Adeaska VC4 Plus Charger Review

The Adeaska VC4 Plus Charger is a four-bay charger that charges at 3 amps and also sports a USB output! Read on for thoughts and testing.

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Adeaska VC4 Plus Charger product page. That’s a referral link.

Price

The VC4 Plus is going for $31.99 right now at BangGood.

Short Review

If you need a fast charger, then this is a good choice. This is a fast charger. It hits the max rating for every bay simultaneously. There’s only a little more to say besides that, but if speed is your interest, then this is your charger.

Long Review

Key Features

• 0.5A/1.0A/2.0A/3.0A charging currents you can choose.
• Optional charging currents maximize the battery lifespan.
• You can charge four 26650/32650/D size batteries at the same time
• CH1&CH4:0.5A/1.0A/2.0A/3.0A
• CH2&CH3:0.5A/1.0A/2.0A
• Four slots simultaneously work: CH1&CH2&CH3&CH4:3.0A/2.0A/2.0A/3.0A MAX (10A TOTAL OUTPUT)

Manual and Packaging

The box is big and highly printed.

Here’s the manual.

What’s Included

• Adeaska VC4 Plus Stinger 4-bay charger
• Charger cable (including power brick)
• Manual

^ That slideshow is for the peelers among the audience. You know who you are.

Build Quality and Durability

I said it above, and I’ll echo it here. Buy this charger for its ability to charge at 10A total (3/2/2/3A). Don’t buy it for the build quality. The build quality is ok, but it’s not much further past “ok”.

If you flipped through the slideshow above, you’ll see that while peeling the cover off the screen, the screen lifted a little. That’s not the end of the world, and it didn’t fall off, but it’s a bit of a testament to the build quality here. During use, the screen doesn’t even seem a little loose, though.

My biggest gripe with this charger, though, is the slides. They are not the least bit smooth. In the image below, you can see how one is already bent a little because it bent instead of sliding. So be extra vigilant with protecting these slides.

The bottom has some cooling fins (no fans!), and the top has a metal-shrouded barrel input and a “2.1A” USB output.

The sides are featureless.

The back has some vents too, and charging at 10A, those are really needed. In fact, some active cooling wouldn’t be a bad idea. I did throw a 18650 fan over the charger just for good measure.

The sticker on the back shows what all will be charged by this charger. Many things – the bays are quite big. In diameter, all bays hold 32mm cells. In length, all bays hold 70mm cells.

Note that the charger also accepts NiMH cells. I didn’t test with NiMH at all. This is a fast charger – I wouldn’t buy it primarily for NiMH. It’s nice that they’re supported, though.

 

Size

Officially 157mm×145mm×42mm (Depth x Height x Width)

This isn’t a small 4-bay charger, but that’s the sacrifice you make for having all bays accept all sizes of cells.

Power

Provided with the VC4 Plus is an external power brick. In fact, you’ve probably already noticed that this charger is just like (in form) the Folomov A4. That too had a power brick, and if you’re an astute reader of my reviews, I critiqued that charger for having the large external brick. I know more now, and I get it. This needs to be external. The brick is a 60W HP-branded (probably) laptop charger, rated at 12V/5A output.

It’s a great brick and seems to provide adequate power.

As stated above, the charger will fit a broad range of cells. Here’s a sampling. Note how much room there is between cells, even on the 26650 far left.

Here are some test results. The graphs should be enough to describe what is being tested and recorded. Basically, I tested with 1 18650, then 2 18650, then 3 18650, then 4 18650, with various manual charge rates.





Below is the charger charging at its fastest rate for all bays, all at once. 3A is a little much for a 30Q, but for science, right?

I only logged one bay, but based on the time the others completed, I can say that it’s likely that the 3/2/2/3 is quite accurate.

The Adeaska also offers USB-out. This is out from the cells, and not the passthrough power. As long as there is consistently a cell in any bay, USB output remains. In fact, it’s very steady while swapping cells repeatedly (which is what I was doing for 30s or so, after 1 minute, below). The charger has LVP for the cells, though, and stops output when the cell is below around 3V.

User Interface and Operation

Each bay has a clicky button. The bays are controlled completely independently by their own button. Each bay also has its own part of the display; these don’t carry over from bay to bay. When a cell is inserted, the chemistry (Li-ion/LiFe/PO4/NiMH/NiCd) begins to flash. The charger autodetects, but that can be changed manually. After a few seconds, the chemistry stops blinking, and the current begins to blink (0.5A/1.0A/2.0A/3.0A). Then the button works to select the desired current (or it can be left at the default). There are defaults for both options, so a cell can be dropped in and the user can walk away.

When charging is complete, the charger blinks “FULL” over the bay. NiMH/NiCd are always charged at 0.5A, which, in my opinion, is much too high for the smaller cells like AAA/AAAA.

Conclusion

What I like

• Hits those max numbers as claimed
• Each bay has a button
• Simple to use

What I don’t like

• Slides for cells are not high quality
• Generic 0.5A for NiMH is too high
• Charging at 10A really needs active cooling

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Notes

• This item was provided by BangGood for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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