Question about charger/batteries

[Jsgillis86]

Hey guys and gals. I recently purchased a couple mods with removable batteries and I’m looking to start charging externally. I’ve pretty much decided on the XTAR vp4 as my charging setup but I didn’t want to throw my money at a dealer that wasn’t reputable or worthwhile. Any suggestions on who I should give my money to? And if the vp4 sucks, feel free to let me know.


Also, batteries… I currently use a Kangertech Topbox mini 75 watt and a Dripbox 160, and have been looking at the LG HB2 and HB6, and the Samsung 25R. Would any of those batteries work for my current setup or am I gonna ruin something by choosing one over the other? It seems picking the optimal battery per user is preference based and mine are yet to be determined. As far as this purchase goes, I was more concerned about safety and not screwing my setups up.


Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[AndriaD]

https://www.xtardirect.com/ -- amazing prices, free shipping on every order. I didn't get an xtar when I first started; they have such a great reputation, I was afraid they'd be too expensive for me -- but they're not!!! Not at all! So now I finally have one! I ordered from that site, xtardirect.

Andria

 

[IMFire3605]

Xtar are the Cadillac of vaping chargers IMO, so you are good with the vp4. Batteries for your mod all 3 you listed are good, though remember the 2 LG HB series listed are low mah 1500 so will need recharging often, but high 30amps good up to about 90watts. The 25R is a strong workhorse at 20amps so good for 65watts and below. Better batteries for it would be the LG HD2, HD2C, HD4, or the Sony VTC5A which are all 25amp and at least 2000 to 2500mah

 

[Vapin4Joy]

ecig.com has the best price on theVC4, currently out of stock, but they restock often, watch them. 17.99
http://www.ecig.com/xtar-vc4-charger.html

 

[AndriaD]

ecig.com has the best price on theVC4, currently out of stock, but they restock often, watch them. 17.99
http://www.ecig.com/xtar-vc4-charger.html

Bet they don't offer free shipping though. And "out of stock" is no help to anyone!

Andria

 

[freemind]

I own an Xstar. You have made a solid choice in chargers. Nitecore is shit, in my experience. I've owned three of them and the all shit the bed.

Buy the charger from the site Andrea suggested.

I like Samsung 25R's. I like LG's too. You aren't going to be wrong with either brand. Just be SURE you are buying from a reputable seller. Some assholes out there sell re-wraps.

 

[Vapin4Joy]

Bet they don't offer free shipping though. And "out of stock" is no help to anyone!

Andria

Nope, that's why I said watch, still would be at least 5-6 bucks less. Me, I would place a order with ecig for several items to get free shipping and I'm patient.

 

[Jsgillis86]

Awesome. Man ya'll are quick with it.

I wouldn't be opposed to getting a few sets of batteries to optimize performance per unit. Would you kind folks mind throwing a couple recs out per unit? I'm definitely a buy once cry once kinda guy.

 

[freemind]

I have the LG HG2's I think (brown wrapper) and the HE4's (yellow wrapper).

Both are great batteries.

I also have a slew of Samsung 25R's that work great too. (Blue or green wrap)

I think there are a 30 Q from Samsung that are touted by other forum members. Green wrapper on those I think too.

 

[AndriaD]

I own an Xstar. You have made a solid choice in chargers. Nitecore is shit, in my experience. I've owned three of them and the all shit the bed.

Buy the charger from the site Andrea suggested.

I like Samsung 25R's. I like LG's too. You aren't going to be wrong with either brand. Just be SURE you are buying from a reputable seller. Some assholes out there sell re-wraps.

I have a nitecore i4, but once, it got a couple of lil 18350s VERY hot, so I thought, maybe shouldn't use that one again. So I got an eFest Luc2, and it's been a great charger, no complaints, except once I was trying to charge 2 18650s at 1 amp, and the charger got really hot, so I took them out, let them cool and rest for 24 hrs, then tried them again but at .5A, and they did fine. That one still works, but now I know its limitations, and also, it's about 2 yrs old, so I figured it would be good to have another charger I can really depend on. So now I have an Xtar VC2 Plus; now, if I need to charge 2 18650s at the same time, I put one in the Xtar, and one inthe Luc2. But I'll be very surprised if I get another half-year out of the Luc2, since it's already 2 yrs old.

Andria

 

[freemind]

I had the I2, I4 and the D4. All of them shit the bed. They all had bays that would no longer charge a battery. I'll never buy another Nitecore product.

While my Xstar has been a great charger, I wish it could charge faster. That charge limit with more than two batteries, kills the charge time.

 

[AndriaD]

I had the I2, I4 and the D4. All of them shit the bed. They all had bays that would no longer charge a battery. I'll never buy another Nitecore product.

While my Xstar has been a great charger, I wish it could charge faster. That charge limit with more than two batteries, kills the charge time.

They have a 2A "rocket charger" now... The SV2. Says it will fully charge 2 18650s in 90 mins.

Andria

 

[freemind]

Well, maybe I should be more clear. When I am charging in the Xstar, 3 or more batteries, it charges at less then .5 amps. 4 batteries in the charger takes more than over night.

I don't fast charge batteries. I would never use a rocket type charger.

 

[AndriaD]

Well, maybe I should be more clear. When I am charging in the Xstar, 3 or more batteries, it charges at less then .5 amps. 4 batteries in the charger takes more than over night.

I don't fast charge batteries. I would never use a rocket type charger.

I'm with ya on that; it seems to generate too much heat, which can't be a good thing for batteries. I like my 2-charger solution, for when I need to charge multiple batteries. So when the Luc2 does finally bite the big one, I'll probably get another inexpensive Xtar to go with my VC2 Plus. However, I like that the Xtar chargers reduce the amps per battery when charging more than one; it's gotta keep down the heat, even if it makes it take longer to charge.

Andria

 

[martnargh]

i use 2 nitecore chargers. the 2bay ive had for around 3 or 5 years and still works well and the 4bay which i got about a year ago and again i like them both.
was actuallu quite surprised to hear all the horror stories i have nothing but good things to say about nitecore products, maybe i got lucky

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[AndriaD]

The pic that Xtar displays for that rocket charger shows a NiCad battery, and for those, the rapid charging may not be a big problem; they don't pack nearly the punch of our li-ion batteries, so even if there was some thermal runaway problem, it probably wouldn't be nearly as dangerous/messy. And I don't think the NiCad batteries are quite as volatile as the li-ion batteries, so maybe not nearly as prone to thermal runaway in the first place.

Andria

 

[Elites]

Xtar 2 bays (right most and left most ) charge at 1.0 amp while both center bays (2 and 3) charge 0.5 amp, if you place any battery in central bay (2 or 3) that will dominant all bays means all batteries will charge at 0.5 amp but if you only charge 2 batteries (1 on right most and 1 on left most bay) you will notice they are charging at 1.0 amp. Hope this will help to understand this great Xtar VC4 charging functionality. Thanks

 

[freemind]

Xtar 2 bays (right most and left most ) charge at 1.0 amp while both center bays (2 and 3) charge 0.5 amp, if you place any battery in central bay (2 or 3) that will dominant all bays means all batteries will charge at 0.5 amp but if you only charge 2 batteries (1 on right most and 1 on left most bay) you will notice they are charging at 1.0 amp. Hope this will help to understand this great Xtar VC4 charging functionality. Thanks

Well, that's ideally how they are supposed to work.
Mine only charges at .5 when ANY combinations of bays are used with two batteries. One battery on the outside, will yield 1.0 amp.
When three or more batteries are in, I am at .2 amp.

Slow as fuck, but dependable.