Good travel charger?

[Wacki]

I need a travel charger for my AA's. Features desired:

Must haves:
- charges batteries individually and not in pairs
- Won't fry the batteries when topping off (I need my batteries to last as I do a lot of caving, long night hikes, etc)
- relatively small (The size of the Maha MH-C9000 isn't convenient when you are doing carry on luggage)

Nice to have:
- 4 channels
- A quick charge

Thanks,

 

[tsmccull]

Go to Thomas Distributing's website and take a look at the various AA-AAA chargers from Maha or others. Pick the one you like best. There're many that are smaller than the C9000 and include a plug for your car's lighter output. The ones with model numbers ending in "F" frequently indicate fast charging capability.

 

[45/70]

It seems like this question comes up about once a month. You might try the Google "CPF only" search function. I'm sure you will find sometihng to help you make a decision.

Dave

 

[Ska-T]

Here are some links for the one I have, TG-2800. I've been happy with it. Got it from BatteryJunction.com. I doesn't have a quick charge function.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=70935
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=177074
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=101953
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=105439

 

[cckw]

The Duracell CEF23 is sold as a travel charger. has 4 bays with individual charging. Comes with car adapter in some packages without in others, but nothing special about that car adapter cable, can get or make one.
It will also charge a USB devise (your phone?) from batteries or wall.
about5x3x1.5 inches.

As for fast charge, if you use the outside slots only it charges at 2000ma on AA's if 4 batts it is 1000 per slot. (I read this, not my own test)

with 2 AA (but no car cord) on closeout at toys R us for 12.99

 

[Lynx_Arc]

typically either you can get a quick charge and heat the batteries up more (fry) or take longer and keep them cool but not both unless you go with a charger that you can vary charging rates like the BC900 or maha c9000.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

The Duracell CEF23 is sold as a travel charger. has 4 bays with individual charging. Comes with car adapter in some packages without in others, but nothing special about that car adapter cable, can get or make one.
It will also charge a USB devise (your phone?) from batteries or wall.
about5x3x1.5 inches.

As for fast charge, if you use the outside slots only it charges at 2000ma on AA's if 4 batts it is 1000 per slot. (I read this, not my own test)

with 2 AA (but no car cord) on closeout at toys R us for 12.99

dunno where you got that from the CEF23 I have does 550ma/channel AA/AAA 1channel/4channels no 1000mah mode period

 

[McAllan]

Or the GP Fast Charger I mentioned in this thread.

Reasonable fast and no external power supply and capable of running on everything from 100-240 V~. And as well 12 V=.

 

[NutSAK]

I've been using the Maha MH-C401FS-DC charger here. It meets all of your requirements except for fast charging. I am replacing mine with a Sanyo MQH03 for that reason. It's not as compact, buy ideal otherwise IMO. Unfortunately it's not an easy charger to find, especially in the US.

 

[Bones]

Or the GP Fast Charger I mentioned in this thread.

Reasonable fast and no external power supply and capable of running on everything from 100-240 V~. And as well 12 V=.

Just a cautionary note respecting the GP ReCyko model AR05 Fast Charger. While its overall credentials are very good, its trickle charge rates seem extreme, especially for low self-discharge cells:



To put these rates into perspective, SilverFox notes in the following post that even the meager 10mA trickle charge of the MH-C9000 managed to hold the voltage of a set of Eneloops at a steady state in the 1.43V range:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com ... post2857265

Accordingly, it might be prudent to consider the much higher rates of the AR05 as a top-off rather than a trickle charge, and try to ensure the charger is always powered down a few hours after the primary charge terminates.

 

[fnsooner]

with 2 AA (but no car cord) on closeout at toys R us for 12.99

Thanks for the heads up. I bought the last one in town. I already have the car adapter so thirteen bucks for a good charger and two LSD batteries is nice. The batteries were even Duraloops.

 

[McAllan]

Accordingly, it might be prudent to consider the much higher rates of the AR05 as a top-off rather than a trickle charge, and try to ensure the charger is always powered down a few hours after the primary charge terminates.

Yes you're right. Thanks for the words. I didn't think about that since I normally don't let my cells cook for days after they've finished charging.

But on the other hand it's not much different from many other cheaper chargers and the cells should take it quite well. It's about 1/20 C and even at 1/10 C - the old way of charging in dumb chargers - they can take quite a bit of overcharge. NiCd and NiMH are designed in such way - one plate a little bit bigger than the other allows a little overcharging since excess charging is converted to heat. Of course the less the better.
So just remove them when you discover they're done and don't let them sit for days and there shouldn't be any troubles.