need a good NiMH AA / AAA charger

[NTB]

suggestions? I've heard that Maha/PowerEx chargers are great, but I'm not sure which one would be best. Also seen some good things about the Lacrosse BC-900 and the LP4000N, though I haven't seen quite as much about the last one as I have about the Lacrosse & Maha models. Opinions on any of these? suggestions for other models?

The one big requirement that I can think of, at least at the moment, is that they be compatible with the newer low-self-discharge type batteries - Sanyo Eneloop, Rayovac Hybrids, etc. Don't need to worry about NiCds, though.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Nathan

 

[DrPizza]

Not that it's a lot of help, but I lost the power adaptor for my recharger, so in a pinch I figured I'd grab a new set. Hit Staples: wayyyyyyy over-priced, and the batteries that came with the chargers were 1500mAh. Gave up and went to Wal-mart. 4 AA 2500mAh batteries with a 1 hour charger AND it came with a car adaptor, for $20. Even if they lasted 10 charges, they're better than disposables, right?

Wrong. I should have known. Sounds too good to be true - it is too good to be true.

Charged the batteries (completely) for the first time, 7 pictures. wtf?? Charged them again. 6 or 7 more pictures. Now, normally my camera gives a warning and says "low battery, shutting off." Nope. After the last picture, they died so dead that the camera didn't even shut down - it just sorta died.

Recommendation: DON'T get the crap from WalMart. (And, as luck would have it, I "wisely" put the car adaptor in the car so it wouldn't get shuffled into a drawer and lost or something. Wife is in Philly all week, so it'll be a week before I can get it back to Wal-Mart.

 

[cardiac]

I have the LaCrosse and it does a fantastic job. I have approx. 60-70 rechargeable AA NiMH batteries (and 10-12 AAA). It keeps them functioning very well. My boys use them in their wireless Playstation controllers, and I use quite a few in my remote control car radios. It reconditions them with a good discharge/recharge cycling. One of the best for the money.

Bob

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: cardiac
I have the LaCrosse and it does a fantastic job. I have approx. 60-70 rechargeable AA NiMH batteries (and 10-12 AAA). It keeps them functioning very well. My boys use them in their wireless Playstation controllers, and I use quite a few in my remote control car radios. It reconditions them with a good discharge/recharge cycling. One of the best for the money.

Bob

I've got a boatload of AAs, too - use them in a flash for my Rebel XT, my A80 point'n'shoot, and a couple other things. Going to replace some of the older ones with the new low self-discharge ones - have a box full of remote controls that those would be useful in, too. Also need one for a friend, as part of a digicam christmas present.

Nathan

 

[Jeff7]

8-cell charger
I have this one. I'm not sure exactly what its "refresh" feature does, if it monitors the voltage characteristics of the cells or what, but it seems to do a fine job.

Or, if you really want to charge a LOT of cells at once, there's this one .

As far as I know, these can charge the low-discharge cells, too. Those new cells seem chargeable in any fairly recent charger. According to this page, "[Eneloops] can be charged by using any good quality NiMH Battery Charger."

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Not that it's a lot of help, but I lost the power adaptor for my recharger, so in a pinch I figured I'd grab a new set. Hit Staples: wayyyyyyy over-priced, and the batteries that came with the chargers were 1500mAh. Gave up and went to Wal-mart. 4 AA 2500mAh batteries with a 1 hour charger AND it came with a car adaptor, for $20. Even if they lasted 10 charges, they're better than disposables, right?

Wrong. I should have known. Sounds too good to be true - it is too good to be true.

Charged the batteries (completely) for the first time, 7 pictures. wtf?? Charged them again. 6 or 7 more pictures. Now, normally my camera gives a warning and says "low battery, shutting off." Nope. After the last picture, they died so dead that the camera didn't even shut down - it just sorta died.

Recommendation: DON'T get the crap from WalMart. (And, as luck would have it, I "wisely" put the car adaptor in the car so it wouldn't get shuffled into a drawer and lost or something. Wife is in Philly all week, so it'll be a week before I can get it back to Wal-Mart.

I've had good luck with Sanyo AA's, made in Japan. That, versus the Chinese "Powerizer" AA's I got for free from Thomasdistributing when I ordered other stuff last year - Out of 12 Sanyo's, 12 are still working. Out of 24 Powerizer cells, I've lost 8. In less than a year. They're probably at less than 100 charge cycles, or even less than 50. I did a few tests on the dying cells - they were showing a terminal voltage of less than 0.1V. They shouldn't ever drop below 1.0V.
The Powerizers were rated for 2500mAh. I did a discharge test on these dying cells after a "full" charge. They only managed about 500mAh at a 100mA discharge rate.

China's exports need to be categorized into two separate grades: "Walmart-grade" and "genuinely-functional-grade."

 

[Minjin]

I have the CCrane charger. Works excellent.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

China's exports need to be categorized into two separate grades: "Walmart-grade" and "genuinely-functional-grade."

The former would be called "floor sweepings". :laugh: