops charging at.. A 'regular' 4.2v 18650 needs to be charged on the 3.6v setting, period.The 3.2v setting is for LiFePO4 batteries, and 3.8v is for batteries with a capacity of 4.35v and you would be dangerously overcharging a 4.2v 18650.

 

[DC2]

Definitely subscribing to this thread.

I very much wonder about the different voltage settings.
And the different amperage settings.

And whether or not those batteries look scary.


I just plug in my Ego Twists and charge.
If I had that charger and those batteries I'd have the same questions.

 

[Monotremata]

And whether or not those batteries look scary.

Those are LG HE4s, hes perfectly fine with em.

 

[DingerCPA]

@Utsuru - not sure if you're aware, but on those batteries, the positive is where the collar is indented. (Basically, in your top picture, positive is on the left )

Forgive me if you already know that - sometimes they're not well-marked

 

[Cool-breeze]

Not in this chargers case. The voltage switch is for different types of batteries, and determines what voltage the charger stops charging at.. A 'regular' 4.2v 18650 needs to be charged on the 3.6v setting, period.The 3.2v setting is for LiFePO4 batteries, and 3.8v is for batteries with a capacity of 4.35v and you would be dangerously overcharging a 4.2v 18650.

To clarify I was NOT saying the voltage setting doesn't matter. I was saying charging based on current or voltage settings is essentially the same.

 

[Monotremata]

To clarify I was NOT saying the voltage setting doesn't matter. I was saying charging based on current or voltage settings is essentially the same.

Ahh gotcha. It sounded like it was suggested you could adjust one or the other to optimize charging.

 

[Cool-breeze]

Yea after rereading I get where you're coming from. Besides I'd rather someone question/ object to what I say (or they think I say) then misunderstand my intent and cause... problems for themselves lol. If Mono's assesment is correct on the voltage settings, which his reasoning seems solid imo, then I would have to question which current setting is ideal. Sadly I suspect the voltage setting is more of a "which battery do you have" and not actually an voltage setting where as the current setting is just that. Maybe I'm just over thinking this trying to remember my AC/DC circuit classes.

 

[CountBoredom]

The other question I had is there is a setting to change the "out current" from 0.25A, 0.5A to 1.0A, this setting I am unsure of which is best.

Utsuru, to adjust the "out current" (as you put it), you can switch between those modes by pressing the button that is in between the two green LEDs in your second photo. Pressing it once from the 0.25A shown will switch it to 0.5, pressing it again will switch to 1.0. The higher the amperage, the faster your batteries will charge--BUT higher amperages also come with more risk if the batteries cannot handle them. I have had good results with 0.5A on my Xtar VP2.

 

[Monotremata]

Yea after rereading I get where you're coming from. Besides I'd rather someone question/ object to what I say (or they think I say) then misunderstand my intent and cause... problems for themselves lol. If Mono's assesment is correct on the voltage settings, which his reasoning seems solid imo, then I would have to question which current setting is ideal. Sadly I suspect the voltage setting is more of a "which battery do you have" and not actually an voltage setting where as the current setting is just that. Maybe I'm just over thinking this trying to remember my AC/DC circuit classes.

Yeah how it works is, the 3.2v setting stops charging at 3.2v, 3.6 stops at 4.2, and 3.8 stops at 4.35 for those that can go that high. Most mods cut off a battery at like 3.2 or 3.5 so the lowest setting wouldnt even do anything haha (I wonder if it would discharge it??). Its got protection in it from overheating and whatnot, but setting it to 3.8 with a regular 4.2v battery might still overcharge it long enough before it gets hot enough to shut off that you could damage your brand new batteries.. I dont even know what the heck a LiFePO4 battery is but thats what the lowest setting is meant for.

Xtar does kinda make it a little confusing though especially when you think that most of the descriptions of our batteries use the 'nominal voltage' term and state 3.7v, while they have an actual capacity of 4.2v.. You would think they wouldve just labeled em 3.2/4.2/4.35 but nope.. Thats the charger I was looking at upgrading my MC2 from so I did a crapload of reading up on it a few months ago. Like a dummy I bought a cheaper Nitecore D2 that decided it wasnt going to perform right like 2 months later.. So now Im back to my MC2, when I could be using a nifty VP2..

 

[Utsuru]

Thank you all very much for your helpful input, I've got it all sorted out and am currently vaping away!

 

[VapingBad]

1 A is best for those batteries and all decent vaping 18650, you only need the lower amperages for smaller batteries.

Tech note: to find out google the battery, find the charge rate, if in amps fine that's the max charge rate, if in C just divide the battery capacity in mAh by a thousand and multiply by the C rate to get the max amps EG 2500 mAh with 2C charge rating = 2500/1000 x 2 = 2.5 x 2 = 5 A max, but they typically wont be as high as 2C, just used to make the maths clear.

 

[beckdg]

Congrats

Those he4s can take any current setting on that charger.

For best results, keep the setting at 0.25 all the time. But when you need them charged faster, don't worry. Just change the setting any time you like and put it back to .25 when you're done.

Just make sure that switch in the back is always set to 3.6 and you're pretty much golden.

Enjoy it. That's a fantastic charger. Pretty much doesn't get any better.

I should know...

Tapatyped