XTAR Dragon VP4 Plus Review by KingPin!

[KingPin!]

Hi Folks,
I received the Dragon VP4 Plus directly from XTAR. This is available to buy now. I will convey my thoughts and do my very best to provide you with enough information so you can reach your own conclusion on the product, so no recommendations from me, just a final conclusion of my personal experience with it. Please ask questions in the below if I've missed anything you want to know

What Do You Get?

• XTAR Dragon VP4 Plus charger
• Mains plug (mine is UK 3 pin)
• VP4 Charger Pouch
• Multi-meter Probes
• 3A Car Adaptor
• User Manual
• Warranty Card

This is XTAR’s flagship charger; it’s got all the bells and whistles I’d expect to see on a premium model, and the price of the charger £70”ish” reflects that. No you don’t get silver plating or a butler to load your batteries for you. Instead you get a better storage bag, both mains power and car charging cords included and finally a couple of “probes” (not the types the aliens use!). How is getting a plug a bonus I hear you ask? Well if you buy one of XTAR’s USB chargers in the budget to affordable range you don’t get one as standard.

The main difference for the hefty price jump is the functionality the charger provides under the hood, supporting adaptive peripheral charging, testing, refreshing, multi-meter checks and even acting as a power bank should you have a power cut. So if you like to geek out continue on otherwise you are probably better off taking a look at the Nitecore D4 vs XTAR VC4 review I dropped, both charges are “plug and play” and are excellent chargers to use.

I think the best way to go through this review is to list the manufacturer specs and let you know my experiences with each. Before I jump onto that I want to discuss the user manual because it’s relevant to every part of this review (Plus I don’t want to keep bringing it up). I found the manual to be severely lacking. I’d expect a book to come with the Dragon VP4. But you don’t get that, instead you receive a simple fold out with no explanation as to how best use each feature or when to select certain options. Lastly there is no “how best to interpret the results” and look for signs batteries need replacing. Perhaps XTAR expect a certain degree of up front user knowledge, although I believe it’s a big oversight on their part.



Manufacturer Specs and Review

The Dragon is Compatible with:

Li-ion (supports IMR, INR, and ICR Chemistry 3.6/3.7v) - Sizes: 10440, 14500, 14650, 16340, 17335, 17500, 17670, 18350, 18490, 18500, 18650, 18700, 20700, 21700, 22650, 25500, 26650, 32650
Ni-MH & Ni-CD - Sizes: AAAA, AAA, AA, A, SC, C, D,
Battery Pack: 11.1V/3S

So it’s safe to say it supports a large range of batteries. The charger itself is a beast in size, dwarfing the XTAR VC4 charger. However the payoff is increased venting and ability to insert and remove batteries with ease, as well as charge peripheral devices at the same time. If you are after something small and compact look away now this is not what you are looking for.

It doesn’t support IFR chemistry, though I believe none of the mainstream XTAR chargers support this. Also I’m not confident it supports RCR123 “3V” Li-ion 800mAh cells either being it lists 3.6/3.7V support only. Ordinarily I’d say these things are a moot point for vapers as we will all be using IMR, INR, and NMC chemistries for the most part, but for a flagship product with the associated price tag this has got to be listed as a con. If you’re charging a premium and it’s your flagship charger it needs to offer compatibility with everything the competitors do in my opinion.

I’d really like to see XTAR build a feature into their chargers that can automatically detect lower charging needs for some Li-ion batteries and present this differently on screen. It’s something Nitecore offers on its affordable range (albeit manual).

Battery Chemistry 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
• IFR = (LiFePO4) Lithium iron phosphate
• Ni-MH = Nickel-metal hydride
• Ni-Cd = nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium

The Dragon supports 3S battery pack charging. Most custom mods I’ve seen vapers use are 4s or 6s on the forums, so I’m not sure how useful this feature will be to vapers. Sadly I don’t own any sort of removable battery pack mod or hobby equipment which utilises the 3S Li-Po pack. As such my review will exclude any sort of end user testing for this aspect.

Even so I would like to have seen support for a wider range of battery packs. For me it’s the whole flagship argument again, at least offer 4S in addition since it’s a 4 bay charger anyway. Perhaps the reason the Dragon VP4 Plus doesn’t support a larger battery pack is because it’s not fan cooled. So if like me, you decide to load it up with 4 batteries, a mod that contains 3 18650’s charging through the USB and also plug in a 4S/6S battery pack, it might start to get a bit on warm pushing you towards the Darwin Award for human endeavours. However surely it wouldn’t be beyond the wit of man to display an error message or to divert power to what’s needed intelligently?

I can hear the techies snubbing me now “stupid idiot” hey this is an end user review, I don’t care about the journey, just the end result.

Choose Your Charge level: 0.5A, 1A or 2A

Depending on the slots you use, you can manually choose between 0.5, 1 or 2 Amp charging by clicking on the current/refresh button. It doesn’t matter adjusting it whilst it’s in the middle of charging either. As with many chargers on the market, to access that full 2A you will be resigned to using only the two outer bays only. Should you use the middle slots or load more than two cells at once it won’t allow you to pass 1A.

Changing the charge level is only relevant to the battery bays. Should you try to use USB or Battery Pack ports, changing this on screen charge rate has no influence as to how the charger approaches peripheral devices/ Li-Po’s. Additionally there is no way to select charge rate on each individual bay, so if you are doing a mix and match charge for example: AAA and 20700 cells at the same time, bear in mind what you choose is global.

I can’t really grumble here overall. It smashed through charge cycles really well. For vaping I do only use 18650’s at present, so without any way to discharge bigger batteries all my testing and observations has been recorded whilst using them.

18650 4.2V Results (averages recorded using Samsung 30Q, LG HE4, Sony VTC5A)

• 2/3/4 Cells at 0.5A charge time = 5 hours 40 minutes
• 2/3/4 Cells at 1A charge time = 2 Hours 40 minutes
• 2/3/4 Cells at 2A charge time = 1 Hour 20 minutes

Note: Similar charge times were observed on my Duracell 2500mAh AA Ni-MH batteries as well

I didn’t notice any significant changes in time to charge when loading it up with more than two batteries at a time. So these times were an average across the board. Also note I was using both 3000mAh and 2500mAh batteries for these averages so your times may vary slightly depending on what batteries you use.

Is this manual selection suitable for every occasion? I can see it now, let’s put on a little battery and whack it up to the max baby! No I wouldn’t say it’s suitable using 2A charging in all cases, all of the time. Regardless the charger doesn’t restrict your decision (think your 1.2v Ni-MH batteries here). But even if you do select 2A, you won’t know what’s really going on without hooking up some sort of external equipment. Much like XTAR’s VC4 & VC2 chargers, what’s shown on screen is not a live readout. The current readout you are seeing is the maximum possible rather than what it’s currently charging against each charge bay. As it goes through its charge cycle (trickle, constant current then constant voltage) the current will be changing in the background.

If like me you are the kind of person who likes to know what’s happening this is going to irritate you. They need to have a button that says “I don’t care mode” and “hell give me everything mode” to cater for everyone. I’m willing to make a bet here the kind of people who will be looking to buy this charger are the ones that care about the stats.

Finally in this section I want to talk about how the charger completes its cycle. I found some of the time when it terminates a cycle, using the probes it reads 4.19V and not 4.2V. Just to check I used Samsung 30Q, Sony VTC5A and LG HE4’s. It didn’t matter what cell type I was using results were consistent for early termination. Just to make sure it wasn’t just inaccuracies in using the Dragon’s multi meter probes, I placed all 4 batteries in the XTAR VC4 charger. Some would go green instantly and others continued to charge for a few minutes with an additional 10-20mAh capacity.

 

[KingPin!]

Accurately Test Battery Capacity

The test goes through a full charge (red light), discharge (blue light), full charge (red light) and completed (green light) cycle. The charge time speeds reflect those in the straight up charge section above, however discharging takes a lot longer so even if you select 2A it isn’t trying to discharge at this rate.

As an example I picked out one of my older knackered pair of batteries that had already gone through a large number of charge cycles to show the 2A test result here (LG HE4, 2500mAh). So the aim of this test is to discharge your batteries right down to the bottom voltage safety line and charge it back up to show you its true capacity rating.

• Start Charge from 3V Result = 1hr 19 min (Slot 1 - 1923mAh / Slot 2 - 1960mAh)
• Discharge Result = 4 hr 45 min (Slot 1 – 2456mAh / Slot 2 – 2378mAh)
• Final Charge Result = 1 hr 40 min (Slot 1 – 2250mAh @ 4.18V / Slot 2 – 2396 mAh @ 4.19V)
• Total = 7 hours 40 mins**

**Note: it was roughly 1 hour longer at 1A to go through this test cycle.

Looking at the Start and Final Result bearing in mind I placed a discharged 3V cells on it to begin with, it must have discharged down to a fairly significantly lower voltage than the start point. Also notice when the cycle completed it didn’t finish at the full 4.2V on either cell (using the multi – meter probes).

There are no miracles happening here it’s purely testing the battery. Not sure I like my batteries discharging too low, so the test function is not something I would want to run too often. But this feature is handy to see the health of your batteries once a month or so to check for capacity reduction and whether it’s time to get some new batteries in.

Built in micro card that can store 64 Test Results

Within the test mode it will record the last 64 results you run through the charger. It captures the initial and final charge capacities.

Handy if you use the same cells every time but there is no way to assign a name or anything to personalise the results. So if you are using it to test different cells I imagine you are going to quickly forget what’s what unless you also use a spreadsheet or something. I didn’t try to reach 64 test results before publishing this review so I can only assume once it reaches the end, the newer tests start automatically overwriting the oldest.

If I was to influence the design process I’d have it so you could introduce a cell to the charger and select from the menu a set of cells you had already entered prior (most vapers use married cells). Then when you run the test it knows the info it returned at the end relates to those batteries and updates their record history. It could even provide a graphical summary showing any decreases of capacity over time with a normalised line for the size and type of battery so you can see if there is a significant drop of. Going even further on this theme they could even build in a warning line for common manufacturers capacity ratings to show when it’s time to buy new batteries. If you can’t do it on the screen why not have the ability to link it up to a software bit of kit similar to what Evolv does with E-scribe…now that would be a cool test feature!

Use as Multi Meter and test your batteries internal resistance and Voltage

The kit comes with a set of multi meter probes which you can plug into the back of the charger. They are gold plated, spring loaded and roughed up at the end. Simply touch the ends of the probes together and it will automatically switch the mode and reset on screen information. Use the red probe on the positive end, and the black on the negative. You will need to engage the spring fully to activate a stable readout. And finally it should be noted it’s not suitable doing any sort of testing whilst the batteries are in the charger itself.

Now I found the process to be a little difficult at first until I figured out it’s easiest to lay the battery on the table and just use the probes either side. The probes are a little tricky to engage without having them slip off the contacts and if you slip you are armed with a spring loaded catapult potentially launching the battery across the room. What I would like to have seen here is an accessory included with the charger to hold the battery whilst I test, it could even have clipped onto the charger itself.

However the probes were consistent throughout my usage. I particularly like the internal resistance read out and checking the voltage of my batteries, although results are at rest rather than under load. An increase in internal resistance at rest shows signs that the battery is starting to age so this is a handy feature. It’s a simple user interface that anyone can pick up and get on with although there is lack of explanation in the manual as to what is good or bad.

I will end this part by saying perhaps XTAR could have tied this into the testing feature as a final step in order to record an entire log of the battery’s health, also include a way to test both internal resistance and voltage drop under load, many vapers are interested in these aspects particularly if they use a mechanical mod although this might be a stretch for a charger.

Eliminate memory effect of Ni-MH batteries with the dragons refresh battery discharge mode

The refresh feature goes through a discharge (blue light), full charge (red light) and completed (green light) cycle. The charge time speeds reflect those in the straight up charge section above, however discharging takes a lot longer so even if you select 2A it isn’t trying to discharge at this rate.

Also note this mode is a little pointless for Li-Ion cells since they do not suffer the same memory effect NI-MH cells do. As such you will see it reflect the discharge/charge potion of the test function only. The charger does not care if you use this mode and insert Li-Ion cells it will go through the refresh mode regardless but almost as a test. Perhaps XTAR could have design it in such a way it automatically flips over to charge mode when detecting LI-Ion cells.

NI-MH refresh results

0.5A – Duracell 2500mAh AA

7 hours, Final capacity 2456/2443mAh (slots 2 and 3)


1A – Duracell 2450mAh AA (really old batteries)

3 hours, slot 1 – Final capacity 1800mAh

5 hours, slot 2 – Final capacity 1900mAh

I did notice an improvement in run time for my ageing rechargeable 1.2V cells since using this although it didn’t completely restore my batteries capacity to what it was when new (according to the final screen information);. The refresh mode simply allowed the cells to take on additional capacity that it otherwise wouldn’t have done beforehand.

I noted that the cell itself got to the point it was hot to the touch toward the end of the charge cycle, especially on the 1A cycle, having said that the cells are still perfectly functional.

Charge Peripheral Devices using the smart output USB (choosing the right current up to 2.4A)

Whilst plugged into the mains I loaded every charge bay up and charge at 1A, and at the same time charge my N1 pro via USB with three 18560’s on board (the mod has a charge rate of 1A) just to see how it handled that many cells at once. The charger did get fairly warm to the touch but never hot. You notice the temperature rise on the plug, the screen, and the power input point. The batteries themselves get warm mid cycle but not hot either.



I have been using the USB to charge my phone, internal battery mods a lot all requiring different charge rates up to 2.4A, whilst at the same time charging batteries. I haven’t seen any issues using it, regardless of whether I’m charging other batteries at the same time.

 

[KingPin!]

Power Cut acting as a Power Bank

The Dragon VP4 Plus has the ability to both offer pass through charging when plugged into the mains as described above (supporting peripheral devices). But when the power is disconnected it will switch over and continue to charge any connected devices via the USB using the batteries loaded into the charge bays.

You will see the light go to blue to indicate this process has begun. The USB is fairly power hungry so you will see it discharge batteries fairly quickly, at least I did. You can switch out nearly drained cells at any time and continue to charge a connected device assuming there are some batteries in the charger. The Display will show you how much charge cells have left with a simply 5 bar gate.



This is particularly handy for anyone prone to living in a power cut hot spot. Say you are in a situation where you need to make an emergency call, there is no power and the phone is dead, you now have a way to give it some juice!

Now I did spot a potential flaw in the design here and have flagged it to XTAR. If you disconnect the USB cable the charger is supposed to stop discharging your batteries, which it did after a few seconds. However if you press the display button it turns itself back on for a good 30 seconds and all the blue lights come back on as if its discharging again (yet nothing is attached). I did record a small drop in voltage using the probes when I tried this doing this. Yes I sadly sat there and kept pressing the display button for a while. The issue I have with this is say someone leaves their batteries in the charger travelling or something along these lines and that display button is getting knocked repeatedly, where is this power getting discharged to?, what will the net result be? I don’t know I didn’t sit there for hours pressing it but it could be a health and safety issue XTAR needs to address.



Informative LCD display giving you all the information you need to know

The charger at first glance looks to have a lot of information on screen. However after getting used to it all it’s just a modified version of the VC4 plug and play display which was very user friendly.

• Mode it’s in (Test, Charge Refresh)
• Channel (charge bay)
• Capacity from charging /discharging
• Chemistry type (Ni-MH / Li-Ion)
• Cycle completion %
• Charge rate
• USB in use
• Battery Pack in use
• Audio

The interface is one of the areas rather than just offer improvements to the Dragon VP4 plus I actually couldn’t get on with. I personally miss seeing voltage on the screen. I know this is stupid but I’m so used to seeing it on my other chargers I’ve just become accustomed to it. As it stands the only way to check voltage is using the probes.

It’s not just this though, to me it’s like they struggled to land on what market they are targeting with this product. “the plug and play” or “the enthusiast”. As a result I feel they have missed the opportunity to use the features of the Dragon and push them to the next level. I’ll say it again here the Dragon VP4 Plus needs a “give me everything” and “I don’t care” modes. Give me everything should be real time, detailed, and offer a level of diagnostic data against each charge bay. As it stands this is very much still the plug and play aimed at new entrants with the enhanced features on offer.

Things I feel could be improved

• User Manual is lacking substance, requires a comprehensive approach.
• Include automatic support for IFR and Low Voltage Li-Ion Cells
• Include support for 4s and possibly 6s Battery Packs
• Introduce ability to change charge rate on each charge bay
• Is it right to allow users to choose a 2A charge rate for smaller cells (lack of guidance)
• Slightly early termination detected periodically on LI-Ion cells
• Power Bank discharge started for brief intervals when pressing the display button and nothing connected.
• Include something in the kit to hold the batteries whilst testing them with the probes
• I feel the Dragon lacks details on the interface, it’s still very much plug and play, and I really miss seeing voltage!
• Enhance the features on offer with some sort of app for diagnostics/history etc.
• Use the probes to complete a test cycle to record internal resistance history

Things I feel it did well

• Very good battery support overall
• Test Mode and Refresh mode worked well with a simple overview of results
• Multi Meter is a novel feature and unique selling point.
• Reverse polarity worked and the charger never overheated even when loaded up with charging devices
• Can handle on board and USB charging without issue
• Mains power plug rather than USB
• Can be useful in cases of power cuts acting as a power bank
• Easily digestible information on screen for non-technical users with a nice and bright display
• Ability to manually choose charge level albeit global
• Very easy to insert and remove batteries on here

Final Conclusion

XTAR has this beast of a charger and it does perform well in nearly all areas (apart from the flaw in power bank mode). But I do question what market they are targeting, the plug and play or the enthusiast. If it is purely the plug and play market then you are paying for the VC4 with some pretty neat enhanced features, if it’s the latter I liken it to dipping your toe in the water without jumping in. For its premium price tag I would like to have seen XTAR take the features on offer and really step things up, analytical support, live detailed information, control on individual charge bays and an overhaul to the interface screen etc. then it really would make it stand out amongst the crowd.

Thank you for taking the time to read this review! I hope this information serves you well until next time KingPin!

 

[KingPin!]

As I always do ...just wanted to report back to let people know if I spotted any probs after I dropped my review... I have been using this charger exclusively for just under 2 years now, it died on me last week.

nothing particular exciting, it just fails to turn on so there you go ....more info in terms of longevity