November 7, 2017

The XTAR VP2 intelligent charger

I bought one of these when I started using 18650 lithium ion batteries on a regular basis, and over the past year it has been a real workhorse. It independently charges one or two 18650 cells. It will handle other sizes, but I have only ever used it with 18650 cells. I bought it off of Amazon.

It can charge at 3 different rates (0.25, .50, and 1.0 amp). I essentially always use the slowest rate, i.e. 0.25 amps. You change the rate at any time using the single button, which cycles through the rates (nice and simple).

There is a switch on back labelled 3.2, 3.6, and 3.8. I find this a bit confusing. I use it on the 3.6 setting all the time, which charges to 4.2 volts

You can use the 3.8 setting to charge to 4.35 volts if you have batteries that support this. This will give extra capacity from these batteries, but I just ignore this and charge them to 4.2 anyway which sacrifices some capacity, but works just fine and keeps things simple.

I have never used the 3.2 setting, which charges to 3.6 volts. There must be some batteries out there somewhere that require it.

The unit runs from a 12 volt 1 amp wall wart. It has no fan and is totally quiet.

It has a USB output, and the claim is that it can act as a power bank for mobile devices. Who would have known? I thought this was only active when the device was powered. Sadly mine seems to be defective and will not charge my phone, so don't bank on this -- but it is otherwise a fine charger.


Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's electronics pages / tom@mmto.org