Interesting Battery Charger

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I recently came accross an interesting battery charger in K-mart in Australia. It recharges NiCads, NiMH, RAM (Rechargable Alkaline Manganese), and even regular Zinc Carbons. For the Alkalines it says to "top up" half drained batteries instead of charging fully depleted ones. It seems to work well so far.

It's called the ReZap Battery Doctor and was AUD$50 (about US$25). They have a web site at http://www.rezap.com.au/ They have some interesting battery info on their site.

Anyone tried one of these for very long or have any experience recharging alkalines? They say you should get about 15 charges out of regular alkalines (25 from RAMs) but I don't how far they deplete them before recharging. I also wonder how similar a battery that's been rechaged x times is to one that's brand new? Anyone know anything about this?

 

[Chris M.]

the old "Battery Manager"-an excellent unit I'm still using now (no longer made)


It isn`t? Aww....thats a shame. Mine`s gone a bit screwy, I`d hoped I could get a new one. Oh well, out comes the soldering iron.....

 

[vcal]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris M.:
the old "Battery Manager"-an excellent unit I'm still using now (no longer made)


It isn`t? Aww....thats a shame. Mine`s gone a bit screwy, I`d hoped I could get a new one. Oh well, out comes the soldering iron.....

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well Chris, the supposed-to-be new equivalent of that one is being offered @ www.realgoods.com -item #17-0181, for about $50US (£32)?
but there's no digital voltage readout, like we're used to with the Battery Manager. I also saw that same one (now called Battery Extender) at Lifestyle Fascination.
-But, did you notice, on the Battery Doctor (Aus), it even charges 9V. alkalines as well as 6V. lantern batts.-with the included alligator clip leads?

 

[vcal]

These technologies do work-(search CPF "battery manager") for threads from other past users.
One of the drawbacks though, is the initial high cost of these units. For us in the US, I'm guessing 80 Aussie $ [their EXPORT price] for the "Battery Doctor" is about $50.US? Even the old "Battery Manager"-an excellent unit I'm still using now (no longer made) was about 40-$50 US..
VERY interesting and informative site (read entire thing).
p.s. thanks for posting that and welcome to CPF.:>)