NiMH charger recommendations?

First of all, this is a request for a *recommendation*, not a request for someone to do Google searches for me.

- - - I need a charger for AA, AAA, and 9v batteries. Four of the AA or AAA at a time is OK.

I see very few that support all these batteries (Maha makes a separate charger for 9v). Of those that do, not all use delta-V termination (or don't specify).

Of those remaining that qualify, I've not heard of the manufacturers ("Powerlzer"? -- that's not a misspelling), or Chinese no-name ones:

The Tenergy TN190 is the only one I've seen:

Does anybody know of such combo chargers? Can recommend one?

Thanks, Dave

Reply to
DaveC
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I can recommend the Lenmar Mach1 Speedcharger for the AA/AAA part of your need - bought mine in 2007 and have been quite happy with it for

4-1/2 years and several dive trips feeding camera and flash lots of AA batteries.

But, of course, it does not do 9V. Requiring that one box do it all may be excessively limiting your choices...

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Reply to
Ecnerwal

I own an Energizer CHM4FC, which you can get for around $25. It handles AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V. There's a NiCd / NiMH switch for cell type. I use it for

5400mAh C cells, and it works fine.

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The catch is... The maximum charge current is ~ 500mA, and you have no control over what the charger does.

Get a MAHA PowerEx MH-C9000. It does only AA and AAA cells, * but you won't regret it. You can pick the charge rate, and there are functions (such as refresh and capacity) not on simple chargers. You can see exactly what's going on.

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The current $52 price seems high (I have two, purchased at around $40 each), but Thomas occasionally has sales.

  • MAHA told me it has no intention of making a C adapter. Rats.
Reply to
William Sommerwerck

I like the La Crosse chargers. Got one at home, one at the office. Cells are charged individually, selectable rates, falls back to trickle charge when full, reports time/volts/rate/amp-hours. Refresh cycle (discharge, charge, repeat until stable).

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Reply to
Rich Webb

I have this one. Used for a couple of years and it is great. SoShine make good stuff - the only problem is the crappy name. Only AA and AAA though.

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for another poster:

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AA is a little bit longer than C so it can be a tight fit.

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Reply to
David Eather

...

I have an older version of the one you linked, without the fast/smart capabilities. I've had it for three years; it's been flawless. And the high-capacity Tenergy D-cells (10,000 mAH) I use are also excellent.

Lord Valve

Reply to
Lord Valve

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It turns out that the Tenergy charger uses delta-V termination on all except the 9v battery. Also, has condition function (discharge before charge) on all except 9v.

Blast!

Dave

Reply to
DaveC

As a 9V battery uses six cells, it might be difficult to determine an appropriate dV for the battery as a whole, given that the dV could be only

1/6 of that for a single cell.

If you tend to thoroughly run down the cells before recharge, that shouldn't be a problem.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

Ah, good point. Series cells difficulty.

Good to know.

Thanks!

Reply to
DaveC

Suspect delta-V sensing would never work on a 9v battery as it is seven cells in series which would reach charged state at different times. Best strategy is to charge at a low rate for the maximum time to ensure all cells are catered for.

Also, if you get an 'intelligent' charger for single cells, they are often a bit too clever and fail to recognise the presence of a cell that has been over discharged or reverse charged (can easily happen in multi cell packs). A quick blast (~1A for a few seconds) gives it enough of a start for the charger to see it. Either keep a 'dumb' charger or connect across an alakaline cell for a few seconds.

I've used this one for a number of years

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Flexible if a little slow. I've found the very fast chargers prone to killing the batteries after a few cycles.

Chris K

Reply to
Chris K

That's the same charger that La Crosse puts its name on:

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With such a wide range of good AA/AAA chargers and a dearth of AA/AAA/9V chargers, I might get a dedicated 9V charger just to take care of those...

Thanks, Dave

Reply to
DaveC

Harbor Freight NiCd/NiMH charger does all 1.5v and 9v batteries. Check it out. item#47618 I have one and use it. On sale for $14.99 + tax and shipping or go into local store.

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?Recharges batteries singly or in a group ?Built-in IC timer control ?LED lights indicate charge status ?Automatic charging current selection for different size batteries ?Plugs into standard 110V outlet

Charging Times: NiCd D/C/AA/AAA: 5 hours by timer control NiMH D/C/AA/AAA: 8 hours by timer control NiCd/NiMH 9V: 10-15 hours manually Shipping Weight: 2.25 lbs.

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Reply to
BeeJ

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I have that MAHA charger and it can't correctly discharge Sanyo Eneloops (I think they have a little higher impedance than other cells) and the charger uses some horrible high current pulse mode.

Then on charge one day it put >3.6Ah into one of my 2Ah cells. I don't use it anymore.

Then again, I have had troubles with the Lacrosse BC-900 type chargers too. Only they just break after a while, but work Ok in general.

There are also hobby chargers. I have a Thunderpower at work for some LiPo cells.

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Reply to
Mr.CRC

No delta-V for end-of-charge detection.

Might be OK for charging 9V or conditioning a bum cell...

Dave

Reply to
DaveC

If you go the dedicated 9V charger route, just buy Sayno ENELOOPs with their charger and junk your old batteries. It is really hard to beat this technology.

I refuse to buy anything that uses a 9V battery. I often decide between similar products based on the battery. I pick the prdocut that uses AA over AAA cell. There is nothing like AA cells. No matter where you go, you can find AA cells.

Reply to
miso

Aha!

My favourite home battery charger is the one I bought in Tesco in Korea a few years ago: you can charge any number (up to 4) of AA or AAA batteries, mixed in any order, independently, and it has a sensible set of light meanings:

  • no light: no battery in this slot * red: charging * green: charged * blinking red: battery doesn't work

and I've been getting quite a few of the last one recently. I guess I should get those NiMH batteries back out of the bin and try them in a "less sophisticated" charger to see if they work again after that?

I certainly like that one. All the numbers & options have a lot of geeky appeal. ;-)

(The one I mentioned above is fairly fast.)

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Reply to
Adam Funk

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I've had trouble too with low discharge cells. My charger has two charge rates at the low rate it may not pick up the drop in cell voltage when fully charged but they work OK at the higher charge rate

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impossible in a finite world.
Reply to
David Eather

V

...

AAA are everywhere too, if you look hard enough. One nice thing about AAA is that with the right adapter, you can fit several of them in a standard C or D holder. For example, the harbour freight free LED light has a 3 AAA holder. I want them just for the holder, after using up the batteries of course. I am building something that could use 12 AAA rechargeable, so four sets of holders in D battery holder. I want independently accessible cells so i can monitor all voltages individually.

Reply to
linnix

=2E>

V

=2E..

Don't forget to reuse the LED(s) from the flashlight. SOmetimes those=20 cheap things are a great source of either batteries (all those 1.99 laser= =20 pointers have button cells included) or parts.

AAAs may be everywhere, but they are just one more thing to stock. A lot= =20 of cheap flashlights are using them these days, as I realized when the=20 power went off for about 12 hours in January. I could find the AA=20 batteries I had bought in bulk, but not the couple of packages of AAA that= =20 I'd bought. So I had a bunch of flashlights that weren't helpful for lack= =20 of batteries.

Michael

Reply to
Michael Black

Battery capacity is proportional to volume, which for a cylinder is proportional to the radius squared. You make the battery slightly bigger, you get a lot more capacity. If something needs to be thin, better to just engineer it to run on rechargeable lithium ion or variants.

So the capacity of the AA is greater than that of the AAA, and at the same time is about 30% cheaper. You gain both ways.

If you look at say external battery holders for high end cameras, they use AA cells. If you are a photojournalist working in some hell hole, you can always get AA cells. GPSs use AA cells. Basically items where you really need it to work run from AA cells.

In every country on the planet, there are AA cells, AK47 ammo, chickens, and rental women.

Reply to
miso

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