Celebrating the mid-summer shopping festival with a big battery charger

[Kitchen Panda]

A certain large on-line retailer was running one of its twice-a-year promotions, so I finally pulled the trigger on getting a 12 bay battery charger. It's wonderful. I have a couple of 4-bay chargers, but I was always changing batteries in multiple devices and winding up with several chargers-full of batteries that needed charging together. Even the FRS walkie-talkies take 3 batteries each, if I'm charging both of them I've got to shuffle them through one or more 4 bay chargers.

Anyway, after the new charger arrived, all the AA and AAAs in the battery cupboard got a top-up - and it only took me one afternoon, not a couple of days of shuffling. The model I picked can even charge my two surviving NiCd AAs that are at least 15 years old, but still hold a charge.

I got one that was 12 volt powered - that way it can go on the road and charge in my car, for travel or emergency reasons. I see there are 5-volt powered chargers that split up one USB port's worth of current over multiple cells...I think the 12 volt approach gives faster charging.

If, like me, you've been fussing with small chargers for many batteries...do it! Get the big charger, life is too short to spend waiting for the little battery icons to fill in so you can swap in the next set.

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

When I can afford it, I want to get that $100 MaHa charger, it is a multi-bay, made in Taiwan, not the PRC.

 

[Dave_H]

I've been getting by using an older Duracell Mobile charger (ac/12v), plus a cheap Ikea charger (both 4 slots) in parallel when needed. Neither is overly fast, but OK. I much prefer individual channels (not pairs) and indicators.

Just snagged a nice 8-slot USB charger at thrift store (cheap), but I get the 5v limit doing this, it's limited to 2A input (10W) which works out to 800mA per AA, basically a 2-3 hour charger.


Dave

 

[Dave_H]

Taiwan ROC?

Dave

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

Taiwan ROC?

Dave

Yup, nationalist China, non-commie, the place the PRC says is theirs, and that they keep saber rattling about. It's not USA, but an ally, and anti-PRC, so they are okay to me.