C.Crane Chargers-Half Price

[TrueBlue]

I got my charger today and am putting it through its paces now. It more than lived up to my expectations. It is a VERY intelligent charger that boots up, analyzes individual or multiple batteries, analyzes condition, charges at slow then changing to fast then back to slow speed for the last 10% charge and finally a trickle mode. It has a very informative display that tells the state of the batteries charge, the voltage of the battery/batteries and what mode it is doing. The unit has Intelligent Discharge System, slow start-up charge then automatically switches to fast charge. As it ends the charge cycle the charger switches to slow-down charge finally stopping its charge at trickle charge.

It takes all size batteries up to four D cells.

It is very simple to use and works effectively at bringing all batteries to 100% charge without overheating the batteries.

All this for LESS THAN $20? FREE SHIPPING? This charger has to be the buy of the year!

It is a treasure of a charger. A wonderful find, nikemboka!

 

[Sub_Umbra]

The discription says that they were "imperfect".

The two Quick Chargers that they sent me were.

I wish that they had figured out how to fix the crappy units before they sent them to me last year.

I've read that others here have had good experiences with this charger. I wish I was one of them. If it works it's supposed to be a great charger. I wouldn't know. Mine didn't work.

I even got tired of having CCrane replace them for free.

Good luck.

 

[jayflash]

Thanks for the heads up on that charger!!

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Just a quick note.

I still think very highly of CCrane. I've spent at least a couple of thousand dollars with thim over the years. I'm actually waiting on another order from them right now. Their customer service is second to none.

They have had problems with this charger for 1-2 years and I got burnt out on it.

 

[TrueBlue]

Hi Sub,

Can you be more specific as to the problem with the charger? Do the electronics blow up or blow the batteries? Does it mechanically break? Is the charger something you could repair and build better?

Mine is working better than I expected. I really appreciate the LCD display giving me information on the status and voltage of the battery(ies) charging.

And it was shipped in record time.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

[ QUOTE ]
haveblue said:
Hi Sub,

Can you be more specific as to the problem with the charger? Do the electronics blow up or blow the batteries? Does it mechanically break? Is the charger something you could repair and build better?

[/ QUOTE ]
Let me try to put it together. It's been a while, I tried to put it out of my mind and I don't have the excellent manual any more to jog my memory. So this is going to sound pretty disjointed.

First of all, I'm a manual reader. I like to know what the features are.

The first unit did some weird things. Half of the time when I tried to start it up it would lock up right away. Every element in the display would come on and stay on -- forever. I would have to unplug it for a few seconds and try again.

One day I was messing with some electrical cords and I touched the charger's wall-wort. It was really hot. (It was not plugged into the charger.) That kind of bummed me out as a good adapter should be OK 24/7. I had one once years ago that melted down and almost burnt my house down. I expected better from CCrane. From then on I kept it on a switched outlet.

The biggest problem was that the charger skipped steps in the sequence of operation. While I can't remember which steps it skipped, I thought it was serious enough that I looked it up in the trouble shooting section of the manual. The EXACT symptoms my unit had were noted with the diagnosis -- DEFECTIVE-Return Unit to Factory. (paraphrase)

I called CCrane with the info and the said send it back. As always, they were very cool. As I recall they cross-shipped another unit to me. (They shipped me a new one before receiving the old one.) They are so cool.

The second unit had a different power supply and didn't lock up at power-on. While the second unit did not skip steps in the same way as the first unit, it did skip steps. I also seem to recall being unable to manually initiate the controlled-discharge mode (conditioning). I went back to the manual and allthough it was a different problem, again, the exact symptoms were noted in the trouble shooting section with the diagnosis -- DEFECTIVE-Return Unit to Factory. (paraphrase)

These are the types of problems I would look for.

By then CCrane had dropped the retail price of the unit to 75% of what they charged me for it, and at that time they had stopped claiming that it was the best charger that they had ever tested. I was over it. I ate the investment and moved on. I never sent the second unit back. My overall conclusion was that while that model was indeed a smart-charger, mine were also psychotic.

If CCrane says they have these units fixed, they probably do. These are the problems that I had 1-2 years ago.

Hope this helps.
sub

 

[TrueBlue]

Thanks Sub for your extended and welcome reply. It sounds like your earlier model chargers were a "bad seed". From the 25 batteries of different sizes and capacities I've tried on the charger since I got it last night the charger seems to be doing very well. It has brought up the battery cells and is very nice to them; I can take the batteries out of the charger and they are not hot to the touch at all.

I wonder Sub, if C.Crane reps are so nice you might give them a jingle and tell them you never got your original charger going right and can you PLEASE replace it with an orphan charger? Tell them you never got the charger working right. PLEEEEESE exchange so you can give their charger a glowing review at cpf?

So you haven't had any problems with the spring loaded clips that holds the batteries in place? Or you haven't used the charger long enough to see if the spring loaded clips break?

Again, Sub, thanks for the extended answer!

 

[Sub_Umbra]

haveblue,

I never used either unit enough to develop that problem. (spring loaded clips)

As for asking them for a new charger now that they have the bugs out:

Don't think I'm being flip here, but as an atheist who doesn't believe in reincarnation, I don't feel that I have the time to mess around with any more of their Quick Chargers.

Not trying to offend anyone, this is just the way I look at it.

As a loyal CCrane customer I have repeatedly thought about writing them and telling them of my experiences with their chargers and then telling them that I am very happy with my Accumanager 20 and that they should sell it instead of the Quick Charger. That would be the extent of any further action on my part.

I'm very glad that it's working out for you. To me, it sounds like their manufacturer cut a bunch of corners on them, behind their back, and it has taken them two+ years to get it back under control. IMO CCrane is a really stand-up outfit who has been stuck by someone else.

 

[JPT]

i just posted in the other thread on this charger,
saying that it was discontinued in australia due
to problems.
c.crane do make great products & this revised model
may work fine, when they work properly they are good,
keep us informed.

 

[vcal]

Sub_Umbra;
Sorry to hear what sounds like amazingly bad luck you've had with the CCrane. I've bought 3 of them over the last 4 years, and never had anything like electronic trouble with any of them.

Through many, literally thousands of operations, the only problem I've had is the skipping Over the main charge part of the sequence. This is usually caused by the cell fooling the charger into completion mode by putting up not enough resistance. this is caused by either:
A) a weak(er) cell than usual, or
B) too little cell capacity for this type of charger <150mAh or smaller.

The solution to this glitch most of the time (with otherwise normal cells) is to simply break off the charge and re-insert the cell again. This will work at least 50% of the time. It may even be necessary to re-insert a third time (I've had it happen!) to get proper sequential and full charge function.
-Again, this is usually caused by imperfect batteries.
-You can also get around this problem by inserting more (similar capacity) cells to cut the current-and avoid the "skipping" problem.

This (Saitek made) charger certainly isn't a perfect unit -especially at $35., but it sure has saved me a lot of hassle and time over the years.

 

[TOB9595]

" My overall conclusion was that while that model was indeed a smart-charger, mine were also psychotic. "

Classic
hahahahaha
Tom

 

[Sub_Umbra]

[ QUOTE ]
vcal said:
Sub_Umbra;
Sorry to hear what sounds like amazingly bad luck you've had with the CCrane. I've bought 3 of them over the last 4 years, and never had anything like electronic trouble with any of them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sometines you eat the bear; sometimes the bear eats you.

I know that the machine (and CCrane) have a very good reputation. In the brief time I've been reading and posting to CPF the info I've gotten has been invaluable to me, particularly in helping me decide which item to buy in a complex marketplace.

With the recent surge in discussion about this charger I really felt sort of obligated to share my experiences with the group. I just wanted everyone to have a baseline to look at if they have any problems with these units. I feel I owe it to the group. I've made it known CCrane is still one of my favorites and that I don't really think that this is all their fault.

I also wanted people to know that this was more than just a spring problem.

 

[TrueBlue]

I've had my Crane charger for 24 hours now. That is an acid test for me. If electronics last 24 hours they should work reliably. So far I've kicked the charger, beat it, bumped it, shook it and pushed buttons like crazy to confuse it. I've done everything I could except toss it in the toilet. And it is sitting next to the toilet. I've even charged batteries, lots of different sizes, with it. I've tried odd number batteries. Batteries with different % of charges. So far about 35 batteries have been charged. It doesn't act up at all.

It is still working. Maybe Crane got the bugs out of it. Or maybe I got the rare working one.

After reading this thread I think people are scared of the charger and will not buy it.

The bad apples (chargers) ruined the crate.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

haveblue,

I'm glad it's working. This is less scary than my situation was. The readers of this thread at least know that your newly shipped machine is flawless and that they can reasonably expect the same. I didn't have that.

I'd like to hear (on this thread) from everyone else that ordered from this batch after they've been running them for a while. That will either confirm or dispel any of the fears that any readers may have.

 

[vcal]

Sub_Umbra;
I certainly wasn't at all complaining about your post. User feedback is what these forums are for, IMO. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

It would have been OK with me if we had just a single thread on this same subject. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif 8>)

 

[TrueBlue]

I do see the implication, Sub. That I am the only one that will have a working charger. I won't make anymore comments about the my charger, OK?

 

[Sub_Umbra]

[ QUOTE ]
haveblue said:
I do see the implication, Sub. That I am the only one that will have a working charger. I won't make anymore comments about the my charger, OK?

[/ QUOTE ]
No, no, no. I'm not implying that at all! Really. I'm sorry. Sometimes I'm not a good communicator at all. (ask my first wife) I didn't have anything that subtle in mind. Not at all. I'm sorry if it sounded like that. I didn't mean for it to.
sub

 

[Sub_Umbra]

[ QUOTE ]
vcal said:
Sub_Umbra;
It would have been OK with me if we had just a single thread on this same subject. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif 8>)

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too. I found the second thread by accident, trying to find my way back to this one.

 

[BeagleLight]

I have two on order, will post results after putting them through their paces.
Michael

 

[Empath]

I've been using the Saitek charger ever since Radio Shack carried it under their name, as their top of the line charger. That one is still going strong without a single problem. I keep it hooked up in the garage. I've also been using the C.Crane version without a problem, other than the plastic tab that anchors the spring popping. Other than that, they've proved their worth to me completely.

I ordered one of the orphans too. I just want to make sure I don't run out.