Lacrosse BC-9009 versus BC-900: What differences, if any?

[DualMonitors]

Hello,

I've been trying to figure out what differences, if any, there are, between the "new" Lacrosse BC-9009 model, versus their current, around 2-3 year old model BC-900?

I cannot see any differences, besides the color of the plastic exterior.

Anyone knows of differences? Thx!

[tabetha]

I looked at this yesterday, and also can't see a difference apart from colour.
tabetha

[Lynx_Arc]

from another forum I found this
http://www.minizracer.com/forums/sho...832#post342832

LA CROSSE TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT INFORMATION

Dear XXX,

Model Number: BC900 Charger

Please Refer to case number XXXXX in all future correspondence.

The only difference between the BC900 and the BC9009 is the color of the units.

Regards,

Michelle

Technical Support Representative
LaCrosse Technology
2817 Losey Boulevard S
LaCrosse, WI 54601

[DualMonitors]

Thx for the info, LynxArc. However, i've called Lacrosse and, sorry to say, i found some of the folks who answered their calls to be uneducated in their own products.

One employee told me that the BC-700 is their follow up, later model, to the BC-900. I told her no, i do not believe so. I asked her to kindly double check, she sighed, returned and said that she's correct.

I'm uncertain as to whether or not that it is really true that the BC-9009 is merely a color difference. To have a new SKU for a product is an additional hassle for a company - especially when there's no real need for a new SKU. Unless they ran out of the blue dye they used for the blue plastic for their BC-900, changing the SKU is just going to add work for the warehouse and inventory system.

Somehow, i get the gut feeling that the manufacturer (in Asia) made some changes and they have not yet been fully communicated to Lacrosse in the US yet.

This is merely a speculation. I was hoping that the good, highly knowledgeable folks here might know something about this.

[mighty82]

The BC-700 is a newer model than the BC-900. It's newer, but cheaper and simpler, and it has lower charging current.

[Marduke]

Originally Posted by DualMonitors

Thx for the info, LynxArc. However, i've called Lacrosse and, sorry to say, i found some of the folks who answered their calls to be uneducated in their own products.

One employee told me that the BC-700 is their follow up, later model, to the BC-900. I told her no, i do not believe so. I asked her to kindly double check, she sighed, returned and said that she's correct.

Originally Posted by mighty82

The BC-700 is a newer model than the BC-900. It's newer, but cheaper and simpler, and it has lower charging current.

I believe the BC-700 was a later model, release with a lower current as a stopgap measure against the cases of melting BC-900's. Now that the BC-900 is fixed, the BC-700 is kinda of a odd duck, with no real place. I believe they are phasing it out.

[tabetha]

I was told by my bud tonight that the lacrosse/technoline were of german manufacture, how true I don't know ?
tabetha

[DualMonitors]

Originally Posted by Marduke

I believe the BC-700 was a later model, release with a lower current as a stopgap measure against the cases of melting BC-900's. Now that the BC-900 is fixed, the BC-700 is kinda of a odd duck, with no real place. I believe they are phasing it out.

ok, then what is the "new" BC-9009?

BC-900 versus BC-9009 differences, if any, please? it would be odd if the only difference is really merely the color. That is, to bother with shipping a new SKU, bothering with "new" inventory versus the "older" inventory, etc., merely to switch a color, is atypical. They could even have done a BC-900B (i.e. B for black color model) rather than call it BC-9009 if it really only has color as the only difference. I suspect that there are modifications, but the details have not yet filtered down from the manufacturer (in China) to the OEM buyers yet, i.e. Lacrosse.

[Lynx_Arc]

my guess is they *think* the firmware is now bug free and decided to make a version that the model number (without checking firmware) is one they know will not have issues. There are a lot of BC900s out there but some of the older ones are quirky so if someone was having a problem they would have to take time to read the firmware where as if they had a 9009 the firmware would not be an issue (if they never find any more bugs and update it again. I am guessing the next update would be a 9010 model next year.

[Beacon of Light]

How ironic to run across this thread here today. I was going to start a thread yesterday asking when or if Lacross was going to upgrade the BC900 considering it's been around for a few years now. The 3 I have are either v32 or v33. Did they ever come out with a v34 firmware?

[SilverFox]

Hello Mighty82,

Your information is incorrect.

LaCrosse originally came out with the BC-700. This was upgraded to the BC-900.

They had some warehouses full of BC-700 that they unloaded, and the BC-700 re-emerged, but it is not a new product.

Tom

[DualMonitors]

Originally Posted by SilverFox

Hello Mighty82,

Your information is incorrect.

LaCrosse originally came out with the BC-700. This was upgraded to the BC-900.

They had some warehouses full of BC-700 that they unloaded, and the BC-700 re-emerged, but it is not a new product.

Tom

Whew! I'm vindicated by the guru. I knew I read it somewhere. Thank you for your verification, Tom/Mr. Silverfox.

[jt4703]

Originally Posted by Beacon of Light

How ironic to run across this thread here today. I was going to start a thread yesterday asking when or if Lacross was going to upgrade the BC900 considering it's been around for a few years now. The 3 I have are either v32 or v33. Did they ever come out with a v34 firmware?

V35 is out now (I got mine last month) but no idea how long it has been out.

[Beacon of Light]

Originally Posted by jt4703

V35 is out now (I got mine last month) but no idea how long it has been out.

That's good to know.

[slipryd]

There is one other difference that I noticed between the 2 units, the BC-9009 will charge to a maximum of 2600 mah and the bc-900 will charge to a maximum of 3000 mah. I found that info in the pdf data files on the Lacrosse website for these 2 units....

[Bones]

Originally Posted by slipryd

There is one other difference that I noticed between the 2 units, the BC-9009 will charge to a maximum of 2600 mah and the bc-900 will charge to a maximum of 3000 mah. I found that info in the pdf data files on the Lacrosse website for these 2 units....

Interesting, and you have to wonder why. Reducing the maximum output to 2600mAh essentially renders the BC-9009 incapable of fully charging higher capacity AA cells on a single charge.

[Marduke]

Originally Posted by slipryd

There is one other difference that I noticed between the 2 units, the BC-9009 will charge to a maximum of 2600 mah and the bc-900 will charge to a maximum of 3000 mah. I found that info in the pdf data files on the Lacrosse website for these 2 units....

Link? I somehow doubt they would make such a foolish mistake.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by Marduke

Link? I somehow doubt they would make such a foolish mistake.

Found them:

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/900/manual.pdf

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/9009/manual.pdf

For future reference, they're linked at the top of the respective LaCrosse.com product pages for each charger.

[Black Rose]

Both PDFs indicate maximum charging capacity of 3000 mAh.

It's in the specification section.

The 2600 mAh value is in Table 1, which is simply an example of charging time.

[Bones]

A heads-up for the owners of a LaCrosse charger.

While glancing through their respective manuals to locate their specifications, I noticed the manual for the BC-9009 is 35 pages longer than the manual for the BC-900.

Since all three LaCrosse chargers use essentially the same interface, the manual for the BC-9009 may provide additional information on the operation of both the BC-900 and BC-700.

Here are the hyperlinks to all three:

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/700/manual.pdf

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/900/manual.pdf

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/9009/manual.pdf
.

[TakeTheActive]

Originally Posted by Bones

A heads-up for the owners of a LaCrosse charger.

While glancing through their respective manuals to locate their specifications, I noticed the manual for the BC-9009 is 35 pages longer than the manual for the BC-900...

Sadly, IMHO, this is a VERY inaccurate, misleading statement:

• The online manual for the BC-900 is formatted as 1 logical page per 1 physical page (8/8).
• The online manual for the BC-9009 is formatted as 4 logical pages per 1 physical page (43/11).
• FYI: The online manual for the BC-700 is formatted as 4 logical pages per 1 physical page (31/8).

Thus, the comparison solely based on number of pages is, for all intensive purposes (43 vs 8), invalid.

Originally Posted by Bones

...Since all three LaCrosse chargers use essentially the same interface, the manual for the BC-9009 may provide additional information on the operation of both the BC-900 and BC-700...

Realistically (after a quick glance at both manuals, since the font is SO DAMN SMALL for my tri-focal eyeballs), La Crosse added a few pages of "CMA" 'Quick Summary' onto the end of the BC-900 Manual to create the BC-9009 Manual.

Sadly, again, with possibly the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing, they omitted / removed the CRUCIAL (IMHO) portion from the BC-700 Manual about holding the MODE button in for 5 seconds instead of 1 second. And, they still insist on keeping 200mA as the DEFAULT Charging Current and NOT conditioning cells until after 10 uses. Thus, as the purchaser of a La Crosse BC-900 in Dec 2006 and a Maha Powerex MH-C9000 in Jan 2009, I have to vote for Maha as the better company / charger to buy.

Finally, IMHO, introducing the BC-9009, with NO notable / substantial improvements over the BC-900, is a BAD business decision. But, from personal experience with both the La Crosse BC-900 and the Maha MH-C9000, IMHO, the BC-900 is better suiter for OLDer, non-LSD cells (with its 'Repeat-Until-No-Improvement' DISCHARGE/REFRESH cycle and no IMPEDANCE CHECK - High Internal Resistance Lock-Out; IMHO, the 'NULL' Lock-Out is justified - that cell is already SCREWED!).

Originally Posted by Bones

...Here are the hyperlinks to all three:

Thanks for the LINKs to the BC-700 and BC-9009. I added them to the MANUALs section of my Sig Line LINKs.

[MarioJP]

Speaking of heating problems with this charger. How hot is too hot. I noticed when charging higher than 1000ma it gets hot on the bottom. Is that normal??

Firmware version is 35. I have 2 of these chargers and both have the same 35 version.

[drmaxx]

Originally Posted by MarioJP

I noticed when charging higher than 1000ma it gets hot on the bottom. Is that normal??

Yes, this is normal. I usually place my charger vertical (place it on its narrow side) to improve airflow and cooling.
You should be able to touch the batteries anytime. If they are too hot to touch then you might have a problem.

[gag]

I am a novice (new BC 9009 owner / user) seeking help.

My understanding was that given any NimH battery, the charger would be able to display its present charge level in mah. I am not able to figure this out. It sems, the display during charging mode shows the accummulated charge level from the start of the charging process and not the actual charge level. Am I missing something?

Would appreciate help /tips.

Regards

[Mr Happy]

Originally Posted by gag

My understanding was that given any NimH battery, the charger would be able to display its present charge level in mah. I am not able to figure this out. It sems, the display during charging mode shows the accummulated charge level from the start of the charging process and not the actual charge level. Am I missing something?

Hi,

You have a misunderstanding here. No charger or battery tester is able to calculate or display the current charge level of a battery in mAh without actually discharging it to find out.

The way the BC9009 works when you want to test a battery is to charge the battery up fully and then discharge it before charging it again. The charger measures how much the discharge was and displays that at the end of the cycle.

The charger can also display the accumulated mAh during charging, but this should not be taken as a reliable indication of the battery capacity. Some charge is wasted during the charging processes and so the charge fed into a battery will be an overestimate of the actual stored charge.

Hope this helps.

[MarioJP]

Also the accumulated charge just gives you an idea of how much charge was put into the battery. Now if some reason you had a power failure or accidentally the charger got disconnected, the accumulated charge resets, therefore I would not rely on it too much. I would monitor the voltage instead which that is more realistic of how much charge went in to the battery.

[TakeTheActive]

Originally Posted by MarioJP

...I would monitor the voltage instead which that is more realistic of how much charge went in to the battery.

The Peak Voltage when charging varies depending on:

• Cell Construction / Manufacturer (SEARCH the CPF Archives for Mr Happy's posts on that topic)

  Reference: Some details on Sanyo's "Peak-cut control" termination scheme

• Cell Health (Internal Resistance)

DISCHARGE CAPACITY @ 0.2C is what I use to 'Match / Rate' my cells.

[gag]

Thank you everyone for the responses.

It is very helpful

Regards

[TakeTheActive]

Originally Posted by gag

I am a novice (new BC 9009 owner / user) seeking help...

...Would appreciate help /tips.

Have you been reading the 'Help / Tips' located in the STICKY on the top of this forum's Index Page?

I'm especially partial to mine, , also available via my Sig Line LINK.

[RaVeN38571]

I thought I would everyone know that it seems that the bc-9009 also has the melt down issue. Happen to me today, charging 4 duraloops.