Batteries and charger

[Synphul]

My google-fu must be weak today. Seems I saw some mention somewhere (that narrows it down) about charging batteries together. Obviously married batteries as in 2x 18650's used in the same mod, discharged together, charged together etc.

Are there any issues with charging mismatched groups of batteries together? Say a pair of 18650's discharged to 3.4v and another pair of 18650's discharged to 3.7v. Can all 4 be charged at once on the same charger like a nitecore d4 or efest luc4/luc6? (digital chargers with overcharge protection). Or a pair of 18650's charged with a single 18650 if the pair is at 3.4v and the single is at 3.8v (say a single battery from a single battery mod).

I'd think it would be fine but thought I'd double check.

Also for chargers, any real pro's / cons to the luc4 vs luc6 vs xtar vc4? They all seem to have similar protections, the efest luc's have a 3yr warranty and not sure what the xtar is for warranty. I know there's a slight difference in charge rates. 4x 1A sounds kinda nice, don't plan to charge any at 2A. Is .68A close enough to make the luc6 a better choice?

The xtar seems kind of weak compared to the two luc chargers but does have 0v battery recovery (not sure a revived battery would have much life left after that). For the relatively cheap cost of batteries I'm not sure if the dead battery revival is a key feature, for $5 I'd buy another battery.

luc4 can charge 4 @ 1A, 4 @ .5A or 2 @ 2A.
luc6 can charge 6 @ .68A or 2 @ 2A (I don't think there's any in between)
xtar can charge 2 @ 1A or 4 @ .5A.

 

[Markw4mms]

As for your first question, I've had no problems charging different pairs (married and not) at the same time, the charger looks at all the batteries individually, not as pairs.
As for the choice of chargers, I have a Nitecore D-4, an LUC-4, and 2 XTAR Rockets, they all have worked well, and the only problem I've had is one channel of the LUC-4 died a couple of months ago. I'll open it up one day to see if I can fix it, but I paid less than $20 for it new, so no real big loss if it can't be fixed.

 

[Synphul]

Thanks @Markw4mms, appreciate the input. Seemed like a non issue with the whole smart charging aspect, polling for current charge level prior to charging, overcharge protection etc that they'd be able to handle multiple sets. I looked at these awhile back and price was more of a determining factor since they seemed so similar. Now however they're on sale for roughly the same price at imr.

 

[Rickajho]

Any recent chargers have fully independent channels regarding monitoring the batteries being charged. You limitation, if any, is going to be the charge current setting that will be applied to all channels and any control you have over that.

Xtar chargers have a 2 year warranty if they are purchased through a dealer.

Full technical reviews here: http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html

It's a little late in the day for me to look up comparisons, but I'm pretty sure he has tested and reviewed all the chargers you are looking at.

 

[Synphul]

Any recent chargers have fully independent channels regarding monitoring the batteries being charged. You limitation, if any, is going to be the charge current setting that will be applied to all channels and any control you have over that.

Xtar chargers have a 2 year warranty if they are purchased through a dealer.

Full technical reviews here: http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html

It's a little late in the day for me to look up comparisons, but I'm pretty sure he has tested and reviewed all the chargers you are looking at.

Thanks good info there. Does cover a lot of chargers, not the luc v6 though (yet anyway). Will have to bookmark it.

 

[Rickajho]

Not that one? ~> http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Efest LUC Blu6 OLED UK.html

NB: Xtar also has a new 6 bay charger ~> http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar MC6 Queen Ant UK.html

 

[Synphul]

Not that one? ~> http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Efest LUC Blu6 OLED UK.html

NB: Xtar also has a new 6 bay charger ~> http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar MC6 Queen Ant UK.html

No, the blu6 is different from the v6.
https://www.imrbatteries.com/efest-luc-v6-6-channel-battery-charger/

Not sure how similar they are internally, I would think the v6 would be more like the v4. The blu series is bluetooth enabled and is a little different. Instead of all 6 bays running at .68A they run at .5A or 2 bays at 2A. They added a third mode as well, 4 bays at 1A. I don't need the bluetooth and with the current sale the v6 is around 30% cheaper ($25 vs $35) for essentially the same charger.

 

[Carambrda]

The D4 charges batteries at .35A if 3 or 4 channels are in use. With only 1 or 2 channels in use, it charges them at .75A, and, even though it takes some extra patience at .35A, I find that if you charge them at .35A, the batteries will last a bit longer.

 

[Synphul]

Thanks for the help folks, ended up going with the luc v6 since it was on sale.

I made mention of it in the recent purchases thread but if anyone's in need of a charger IMR has a few decent sales going on. The luc v6 for $25, xtar vc4 for $23 (I think) or the luc v4 for $25 which I think is regular price. However the deal they're running with the v4 if you purchase it you get free shipping on the entire order. Could be worth $8-10 or more depending how much someone was buying, I only got a few batteries and the charger with other odds n ends.

The luc v4 free shipping offer ends 4/30 at 11:59 cst. No code or anything, one of the deals advertised on their top banner.
https://www.imrbatteries.com/

 

[Rickajho]

Forgot to mention: You can get Xtar at lumensdirect.com with free shipping on any order over $10.00 They're an authorized dealer too so the 2 year warranty applies to all Xtar chargers - even the low cost models.