Review on 18650 Battery Charger XTAR VC4S by Dana Johnson

This is my third XTAR charger. I picked this one because of the evaluation mode, save mode and because it's newer. Also evaluate the internal resistance display. I still have all my XTARs and they charge great. Charge speed is the same depending on how much you are charging at a time with x4 Li Ion at 1 amp or x2 at 2 amps and x1 is 3 amps which can be overkill for many batteries. Evaluate how LittoKala or Zanflare heat up during discharge on this device. My LittoKala eventually smoked and almost caught fire. I hope it was a bad device. The charging capacity corresponds to the specified capacity of the battery, but may be slightly higher. Difficult to say as I use several remanufactured batteries. At best it showed 2780 as the highest capacity for a 2600mAh battery, although that was the case on the first charge of the set. after draining the battery and storing it at 2.2-2.5v at 18650. So these estimates may actually be ok if the batteries are discharged beyond the nominal discharge. As with all devices of this type that do capacity or classification testing, I wouldn't use this mode unattended unless you install some fans to direct airflow over the internal load resistors to keep it cool. In terms of charging, I had no problem charging good quality batteries as charging is within the capacity of the batteries. Not sure about the 3 amp charge as it's well over the 1C I would use for charging at max. 1C is the full capacity of the battery. So if your 18650 is rated at 2000mAh, it should support a maximum charge of up to 2 amps. While charging a battery with a lower rating extends battery life, it increases battery safety and reliability. Just be careful when using test modes on a device without proper cooling.