🔌 Power Up Your Life with the Ultimate Charger!
The XTAR VC8 Charger is a versatile and efficient battery charging solution, capable of charging up to 8 batteries simultaneously, including various sizes of Li-ion and Ni-MH batteries. With a maximum output of 3A per slot and advanced safety features, this charger ensures optimal performance and longevity for your batteries.
Color | Black |
Current Rating | 3 Amps |
Input Voltage | 5 Volts |
Item Weight | 499 Grams |
C**T
Good charger performance; lots of useful features
I’ve been using XTAR chargers for many years and have always been pleased with their performance and durability. This is no exception – it’s easy to use, but also has a number of very useful features that other chargers lack. Chief among them is the storage charge feature. It will charge the cell to 3.7v, which is ideal for storage. If the cell is above 3.7v when inserting it into the charger, it will discharge the cell to 3.7. It’s a very handy feature, but it is limited to the first 4 bays.The overall build quality is decent, with smooth moving tension bars and a decent heft (for an all-plastic charger). The screen is clear and easily viewed. I do wish the fonts were a bit larger, but it makes the best of the space available given that there are 8 bays.I also like the ease of changing the input. While having it auto set is a nice feature, I prefer to charge my cells at 0.5A to minimize the stress on the cell. There’s good feedback provided on screen as to the charge status and operating mode.I also like the compact size. I also have the Gyrfalcon ALL-88 8 bay charger, and this Xtar 8 bay charger has a notably smaller footprint and takes up less bench space.For the price, it’s hard to beat this for quality (see the flashlight forums for detailed reviews about the charging profile of this), ease of use, and features. Very pleased!
T**Y
Fast charging
Works great thanks
M**F
Charging and Grading in one
Great charger and grader, with a few limitations. I bought this to grade a bunch of reclaimed cells to build custom battery packs.The good:- You can charge up to 8 batteries in parallel.- Configuration and viewing battery details is easy- It can grade up to 4 batteries (left side only). It will grade and charge at the same time.Limitations:The total power is limited to 18W. So if you are charging 8 batteries then you are limited to 500mA per battery. This includes when the left side is in the discharge stage of grading. At this rate charging can take awhile, but a silver lining is the slow charge will be gentle on the batteries.Grading is VERY slow. First it must charge the battery, then discharge, then it will fully charge the battery again. Discharge rate seems very slow. Grading a set of ~2100mAh batteries takes all day (8+ hrs). You can speed this by using the right side to charge and then drop the fully charged batteries in the grading side.On the grading side, I can get through 8 batteries per day, and charging 12-16 batteries. For the price it does a great job, but I would pay more for one that could grade faster.
A**T
Love the features, but feel let down it's only half effective.
Pretty spendy, but very useful. I love the ability to change charging speeds, aswell as the capacity and resistance testing. The only con is that ONLY the left 4 can do capacity and resistance testing. When you have over 300 batteries to charge and test, having the other 4 slots would double the efficency.
J**S
Slow charging, but consistent
Bought this for large number of AA, AAA, and 18650 rechargeable batteries I seem to be using more and more often. We've stopped buying disposable batteries. The slow charge cycle is preferred as it prolongs the life of the rechargeable NiMH batteries we purchased for household and workshop items. Love this charger as an inexpensive solution for charging a lot of batteries.
F**O
I had high hopes, but ultimately dissappoiinted.
I have to say I’m not very happy with this charger… One of the biggest issues is that (for NIMH cells) it never seems to stop charging for some batteries during both charging and grading mode. I can tell that it reaches full capacity because it basically stops accumulating any milliamp capacity for hours and hours. Just to be clear, I was not just using it on poor batteries... I was also trying some fairly new (known good batteries) as well as some brand new batteries. In every case there were instances where the battery charger just would not stop charging the NIMH cells. When a battery reaches full it is supposed to show ‘done’ but many times it just keeps trying to charge them... at this point I don’t kniw if it ruined any of them, but when I gave up on waiting (after 24 hours or mors) the batteries were warm, but NOT hot, so at least that is a good sign.Another pretty big strike is that on older NIMH batteries it will often misinterpret them as Li-ion... which us a big concern since Li-ion batteries charge at a higher voltage (and charge via constant current, where NIMH batteries should always be charged via a pulse current). I have no idea (yet) if this could be a fire hazard, but regardless it does not give me alot of confidence. Even worse, it sometimes says they are NIMH on the display for several minutes before automatically deciding to switch the display and charging mode to li-ion. I mean who wants to have to worry that it will just ‘change it’s mind’ and switch the charging around.The instructions are one page but mostly adequate, however I spotted a mistake in grading mode: on the second charging phase, it does NOT display the current and discharge capacity ‘recurrently’. (their words).. it just displays the discharge capacity and (either) the battery voltage or the charging voltage... though I have no idea which one... my (total) guess is the charging voltage... though when it says ‘done’ maybe it switches to battery voltage? No idea, not correct in one page manual, so its a big question mark.I have read really good things about this manufacturer but this charger is really disappointing... maybe I got a lemon, but I really don’t want to deal with an exchange to find that the next one has the same issues, so I think I will just return it for a refund... and consider alternatives.
K**Y
Works great
This is a great charger and tester for my lot of 18650 batteries. I am able to use the grade and store function with bays 1-4, bay 5-8 does not provide that function. But this is not an issue for my use as I can charge the batteries and then place them in the bays 1-4 to grade them reducing the time grading as they need to be charge first before grading the charge again while in grade mode. This is a great charger and tester.
Trustpilot
1 month ago
1 month ago