What is the best 15 minute charger?

I have several, but would like to augment my arsenal with a fast charger.

These are the ones I know of...

Duracell
Energizer
Sony
Dynex
Lenmar Lightning
Rayovac

Im leaning towards the Duracell, but maybe the Energizer....I dont know.

What say you?

The best 15 minute charger is one that charges in 30 minutes or longer.

Regardless of brand, using a 15 minute charger is quite harsh on the cells. With the advent of low self discharge cells, the fast chargers really became outdated IMO.

I have the

La Crosse BC-900
Several Duracell CEF23DX Mobile Chargers
Sony Quick Travel BCG-34HD Charger

And am looking for a dirty 15 minute Charger to augment those.

Are you aware that the BC-900 is capable of charging up to a 1.8A rate already?

I just got it, its actually on the way....so no.

I have been using one of these for testing. I have an American made one, not the newer Chinese imported ones.

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/zts-mini-mbt-battery-tester.htm

The maximum rate recommended by the battery manufacturers is a 1 hour charge. A 15 minute charge is 4x faster than the maximum recommended rate. Charging that fast will always damage cells and shorten their life.

If in spite of that you wish to attempt 15 minute charging, then the Energizer and Duracell chargers have been found to work reasonably well.

Well, which one of the 2? Or should i get both and try them out?

Maybe I should get a 30 minute charger...but that kinda defeats the purpose of a dirty fast charger.

Hello EscapeVelocity,

Welcome to CPF.

You have two very good choices. Duracell and Energizer both make very good 15 minute chargers. The Energizer tends to be a little faster, the Duracell tends to be a little easier on cells.

Tom

Hmmm.....

Since I will be using this only on occassion for superquick charging, maybe Ill get the energizer.

But I was reading past threads here and teh Duracell seems to have a better shutdown topoff and trickle cycle which eventually ends in shutdown.

The Energizer seems more widely available than the Duracell...and can be gotten for cheaper.

Maybe Ill just use the La Crosse as a fast charger, and get a Rayovac PC3 instead.

Anybody use the Kodak 1 Hour Charger?

I see Tyco brands a 30 minute charger, as well as Duracell and Energizer.

Either the Energizer or Duracell unit will work fine. FWIW I've been using the Energizer 15 min charger exclusively with my Eneloops for a long time now without issues. You'll cut down on cycles available but I'm hoping to throw them away and upgrade to the latest and greatest anyhow when that heppens. Since you only plan on using the 15 min charger intermittently, I would hardly even worry about it.

Thanks for the welcome SilverFox, youve done some fantastic testing and work here. Really good information and forum here.

Ive done some extensive testing of Indoor TV Antennas. This is my small contribution to the hive mind collective knowledge base of the cyberspace. Its here on the AVSforum if anybody is interested.

EV's Best Recommended Top Rated HDTV Digital TV Television UHF/VHF Set Top Indoor Antenna Review Test Round-Up Shootout Guide

Im not trying to spam the forum. I just thought Id share my knowledge of indoor antennas as you all share your knowledge of batteries and chargers.

:twothumbs

i think the 15min charger has it's place. do they make one to use in the car?
at 1.8a it would take about an hr and a half to charge a high capacity batt. that's a long drive...

The Energizer 15 minute charger can be powered directly from a 12 V DC input, so you can run it in the car with the right adapter.

Also, I recall that there is a simple modification to make the Energizer unit charge AA cells at the lower AAA cell rate, which extends the charging time to about 30 minutes but is much easier on the batteries.

I found this thread interesting.

Compare Differences of 15 Min Chargers

Hello EscapeVelocity.

If you haven't read the manual yet.

Its have been told that BC900 is capable of charging with 1,8A.
This is only when using one or two cells.

"When only one or two rechargeable batteries are charged, provided that only compartment 1 and compartment 4 are used, a charging current up to
1500 or 1800 mA may be set by the pressing the CURRENT key.
On the other hand, when charging three or four rechargeable batteries at the same time, user may select a charging current of 200, 500, 700 or 1000
mA."

:welcome:


Anders

From what Im understanding, if a 15 minute charger was to be your only charger go with the Duracell, as it has a better trickle top off cycle....and a little longer 15 minute cycle. But if you want to augment other chargers with a super fast charger then get the Energizer as its a little faster.

Does this sound about right?

I agree with your conclusion.

The Energizer charges at 7.5A but it does it in pulses to minimize damage. My recommendation is to buy cheap batteries - Rayovacs are very cheap at Walmart. Unless you really need it, don't buy high capacity batteries, because the Energizer damages them more quickly, because they overheat while charging up. As long as the batteries are cheap, you don't mind tossing them when they start misbehaving.