Recommend me a NiMH AA/AAA charger?

[stroberaver]

Hi guys,

New member here, looking for some advice about chargers.

I'm currently using AA batteries for my camera flashgun and a Fenix L2D torch. I use AAAs in my cordless phone, and soon a Fenix L0D pocket torch. The flashgun has two sets of 4× Uniross 2700 cells. Yes, I know Uniross batteries are rubbish. I have Eneloops as well for other things, and would always choose Sany ocells in the future. Anyway, I'm currently charging everything with a standard Uniross quick charger - which claims to have automatic cut-off at voltage drop, but can only charge 2 or 4 cells at a time (no good for when I'm using a single-cell Fenix L0D) and is otherwise a "dumb" charger.

So I'm thinking about getting an advanced charger to try and get the most out of these cells - especially the Uniross packs for the flashgun. I find them to be quite inconsistent - sometimes they'll run out pretty quick, and sometimes they hold up magnificently (and I don't get to use the flashgun enough to figure out any pattern to it).

I'm aware of the Maha C9000 - is this generally the best charger available? I've browsed some of the countless threads about it here, and I can't help but wonder whether it's just a bit too advanced for my needs? The analysis functions and break in modes sure sound handy though to group my flashgun cells into the most evenly matched sets.

There's also the LaCrosse (known as Technoline here in the UK) 700 and 900 - how do these compare to the C9000? I can get the 700 for a lot less than the Maha, but from the product descriptions I can't really see what the difference is.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

 

[Black Rose]

I was debating between the LaCrosse 900 and the C9000 and went with the C9000.

Take a look at this thread on charger comparisons: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=70935

 

[Mr Happy]

The C9000 is a very flexible charger. And if you really want to understand what your batteries are doing it is a wonderful device. However, for routine charging duties, in my experience it tends to leave cells a little less than fully charged -- about 100 or 200 mAh down on some batteries.

For ordinary charging I have found the Duracell Power Gauge does a good job of getting 100% charge into cells and is much cheaper. Some have found it to be fussy over poor quality cells however, and it is a relatively slow charger at 5 hours or so.

 

[freedom2000]

+1 for Lacrosse RS900

Very very good charger

and VERY VERY cheap :twothumbs

 

[UnknownVT]

Here's a recent thread - lots of responses -

Need a charger for NIMH and LSD AA's and AAA's

 

[geek4christ]

I was in the market for a charger recently and was torn between the RipVan Lightning 4000N, the Maha C204 and the BC-900. I went with the BC-900 and I'm really liking it.

I've put a fan on it to eliminate thermal problems and make sure to charge at at least C/2 to get a good voltage drop when the cells reach full charge. I think I would probably have liked the Maha C9000 a little better overall, but just couldn't spend the extra money. The BC-900 is a really good charger for the price.

 

[Bones]

...
The BC-900 is a really good charger for the price.

Here's a detailed look at BC-900 (RS-900) stroberaver, along with hyperlinks to merchants who carry the charger in the UK and elsewhere:

http://www.techmati.com/reviews/rs900/

ThomasDistributing describes the difference between the BC-900 (RS-900) and its sibling, the BC-700 (RS-700) thusly:

New Charger from La Crosse Technologies. The BC-700 battery charger has all the same features as the popular La Crosse BC-900, except the BC-700 is capable of charge rates of either 200, 500, or 700 mA. This means that the BC-700 will charge 2500 mAh batteries in about 4 hrs at the 700mA charge rate. Slower charge rates often mean longer battery life. (** The BC 900 has charge rates of either 200, 500, 700, 1000, 1500, or 1800 mA.) Other than the slower charge rates, the BC-700 is identical in performance to the BC-900. The BC-700 is Black in color. Also the BC-700 comes with the AC 100-240 AC Power Adater only. No additional accessories are included in the standard manufacturers package.

 

[stroberaver]

Many thanks for the responses guys. Looks like I've got some reading to do! Hopefully it will help me make up my mind. I still get the impression the C9000 is the Rolls Royce of chargers (and it has the bonus of being able to power it in-car at 12V - can the LaCrosse chargers do this?) but it's about £50 in the UK! Mind you the BC900 seems to be ~£40, so it's just a tenner's difference.

My main concern is what Mr Happy said about it not charging cells 100% - anyone else found this too? I've also seen reference to the different versions of chargers - v33 for the BC900, and is 0G0 the latest for the Maha C9000?

When I first started looking into it, I never thought battery chargers could be so difficult to choose between!

Thanks again.

 

[Black Rose]

My main concern is what Mr Happy said about it not charging cells 100% - anyone else found this too?

I'd like to see that as well. Hopefully SilverFox will take a peek in here and comment on that.

He's tested (and owns) both of these charges and said he more or less retired his BC-900 after he got the C9000.

 

[UnknownVT]

ThomasDistributing describes the difference between the BC-900 (RS-900) and its sibling, the BC-700 (RS-700) thusly:

Quote:
New Charger from La Crosse Technologies. The BC-700 battery charger has all the same features as the popular La Crosse BC-900, except the BC-700 is capable of charge rates of either 200, 500, or 700 mA. This means that the BC-700 will charge 2500 mAh batteries in about 4 hrs at the 700mA charge rate. Slower charge rates often mean longer battery life. (** The BC 900 has charge rates of either 200, 500, 700, 1000, 1500, or 1800 mA.) Other than the slower charge rates, the BC-700 is identical in performance to the BC-900. The BC-700 is Black in color. Also the BC-700 comes with the AC 100-240 AC Power Adater only. No additional accessories are included in the standard manufacturers package.

The main problem for me - is that the maxmium charging current of the BC-700 is not high enough to put the current in the oft recommended 0.5C-1C range - the highest charging current of the BC-700 is 700mA - which means 0.5C-1C would be batteries in the range of 700-1400mAh - this is fine for AAA; but falls short for most modern AA NiMH batteries - which are usually in the range 1800-2500mAh.

according to -
BatteryUniversity.com page on nickel based batteries
about 3/4 down that page under
Charging nickel-metal-hydride -
" It is difficult, if not impossible, to slow-charge a nickel-metal-hydride. At a C?rate of 0.1-0.3C, the voltage and temperature profiles fail to exhibit defined characteristics to measure the full charge state accurately and the charger must rely on a timer. Harmful overcharge can occur if a partially or fully charged battery is charged with a fixed timer. The same occurs if the battery has aged and can only hold 50 instead of 100% charge. Overcharge could occur even though the battery feels cool to the touch. "

Duracell Technical bulletin on Charging NiMH (pdf) bottom of page 14

Please note the Not Recommended range of C/3 to C/10 -
which is where the BC-700's highest 700mA charge current would seem to fall for AA's in the range of 2100-2900 (actually all the way to 7000) mAh ........

Personally - I would much prefer the BC-900 -
which is only for a few dollars more
(hey! that sounds like a good, bad or ugly title for a movie )

For more details and Bones's objections to my view (which I acknowledge) please read this thread -

Need a charger for NIMH and LSD AA's and AAA's

BTW -

My main concern is what Mr Happy said about it not charging cells 100% - anyone else found this too?

this is discussed starting in Post #27 in the thread referenced above.

The Maha C-9000 is really very good for the strategy taken to safeguard batteries - I even suggested other chargers should adopt this same strategy - but I am no battery or charger expert - I depend on more experienced people like SilverFox and Mr Happy.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Stroberaver,

Welcome to CPF.

You may find this thread informative.

Tom

 

[Mr Happy]

My main concern is what Mr Happy said about it not charging cells 100% - anyone else found this too?

Don't read too much into this. I think it applies mainly to Eneloops and it's not that significant. On the plus side the C9000 offers a lot of flexibility in charging with charging rates up to 2 amps.

To put it in perspective, here's an example with some Kodak Pre-Charged AA cells I've been testing.

Maximum capacity as measured by a break-in charge:
2051, 2087, 2044, 2056 mAh

Capacity measured after charging on the Duracell Power Gauge:
2052, 2061, 2048, 2061 mAh

Capacity measured after charging on the C9000 at 1000 mA followed by two hour top off:
2031, 2046, 2021, 2038 mAh

As you can see, the C9000 gave pretty close to a maximum charge with these cells.

 

[Albinoni]

The C9000 is a very flexible charger. And if you really want to understand what your batteries are doing it is a wonderful device. However, for routine charging duties, in my experience it tends to leave cells a little less than fully charged -- about 100 or 200 mAh down on some batteries.

Interesting, btw which batteries were these ? I'm new to the C9000 and so far really like it probably the best charger I've used. Also are you sure it wasn't the fault of the batts and not the charger. Also I've found that the mAh rating on a battery from a manufacturer is not always 100% correct.

 

[TorchBoy]

Cool - another thread about Eneloops and the MH-C9000. [TorchBoy hits subscribe... and finds the server is too busy to do it.]

OK, I'll try posting instead. With the incredibly wide range of choices we have it's nice to know there is a good combination that most enthusiasts are very happy with.

 

[SafetyBob]

Go to Conrad Electric and get the Voltcraft Charger Adapter for round cells (Nr. 51 20 34), then get a Triton2 or one of the other wonderful RC chargers and you will have a top notch charging setup. Yes there is a learning curve but you will have absolute control on how your batteries are being charged!!

You can purchase extra Voltcraft holders and connect them together so you could charge all your Eneloops together for a M@g85 or whatever multiple AA setup you could think of. Actually anything from AA to D you would be able to do. Absolute versatility to charge whatever you want in virtually any quantity (I think 24VDC max (that's 20 batteries)(5 Voltcrafts connected together)).

Working on something for Li-ion and Emoli batteries, to bad they don't make a slightly longer Voltcraft battery holder for them.....

Bob E.

 

[TorchBoy]

Absolute versatility to charge whatever you want in virtually any quantity

How does it cope with cells of different capacity?

 

[Mr Happy]

After testing a set of Kodak Pre-charged cells (post #12), I did a similar fullness of charge comparison test with a set of 4 Uniross Hybrios (which I think are much the same as Eneloops):

Capacity of Hybrios measured after charging on the Duracell Power Gauge:
1924, 1984, 1957, 1954 mAh

Capacity measured after charging overnight(*) on the C9000 at 1000 mA:
1896, 1961, 1933, 1930 mAh

So the C9000 appears to be 25-30 mAh down compared to the Duracell charger. This is only about 1.5% and would hardly be noticed in practice.

(*Automatic charge until Done followed by top off until attended to in the morning.)

 

[NA8]

Hi guys,

New member here, looking for some advice about chargers.
...
There's also the LaCrosse (known as Technoline here in the UK) 700 and 900 - how do these compare to the C9000? I can get the 700 for a lot less than the Maha, but from the product descriptions I can't really see what the difference is.

Let's see.. I punch "bc900 melt" into the Google search box at the top of the page:

Web Results 1 - 10 of about 56 from candlepowerforums.com for bc900 melt. (0.03 seconds)

The Maha is $60+free shipping at Thomas Distributing, and the BC900 is $43.22 with shipping. For a $16.78 difference you might want to read those threads before buying.

I do own one, and I don't recommend it these days. I just replaced mine with a Maha MH-C808M, but I'm charging some C and D cells too. I recommend the Maha MH-C9000 these days.

PS Here's what your extra $16.78 buys you:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1761060&postcount=37

 

[Black Rose]

I was thinking of getting a BC-900 as a second charger, but after reading that meltdowns are still happening with the latest version of the BC-900, no way.

I'm going to get a Maha MH-C800S for my second charger.

 

[Raymond]

Let's see.. I punch "bc900 melt" into the Google The Maha is $60+free shipping at Thomas Distributing, and the BC900 is $43.22 with shipping. For a $16.78 difference you might want to read those threads before buying.

Sadly, shipping from thomasdistributing to europe is really killing the deal. They ship fedex for $29. Which in itself is reasonable. But www.elv.de has the maha C9000 for €60, which includes a set of nice nimh's, shipping within europe is a little over €11.
This still leaves thomasdistributing a little less expensive, but that's without importduties and handling charges by fedex (Of which I don't know how high they are, but around €10 handling and €15 taxes seem likely)

After all this, it's a whash between tohmasdistributing and buying it in europe .

However, this brings the total price of the C9000 to around €81. A voltcraft branded LaCrosse is €34 delivered from conrad. That's something completely different than $17 difference