Charger Recs - March 2020

[Cal_Hawkeye]

All, this is a somewhat lazy post I admit, as I see there are many reviews and I think with the proper investment of time I could probably answer this for myself ... but the amount of info is a bit overwhelming. Anyway, I'm in the market for a good charger. The known use case is essentially charging Eneloop AA and AAA batteries. I also have some 14500s. I say "known use case" because I may become more sophisticated in the next few years. If this happens, it would probably be driven by wanting to get more performance out of smaller/lighter weight equipment, as I'm a backpacker who is always looking to shed ounces.

It would be nice if it could also be used to give a good indicator or charge level for my rechargeable batteries. I don't know if this makes any sense, but to the extent that it could also be used to check non-rechargeable AA, AAA, and CR123 batteries (I have it on my list to get a device that will allow me to do this; as you can probably tell from my question, I'm very ignorant on this topic).

I'd like to be able to use it in the car and may at some point look into solar, so if it can run on the power that comes from solar devices, that would be a bonus. I also travel internationally although have not had a need to bring a charger with me on any such trip as of yet.

I'm inclined not to want to spend a lot of money (I'd say ~$40 or less) unless it's a big difference. So, it might help to have the $40 and under option vs. the more expensive option (if you think it's worth it for a simpleton like me to spend more).

Right now, I'm looking for something to use at home or while travelling, but if you also want to add a recommendation for a super light/compact option (there are some backpacking trips where I might consider adding this to my pack), that would be great.

 

[xxo]

I don't know of any charger that is a good tester of non-rechargeable batteries. Some chargers have gages for rechargeables but I do not find these to be all that accurate or useful.



For charging AA/AAA Eneloops and the like, I use a Panasonic BQ CC17, this is a little slow but it works great and seems to prolong the life of the cells, it's compact enough for travel, but again it is slow (over night). For a travel charger I prefer something a little faster, so I use a Fujitsu FCT344 for travel and the BQ CC17 at home.



For a back pack charger, the Olight UC charger would probably be good - very light weight and charges both NiMH and Li-Ion cells. Down sides with the UC charger are that it only charges one cell at a time and that the charge rate is fixed so that it may be a bit too fast for smaller cells and too slow for larger ones. The UC is a USB powered so it also can be used as a car charger.

 

[Cal_Hawkeye]

I don't know of any charger that is a good tester of non-rechargeable batteries. Some chargers have gages for rechargeables but I do not find these to be all that accurate or useful.



For charging AA/AAA Eneloops and the like, I use a Panasonic BQ CC17, this is a little slow but it works great and seems to prolong the life of the cells, it's compact enough for travel, but again it is slow (over night). For a travel charger I prefer something a little faster, so I use a Fujitsu FCT344 for travel and the BQ CC17 at home.



For a back pack charger, the Olight UC charger would probably be good - very light weight and charges both NiMH and Li-Ion cells. Down sides with the UC charger are that it only charges one cell at a time and that the charge rate is fixed so that it may be a bit too fast for smaller cells and too slow for larger ones. The UC is a USB powered so it also can be used as a car charger.

Thanks, it sounds like I need to address the desire for a battery meter with other equipment. If I ever decide to get a portable solar device, are there any issues in using that with these chargers to charge batteries via solar?

 

[Keitho]

Search, sort, and read trustworthy tests/reviews, a ton of work by cpf member hjk: https://lygte-info.dk/info/roundCellChargerIndex UK.html

What I use when I want to "shed ounces": https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Folomov A1 UK.html or https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Olight UC UK.html

When I want to charge off of 12V, at home or from my car, I have a fast option (21700 and 18650 only) and a 8-slot (any chemistry up to 700 length) option. At home, I have them both plugged in to a nice efficient 12V power supply; they both are also power banks (USB outputs), and a quick option for in-car charging since they're 12V:
- Fast: https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar Over 4 Slim UK.html
- 8-slot: https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Nitecore Intellicharger i8 UK.html

To test alkalines, get a DMM; here's a bunch <$15 that would all check voltage on Alkalines, besides maybe having some uses when you get more sophisticated with the electronics and solar setup: https://lygte-info.dk/info/DMMReviews15.html

Have fun with the search!

 

[xxo]

Thanks, it sounds like I need to address the desire for a battery meter with other equipment. If I ever decide to get a portable solar device, are there any issues in using that with these chargers to charge batteries via solar?

The UC should work - it is USB powered.

 

[Cal_Hawkeye]

[Re-posting above ...]

 

[Cal_Hawkeye]

Search, sort, and read trustworthy tests/reviews, a ton of work by cpf member hjk: https://lygte-info.dk/info/roundCellChargerIndex UK.html

What I use when I want to "shed ounces": https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Folomov A1 UK.html or https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Olight UC UK.html

When I want to charge off of 12V, at home or from my car, I have a fast option (21700 and 18650 only) and a 8-slot (any chemistry up to 700 length) option. At home, I have them both plugged in to a nice efficient 12V power supply; they both are also power banks (USB outputs), and a quick option for in-car charging since they're 12V:
- Fast: https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar Over 4 Slim UK.html
- 8-slot: https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Nitecore Intellicharger i8 UK.html

To test alkalines, get a DMM; here's a bunch <$15 that would all check voltage on Alkalines, besides maybe having some uses when you get more sophisticated with the electronics and solar setup: https://lygte-info.dk/info/DMMReviews15.html

Have fun with the search!

Thanks, very helpful! On testing non-rechargeable batteries, I should have been more specific -- it would be lithium AAs and CR123a's Looking at the multimeters, I don't see anything that would say they wouldn't work on these batteries, but please tell me if I'm wrong (sorry, I've never used a multimeter). I just say that since you specifically referenced Alkalines.

 

[Keitho]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. To determine state of charge, I exclusively use a volt meter, because resting voltage is a roughly-accurate surrogate for state of charge. For alkaline round cells, the highest you'll get is around 1.6 V on a new cell; they are pretty close to empty at a little below 1.0V. For non-rechargeable "lithium" batteries (LiFeS2), they discharge from around 1.6V down to roughly "empty" at 1.3V. See this article with discharge curves--gives you an idea of how resting voltage relates to remaining capacity. https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/choices_of_primary_batteries

You can use the same volt meter to measure your NiMH and Li-ion cells to tell you voltage, and therefore a rough state of charge (discharge). https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/discharge_characteristics_li

 

[Keitho]

Using a DMM is easy--just don't do this on a metal table!


That's a Li-ion cell that I used a few times in my EDC light today, so it's down off of it's "full" 4.2v, but a long way from "empty" 2.8.