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XTAR VC2 and MC1 Review by KingPin!

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
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Member For 4 Years
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Hi Folks,

There are times when a 4 battery charger just isn’t needed, people who don’t have shinyitis, travelling for business or going on holiday, people who don’t chain vape or when you simply use a single battery device. XTAR sent me the VC2 and MC1 budget chargers to review with these things in mind.

I want to provide an upfront caveat here; this review will be based on my end user experience.

What do you get?

The compact MC1 charger, a travel bag, a USB cable, Instruction book, Warranty card

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The modest sized VC2 charger, a travel bag, a USB cable, Instruction book, Warranty card

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Please note: I didn’t receive the plus versions on either of these; I was sent the older 0.5A versions so some details may be different those models in this review.

Much like their big brother the VC4 I reviewed recently both use USB charging and can be plugged into any USB power source (less than 5V, 2.1A) i.e. laptop, Car USB jack, USB wall plug you name it. The caveat to this versatility is that power output does vary depending on what you select to plug the lead into.

Unfortunately XTAR doesn’t provide a wall plug with the kit, which is a disappointment. On a positive note both use a common USB connector so should you lose the lead it’s easy enough to buy a replacement.

Compatibility

The VC2 is compatible with

Li-ion (supports IMR, INR, and ICR Chemistry)

Sizes: 26650, 25500, 22650, 21700, 20700, 18700, 18650, 18500, 18490, 18350, 17670, 17500, 17335, 16340,14650,14500,10440

The MC1 is compatible with

Li-ion (supports IMR, INR, and ICR Chemistry)

Sizes: 26650, 25500, 22650, 21700, 20700, 18700, 18650, 18500, 18490, 18350, 17670, 17500, 17335, 16340,14650,14500,10440

Does not support: 20700 or 21700 protected cells

Key:

IMR = (LiMn2O4) Lithium manganese oxide (LG HE2 & HE4)
INR = (LiNiMnCoO2) Lithium manganese nickel (Samsung 25R & 30Q, LG HG2, IJoy 20700, Sony uses NMC – cobalt in the mix as well I believe in its VTC range)
ICR = (LiCoO2) Lithium cobalt oxide

It doesn’t state anywhere that the VC2 can support 21700 and 2070, 18700 but being it can support up to 71mm in length, the same as the MC1 (including a button top), I don’t see why not but always best to check with the manufacturer yourself. I tend to stick to 18650 batteries personally for my vaping and am yet to venture into the whole 20700, 21700 product range so unfortunately cannot verify its support myself. I did reach out to XTAR on this who confirmed the charger is capable but was missing those details on the box.

The other thing to note these aren’t designed as the everyday multi cell chargers; I guess they are designed with vapers in mind so only support Li-ion. I did try placing a Ni-MH cell in both the VC2 and MC1 to see how the chargers handled it expecting it throw an “error” being it was a 1.5V cell, but to my surprise both started to charge. I reached out to XTAR about this observation and they confirmed there is no inbuilt detection in place so it will be dangerous to try and charge these types of cells. Whilst I don’t need to state the obvious here “why am I trying to charge a battery the charger wasn’t designed for” I would like to have seen this safety feature built in to protect people who don’t/can’t read the instructions.

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The MC1 doesn’t support 20700 or 21700 protected batteries. From my reading the main difference between protected and non protected batteries is the latter doesn’t include a PCB (chip) to protect against over discharge, over charge and over current. Also depending on the design of the PCB, it will reset automatically when placed in a charger. Both types of batteries “should” include a pressure release valve to disable to cell if the pressure becomes too high due to overcharging, over current. I can only assume the reason it cannot support these cell types is due to the length of the battery. Although interesting to me looking this lot up it doesn’t matter too much as I’ve also read PCB’s reduce the amp discharge rating significantly which isn’t useful for the sub ohms vapers out there, as such most batteries we buy as vapers are un protected.


Size, Quality & Venting

VC2 Dimensions: 131 x 66 x 33 (mm); Weight: 109 grams

MC1 Dimensions: 92 x 22 x 25 (mm); Weight: 20 grams

Both chargers here are small enough to be portable. The VC2 I think of as the 2 bay equivalent of the VC4, perfect if you do not own a number of products or use single battery devices.

The MC1 in particular is very portable perfect for trips and holidays where weight and space is going to be an issue or if you don’t want to lump around a multi cell mod with you.

I found it easy to both insert and remove batteries from both chargers. The spring loaded negative post is thick enough not to worry about bending easily, and the spring itself isn’t overly difficult to push back in terms of inserting batteries.

They share the same type of tough plastic and have adequate venting to stay cool during their charge cycles. Both look to be well made with no misaligned parts or jagged edges.


User Interface

Both are plug and play (assuming you head my warning using non Li-ion cells). There isn’t anything in the way of controls to use, they will simply start charging and get on with it or they won’t.

In terms of information available;

VC2: On its screen you have details of charge rate (dial at the top applicable to all), voltage status (dials at the sides), capacity restored since charging commenced. The screen will display “Err” when there’s a problem, “None” if it’s unable to charge a cell from low voltage or “Full” when cycle is complete.

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MC1: Doesn’t have a screen rather a single LED. Green indicates on-standby/ fully charged. Red indicates activating / charging battery. No light indicates reversed polarity / No power Supply

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Whilst both chargers go through multiple stages in the charge cycle (think “pulling a pint” here - Trickle Charge / Constant Current / Constant Voltage) I’m unable to see / tell what’s going on under the hood at any stage. Incidentally if I remove the cell at say 4.12V, I cannot confirm whether the correct part of the charge cycle commences after re-inserting the cell. I would like to see this incorporated in future products, although appreciate this might not be important to many people out there.

I really like that the VC2 tells you how much capacity it’s been able to restore in the charge cycle since starting. Its speed dial look is fantastic and is easy to see from a low viewing angle. Both chargers are designed for user friendliness in mind.
 
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KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
Charge times and Operations

The VC2 and MC1 offer 0.5A charging. Obviously this is dependent on where you plug it into as I stated earlier. There is no way to adjust this either as the charger determines what it needs do to depending on state and type of cell.

Both chargers take around 5 hours to charge a 18650 cell from 3V to full and were able to detect the cell at his lower voltage. I don’t like to discharge my batteries below this point. Being I don’t own any 20070 or 21700 devices yet I’m unable to confirm how long they would take but it’s safe to assume it will a fair while longer. These charges while ok aren’t as fast as the newer “plus” versions or the larger VTC4.

The VC2’s speed dial for the current isn’t live. When it goes into the final CV stage its stays at 0.5A as opposed to ramping down to maintain voltage. I would like to have seen this as live information independent for each charge bay.

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Putting my batteries upside down (reverse polarity) both worked

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Didn’t notice anything untoward or noteworthy in terms of full charge cut off on either using Li-ION batteries so assume both were working fine. After the MC1 was complete I took the cell and put in into the VC2 (whilst it was charging another cell). It instantly recognised that the battery was full, and it didn’t interrupt the other charge bay which is good to see.

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Both chargers keep the batteries cool; or warm to the touch mid cycle using mains power.


Things I feel could be improved
  • No built in protection against inserting incompatible battery chemistries on either charger.
  • VC2 doesn’t change the current dial when in constant voltage stage of charging which means it’s not a live display.
  • VC2 lacks information on time taken to charge and current stage of the charge cycle (i.e. refreshing, CC, CV etc).
  • I would like to have seen a wall plug offered with the both chargers.
  • XTAR need to update the box to include the full range of supported batteries.

Things I feel it did well

  • Both are very affordable budget options
  • Plug and play and very user friendly interfaces
  • Very mobile using the USB but remember output is dependent on the power source.
  • Support all but the largest of Li-ion cells (except protected 21700 and 20700 on the MC1)
  • Both charges have safety in mind and cut off appropriately (except for the chemistry issue).
  • VC2 offers Independent battery charging.
  • Adequate charge times for a portable option.
Final Conclusion

Both are decent budget options. I’d probably say I’d only look at getting the MC1 for travelling purposes which let’s be honest here is going to be what it was designed for.

The VC2 is a great little charger despite some areas I feel could be improved with the interface it still doesn’t everything it says on the tin so my cons are really subjective on it.

The one area I wasn’t particularly impressed with on either was that they allowed me to charge a non -Lithium battery. Whilst they both state up front only compatible with Li-ion and it should be down to the user to read the instructions carefully, I still feel this is a very important safety feature which shouldn’t have been overlooked.

Thanks for reading my ramblings until next time KingPin!
 
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