Test/Review of Charger Panasonic BQ-CC17

HKJ · Mar 25, 2015

[size=+3]Charger Panasonic BQ-CC17[/size]

Panasonic has a line of NiMH chargers, some are fast and smart, others dump. This one here is a slow and smart charger.

I got the charger in a blister pack. In addition to the charger there were eneloop cells.

The makes the total contents: The charger, 4 eneloop cells and an instruction sheet in many languages.

The charger is designed with a US power plug but includes a EU plug. The EU plug requires tools to remove.

The charger has four hidden leds to show when it is charging. Green light means charging.

The charger has the typically two level slots used for AA and AAA batteries.

[size=+2]Measurements charger[/size]

When not powered it will discharge the battery with 0.05mA
If the charger detect an error the green led for that channel will flash fast.
Steady green light is charging.
Charge will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(eneloop)%20%231.png

A nice -dv/dt termination with only a small temperature increase and no trickle charge, this looks very good.

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(eneloop)%20%232.png

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(eneloop)%20%233.png

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(eneloop)%20%234.png

All channels looks the same.

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(eneloopXX)%20%231.png

The XX also looks the same, but the internal resistance is fairly high, making the voltage swing fairly large when the charge current is pulsing.

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(eneloopPro)%20%231.png

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(powerex)%20%231.png

Again nice terminations.

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20(eneloopAAA)%20%231.png

Also with the AAA cell.

Panasonic%20BQ-CC17%20full%20(eneloop)%20%231.png

The termination is a bit slow on a full cell. It looks like a -dv/dt termination.

With 4 cells in the charger the termination is not as nice, but still very good.

M1: 31,9°C, M2: 36,4°C, M3: 39,7°C, M4: 39,5°C, M5: 44,3°C, M6: 35,0°C, HS1: 66,9°C
The charger does not have an even temperature distribution, but the temperature is acceptable.

M1: 31,7°C, M2: 36,2°C, M3: 40,0°C, M4: 39,3°C, M5: 47,5°C, HS1: 71,7°C

The charger needs about 0.5 seconds to start.
The duty cycle is 25%, i.e. the charger has one charge circuit and switches it between the four slots.

With AAA the current is the same, but the duty cycle is reduced.

Testing the mains transformer with 2500 volt and 5000 volt between mains and low volt side, did not show any safety problems.

[size=+2]Conclusion[/size]

The charger is very good at filling the batteries. No trickle charge is an advantage for LSD cells. Compared to the CC16 this one only has one charger circuit, the CC16 has two. With AA batteries the CC16 reduces the actual current, this one changes the duty cycle, but due to the lower current there is not much difference in the charge current in the pulses.

I believe this is a good but slow NiMH charger.

[size=+3]Notes[/size]

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger

redtruck · Mar 27, 2015

Thanks for the review. I have two of these now after buying one on Amazon when the Panasonic Eneloops first showed up, and then got the second in the multi pack at Costco. Seems to work well, I ended up taking a marker and circling the hidden lights on it so I would know for sure which slot was done and when, but if there is no trickle then I'm not so worried about taking them out when they are done.

I don't mind the slow speed, as long as they are charged correctly I have enough on hand to keep some extras ready to go. If I came across the quick charger for a good price I might be tempted though.

WalkIntoTheLight · Mar 29, 2015

Since getting this charger, it has become one of my favourites. I like it because there is no trickle (unlike my "good" charger), so I can just throw cells in and forget it for the day.

gurdygurds · Mar 31, 2015

Thanks for the review sir. This is what came with my Costco Envelop pack. I like it. Worry free. Slow and steady. Humble but does the trick.

Grijon · Apr 7, 2015

Awesome review; thank you, HKJ!

Rhinny2012 · Dec 11, 2015

HKJ,

Is it safe to leave the batteries in the charger after they are done charging so that they are always ready? Or should they be taken out after fully charged?
Thanks.

HKJ · Dec 11, 2015

Rhinny2012 said:
Is it safe to leave the batteries in the charger after they are done charging so that they are always ready? Or should they be taken out after fully charged?

Leaving the charger plugged in with batteries will not keep them charged and if it did it would also wear them down.
With eneloop there is no reason to worry about self discharge, it is very slow.

Letting the charger stay plugged in has the same (small) risk as any other electronic device: If something in the charger breaks down it may start burning. Being from a big international manufacturer I would expect that risk to be very small.

Rhinny2012 · Dec 11, 2015

Perfect. Thanks for the response.

jgp123 · Aug 10, 2016

Hi HKJ,
I understand this charger can charge 4-pc AA or AAA Eneloop battery of 1.2V. I have 4 pcs Envie battery, 2100mAh cap. for use in a digital camera (FujiFinepix-HS10). Out of 4 batteries, one battery got leaked within a few months as observed from discoloured body though it can take charge along with other three. Now I want to know whether charging this partially damaged battery with 3 good batteries, will the good ones get damaged? Can I charge 1.5V rechargeable battery with this charger. Since I am a total novice in this area, kindly reply with little elaborations.

Thanks & regards,

jgp123

HKJ said:
[SIZE=+3]Charger Panasonic BQ-CC17[/SIZE]

Panasonic has a line of NiMH chargers, some are fast and smart, others dump. This one here is a slow and smart charger.

I got the charger in a blister pack. In addition to the charger there were eneloop cells.

The makes the total contents: The charger, 4 eneloop cells and an instruction sheet in many languages.

The charger is designed with a US power plug but includes a EU plug. The EU plug requires tools to remove.

The charger has four hidden leds to show when it is charging. Green light means charging.

The charger has the typically two level slots used for AA and AAA batteries.

[SIZE=+2]Measurements charger[/SIZE]

When not powered it will discharge the battery with 0.05mA

If the charger detect an error the green led for that channel will flash fast.

Steady green light is charging.

Charge will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.

A nice -dv/dt termination with only a small temperature increase and no trickle charge, this looks very good.

All channels looks the same.

The XX also looks the same, but the internal resistance is fairly high, making the voltage swing fairly large when the charge current is pulsing.

Again nice terminations.

Also with the AAA cell.

The termination is a bit slow on a full cell. It looks like a -dv/dt termination.

With 4 cells in the charger the termination is not as nice, but still very good.

M1: 31,9°C, M2: 36,4°C, M3: 39,7°C, M4: 39,5°C, M5: 44,3°C, M6: 35,0°C, HS1: 66,9°C
The charger does not have an even temperature distribution, but the temperature is acceptable.

M1: 31,7°C, M2: 36,2°C, M3: 40,0°C, M4: 39,3°C, M5: 47,5°C, HS1: 71,7°C

The charger needs about 0.5 seconds to start.
The duty cycle is 25%, i.e. the charger has one charge circuit and switches it between the four slots.

With AAA the current is the same, but the duty cycle is reduced.

Testing the mains transformer with 2500 volt and 5000 volt between mains and low volt side, did not show any safety problems.

[SIZE=+2]Conclusion[/SIZE]

The charger is very good at filling the batteries. No trickle charge is an advantage for LSD cells. Compared to the CC16 this one only has one charger circuit, the CC16 has two. With AA batteries the CC16 reduces the actual current, this one changes the duty cycle, but due to the lower current there is not much difference in the charge current in the pulses.

I believe this is a good but slow NiMH charger.

[SIZE=+3]Notes[/SIZE]

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger

ggf31416 · Aug 11, 2016

jgp123 said:
Hi HKJ,
I understand this charger can charge 4-pc AA or AAA Eneloop battery of 1.2V. I have 4 pcs Envie battery, 2100mAh cap. for use in a digital camera (FujiFinepix-HS10). Out of 4 batteries, one battery got leaked within a few months as observed from discoloured body though it can take charge along with other three. Now I want to know whether charging this partially damaged battery with 3 good batteries, will the good ones get damaged? Can I charge 1.5V rechargeable battery with this charger. Since I am a total novice in this area, kindly reply with little elaborations.

Thanks & regards,

jgp123

I'm not HKJ but I will answer anyway,

The CC17 charges each battery individually, so it shouldn't damage the other 3 batteries. However if the battery leaks it may damage the charger. Also during use it's likely to have lower capacity than the undamaged ones, so there is risk that it will reach 0v and be reversed charged by the other batteries and leak, damaging your camera.
This charger is often available as a bundle with eneloop batteries for a low price ( for example at Amazon: 4AA+charger for $16.99 or this pack of charger+10AA+4AAA for $28.68 ).
Eneloops are high quality batteries that are very unlikely to leak. Also they will lose almost no charge if left unused by a long time. Their capacity is lower than the rated capacity of your current batteries but, as they keep well their voltage under load, the difference won't be that significant (plus as one of your batteries is damaged 4 eneloops may have more usable capacity than your batteries at their current state).
Your current batteries appear to be NiMH, so their nominal voltage should be 1.2v as well.

carlmart · Aug 28, 2016

This thread is a bit old, but let's hope people are still reading it.

Recently I bought some Panasonic Eneloop-type batteries, and hopefully they will get here soon.

In the past I bought a Sanyo Eneloop package, with some AAA batteries. The charger was the original Sanyo one, charging two batteries at the time.

The option of now having a charger that feeds them individually is very good.

But there's one aspect that people rarely talk about, which is charger's contact rust. Metal seems to be magnetic or ferrous, which is not a good thing.

How do you people deal with that? Is there a way to prevent it and/or maintain it clean?

My Sanyo charger needs some cleaning to do, because when I put 4 AAA batteries to charge, it needed rotating the batteries until the LEDs starting blinking.

carnage · Aug 31, 2017

Great review HKJ!

Is there any top off charge after the lights goes off?

ProfJim · Aug 31, 2017

carnage said:
Great review HKJ!

Is there any top off charge after the lights goes off?

From the graphs in the review, there is no top-off charge with the BQ-CC17.

The graph and comment below are from HKJ's BQ-CC55 review:

Panasonic%20BQ-CC55%20%28eneloop%29%20%231.png

The charger uses a -dv/dt termination and has a 1 hour top-off charge at around 140mA.

HKJ · Aug 31, 2017

ProfJim said:
From the graphs in the review, there is no top-off charge with the BQ-CC17.

Correct

carnage · Sep 1, 2017

ProfJim said:
From the graphs in the review, there is no top-off charge with the BQ-CC17.

The graph and comment below are from HKJ's BQ-CC55 review:

The charger uses a -dv/dt termination and has a 1 hour top-off charge at around 140mA.

Thanks for the reply!

carnage · Sep 1, 2017

HKJ said:
Correct

Thanks for confirming!

dgbrookman · Sep 4, 2017

carlmart said:
This thread is a bit old, but let's hope people are still reading it.

But there's one aspect that people rarely talk about, which is charger's contact rust. Metal seems to be magnetic or ferrous, which is not a good thing.

How do you people deal with that? Is there a way to prevent it and/or maintain it clean?

My Sanyo charger needs some cleaning to do, because when I put 4 AAA batteries to charge, it needed rotating the batteries until the LEDs starting blinking.

If the charger is used regularly the action of inserting and removing the batteries tends to create enough abrasion to keep oils and corrosion from building. This is effectively the same as how your rotating the batteries got the charger to work. You can also use a pencil eraser on the contacts to remove surface schmutz and corrosion. Not a nice eraser that is formulated to be gentle on paper, but the sort of rough one you find at the end of a cheap wooden pencil.

If you want to get really fancy you could buy a can of electrical contact cleaner but it isn't really necessary.

This is a common problem for many electrical devices. If I plug in a guitar that I haven't played for a while it often takes some fiddling with removing and inserting the plug a few times to pass a non-crackly signal.

chewy78 · Jan 16, 2019

This seems it would be a nice reliable compact charger to bring along on vacation if you are like flying on an airplane or anywhere else where storage space is limited .

WalkIntoTheLight · Jan 16, 2019

chewy78 said:
This seems it would be a nice reliable compact charger to bring along on vacation if you are like flying on an airplane or anywhere else where storage space is limited .

I have 3 of these chargers. I use them almost every day. Great chargers for travelling or regular use, as long as you're not in a hurry.

chewy78 · Jan 16, 2019

Yes i do have a couple other chargers i do use too. 4 opus 3100-3400s, maha c9000 mh c808, a skyrc mc3000 with bad screen. If i get more eneloops i might get the 4aa + charger bundle plus maybe at least another 8 or more eneloops

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