Ansmann Powerline Pro 4

Cekid

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once upon a time ansmann was one of the best brand for chargers, at least here in europe, it's a german brand, but it seems it is now lost somewhere... i was checking these days what they are doing right now and what is their current offering, because i have some ansmann charges in the past and they were good, and find out some info on powerline pro 4 charger...

http://www.ansmann.de/en/products/chargers-power-supplies/battery-chargers/powerline-4-pro

it looks like good charger, but i can't find any reviews on the internet...is there any cpf member who by any chance have one? what did you think about it? as far as i can tell, the only thing i didn't like is this, which could be bad for lsd batteries...and not to mention the official price of 50 euro:confused:

"Once a battery is fully charged, the charging process is automatically stopped and, for round cells, changed to trickle charging (buffer charging with current impulses). This feature ensures optimum performance and counteracts the self-discharge of the battery. The battery can thus remain in the device until it is used".
 

TinderBox (UK)

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I have a few of the older led Ansmann chargers and they worked great, but there are so many other great chargers to choose from and Ansmann is not first on my list.

It depends on the type of trickle charge, if the ma are low and pulsed then the lsd battery`s should be fine for a day or so if i understand what HKJ said correctly.

John.
 

Cekid

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you are right...maybe i would choose ansmann for better build quality and reliability, but it's all relative these days...
 

TinderBox (UK)

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Have you seen the "ANSMANN Basic 5 Plus" AAA to D 9V charger - YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO MANUALLY CALCULATE THE CHARGE TIME AND TURN/REMOVE THE BATTERY`S WHEN THE TIME IS UP, CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IN 2017 :ohgeez:

John.
 

HKJ

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Have you seen the "ANSMANN Basic 5 Plus" AAA to D 9V charger - YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO MANUALLY CALCULATE THE CHARGE TIME AND TURN/REMOVE THE BATTERY`S WHEN THE TIME IS UP, CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IN 2017 :ohgeez:

That matches the low end models from Varta, Panasonic, Energizer, etc.
 

Cekid

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Have you seen the "ANSMANN Basic 5 Plus" AAA to D 9V charger - YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO MANUALLY CALCULATE THE CHARGE TIME AND TURN/REMOVE THE BATTERY`S WHEN THE TIME IS UP, CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IN 2017 :ohgeez:

John.

like HKJ said every company has some kind of basic charger these days...

but, having said that, i do agree that many european companies are conservative and stuck in the past...for example, i didn't notice any ansmann multi chemistry charger, they have missed battery revolution:candle: to be honest, i am still nimh guy, but i think companies like ansmann should be more adventurous...
 

HKJ

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Have you seen the "ANSMANN Basic 5 Plus" AAA to D 9V charger - YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO MANUALLY CALCULATE THE CHARGE TIME AND TURN/REMOVE THE BATTERY`S WHEN THE TIME IS UP, CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IN 2017 :ohgeez:

That matches the low end models from Varta, Panasonic, Energizer, etc.
 

TinderBox (UK)

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I may take a look at ansmann chargers in the future, it depends on how many other chargers I have in queue.

Have you tested any Tronic charger`s

I just bought one yesterday and it blew-up when i turned it on for the first time, same thing happened to the previous version i had a couple of years ago, I think it could not handle the power surge as i put 6xAA Tronic 2300mah and then turned it on, instead of turning it on and then putting the battery`s in.

John.
 

Behemot

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I got it, what would you like to know? I am trying to do long-term battery test on it ATM, which is OFC kinda difficult when it always only does one run per the program, than you have to manualy start again. Also the PSU which came with it died after like two runs but I continued with another one till the replacement came. Otherwise for ordinary use it is nice, but nothing special other than it shows how much it put into the cells. So you can compare if multiple batteries discharge equally in a device, that's about that.Did not check the output with O-scope if that's what you want to know so I have no idea how does it actually charge, what the output looks like.
 
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TinderBox (UK)

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The Manual says "Maximum charging capacity: 3000mAh" that does not leave much room for future nimh improvements.

EDIT: It`s a total pain trying to write posts with all forum speed problems, I have lost 3 posts today already.

John.
 

Behemot

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You tell me. I suspect problem with Level3.com route but that's stupid corporation, you can't even send them e-mail as non-customer.There won't be any improvement to more than 3 Ah for AA cells. Eneloops Pro are stuck at around 2.5Ah for years, don't you think they'd put in more if they could? All the miraculous high-capacity Ni-MH are just scam, it handles single, maximum double-digit number of recharge cycles before capacity goes down the toilet. It is just because they compromise the thickness of the layers for capacity so they degrade quickly and die.
 
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Cekid

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i am interested more in some general impressions about powerline 4 pro....handling of batteries, heating, how it handle termination, user interface, how it handle display information, build quality, is it picky about charging some batteries and refuse to charge them, that kind of stuff....
 

Behemot

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Well, most of that you'll find in manual, I too had to check some things to see how the programs work. As for cells, so far we've only used some Eneloops and the PKCells I am testing. We don't use crap so there is no reason why it should refuse anything. Heating is reasonable AFAIK. Have not opened it so I have no idea about built quality. What about termination?
 

Behemot

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One thing about the piece we have. There is some silicone thermal pad inside. When it heats it is leaking silicone oil out of the charger. No big deal for me but may be somewhat surprising if you put it onto some documents or something like that :D
 
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