Battery chargers

[filsgreen]

Morning all

I've got about a dozen rechargeable batteries and a Duracell battery charger. They've done the biz over the last few years, but I've done a bit of research and have found this battery charger.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001JK7SVE/r ... UTF8&psc=1

Has anyone used this model, is it worth £50? I'm also going to invest in the latest generation of rechargeable battery, they're called Eneloops and are made by Panasonic.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J ... ROKL5A1OLE

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Regards

Phil

[jansman]

Yorkshire Andy will be along soon to advise. He's yer man on these topics.

[filsgreen]

Thanks Jansmann. I know that you get what you pay for, but I am finding it hard, thinking about paying £50 for a battery charger. Maybe I'm getting old.

Phil

[dangerman]

What's the difference between that one and this for £16.85?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vapextech-Super ... ry+charger

I can't see any benefit over a couple of normal chargers tbh. I prefer the USB type ones so that I can charge them from my computer or phone charger. This one also charges USB gadgets directly although there probably is an argument that it takes a while to charge stuff up with a low amp output:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PortaPow-Batter ... harger+usb

Eneloops are good batteries, I've got loads of them and at about £1.37 per battery, why use anything else?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sanyo-eneloop-R ... ds=eneloop

[tanstaafl]

Hi I was in the same boat a while back and got some advice from the battery guys on other sites ,,so....

The BL700/CL700 is pretty much given the thumbs up by everyone http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-BL-7 ... ords=bl700, with this also being well thought of http://www.amazon.co.uk/AccuPower-IQ328 ... B004Z5XXZU

Tho in the end I went with this which works great https://www.7dayshop.com/products/7days ... WH2-DS-127 but would have gone for the BL700 if I had had the dosh because of the reviews





For the batteries , on your link page go to the other sellers option and use icell media , have used and they are good sellers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... dition=new


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009 ... ge_o03_s00

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J ... g=ho01f-21




Eneloops are great stick em in a torch and stick in a drawer and 5 years later they will still have 70% charge, but they work better with a slower charger, the one I have and the others go from 200 to 1000ma, so I do mine at 200, after all they will last a long time if looked after, ....

Do not buy any fast charger for eneloops, I am not an expert but this was the advice I was given........

[filsgreen]

Thanks for your advice guys, between you both, you've probably saved me about £30

Phil

[Derv]

Love an eneloop, wish I could afford more of them. I bought the eneloop aa/aaa smart charger. Quality, keeps the eneloops going well and has coaxed a bit of life from my El cheapo batteries of old.

[Arzosah]

tanstaafl, thanks for that work! I was looking at battery chargers on Amazon yesterday, I couldn't find what I wanted, but those are brilliant. I'm going to order the 7dayshop one now, I don't have a proper smart charger for eneloops batteries, which I also want to buy. I've got lots of ordinary rechargeable batteries, but some of them are on their last legs.

The thing that *has* sunk in, for me, is that there are 4 generations of the batteries, and the 3rd and 4th are both being sold. 3rd has up to 500 recharges, and I think the 4th has 2,000 or something like that.

[HBP]

What I have found with battery chargers is that the cheaper ones inevitably do have less features.

Whilst they may charge any number of batteries, often they are fixed output so will charge a small number of batteries very quickly which can be detrimental to the battery life.

In an ideal world you want a charger that can do slectable charging current and put the same out to 1 battery or 8 if thats what the charger will take. Also, a discharge function can be useful.

I use a lot of LIon battereies and tend to be quite picky on what charger I use as they can cause some spectacular results if not managed correctly. Some of the cheaper chargers I have seen have some pretty basic and/or dodgy electronics in them.

Having said that, I am sure a lot of the modern chargers (even the cheap ones) are a huge improvement over what used to be availabe when nicads first came out.

[Arzosah]

Bit of a shopping spree here ... 8 x AA eneloops batteries, 4 x AAA eneloops batteries, and the all-singing all-dancing battery charger:

Product Features

Professional series intelligent AA and AAA battery charger. Each battery channel is independently monitored.
Four charge current settings for different battery types and capacities. Charges up 3000 mAh Capacity batteries.
Four operating modes; Charge, Discharge, Refresh and Test mode enures optimal performance and maximum battery life
Includes USB 5v Output port to capable of charging mobile phones, tablets etc. Accepts 100~240V Ideal for Worldwide use.
LCD Display with illumination shows voltage, current charge, mAh capacity and time for each cell used