Battery Charger Question

Hey guys,
I just had a few quick question on this particular battery charger.
I'm looking for one that can charge at least 7 AA batteries and i want one that's a "smart charger" meaning that it will fully charge and then once the computer detects it's charged, it will go into trickle charge as to keep the batteries at full but not overcharge them.

http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=279

Will this one fit the bill? It seems to mention something about a timer... which would mean that it doesn't have the auto detect and trickle... the description is not very clear.

Or... can someone recommend a better one?

thanks

What type of batteries are you charging? You don't want to trickle charge nimh.
You probably will have to get two 4 cell smart chargers instead of an 8 banger.

my suggestion is also the same as lync arc. Use 2 X 1hour charger and you might end up charging your battery faster than 8 cell charger

There just might be an answer to your requirement at the end of September.

Maha is coming out with an 8 slot smart charger that will charge and condition 1-8 AAA or AA at a time. I have had great results with Maha chargers and Thomas Dist. has been a great company to deal with.

Maha 8 Cell Charger

Link above gives complete specs and ability to preorder with some free cells.

Mark

Hello Alin,

The Vanson charger is a good slow charger. It appears to charge at around 180 mA, so it will take around 12 hours to charge a completely dead 2100 mAh cell. It also has a discharge function (which I like to use from time to time) and is very inexpensive.

The Maha charger looks to be an excellent charger. It charges at 1000 mA, in the slow setting, or 2000 mA in the fast setting. It also has a discharge function that should discharge the cells faster than the Vanson. It is also more expensive.

Another option is to go with the Energizer 15 minute charger. It will only charge 4 cells, but they are ready to go in very short time. It does not have a discharge function for cell conditioning.

Tom

I've been using this one for over a year and I am quite pleased with it.

http://www.ansmann.de/en/index.htm?view=detail&pid=558&tab=description&pr2id=&appid=

Lynx_Arc said:

What type of batteries are you charging? You don't want to trickle charge nimh.
You probably will have to get two 4 cell smart chargers instead of an 8 banger.

Click to expand...

Wait a sec... aren't nimh the best rechargeables out there now?
I didn't know we aren't supposed to trickle charge them. Why not?
Then what are we supposed to do to make sure they are fully charged? I know rechargeables dont maintain the full charge for a very long time when they are not used. I'd ilke to always have a set ready at all times. Plus i'd like to make sure they are fully charged as opposed to using a timer. Is there a smart charger that doesn't haev a trickle mode in that case?

I've found the regular "slow" charger works best. The one that takes something between 8 and 12 hours to charge. I've got a 1 hour fast charger, and it ain't worth a damn. The slow charger gives a much deeper and more lasting charge. Maybe it's just the brand of fast charger I'm using, it's the one that came with the batteries, so you'd think it would be effective. I use rechargeables to power a small 2.7 inch LCD television, which I usually watch in the bathroom in the morning (the news). I noticed with the fast chager I get only about 5 or minutes before the TV dies. With the slow charger I can watch it for hours. Similar results in high powered flashlights.

I've been thinking about buying that 10 bay charger from batteryspace.com, anybody have it? Any good?

Hello Alin,

It is OK to trickle charge NiMh cells, but it is not OK to overcharge them. If you leave your cells on the trickle charger after they are full, you will loose capacity and cycle life.

There are a couple of ways to keep your cells fully charged and ready to go.

The first is to use your light every day and then re-charge after use.

The second involves using a timer connected to a charger so your cells get a short charge every 24 hours.

Another way is to determine how much run time you need and then charge your cells back up when the self discharge below that run time.

For example, my TigerLight gets a little over 60 minutes of run time on a fully charged battery pack. After sitting for 30 days, it is down to around 50 minutes. After 60 days, it is down to about 40 minutes. After 90 days, it is down to about 32 minutes. After 120 days, it is down to about 26 minutes. After 150 days, it is down to about 21 minutes. And after 180 days, it is down to about 17 minutes.

I have determined that most of the time I am using my TigerLight for less than 10 minutes, so I charge my battery pack back up at least every 6 months if it is not being used.

Tom

I only have two chargers...the Lacrosse BC-900 and the 10-bay VANSON CH-V6988 from batteryspace.com. I use them in various combinations to charge up to 14 cells at once. I like them both. One thing I should mention about the trickle charging. I know with the Vanson charger, they say it switches to "trickle" charge when the cells are fully charged, but it is not a steady applied current like the old Ni-Cd chargers used. Instead, it's a constant current PULSE that keeps the cells topped off. You can see the green LEDs pulse in that mode.

rdshores said:

I only have two chargers...the Lacrosse BC-900 and the 10-bay VANSON CH-V6988 from batteryspace.com. I use them in various combinations to charge up to 14 cells at once. I like them both. One thing I should mention about the trickle charging. I know with the Vanson charger, they say it switches to "trickle" charge when the cells are fully charged, but it is not a steady applied current like the old Ni-Cd chargers used. Instead, it's a constant current PULSE that keeps the cells topped off. You can see the green LEDs pulse in that mode.

Click to expand...

If the trickle charge is like a pulse, is it safe to leave on the charger then? Or would you take them off to be safe? I have a feeling that with the addiction i already have with just one fancy flashlight right now, i'm going to need a lot more rechargeable batteries but i'd like to be prepared.

I think you may be trying to be overprepared. Nimh batteries do self discharge over time but trickle charging probably isn't the best idea. I would rather suggest topping them off once every few weeks and not worry about running with only 90% of capacity in them.
If you have an hour you can use a fast charger to top them off quick for the extra few minutes of runtime. If your light runs 120mins you basically gain perhaps 10-12 mins by having them freshly charged which IMO is probably not noticeable or overly useful compared to the chance of reducing the life of cells via trickle charging.