Strange Ebay Battery Charger?

[Pellidon]

I saw this light on Ebay but the Charger's write up has me confused. I am ready to call BS on this.

Something this small can have the brains to do either? Saw no switch. I'm guessing it is a standard trickle charger and not a dual chemistry one.

Searched the forum and looked at all DX's chargers and came up dry. Looked at two other battery/charger sites too.

 

[LumenHound]

Searched the forum and looked at all DX's chargers and came up dry.

Look again, it's been there for a while now. There are some interesting comments in the reviews and discussions on that page.

 

[post tenebras]

I have that charger. I've only used it for RCR123's, but it works fine.

 

[45/70]

The HG-103W9V (entire thread) is actually a pretty nice little charger. I opened mine up and was surprised to find no cold solder joints, a rarity in the cheap charger line. My overall impression is that it is well made. Except for the fold out AC plug, there's nothing really "cheap" about it.

I mostly use mine for 14500 LiCo's, but I have charged some other small Li-Ion's with it, and a few AA and AAA NiMH's. It seems to do a good job all the way around. It has a fairly slow charge rate, but that makes it work out well for smaller Li-Ion cells and AAA NiMH. Kinda handy for single cell lights, you don't have to fire up your 8 bay to charge just one cell.

Dave

 

[Pellidon]

I missed that on the first sweep of DX.

That looks like a good thing to toss in my computer bag for when I travel.

 

[TranceAddict]

i have the feeling of this charger will catch fire.

 

[45/70]

i have the feeling of this charger will catch fire.

Why do you think that, Trance?

Several members here have them, and have not reported any problems.

Dave

 

[qwertyydude]

I suppose with a low charge current you could safely charge nimh as a trickle charge mode and just end up charging li-ion too by regulating the max voltage to 4.2v but if it's that low I don't expect rapid charging of a dead 18650.

 

[45/70]

I suppose with a low charge current you could safely charge nimh as a trickle charge mode and just end up charging li-ion too by regulating the max voltage to 4.2v but if it's that low I don't expect rapid charging of a dead 18650.

Yeah, for larger cells, it's really only good as a backup or travel charger. For small cells though, it's better than a Pila or a YOHO-122 for instance.

It has a decent charge rate for small cells. It would be good for 10440, 14250, or RCR2 Li-Ion's for example. The aforementioned chargers would fry these cells rather quickly. For NiMH, while it charges at a relatively a slow rate, it would be acceptable for AAA's. I don't think I'd use it for, at least conventional 9 Volt NiMH cells, the rate seems a bit high (100mA), but it'd probably work.

For what it is, I still think it's a good charger. The styling looks a bit like something from the 1950's. I couldn't care less, as long as it does the job, and that, it seems to do quite well.

Dave