Decent Battery Charger?

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redherring

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#189002 13-Dec-2015 12:49

My old battery charger died a few months ago, I think it was a DSE branded one from way back. it was able to charge 4 AA or AAA batteries in a few hours, one at a time, and would charge until it decided the battery was fully charged then stop each one. My previous charger which dated back to the 80s was equally capable.

I had a quick look around and found a Sony charger which seemed similar, so I bought it.

Except ... it takes 14 hours to charge, it seems to have no idea whether a battery is charged or not, and it can only charge in pairs. And looking around I see most or many chargers are now the same.

Is there any decent charger available in NZ that does things the "old" way?

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#1449655 13-Dec-2015 13:32

Why would you want an inferior product? The ideal speed to charge a NiMH cell is 1/2C - ie a 2 hour charge (source: batteryuniversity.com). Get a Maha charger (C9000 for the best, C801D for an 8 cell that's very good) if you want your batteries to last, or get something cheap from ebay/trademe if you're not bothered.

timmmay

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#1449656 13-Dec-2015 13:33

Good source for Maha here.

Athlonite

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#1449659 13-Dec-2015 13:49

You could try the Nightcore Digicharger D4 it'll do both NiMH and Lithium ion

http://charger.nitecore.com/product/digicharger-d4

redherring

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#1449666 13-Dec-2015 14:10

timmmay: Why would you want an inferior product? The ideal speed to charge a NiMH cell is 1/2C - ie a 2 hour charge (source: batteryuniversity.com). Get a Maha charger (C9000 for the best, C801D for an 8 cell that's very good) if you want your batteries to last, or get something cheap from ebay/trademe if you're not bothered.

I don't want an inferior product, but I don't want to spend $125 either. Batteries tended to die after several years using my old charger, but not to the extent that I needed to buy a better charger to fix that problem, I just want the batteries to charge independently and stop when it's finished..

redherring

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#1449667 13-Dec-2015 14:12

Athlonite: You could try the Nightcore Digicharger D4 it'll do both NiMH and Lithium ion

http://charger.nitecore.com/product/digicharger-d4

Thanks, I can see a D2 available in NZ but prefer one that does 4, but I see the i4 is available in a couple of places, I think I'll pick up one of those.

Athlonite

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#1449668 13-Dec-2015 14:15

redherring:
Athlonite: You could try the Nightcore Digicharger D4 it'll do both NiMH and Lithium ion

http://charger.nitecore.com/product/digicharger-d4

Thanks, I can see a D2 available in NZ but prefer one that does 4, but I see the i4 is available in a couple of places, I think I'll pick up one of those.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/batteries/rechargeable/chargers/auction-993534151.htm

D4 for $44.99

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redherring

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#1449673 13-Dec-2015 14:32

Athlonite:
redherring:
Athlonite: You could try the Nightcore Digicharger D4 it'll do both NiMH and Lithium ion

http://charger.nitecore.com/product/digicharger-d4

Thanks, I can see a D2 available in NZ but prefer one that does 4, but I see the i4 is available in a couple of places, I think I'll pick up one of those.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/batteries/rechargeable/chargers/auction-993534151.htm

D4 for $44.99

We have a winner, thank you :)

timmmay

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#1449679 13-Dec-2015 15:06

Sounds like an awesome charger for a great price, very similar to the Maha I use. If someone here tells me it works well after practical experience I might switch my recommendation.

kiwi_64

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#1449682 13-Dec-2015 15:29

I've used a Nitecore D4 for a couple of years without issue.
Bought from here: https://www.torchmonster.co.nz/accessories/chargers.html (good crowd to deal with)
That trademe pricing is sharp...

Athlonite

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#1449717 13-Dec-2015 16:35

It's the same guys I bought mine from and I've had no problems with it, it stops charging the batteries once they're charged and you can easily tell how much more they have to go before fully charged. I use it for my AAA Ni-MH's, AA Ni-MH's and my 18650 Lithium Ion's so far they're all still working well and hold good charges

E3xtc

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#1450481 15-Dec-2015 08:27

TorchMonster are having a Christmas sale now too - Promo Code XMAS15 gets another 15% off....makes that charger less than $40 (incl delivery)...pretty sharp price....have placed my order....some nice torches there too - will keep that in mind when in the market.

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timmmay

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#1450485 15-Dec-2015 08:36

E3xtc: TorchMonster are having a Christmas sale now too - Promo Code XMAS15 gets another 15% off....makes that charger less than $40 (incl delivery)...pretty sharp price....have placed my order....some nice torches there too - will keep that in mind when in the market.

Nice. I have a good Fenix 1000 lumen torch, and I just can't find even a vaguely plausible reason I need a 4000 lumen torch. That's brighter than two modern car headlights, and more concentrated.

xontech

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#1450551 15-Dec-2015 09:11

E3xtc: TorchMonster are having a Christmas sale now too - Promo Code XMAS15 gets another 15% off....makes that charger less than $40 (incl delivery)...pretty sharp price....have placed my order....some nice torches there too - will keep that in mind when in the market.

Thanks for the tip. It was sounding good until I got to their site and can't see how you got that price! No mention of a Christmas sale, the D4 is priced at $70....

allio

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#1450593 15-Dec-2015 09:38

The D4's output is listed as 0.375A*4 / 0.75A*2 - which seems really low. My Maha will do 2.0A*4.

At 0.375A, it'd take 6.4 hours to charge a 2400mAh Eneloop.

timmmay

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#1450604 15-Dec-2015 09:52

Interesting. Battery university says charge NiMH batteries at 1/2C (no faster and not too much slower), so 2800mah batteries should be charged at 1400mah. This review suggests it will charge AAs at 750mah, which is around 1/4 the recommended speed. A post further down measures it at 500mah. So expect 4-5 hour charge times. It's probably fine for most people, but may not be the best charger available - seems like good value with plenty of features though.

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