La Crosse BC-900 Q

I've been playing with a BC-900 for a few days. So far, I'm extremely impressed.

The issue I have is the charger has so many modes that if I want to refresh, or even test, a few dozen batteries, it's going to take weeks. I have about 80 AA/AAA cells.

It would be nice to refresh them all, once in a while. It would also be nice to use the refresh feature on new cells to get them up to a nice power level before using.

Certainly, I plan to test each cell so I can balance three cell flashlights. Two of those three cell flashlights are on my bike and I kill a set of batteries every day.

Up to now, I had been using two Rayovac chargers. Not the new fast charger but an older version that can charge four AAA cells from fairly flat in about three hours. That was sufficient since I have a pretty good inventory of cells.

Now, I think I need two more BC-900 chargers. Even then, I think all of the bays will be used all the time. It's clear I'll have to keep the Rayovacs around to keep up with the charging load. That's to say nothing of charging a 12 cell hotwire with a bunch of tough AA cells that are going to take even longer to charge.

How do you guys do it? Do you just use the test/refresh features once in a long while or do you have a ton of chargers? I'm thinking it would be best to test the cells capacity every few cycles to keep the packs as balanced as possible. Is that overkill?


- Tom

Good question. I just received mine, and started out test charging some old aa nicads to see what I have been using. Having the MaH shown is really helpful for getting rid of failed cells.

The instructions are relatively simple-=various features: Which is the most used/reliable?

Hello Tom,

Interesting observation...

I have taken a little different direction. I purchased an Energizer 15 minute charger. This means that in just a little over 30 minutes, you can have your 6 batteries that you use every day charged up ready to go.

The BC-900 takes about 8 hours to go through a "test" cycle, if you set the charge rate to 1000 mA. The refresh mode takes even longer.

I would suggest that you do a few cycles on the BC-900 to get a capacity figure on 4 cells, then go on to the next 4. You can keep a log, and as you find 3 cells that are matched, you can start using those in your lights.

Your other chargers will keep you going for everyday use, and you can dedicate the BC-900 for testing and evaluation. Once you have capacities on all your batteries, the BC-900 can go into service charging for your every day needs.

You only need to cycle batteries about once every few months, so this should not be a big deal.

I would suggest that you get an Energizer 15 minute charger. That would allow you to get by with fewer batteries and make things more manageable.

This may sound like a lot of work, but the positive side of it is that you will have a good idea of how your batteries are performing, and can possibly get some extended run time from your lights by using matched batteries.

Tom

I appreciate the advice.


I've spent the last several days testing about 40 AAA cells. At first, I panned to do it at 200 mA charge rate. That rate would have allowed me to test 4 cells per day.

I stepped the rate up to 500 mA and can do about a dozen cells per day with one charger.

I've done two runtime tests using balanced packs on my two bike lights. Both tests had the lights still throwing strong at one hour and well useable out to 90 minutes. Before, they were getting pretty dim at 75 minutes.

I'm not sure if this is because of the balanced packs or the BC-900 charging the batteries more fully than the Rayovac chargers.


If I charge a battery in a Rayovac charger and then put it in the BC-900, it will show charging for 20~30 seconds and then Full. Removing and re-inserting a freshly charged battery from/to the BC-900 has the same behavior.

There's no question I'm getting way more run time, though. Whatever combination of influences are contributing to the improved runtime, it's a treat. My once marginal bike light runtime is now ample.