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Author Topic: XTAR VC2 charger behavior  (Read 1627 times)
Lord Tohmas
Knight Officer
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Force Alignment: -43
Posts: 122


(DS points please!)


« on: January 12, 2018, 04:05:08 AM »

Hey gang,

Seeing something I consider odd with my LIon batteries and XTAR VC2 charger.

Quick background: Saber arrived, took and chance and powered on before charging. Worked great. Pulled the batteries out and inserted into the charger. They showed about 85% charged. Left them in the charger until they were both showing 99% and put them back in the saber.  I've showed the saber off to family members over the past week, so it's been on for short periods over the past 9 days.  Last night, I pulled the batteries back and out and put them in the charger for "long term" storage, as suggested.

I noticed that once they were fully charged (charger displays "100%" and "Full" for both batteries), the CH1 LED turned off, but the CH2 LED stays green.  I pulled the batteries back out and re-inserted. They briefly flashed red while the charger synced back up, and it went back to the same CH1 off/CH2 green. I then removed and swapped the battery locations. CH1 now registered as only 97% and charged for the next minute, before turning off its LED. The CH2 LED again remains green.

According to the charger manual, the green LED is the correct behavior and no LED means the battery is reversed. It is certainly not and again, the charger recognizes the type of battery and that it is fully charged.

Thoughts?
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Dauntless Seven
Lady of the Sage Order
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: 2037
Posts: 5444



« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2018, 05:01:18 AM »

Hi.  Lets see if I am following you correctly... you did a great job of describing the potential problem.  I don't have a VC2 that I can find but a VC4.  I often have one battery connecter slot do something similar.  Is the battery warm to touch ?  97% or a bit over 4.15 volts on the charger screen is about as much as I would charge them.  You could go for the full 4.2 v.  If the saber is working properly then I would just go with it.  Use the saber on a regular basis and let the battery power go down to about 20% and even completely drained before placing back into the charger... for at least the first time.  Don't leave them totally drained or they may eventually lose the recharge memory... but this charger has the ability to sort of wake the battery up if able.

A spare set of Li-Ions is a must and I have many spare batteries that are charged and stored in a plastic container.  They keep their charge for many months but I do check them every 2 months or so.  Have gotten a bit lazy on that.  

There are many different theories about when to charge and how to store batteries.  Personally I have had good results not keeping them on the trickle charge and I'm sure that there are many more members that do the same.  The batteries that are in the saber are not sent at full charge.  The extra ones that come in their individual boxes are at about 45 - 60% and are good to be left that way.  Still should be checked now and then and stored safely.

If in doubt contact US as sometimes a malfunctioning battery has been sent with a saber.  Smiley  
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Lord Tohmas
Knight Officer
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Force Alignment: -43
Posts: 122


(DS points please!)


« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2018, 07:05:25 AM »

Thanks for the reply, D7. The VC2 doesn't report voltage, just percentage. Both batteries are at 100% now. Neither battery is warm at all. Since the issue follows the slot, not a particular battery, I'm actually wondering if just the green LED is no working on CH1. That would be the simplest explanation. The batteries themselves seem to work fine.

Interesting information on charging and storage. I know US has posted to keep the batteries in the charger, but even the charger manual itself recommends removing them after charging. And I definitely think getting a spare set of batteries is the way to go.  Thanks again.
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Dauntless Seven
Lady of the Sage Order
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: 2037
Posts: 5444



« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2018, 07:17:54 AM »

Here's my recent reply to a similar question.  Just a little more info to consider.  Am wondering if your battery charger has that push down button that shows the specific charge % and energy/power left on each single battery.  Do you have the charger with the screen... I think that the v2 should have that feature.


http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=37235.msg604648#msg604648



By the way... awesome Avatar !

point worthy  Cool
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Lord Tohmas
Knight Officer
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Force Alignment: -43
Posts: 122


(DS points please!)


« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2018, 07:57:10 AM »

The only button on the V2 either changes the charging power (0.5A or 1.0A), or turns off the screen by holding it down. Since the batteries work fine, I'm going to go off the assumption the charger is too. Just quirky.

By the way... awesome Avatar !

point worthy  Cool

Thanks! Another DarthScrub creation from my main SWTOR character.
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