Rayovac IC3 15 minute Rechargables Available!

[Quickbeam]

Spotted at Walmart - $20 for the charger with 2 batteries (2 cell charger) and $13 for 4 battery pack.

Advertises the IC3 batteries will charge in an older charger (at a slower speed) but you must use the IC3 batteries in the IC3 charger.

More Info Here

 

[geepondy]

Just what is the ratings of the batteries themselves?

Oh I just saw other post, 2000mah.

 

[Lux Luthor]

This would be very useful for me during a power outage, when I'm caught off guard, and need to charge batteries in my car real quick.

Nice Find! I'm heading to Walmart in a few.

 

[_mike_]

Quickbeam,

I hope your planning on doing an indepth review of this product. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif

mike /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Lux Luthor]

OK, I got one. I have the PS6, which charges 4AA ($27.83). The PS5 charges 2AA ($20), and plugs directly into the wall. Both come with 2AA batteries, and I couldn't find the batteries separate at the particular Walmart I went to.

One thing. According to the manual, it also charges regular NiMH (and NiCad), but at a slower rate ("overnight").

More to come after I read everything, and cook a couple.

 

[Lux Luthor]

Not too much more to add at this point, since the manual doesn't say much...

However, I did charge a couple of batteries in it. It has a cooling fan to keep the batteries from getting too hot, though they still get fairly warm (kind of like the PS4 charger). The fan sucks air into the unit, blows it over the electronics, then out over the batteries. You can smell the inside of it when it's on.

According to that link, the charge control is supposed to be in the batteries, not the charger. So I guess each battery is individually monitored. This is good, since you can charge only one battery, or mix different ones at different states of charge. You can also mix AA and AAA, but you can't mix IC3 and non IC3 (not sure why yet).

 

[LoneRebel]

Lux Luthor, you dont classify the batteries as hot? I had a ps4 charger and that thing was hot..At times burning hot. I'm really interested as to whether or not they have the heat problem taken care of. My ps4 just cooked batteries.

 

[Saaby]

[ QUOTE ]
Lux Luthor said:You can also mix AA and AAA, but you can't mix IC3 and non IC3 (not sure why yet).

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably because sticking in a IC3 shuts down the chargers internal charging circutry. Non-IC3 batteries obviously aern't smart enough to charge themselves and so they must use the charger's own charging logic.

 

[Lux Luthor]

[ QUOTE ]
LoneRebel said:
Lux Luthor, you dont classify the batteries as hot? I had a ps4 charger and that thing was hot..At times burning hot. I'm really interested as to whether or not they have the heat problem taken care of. My ps4 just cooked batteries.

[/ QUOTE ]

So far, I've only charged the 2 batteries it came with. As I mentioned, they didn't have any other ones, so what I'm doing right now is draining the 2 I have. Then I'll recharge them tomorrow, and check the heat issue again.

The PS4 does cook batteries quite a bit, but I've never had them so hot as to come close to burning me. But then again, I don't tend to keep them in my hands for very long. They either go right into equipment or get thrown on the table. So I suppose you could call that "hot", but it's never actually bothered me. What it's done to my batteries has never been much of a concern to me either, since better ones come out long before my batteries get anywhere near ruined.

Now what about lack of charge termination, and the possibility of explosion? Yea, that bothers me! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Quickbeam]

Well if the charge control is in the batteries, then the termination of the charge is probably direced by the circuit inside the batteries.

Sounds like it goes to trickle charge automatically if non IC3 batteries are detected.

 

[Lux Luthor]

OK, I charged the set again. Not very hot at the end of the charge cycle. Comfortable enough for you to clench in your hand indefinitely.

 

[_mike_]

More on trickle charge please. Does this charger require that you remove the batteries after 15 minutes or can you leave them in for awhile without worrying that you are damaging either the batteries or the charger?



Thanks,
mike

 

[pilot4x4]

I bought the 4AA charger tonight. I just tested it to see how hot the batteries would get. One cell stopped charging after 14:21, the other went to 15:24. When I removed the batteries they were warm but not too hot to hold onto. It seems like they do get hotter than they should though. Next week I'm going to shoot them with a temp gun and see how hot they actually are. The thing that concerns me is this. After the batteries sat for about 5 minutes I plugged the charger back in because I wanted to see if it would recognize they were charged and shut off. The charger ran for almost exactly 4 minutes before it stopped charging. John

 

[Saaby]

Saw the 2 AA charger at Wal-Mart. It was almost $27!! That seemed steep for a 2 AA charger that, I assume, can't even be run off 12V DC.

 

[pilot4x4]

Are you sure that was for the 2AA charger, I paid $27.83 for the 4AA charger. I'm using a minimag now to run down the 2 batteries that came with it so I can try charging them again and see how it goes. Someone said it comes with something to mail in to get a adapter for a cigarette lighter but I don't see anything like that with mine.
John

 

[pilot4x4]

Actually the directions do give directions for plugging into the lighter port so I guess it is possible. John

 

[Ray_of_Light]

The IC3 technology uses a "pressure switch" that interrupts the charging current when the battery internal pressure increases at the end of charge. The "switch" is built in the battery, and resets as soon pressure goes down.

The interruption set the charger on trickle charge mode. I have no idea on how the charger can distinguish between IC3 and non IC3 technology batteries.

IC3 batteries cannot be recharged in series.

Regards

Anthony

 

[Lux Luthor]

[ QUOTE ]
yam said:
More on trickle charge please. Does this charger require that you remove the batteries after 15 minutes or can you leave them in for awhile without worrying that you are damaging either the batteries or the charger?

Thanks,
mike

[/ QUOTE ]

According to the manual, you can leave them in while it trickle charges them.

 

[Saaby]

So does it literally trickle charge non IC3 batteries or is it still a fast (1-3 Hr) charge?

 

[pilot4x4]

Tomorrow morning I'm going to start charging a set of regular NIMH in mine and see how long it takes.
John