Energizer CHDC7 2AA+2AAA combo pack

Anyone seen or tried this new version of the energizer "slider" charger?

I'm a bit confused how it works. Here's the sheet on it:
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/chdc7.pdf

But... pair charger with one light per battery?

Timer based 8 hours with 450mA (2 hour) AAA charge current?

Data on a lot of energizer chargers is here:
http://data.energizer.com/
(select product group "Chargers Rechargeable")

There are a couple, like the CHDC and CHCARCP that just run a timed cycle. Like, 1 amp into an AA for 3.5 hours, or 360mA for 8.5 hours, well over C/10. That seems like a good way to kill a pair of cells within, oh, 10 charges or so. C/2 overcharge for an hour?

OK, guess it's old news. Just forgot there was anything that idiotic (over C/10, timer-only) still being sold.

Let me continue chatting with myself... On the "ooh! shiny!" justification, I bought this charger, so here's some info:

It is "smart", probably dV/dt, and runs at 450mA, about C/5 for the AAs and C/2 for the AAAs. The internal contacts are hooked up the same for AA and AAA so unless it does fancy sensing, it doesn't know which kind you loaded.

There is a top-off charge for a few hours (more than 1, less than 4). It's a pulse charge at a low duty-cycle. Was seeing 1.46 between, 1.58 or so during. After top off ended I saw 1.38 and no pulses in the 30 sec or so that I looked.

There are 4 slots, and four battery status indicators, indicating charging, some ways through charging, and "done". There are only 4 LEDs, though, with a light pipe making each channel's pair of LEDs light up the dots in 2 of the charger's 4 battery symbols. Indicators for cells 1&2, and 3&4 are optically the same.

1st cycle the 900mAh AAAs charged in about 2 hours, one a little warmer than the other, but neither "hot". Second charge of those at work here and the IR gun said 98 and 108 F respectively. Not sure why, but it was the cell that was cooler during the 1st charge cycle that was the warmer on the 2nd.

For two cycles, cells given time to fully top-off, I ran a discharge on the UBA4 to 650mV using a stepped rate routine starting with 1C. The number in parentheses is the sum of the rest of the steps, which go down to C/20:

The 900mAh AAs, 2 cycles, discharged to: 1C (.05C)
-----------------------------
AAA #1 / AAA #2
831 (996) / 598 (780) (The warmer cell was the 831)
730 (841) / 576 (765)


The 2500mAh AAs, 2 cycles, discharged to: 1C (.05C)
-----------------------------
2064 (2338) / 1947 (2338)
2081 (2310) / 2080 (2347)

That's all I know for now. Pretty much enough, for the charger anyway. I'm curious about these energizers given how crappy the 2500s I got 2 years ago were. One of the AAAs appears defective. If it was just dormant the 2nd cycle should have given more capacity.

Pack was $20 at Wally World, so for, figure, a $10 charger, it seems pretty decent. If I don't use it, I'd feel comfortable giving it to a friend who doesn't care about the details...with, of course, Eneloop cells. And, yeah, the eneloop chargers, being individual channels, are much better. That 4 cell one for $20 with 4 AAs was/is a bargain.

radellaf said:

Let me continue chatting with myself...

Click to expand...

I saw one when facing the battery endcap at work today. So you say its a pair peak charger? We'll, it's a step in the right direction at least. I'm in need of a new charger, but I think I'll get an Eneloop one, though.

450mA pair 'smart' charger, yep. The eneloop Q5 is functionally better, but this has more blinking lights.

I actually might get one now that my local Meijer is selling the charger alone for $10. Can you tell my how it denotes charging and charged? Do the lights blink, stay solid, or both?

At the beginning the lower segment is blinking, then both segments blink, when complete both segments are steady on. I _think_ it said fast blink is for bad cells.

The switch from 1 to 2 segments is not timer based like I think the Duracell Power Gauge is. Not sure what determines when the 2nd one comes on, seems to be a little more than halfway through when it does. If you put somewhat charged cells in there (these had 2000mAh loaded from another experiment) then it will turn on the 2nd lights within a few seconds.

Speaking of charge progress -- does anyone have the Energizer USB charger and use the software program that you can download for it? Looks like that gives you a percentage gauge on the screen, which, if accurate, I can't figure out how it is done.

http://www.energizer.com/usbcharger/language/english/download.aspx

Well I hate to see anyone having to talk to themself :laughing: so.... I'll comment - actually I think the USB thing is great - at least a step in the right direction. That is if someone would just make a charger that can be fully programmed from your computer than it could do about anything. And most of the control would be from the computer so it would not have to be an especially smart or expensive charger. On the other hand most functions you could possibly want in a charger are not that complex for IC's to handle - but displaying what's going on can certainly be done better with a computer screen.