Xtar VC2 plus reading as if 2 batteries are charging.

[vapesmooth123]

I have a couple VC2 plusses 2-bay chargers. They are said to be among the best chargers (I had a nitecore before but one bay stopped working after about a year so I changed brands). I usually only use chargers to charge my protected 18650s for my LED headlamp. I charge my mods via usb (dna chip MODs with very safe balanced charging).

I just received some new batteries but not my new MODs yet so I charged the batteries in the VC2plus.

I charged two 18650 sony VTC6s at once and it all went normal. They were received at about %6 charged or something.

About an hour ago, I put in one LG HG2 18650 received at around %6 charged. I put it in Channel 1 of the charger. BUT channel 2 was empty but was reading something like "%60 full" and showing the charging light flashing. Now it says "FULL" and is solid green but the slot with the battery is still charging at %48.

Why would channel 2 show charging if there's no battery in it? Defective? I didn't use this charger much. I have two VC2 plusses, and use the other one every few weeks with 2 cells at once without a problem ever. Thanks.

 

[listopencil]

If it happened to me I would unplug it, take any batteries out, let it sit for 60 seconds or so. Then plug it back in, load the battery, and see if the charger was indicating correctly. If it didn't, I'd stop using the charger. It could just be some odd glitch but I wouldn't want to chance it.

 

[DaveP]

What USB adapter are you using? My Xtar VC4 needs a good 2A adapter to work. I tried it with a knockoff charger that was supposed to be 8A four port with four 2A jacks. It wasn't strong enough to do the job in spite of its claimed amp rating and weird things started happening. I bought an Xtar brand 2A charger for $9.99 and life has been good.

Amazon has it for $6.99
https://www.amazon.com/XTAR-AC-USB-...rd_wg=6YeFb&psc=1&refRID=0TJJD4V88VHT6QAZPA7N

 

[vapesmooth123]

What USB adapter are you using? My Xtar VC4 needs a good 2A adapter to work. I tried it with a knockoff charger that was supposed to be 8A four port with four 2A jacks. It wasn't strong enough to do the job in spite of its claimed amp rating and weird things started happening. I bought an Xtar brand 2A charger for $9.99 and life has been good.

I mostly only use authentic UL listed adapters! I think it's US's quality test approval, but if not, from what I remember when I did this research a while ago is that UL is the most trusted.
I trust UL more than EU's CE mark and the FCC mark.
FCC is US also but the reason I trust UL is a lot of the $0.79 adapters on ebay say FCC and/or CE but not UL. I think some of those are just counterfeit, there's not much stopping a Chinese manufacturer from forging CE and FCC like they did with faked apple adapters. But it's seldom you'll find something cheap from china that says UL, so I usually go with the UL ones.

I have a few authentic (I'm assuming) UL ones that came with new cell phones I use.

True, the VC2 plus also requires 2.1A to charge at 1 full amp, otherwise it's .5A charging. 2A won't do it.

I got fed up with trying to find UL listed adapters (just the separate adapter) without paying like $10 for them when I bought a few more adapters on ebay. I figured I was just being paranoid and got the $1 ones that say FCC and CE, same with the car adapters I got. The car ones never gave a problem. But the "2.1A" 79cent ones were not giving a full 2.1A, it was probably doing 2A (I would see a lot that looked similar and some would claim 2.1A but others claimed 2A).
The Xtar will not charge 2 (or maybe even just 1) of the 2 bays at a full 1A unless it's 2.1A. I ended up opening cases for the adapters and getting them free.

It's safer though to charge at .5A (2.1A adapter) than a full 1A - it's like a slower trickle charge, so I prefer it anyway but I might still have the $1 "FCC CE" adapter which I ended up getting for free hooked up in the garage to .5A charge dual protected 18650s for an LED headlamp but that one never gave a problem other than not providing 2.1A to charge at 1A.

well actually after opening the case and trying to explain this in someone who speak Chinese, I did get those free adapters to charge at a full 1A.
Just like this person said in an amazon review. He still gave it 5 stars though:

"Another thing I noticed was that in the first couple hours of charging, it would only charge at 0.5 amps. If I tried to switch into 1 amp mode it would default back to 0.5 automatically. Then, as if by MAGIC, I finally got it to stay in 1.0 amp mode which, obviously, reduced my displayed charging time in half. Maybe it was because of the new batteries, I don't know."


It could just be the charger too, but I guess I haven't use it much to know for sure.
Everyone's concerned about charging mods VIA usb, and I don't recommend that either, but I have had ZERO problems ever USB charging triple 18650s in a DNA mod. The DNA chip charges so balanced I might prefer it over these "safe" nitecore and Xtar external chargers. And I don't have to pop cells in and out and possibly damage the wraps, and of course it's just so easy to just plug it in and charge.
My first external was a nitecore (for the headlamp protected 18650s), and one month past the 1 year warranty after only using it about 25 times, bay 2 would not charge so I changed to Xtar.


I'll use this Xtar some more with other adapters and if it's still doing this I'll warranty it. There's still at least one other brand besides nitecore and Xtar that are said to be among the best chargers so I'll try that next maybe. I got the VC2 plusses for only like $9.50 shipped on ebay from china.

 

[DaveP]

I'll use this Xtar some more with other adapters and if it's still doing this I'll warranty it. There's still at least one other brand besides nitecore and Xtar that are said to be among the best chargers so I'll try that next maybe. I got the VC2 plusses for only like $9.50 shipped on ebay from china.

I use this current tester inline to check USB current draw and voltage. That's how I discovered that the cheapo USB wall wart wasn't up to the task. I bought the Xtar 2.1A adapter that was recommended and it has performed as advertised.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=drok+amp+tester&rh=i:aps,k:drok+amp+tester

 

[Oomee]

I mostly only use authentic UL listed adapters! I think it's US's quality test approval, but if not, from what I remember when I did this research a while ago is that UL is the most trusted.
I trust UL more than EU's CE mark and the FCC mark.
FCC is US also but the reason I trust UL is a lot of the $0.79 adapters on ebay say FCC and/or CE but not UL. I think some of those are just counterfeit, there's not much stopping a Chinese manufacturer from forging CE and FCC like they did with faked apple adapters. But it's seldom you'll find something cheap from china that says UL, so I usually go with the UL ones.

I have a few authentic (I'm assuming) UL ones that came with new cell phones I use.

True, the VC2 plus also requires 2.1A to charge at 1 full amp, otherwise it's .5A charging. 2A won't do it.

I got fed up with trying to find UL listed adapters (just the separate adapter) without paying like $10 for them when I bought a few more adapters on ebay. I figured I was just being paranoid and got the $1 ones that say FCC and CE, same with the car adapters I got. The car ones never gave a problem. But the "2.1A" 79cent ones were not giving a full 2.1A, it was probably doing 2A (I would see a lot that looked similar and some would claim 2.1A but others claimed 2A).
The Xtar will not charge 2 (or maybe even just 1) of the 2 bays at a full 1A unless it's 2.1A. I ended up opening cases for the adapters and getting them free.

It's safer though to charge at .5A (2.1A adapter) than a full 1A - it's like a slower trickle charge, so I prefer it anyway but I might still have the $1 "FCC CE" adapter which I ended up getting for free hooked up in the garage to .5A charge dual protected 18650s for an LED headlamp but that one never gave a problem other than not providing 2.1A to charge at 1A.

well actually after opening the case and trying to explain this in someone who speak Chinese, I did get those free adapters to charge at a full 1A.
Just like this person said in an amazon review. He still gave it 5 stars though:

"Another thing I noticed was that in the first couple hours of charging, it would only charge at 0.5 amps. If I tried to switch into 1 amp mode it would default back to 0.5 automatically. Then, as if by MAGIC, I finally got it to stay in 1.0 amp mode which, obviously, reduced my displayed charging time in half. Maybe it was because of the new batteries, I don't know."


It could just be the charger too, but I guess I haven't use it much to know for sure.
Everyone's concerned about charging mods VIA usb, and I don't recommend that either, but I have had ZERO problems ever USB charging triple 18650s in a DNA mod. The DNA chip charges so balanced I might prefer it over these "safe" nitecore and Xtar external chargers. And I don't have to pop cells in and out and possibly damage the wraps, and of course it's just so easy to just plug it in and charge.
My first external was a nitecore (for the headlamp protected 18650s), and one month past the 1 year warranty after only using it about 25 times, bay 2 would not charge so I changed to Xtar.


I'll use this Xtar some more with other adapters and if it's still doing this I'll warranty it. There's still at least one other brand besides nitecore and Xtar that are said to be among the best chargers so I'll try that next maybe. I got the VC2 plusses for only like $9.50 shipped on ebay from china.

UL is the Underwriters Laboratories, and is held in very high regard across many industries... much of my service and test equipment is UL certified.

Now here comes the important part, if something is claiming UL certification, it should be listed on the UL site. The site is a bit overwhelming, but take your time and work it out, it's worth it.

In short, other standards can be faked, but the UL cannot as they list all devices that have passed their tests.

Edit, note this is the state of play with UL as far as I know from the checks of my equipment. As we know things change, so take a look for yourself.

 

[vapesmooth123]

I use this current tester inline to check USB current draw and voltage. That's how I discovered that the cheapo USB wall wart wasn't up to the task. I bought the Xtar 2.1A adapter that was recommended and it has performed as advertised.

I didn't know those existed. That's a good item to have.

Edit, note this is the state of play with UL as far as I know from the checks of my equipment. As we know things change, so take a look for yourself.

true, I believe it, but with something a mass produced as wall adapters, I wouldn't put it past Chinese counterfeiters to just stamp a fake "UL" on there like they've done with apple.

The UL adapters I have were all included with items that cost over $100 each (phone, cameras etc) so I highly doubt Samsung, sony, etc are getting sold counterfeit UL adapter.
Another thing is some authentics have the brand name written in the plastic on the item (such as a nitecore cord) which I highly doubt counterfeiters are doing. They might just fake the sticker or "painted on" writing but I doubt they'll go through the manufacturing step to emboss brand names etc in the actual plastic, but with a very popular brand like apple, I'm sure they do, but not something less popular like nitecore etc.

If I buy a separate UL adapter, It would be from the US, in a sealed package and not loose. That being said, the UL adapter WAS used when this charger acted as if it had a 2nd battery in it and the other one I frequently use is using a $0.99 Chinese FCC CE adapter without ever an issue.

could be the cord or something too, I dunno. I'll switch things around and try different cords and adapters and see what happens, but I'm definitely not going to keep using this adapter if it keeps doing this. I can get another for just around $9 shipped.

 

[puffon]

I have a Xtar VC4 and a Xtar branded 2.1a wall wort
and have a 2a wall wort not UL listed.
Both work with the VC4 charging at 1a

 

[BoogaWu]

You might try cleaning all exposed contacts with qtips and rubbing alcohol. I haven't had the phantom battery thing happen but my xtar charger kept kicking into .5 amp charging and a thorough cleaning took care of it.