XTAR MC6C Charger Review
The XTAR MC6C is a six-bay charger with a simple interface and plenty of bays. Great for even very wide cells, it’s a nice charger! Read on!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the XTAR MC6C Charger product page.
Price
Looks like this one will be only $19.95! Not bad for a 6 bay charger!
Short Review
This is a very simple 6 bay charger. There is nothing to mess with. It only supports Li-ion cells. There are no buttons. The display shows minimal information. But: It charges like it should. If you need a charger that does this, then it’s a great choice!
Long Review
Key Features
• Monitors and charges each of the 6 slots independently
• Micro USB & DC Input, Charge Anywhere
• Clearly See Real-time Charging Status
• Multiple Protections Ensure Safe Charging
• High Conversion Rate & Low Heat Generation
• High Precision, Auto Cut-off When Fully Charged
Manual and Packaging
Standard XTAR packaging here. The charger is in a plastic tray.
What’s Included
- XTAR MC6C 6-bay Charger
- Charge cable (USB to 5V barrel plug)
- Manual (not pictured)
Build Quality and Durability
The build quality is on par with other $20 chargers. It feels good enough, and holds the cells securely.
In addition to the 5V barrel plug for power, there’s also a power in on the right side. Micro-USB, and it wants 5V/2A. It should sufficiently power the charger to do two bays at 2A total, at least. I seem to have managed to miss getting a photo of that port!
I appreciate that the capabilities of the charger are shown on more than just a sticker. It’ll be hard to remove the below embossed info.
The bays are individually labeled. Note the differences. Outer 2 (1 and 6) are 1.0/0.5A bays. Next inner 2 (2 and 5) are 1.0/0.5/0.2A bays. And the middle two (3 and 4) are only 0.5/0.2A bays.
Size
Officially 111mm long, 148mm wide, and 34mm in height. The inner 4 bays are really 18650 bays, while the outer two can fit larger cells like 32650. Max length is unprotected 21700 cells.
Power
Power is supplied to the MC6C through an included cable. The power port is a barrel plug on the top of the device.
The included cable is a USB to barrel plug – 5V/3A.
Here are a number of charge tests. I logged the leftmost bay in every test. So what you’ll see is basically the max speed possible for every scenario.
One cell charges at 1A nicely.
Two cells – both in 1A bays – charge at 1A nicely.
Even with 3 cells in place (including both 1A bays, and the next highest bay too), charging for the 1A bay is actually 1A.
Only with 4 cells does the 1.0A/0.5A bay drop down to 0.5A. And charging looks good, too.
With every bay filled, bays 1 and 6 still charge at 0.5A (their lowest-rated current).
There’s no way to select down current – for example, you can’t select 0.5A in the 1.0/0.5A bays. You can’t select 0.2A
User Interface and Operation
No buttons! Just put the cell in whatever bay corresponds to the max current you want to see on the cell, and charging starts.
Conclusion
What I like
- Simple Interface
- Fits large cells (32mm diameter, and 70mm long
What I don’t like
- Can’t select lower than max current for any bay
- Doesn’t display cell voltage
Notes
- This item was provided by XTAR for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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