Xtar VC8 Charger

[Frenkyou]

The new xtar VC8 charger XTAR VC8 Charger_ShenZhen XTAR Electronics Co., Ltd

xtar VC8 is an 8-channel charger that supports lithium ion, NiMH and NiCd cells. The Xtar VC8 uses a USB-C input current for a faster recharge of all the batteries, this current can be changed manually in 3A, 2A, 1A, 0.5A or 0.25A, which allows the user to adapt the various currents to the needs of your batteries. Another big advantage of this charger is the integrated LCD screen that provides real-time information including voltage, capacity, internal resistance and battery type.


In classification mode, the battery charger verifies the real capacity of the batteries by "charging-discharging-charging" the batteries, the stable discharge current of 300 mA is used to accurately measure the real capacity of the cells so that users can know if the capacity of each individual battery is overrated or not, and also to distinguish good performance batteries from bad ones (stated by David, CEO of XTAR).

The most recent cells that are commonly used in many fields, such as electric cars, power banks, vaping devices etc. are the 21700 batteries, the VC8 can charge 8 at the same time!
The 21700 batteries are considered an improvement over the classic 18650 because they have a greater capacity and greater power, the specific energy at the moment compared to the 18650 is on average about 20% -35% higher, with a reduction in production costs by 9 %.
The LCD screen shows all information during charging.

The Xtar Vc8 package contains information in 11 different languages .

Content
1- Xtar VC8
1- QC3.0 power cable with USB connection
1- Instruction manual in 11 different languages

Specifications

Supported batteries are 3.6V, 3.7V, Li-ion / IMR / INR / ICR in 10440/14500/16340/17500/17670/18350/18490/18500/18650/18700/20700/21700/22650/25500 / 26650.

The VC8 recharges 8 batteries simultaneously, if you want to increase the speed you need to have a QC3.0 adapter.

The lower part

USB input:
Comes with a USB-to-USB-C cable.

Reload:
present the 0V activation function able to regenerate some unusable batteries due to excessive "discharge"

Inserting the supported battery types, the charger immediately starts the charging function, the batteries that cannot be used will be considered as "broken batteries" and "Er" will appear on the display.

Key functions

 

[Frenkyou]

On the left there are the Mode and Curr buttons and they control the slots from the first to the fourth, the Disp and Curr buttons are on the right and control the channels from the fifth to the eighth.

Slots CH1 to CH8 support the cell recharge function. Meanwhile, the slots CH1 to CH4 have two other advanced functions: the evaluation function and the storage function.

* The charger can test the real capacity of the cell through its classification function, so that users can know if the cell capacity is overrated or not. And when there are some cells that are not used for a long time, the user can use the VC8 storage function to charge / discharge the batteries at their rated voltage, in order to maximize the life of the cell.


1. CH1-CH8

In charging mode.
- press the "mode" / "disp." to change the display of Curr (current), Cap (capacity) and IR (internal resistance).
- press the "curr." to change the charging current to 3A / 2A / 1A / 0.5A / 0.25A respectively. The charge current value will return to the initial value cyclically.

2. CH1-CH4

Long press the "Mode" button to switch the functions between charging mode, evaluation mode ("Grad.") And storage mode ("Store").

LCD display
1. In top-up mode:
- If it shows "CAP", after the battery is fully charged the screen will show "FULL" and capacity continuously.
- If it shows "CUR", after the battery is fully charged the screen will show "FULL" and the current value.
- If it shows "IR", after the battery is fully charged the screen will show "FULL" and the internal resistance of the battery.
* If the battery is fully charged, the charger will not be able to measure the internal resistance. The same is true even when the input current is less than 700mA.

2. In evaluation mode: the charger will charge the battery and after having fully charged it, it will then proceed to a discharge process and then to a second full charge. In the first charging period, the screen shows the charging current in real time; during the discharge, the screen shows a comulative discharge capacity (the discharge current is 300mA); in the second recharge period, the screen shows the discharge current in real time and the recurrent comulative discharge capacity. At the end of the evaluation, the screen will show "DONE" and the capacity calculated alternately.

3. When the battery voltage is above 3.7V / 1.2V nominal, it will be discharged to 3.7V / 1.2V. When the battery voltage is lower than 3.7V / 1.2V, it will be charged up to 3.7V / 1.2V. The 3.7V / 1.2V voltage is the best solution for storing lithium ion and Ni-MH / Ni-CD batteries. At the end of the storage process the LCD screen shows "DONE" and 3.7V / 1.2V.

* In storage mode, VC8 can be used to charge LiFePO4 batteries.

Turn on / off the backlit screen.
The display goes dark one minute after the end of use. Long press "Curr". To turn off the backlight and any operation to turn it on.

Considerations.

XTAR was born 13 years as a national high-tech company, with a very professional research and development team with a perfect supply chain system, and is always looking for innovation. Over the years XTAR has produced many first generation products, smart lithium battery chargers and underwater torches. XTAR has always insisted on producing good quality products and sells successfully in over 120 countries and regions worldwide. (Source Xtar)

The XTAR VC8 eight-slot multi-function charger is different from traditional eight-slot chargers on the market. Use a type C port to support QC3.0 fast charge and maximum 3A charging speed. XTAR VC8 also automatically detects the status of the individual cell and then supplies the battery with the appropriate current.


- the VC8 is basically 2 chargers in a single physical body, each charger is controlled by 2 buttons and has its own LCD display; the functions also operate independently, the loader n. 1 (slots 1-4) in the reload / classification / storage mode (all slots) will only use the same mode, eg. all will be in "classification" or "storage" mode only if previously set to that mode), the loader n. 2 (ex. Slot 5-8) has only the recharge function


- Manual selection of charging current (2A / 1A / 0.5A / 0.25A)

The 2 most external slots (slots 1 and 8) can be set to 3A.
Each loader can be set manually: eg on loader 1 we can set slots 1 to 4 with a different charging current than the charger 2.

a) normal charging mode: it can switch each display to show "charge capacity" / "real time charging current" / IR of the battery; the battery voltage is always indicated - the charging current can be selected manually (3A / 2A / 1A / 0,5A / 0,25A) and applies to all the slots in the "charger 1" or in the "charger 2"

b) 'grading' mode: the manual says that it is downloaded at 0.3A; the display shows the discharge at a minimum of 2.60 v (the LCD display briefly displays 2.59 v before returning to a higher voltage after a discharge); the charging current can be adjusted manually while in "classification" mode (I did not check if it follows the manually selected charging current)

c) in 'memorization' mode, nothing can be changed (except to switch to other function modes); only displays battery voltage

"Loader No. 2" (slots 5-8) has only the normal charging function.

LCD backlit display will automatically dim after a few seconds, but can be manually activated and deactivated separately for the 1 LCD display charger and the 2 charger.

- does not have a "time" display (the charging time may have been useful to know if it takes too long to load an old high-resistance battery)


The maximum charge current based on the battery length:
- for AAA / 10440 and 16340/18350 batteries: the maximum charging current will be limited to 500mA
- for AA / 14500 (flat-top and button-top) the maximum charging current will be limited to 2000mA
- for 18650 and larger batteries, it is possible to select the maximum charging current 3000mA
(ie it is possible to manually select a higher charging current, but if it is a shorter battery, the charging current will be limited to the aforementioned charging current)

This VC8 has improved compared to the Xtar VC4S on two points:
a) The VC4S did not allow to manually select the charging current (the charging current can be indirectly limited by using a less powerful USB power source or by inserting more batteries in the slots)
b) The VC4S is known to charge AAA NiMh batteries at 2000 mA with its automatic charging current (not selectable), while the VC8 limits it to 500 mA and is also manually selectable by the user to the lower charging current of 250 mA if desired.

The Xtar VC8 was released November 8, 2019 and is now also available on Amazon: Amazon.it: xtar VC8 % C3% 95% C3% 91 & ref = nb_sb_noss

I thank XTAR for sending me his new VC8 for review: XTAR VC8 Charger_ShenZhen XTAR Electronics Co., Ltd