Eneloop Costco pack, different charger

[fugleebeast]

Hey all,

Not sure if this is the right place for it this, but...

Just picked up a couple of the Costco Eneloop packs. As a heads up, they include a different charger now. It's the NC-MQN06. No sliding cover. 2 green lights at the bottom and it appears to only charge in pairs now. :mecry:

-Fugs

 

[kennieyk]

Hey all,

Not sure if this is the right place for it this, but...

Just picked up a couple of the Costco Eneloop packs. As a heads up, they include a different charger now. It's the NC-MQN06. No sliding cover. 2 green lights at the bottom and it appears to only charge in pairs now. :mecry:

-Fugs

hmmm i just got mine tonight ... mine has the NC-MQNO5 with 8 aa batts and 4 aaa batts and 2 d adapters and 2 c adapters ..
i guess we are talking of the same set ...
my charges 4 at a time with only one green light at the bottom ..

 

[LukeA]

hmmm i just got mine tonight ... mine has the NC-MQNO5 with 8 aa batts and 4 aaa batts and 2 d adapters and 2 c adapters ..
i guess we are talking of the same set ...
my charges 4 at a time with only one green light at the bottom ..

The three sets I picked up on Saturday are like this.

 

[fugleebeast]

Well that's good, at least they're not all changed. Head's up though if you go to the Costco on 205th in Seattle.

If the one I have is a pair only charger, does that automatically mean that it's timer based?

-Fugs

 

[Turak]

I can confirm this too....

I picked up 6 sets today and 1 out of the 6 has the MQ6 charger. The other 5 come with the MQ5 charger.

The actual picture of the charger is different (correct for which ever charger is in the pack) on the paper cover, but all the bar codes, etc for the pack are the same.

Definitely going to take the one back and exchange it for one of the packs with the MQ5 charger.

The MQ6 is definitely only a 2 channel charger that charges the batteries in pairs at 300mA.

They are both 'smart' chargers as oppossed to a simple 'dumb' timed charger, but I prefer the MQ5 charger which has 4 independent channels.

 

[pae77]

Well on a related Eneloop issue, I faced a dilemma at Costco today. I attempted to return two sets of the prior Sanyo batteries and charger packs (non Eneloop) that Costco used to sell. These were the 6-2500 mAh AA's and 2 900 mAh AAA's that came with the "Sanyo Super Quick Charger." I purchased 2 of these kits at Costco about a year or two ago but the batteries have recently become virtually unusable due to not holding a charge for more than a couple of days. But, here's dilemma. I love that Super Quick charger (independent channel, medium speed, and uses international voltage as well as US whereas the Eneloop chargers run on US voltage only, are very slow, and there is apparently some controversy regarding how good they are for the batteries).

So I really didn't want to give the two Super Quick models I have up. So I first attempted to return the Sanyo batteries without the chargers but, as I expected, they wouldn't let me do that. But the manager who dealt with me was very nice and said I could do the return as long as I provided them with any Sanyo chargers along with the old batteries.

I was intending to pick up two sets of the Costco Eneloop kit for $19.99 each today with the coupon anyway so I decided to keep my old Super Quick chargers and return my old batteries with the new Eneloop chargers which they kindly let me do.

So what do you think? Did I make the right decision to give up the new Eneloop chargers instead of the old Sanyo Super Quick models?

In any event, I now have 16 brand new AA Eneloops and 8 AAA Eneloops to replace the 12 dysfunctional regular AA and 4 AAA Sanyos I returned, all for no additional net cost over what the original kits cost me. So I am pretty happy about that.

 

[topcat39]

On Fri. I bought two Costco packs for $19.99 and both have the MQN05U charger (or MQ5 as Turak refers to). Turak clears-up a question I had from reading other posts about the Sanyo charger and the Sanyo web site - there are two different chargers that differ in operation. I had the impression the batts had to be charged in pairs not only from other CPF posts, but also the Sanyo web site (mating the pairs: outside bays for one pair, and the center bays for the other pair). However, reading the instructions that came with my charger (using a magnifying glass - small print) say that you can charge "up to" four batteries at a time - my interpretation, I could charge 1, 2, 3, or 4 batts, so the circuits must be independent. Convenient because some lights I own use a single batt and a radio uses 3 - I'd prefer to re-charge when the batt gets low rather than set them aside until other batts are also low to charge all at once in pairs.

:thanks: Turak for clarifying the differences in the Sanyo chargers - MQ5 has independent circuits and the MQ6 has paired circuits :thumbsup:.

:help: I do have a question though - is it OK to mix AAA and AA in either the MQ5 or MQ6? It seems to me that if the 4 bays are independent then you can mix AAA and AA in the MQ5, and matched pairs in the MQ6:thinking:.

Cheers

 

[PhantomPhoton]

I just picked up another pack today. My second case is darker blue and has the crappy pair charger. The first one I bought a week or two ago has a lighter blue case and the nicer charger. So yea always good to look around a bit and find a lighter blue case if you can.

 

[Nell]

I picked up the lighter color blue case two weeks ago and got the darker case this weekend. Both purchases had the same 05 charger in it.

I just picked up another pack today. My second case is darker blue and has the crappy pair charger. The first one I bought a week or two ago has a lighter blue case and the nicer charger. So yea always good to look around a bit and find a lighter blue case if you can.

 

[bigfoot]

After reading this thread I looked at the pack I had picked up at Costco over the weekend... nuts, it's the pair-only "MNQ06" with two lights at the bottom of the charger.

 

[fugleebeast]

I went back to Costco and, sure enough, they had both kinds of chargers there

Turak is right. The charger you see on the package is the one you get. So make sure it's the charger with the sliding cover and the 1 light.

I'm pretty sure they have the same item number with Costco. So... if you bought a couple for the $19.99 special and have the wrong charger, you could probably buy a couple at regular price and then return the others using that receipt.

 

[Bones]

I do have a question though - is it OK to mix AAA and AA in either the MQ5 or MQ6? It seems to me that if the 4 bays are independent then you can mix AAA and AA in the MQ5, and matched pairs in the MQ6.

I've mixed and matched any and all combinations with the MQN05 closed compartment charger with good results topcat39.

As long as the MQN06 is a fully independent dual channel charger, you should have no problem charging in pairs in matching sizes. Just be sure you're clear on which of the four slots are paired.

 

[bcwang]

Can someone post pictures of the 05 vs 06 charger? I bought one of the costco packs but I can't figure out which charger it is from the picture. I don't want to open the pack if I'm going to have to return it.

 

[Bones]

Can someone post pictures of the 05 vs 06 charger? I bought one of the costco packs but I can't figure out which charger it is from the picture. I don't want to open the pack if I'm going to have to return it.

An animated image of the the MQN05 is depicted on the bottom right of this page:

http://www.eneloop.ca/eneloop_en_products.html

A smaller image of the power pack containing the MQN05 is depicted on this page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WPJIME/?tag=cpf0b6-20

The operating instructions for the MQN05:

http://www.eneloopusa.com/pdf/4_Position_Charger_IS.pdf

Hopefully, someone else has pictures or hyperlinks to the MQN06.

It would also be great if someone can share the operating instructions for the MQN06.

 

[Bones]

The Costco page for the Eneloop Power Pack with the MQN05 charger:

http://www.costco.com ... prodid=11227029

It's in the business section.

Businesses appear to get zinged a few dollars more than us po' folk for the identical product.

 

[Bones]

I just stumbled upon this completely different version of the Eneloop Power Pack on CraigsList:

It has fewer batteries and a different charger.

Perhaps someone can confirm whether the charger is the model MQN06 recently included in the Costco offering.

 

[UnknownVT]

Just picked up a couple of the Costco Eneloop packs. As a heads up, they include a different charger now. It's the NC-MQN06. No sliding cover. 2 green lights at the bottom and it appears to only charge in pairs now. :mecry:

EDIT - Ooops, I just noticed that the charger in the "SkyMall Travel pack" below is the NC-MQN02 and not the NC-MQN06 referred to - this may be good reason to return the packs for exchange.
- see also this discussion over at Amazon on the NC-MQN06.

I think this probably is a "mistake" - the pack with the 2-channel charger is supposed to be a Travel Pack available at Sky Mall (eg: those in-flight catalogs)

Please see the eneloop (USA) Products page (second from last item)

As the regular 4-position charger is 100-120V only, and the 2-position charger is 100-240V this kind of makes sense as a "Travel" pack.

I believe the 2-position charger is supposed to be able to charge one battery at a time (even though charging in pairs is recommended) - see this crop ( Download Instruction Manual ) -

I suggest if you want the 4-position charger take your packs back to CostCo and exchange it for ones with the 4-position charger since the Costco packs are supposed to have the 4-position charger - and shows it on the package cover.

The 2-postion charger has some advantages -
it is multi-voltage, and actually faster using a charge current for AAs of 550mA (compared to the 300mA of the 4-position)

 

[Bones]

Can someone post pictures of the 05 vs 06 charger? I bought one of the costco packs but I can't figure out which charger it is from the picture. I don't want to open the pack if I'm going to have to return it.

I just noticed that fugleebeast's post states that the MQN06 lacks the sliding cover:

Just picked up a couple of the Costco Eneloop packs. As a heads up, they include a different charger now. It's the NC-MQN06. No sliding cover. 2 green lights at the bottom and it appears to only charge in pairs now.

Accordingly, if your pack shows a charger without a cover but with two LEDs at the bottom, it should be the '06.

 

[horizonseeker]

I just stumbled upon this completely different version of the Eneloop Power Pack on CraigsList:

It has fewer batteries and a different charger.

Perhaps someone can confirm whether the charger is the model MQN06 recently included in the Costco offering.

just to clarify, the AAA is still a 4 pack, the image shows 2 because they are stacked in 2 columns of 2 cells each.

in other words, only the charger is different. (I have the same pack from costco, the one in van nuys didn't have the other charger at all).

 

[Bones]

in other words, only the charger is different. (I have the same pack from costco, the one in van nuys didn't have the other charger at all).

Good information horizenseeker, I didn't realize this was actually the revised Eneloop Power Pack from Costco:

Can you confirm then, that the depicted charger is the model MQN06?