Please Help Me Get Started With Rechargeables.

[triplem]

I am a newbie that needs some help. I am going to start building some mod mags with some of the WA superbulbs. I anticipate my first lights will use 9 AA 1800 - 2000 nimh batteries. Other than my Sony camera with a simple 2xAA charger, I have no real experience with rechargeable AA's.

I don't know what charger / chargers to buy. I need your help re:

1. Is there a quality charger that will charge 9 AA nimh batteries at once or should I be looking to buy multiple chargers?

2. My thought is that I would charge all the batteries at the same time. Is that reasonable / is that what most people do?

3. How important is the trickle charge feature?

4. How important is the discharge feature?

5. Knowing what you know today, if you were going to buy your first charger / chargers strictly for AA nimh's what would you buy? I have seen SilverFox's charger comparison and still don't know what I should buy.

Some additional clarification. Within reason, cost is not an issue. I want something with a "reasonable" charge time. I don't need super fast charging (i.e. 15 minutes) and don't want over long charge times (i.e. 24 hours).

Thanks for everyone's help.

Neal

 

[Jefff]

go to wal mart and get the energizer 4 pack with the charger .. I believe 2500 mah nimh and you will be good to go .. NIMH are not picky as discharge rate or charging rate
and they are fairly cheap ..

 

[KevinL]

I use the Maha C777Plus2 for my Mag85. Takes about 2-3 hours for a full charge, can charge all 9 cells at one shot without needing to remove them from their 3toD holders.

Do a search for +Maha +C777 (both words, and include the + signs), you'll find many threads discussing them. It has the discharge feature, which is nice if you are conditioning batteries. I like it but most people don't use it.

Cost is around $75 but the C777 is so versatile it does just about everything else. If I had to buy only one charger and do it all over again I'd get the C777.

 

[triplem]

Thanks Guys.

Kevin, based on your recommendation I read about the 777 on the Thomas Distributing website. There are a few key points that may work against the 777. To charge more than one battery one uses battery pack holders (4, 6, 8 or 10 batteries). If I understood correctly, the problem is that one must completely fill all the slots to complete the circuit charge and all batteries should be at the same discharge level. This makes it extremely difficult to charge 9 AA's as I will need to fill the holders and one battery will always have a different discharge level then the other nine. It sounds as if it is charging in series instead of each battery independently. Does that make sense?

The thread on the La Crosse charger is huge with a lot of positive comments. Are there any other chargers that charge the batteries independently that I should consider?

Thanks,

Neal