uP based AAA, AA, C, D or 9v battery charter $19.99 @ HarborFrieght.com

[datacomm]

I noticed the interest in battery chargers that would charge various size NIMH batteries so here's one you might like : http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47620

 

[flyingboujanero]

"Computer controlled"-. hehe. i thought that meant i could tell it to charge the batteries from work..

Thanks OP

 

[datacomm]

The site shown above does include a link to a pdf manual for the charger. I believe this is the same charger sold by a lot of the battery only sites on the internet. It does use -v delta detection for charge termination as well as timer safety limit. I'm thinking that the use of an AC adapter would probably mean you could use a car dc adapter to power this as well.

 

[MWink]

I have that exact charger (I think) and it's decent but not great. I only like it because it charges any size battery and charges each battery in it's own individual bank (you don't have to charge them in pairs). It's not particularly fast by todays standards but it's not slow either. My biggest problem is that sometimes it will say a battery is charged but the battery won't have been charged barely at all. I can't figure out why, it seems to happen at random, especially if I've been using it a lot. It also has a "conditioning" discharge feature which is nice but can take a very long time if the battery has much of a charge left. One little neat thing I've never seen advertised about this charger is the fact that it seems to be made to charge Prismatic (gumstick) batteries as well. Overall I wouldn't buy this charger again but for $20 if you need one that charges more than just AA/AAA's it might be worth it.

 

[jm0ris0n]

Don't mean to hijack, but what would you recommend for just charging AA's ? My energizer charger died on me.

 

[datacomm]

I posted this because of the people showing interest in multi-size chargers but my vote for a battery charger went with the LaCross found in another thread ( http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1766683&enterthread=y )

The Lacross takes good care of each and every cell(slow charge) you put in it unless you decide to push the charge current(fast charge) to shorten charge time if you need the thing in a hurry. That makes this a multi-use charger and a good reason to buy it. You won't have to buy more than one.

It looks at each cell and gives you a clue as to what it's capacity might be so if you have more than a pair of them, you can kind of match them up when you put them in whatever you use them in.

I think the worst thing you can do to a cell is put it in service and in series with another cell with more charge in it so one cell in the circuit runs out of current to push and suddenly is subject to reverse voltage across it's terminals. Now you have reverse current through the cell and a cell that may have been perfiectly good but just a little less capacity, now becomes a damaged cell with lots less capacity or a non-functioning cell.

That's one big reason I like that Lacross charger.

I like that it comes with the adapters to make AA cells fit in places where C or D cells are supposed to go. If your going to have NiMH cells, you may as well use them and use them often. Leave them just sitting around and they're not doing anything for you and they just lose their charge over a month or so and you have to recharge them to use them anyway.

If you think about how much money you will save using rechargables, that charger isn't really espensive.

If you can afford to buy regular batteries or whatever the situation so money isn't an issue, buy it anyway and try to send a little less trash to the landfill.

Oh...if you want your cells to last as long as possible, if you use more than one in a device, don't run them till the device simply stops. Pull them out when you see the performance fading. If multiple cells are used as a battery and the battery goes dead, it's almost always the case that the cell with the least capacity or charge in it on that particular cycle is going to take a beating.

Some people say to run the battery all the way down to reduce memory problems. If you're using NiCads, that may be a problem but that's better handled by a good charger that can safely discharge previous to a charge.