AA/AAA battery charger suggestions

[edvarim]

Hi,
My 6+ year old ELV smart charger started dying (one channel died and another is a bit flaky).
What charger would you recommend?
Main requirements for the charger:
1) should be able to charge at least 4 batteries at the same time;
2) AA/AAA battery support, maybe support for D would be nice (no need to charge Lithium cells);
3) Faster charging is a plus (kids toys:) );
4) Reasonably priced (preferably 60eur);
5) Available in Europe in.

Thanks

[samgab]

Can't go far wrong with the Maha MH-C9000.
http://www.mahaenergy.com/mh-c9000/

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Powerex%20MH-C9000%20UK.html
Doesn't do D cells, but does much more than just charge AA/AAA cells. Can maintain and analyse your cells. I'm pretty sure you can get it for less than 60 Eur.

I've had this charger for many years, and it's one of the best 4 x AA/AAA chargers I've had, except perhaps the SkyRC MC3000 http://www.skyrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=219

FWIW, the MC3000 can also accommodate D cells, and can also do multi chemistries, Li-Ion, LiFe, NiMH, etc.But it's more like 100Eur for this charger.
http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20SkyRC%20MC3000%20UK.html

[HighVoltage]

I am using the Ansmann charger Powerline 4
http://www.ansmann.de/en/products/chargers-power-supplies/battery-chargers/powerline-4

[retiredcaps]

I'm happy with this for $17 USD + free shipping.  I have had it for about 4 months now and it is simple and easy to use.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/282292305260

Independent measurements/review by HKJ, a member here, and extraordinary cell, charger, tester at

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Opus%20BT-C700%20UK.html

At $17 USD, you can buy two of them.

PS. I have no financial affiliation with seller or ebay.  You can buy this charger on aliexpress as well.

[mmagin]

This has been pretty satisfactory for me, La Crosse BC-700  http://a.co/eEezV0g
Dunno about European availability.

[PlainName]

I have a Maha C9000 and it's pretty good but somewhat geeky. But if you need a fast charger then it's the biz.

But... I also recently acquired a Lidl job which takes a bit longer but is much more of a slap 'em in and forget job, so I tend to use it in preference except when I need to profile or fast charge something:

Lidl Tronic charger

'Course, you can only buy these when Lidl have 'em on offer, apparently,  but worth bearing in mind for when they come around again.

[Delta]

I have a Maha C9000 and it's pretty good but somewhat geeky. But if you need a fast charger then it's the biz.

But... I also recently acquired a Lidl job which takes a bit longer but is much more of a slap 'em in and forget job, so I tend to use it in preference except when I need to profile or fast charge something:

Lidl Tronic charger

'Course, you can only buy these when Lidl have 'em on offer, apparently,  but worth bearing in mind for when they come around again.

I've got one of those Lidl ones, and for the money it's great.  I'd been looking for a while for a charger that could charge individual cells instead of only in pairs, and this was just the ticket.

[Ampera]

I don't even use AAs anymore.

It could be worth modding all your AA electronics to charge a Liion/Lipo pack off USB. In the end you save money and you just need a regular trickle charger.

[Delta]

I don't even use AAs anymore.

It could be worth modding all your AA electronics to charge a Liion/Lipo pack off USB. In the end you save money and you just need a regular trickle charger.

Well check you.....

[edvarim]

Hmm, never knew that Lidl had a battery charger Will have a look at them when being close to them.

After reading I think I'm leaning towards MH-C9000.

when looking around I saw Opus BT - C3100 V2.2 (http://www.gearbest.com/chargers/pp_174044.html?wid=3).

In your opinion which is more reliable/longer lived of them (not looking at the list of supported chemistries).

[PlainName]

never knew that Lidl had a battery charger

On looking into it further I don't think they do specifically. Much of their stuff is own brand under a funny name, but Tronic seem to be a separate company. The same thing (under the same name) is also available at Maplin (thought it costs somewhat more than I remember paying).

The C9000 is great for messing with batteries, but it is not perfect for day to day slap-it-in stuff. At least, for me. The one you give a link to was my other choice when I got the C9000 and it suffers performance-wise in comparison. These two are also limited to AA and AAA batteries - I got the Tronic charger specifically because it also did PP3 (and C, D) and only found out how good it was once I'd got home and read the manual

edit: sorry, just noticed the BT one does Li-ion so there's actually not a big choice if you need that facility. My comments are based entirely on NiMH and NiCd.

[IanB]

Hi,
My 6+ year old ELV smart charger started dying (one channel died and another is a bit flaky).
What charger would you recommend?
Main requirements for the charger:
1) should be able to charge at least 4 batteries at the same time;
2) AA/AAA battery support, maybe support for D would be nice (no need to charge Lithium cells);
3) Faster charging is a plus (kids toys:) );
4) Reasonably priced (preferably 60eur);
5) Available in Europe in.

Thanks

There will be many answers to this question, but in my opinion the simplest and best answer for a basic charger is to get one of the latest Panasonic chargers designed to go with Eneloops (make sure it is one that can charge any combination of 1, 2, 3 or 4 batteries). Although they work well with Eneloops they will work with any regular NiMH battery.

[roffvald]

I've been using the IKEA charger "LADDA" it's really not that bad, takes 4 cells. They also have a series of rechargeable batteries which have gotten some raving reviews(In the same LADDA series) and the speculation is that they are just rebranded ENELOOPs at a fraction of the price. I'm really happy with both the charger and the cells in that series.

[bitseeker]

I've had good results with the La Crosse BC-900. Have one at work and at home. However, you should also have one of the basic "dumb" chargers because many of the fancy ones won't charge a battery that has too low of a remaining voltage. In such cases, putting the cells into a basic charger will get them to the point that the smart chargers will recognize them.

[David Hess]

The MH-C9000 has a poor user interface; it is good enough for infrequently charging and testing batteries but becomes a trial for routine charging.  Its design also uses insufficient derating on its aluminum electrolytic capacitors; I had to replace the capacitors in mine.

[mmagin]

I've had good results with the La Crosse BC-900. Have one at work and at home. However, you should also have one of the basic "dumb" chargers because many of the fancy ones won't charge a battery that has too low of a remaining voltage. In such cases, putting the cells into a basic charger will get them to the point that the smart chargers will recognize them.

Yeah, this is very true.  I usually just set a power supply to a 100 mA current limit and 1.5 volts and hold it across the cell for half a minute if this happens, it's usually enough to put a usable voltage across it to get the BC-700 that I have started.

The one thing that I find nicer about the better chargers is that you can be more gentle on AAA cells and charge them at lower currents.  The inexpensive chargers that you get free in multi-packs of Eneloops just use the same charge current for both AA and AAA (not that it's going to overcharge either, but the slower charging is supposedly better for the cell lifespan as I understand it, and I'm not usually in a hurry.)

[BravoV]

The one thing that I find nicer about the better chargers is that you can be more gentle on AAA cells and charge them at lower currents.  The inexpensive chargers that you get free in multi-packs of Eneloops just use the same charge current for both AA and AAA (not that it's going to overcharge either, but the slower charging is supposedly better for the cell lifespan as I understand it, and I'm not usually in a hurry.)

For NiMH cell, there is a possibility of overcharging if its charged with "too gentle" C rate, as charger might miss the termination phase, as the DV/DT signature will be too weak to detect.

I own 2 MH-C9000s since it was released, probably > 5 years now, and lots of Eneloop cells since their 1st generation. All my 1st gen Eneloop with moderate to high usage, all this years, they all charged varies at minimum 0.5C up to 1 C, on average almost all still have >90% of the original capacity, verified using my new SkyRC MC3000 analyzer.

Photo that I took recently on C9000 vs MC3000 size in comparison.

[IanB]

Everyone's posting about these big, complicated chargers with displays and buttons and whatnot. Sure, this is a geek's forum, but knobs and dials are not the answer to every problem.

If someone wants a simple charger they most likely don't want all that stuff. They just want to plug it in and forget it.

A charger that meets that requirement is the Panasonic BQ-CC55, for example.

[mmagin]

The one thing that I find nicer about the better chargers is that you can be more gentle on AAA cells and charge them at lower currents.  The inexpensive chargers that you get free in multi-packs of Eneloops just use the same charge current for both AA and AAA (not that it's going to overcharge either, but the slower charging is supposedly better for the cell lifespan as I understand it, and I'm not usually in a hurry.)

For NiMH cell, there is a possibility of overcharging if its charged with "too gentle" C rate, as charger might miss the termination phase, as the DV/DT signature will be too weak to detect.

Good point, I'd forgotten that detail.