8 1/2 minute NiMH charger!

[Bradlee]

I just read in Popular Science, so I'm sure I'm not the first one to notice, but Sakar (maker of NiMH for digi-cams) is introducing a new charger/batt combo out which,
"By chemically altering the nickle-metal hydride inside its rechargable AA cells, Sakar made batteries that can withstand 8.5 amps of current, so they charge in 8.5 min."

8 1/2 minutes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif! I think a LOT more people will start using rechargables with the advent of an eight-and-a-half minute charger. It should be out later this month with a MSRP of $60.00 USD.

 

[mapson]

8 1/2 minutes is too long, I'm holding out for a 4 1/4 minute charger. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[paulr]

Yeah, that charger has been mentioned here before. I personally don't see much difference between 8 minutes and 15 minutes (there are a number of 15 minute systems already). If they get it to under 2 minutes, that's a lot more interesting, since you can pop in your batteries and wait for them to charge. But at 8 minutes, you'll pop them in and go do something else for a while, which might as well be 15 minutes.

Note that 8.5 minutes implies around an 8C charge rate, or 16 amps for a 2000 mAH cell!

 

[Bradlee]

I didn't realize there were 15 minute NiMH systems available. I knew Rayovac, or someone has a 15 min rechargable alkaline system. Maybe this isn't as impressive a "leap" as I had thought.

You're right, paulr, a 2 min. charger would be sweet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

 

[BatteryCharger]

I'm perfectly happy with my ~2 hour charger. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I would much rather invest the money in extra batteries to allways have some charged ones around than in a charger that seems dangerous...

 

[Lurveleven]

Cells charged with 8.5 amp for 8 1/2 minutes would mean the cells only have 1200 mah capacity.

Sigbjoern