AA/AAA Battery Charger recommendation wanted

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Kiwifruta

1125 posts

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# 236329 29-May-2018 06:09

Our battery charger is on its last legs so I want to replace it with a proper charger, that will charge batteries independently, preserve their capacity, their number of life cycles and detect when a battery is a lost cause.

Our batteries, Eneloop Pro, are used in TV and Fire TV remotes, kids toy trains and bike light/torches. I'll probably buy some Maha PowerEx batteries too. All up we'd only need between a dozen and twenty batteries.

I've been looking at the Maha, La Crosse and Xtar chargers, but am I a bit out of my area of expertise. Hence asking for your help.

I've also read a from a couple of older GZ threads, but as they are older threads and technology keeps moving forward I don't know how relevant their recommendations they still are.

Fast charging is not a concern I'd rather preserve the life of the batteries by charging them slowly overnight.

So far these are ones that look suitable.

1) http://www.recharged.co.nz/aa-battery-chargers/mh-c401fs-compact-100-minute-cool-charger.html also available at ecobatteries http://www.ecobatteries.nz/mhc401fs.html Is this negative pulse FLEX charge thing just marketing spin or something real?

2) http://www.recharged.co.nz/aa-battery-chargers/xtar-vc4-li-ion-and-nimh-battery-charger.html , which I've also seen on AliExpress from various sellers for half the price

3) https://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-BC1000-Battery-Charger/dp/B004J6DLD4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527528280&sr=8-2&keywords=MH-C9000

4) https://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-BC700-CBP-Battery-Charger/dp/B000RSOV50/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1527528280&sr=8-4&keywords=MH-C9000

5) https://www.amazon.com/Powerex-MH-C9000-WizardOne-Charger-Analyzer-Batteries/dp/B003DIGKOG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527528280&sr=8-1&keywords=MH-C9000 Looks like the Rolls Royce of chargers, but probably an overkill for my needs.

Cheers

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2146 posts

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# 2024371 29-May-2018 06:55

One person supports this post

I was looking about 4 years ago. Back then the fancier La Crosse ones had a habit of setting fire to themselves, and destroying the batteries.

I went for the Maha C401 and C9000.
Ive seen some pretty good results with the C9000.

Location: Dunedin

Kiwifruta

1125 posts

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# 2024372 29-May-2018 07:00

andrewNZ: I was looking about 4 years ago. Back then the fancier La Crosse ones had a habit of setting fire to themselves, and destroying the batteries.

I went for the Maha C401 and C9000.
Ive seen some pretty good results with the C9000.

That rules the La Crosse out then.

How do the C401 & C9000 compare against each other?

timmmay

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# 2024375 29-May-2018 07:06

I have Maha 801D and the Maha C9000. Both are fantastic and have worked well for me for 10 years or more. Highly recommended.

Suggest Eneloop batteries, or Amazon Basics, which are the same thing I think. They don't lose capacity over time so much. In a good charger they'll last years. If you have anything really high drain that you'll use constnatly (eg a torch you'll run down in a month or less) then PowerEx higher capacity might be handy, but even then personally I'd get Eneloop. I had maybe 60 PowerEx, which failed after 6-8 years, and now I have about the same number of Eneloop - camera flash batteries and for flash battery packs.

I've also heard good things about Nitecore chargers, and they're cheaper than Maha. But I know Maha are great.

huckster

386 posts

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# 2024378 29-May-2018 07:10

I have the Maha C9000 and it always seems to get my Eneloops back to full/near full capacity.

Nothing to compare it against other than the chargers from Energizer etc. but it gives you more (hopefully correct!) data on the state of the battery.

It failed to revive quite a few old Energizer re-chargeables but I was not too surprised about that. They were old.

It works for me.

andrewNZ

2146 posts

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# 2024382 29-May-2018 07:17

The C401 & C9000 both charge batteries, but that's about all the comparison you can do.

The C9000 does a pretty good job of restoring batteries capacity too. Be aware though the restore process can take days.

Location: Dunedin

Bung

3071 posts

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# 2024383 29-May-2018 07:26

Just a reminder to be careful once you get a large collection of older batteries. I was charging some in à C401 when 1 cell leaked. The design of most chargers allows any such leakage to run onto the charger circuit board and kill the charger.

The thread has reminded me that the price of chargers is dropping my C401FS cost $80 years ago. The Amazon C9000 is looking shiny

timmmay

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# 2024392 29-May-2018 08:10

C9000 does have good features, like refreshing batteries (C801D has that), trying to restore capacity, and reporting exact MAH capacity of each cell. That last cycle does take a couple of days.

olivernz

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# 2024413 29-May-2018 08:35

Hi,

I use a Nitecore D4 charger from Aliexpress. So far very happy with it and also does a good job on my Eneloops. I bought it originally for charging 18650's but it has now taken over all my other chargers as the one I use. Cost is about NZD 30.

Cheers

timmmay

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# 2024435 29-May-2018 09:24

One thing about the Maha - the C9000 takes a standard 12V input so I can charge from batteries / solar during a power outage.

allio

631 posts

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# 2024761 29-May-2018 13:16

Another vote for the C9000. I bought 8 or 9 years ago and it's just like new. Yeah it was expensive, but for something you keep for such a long time the price kind of fades into insignificance.

Nudibranch

61 posts

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# 2024808 29-May-2018 13:44

+1 for Maha

neb

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# 2024859 29-May-2018 14:37

As others have pointed out, the Maha's are pretty good, but if you want the ultimate charger for diagnosing problem cells and whatnot I'd get the MC3000, which is kinda the Rohde & Schwarz or chargers. I've got a Pila charger for 18650s which is great, but there's no indication of what's going on in the cell, just a green and red LED, and sometimes you really need to know what's happening with the cells, for example when an entire batch of Yuasa's went bad on me within a period of 6-12 months.

allio

631 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2025648 30-May-2018 13:02

neb: As others have pointed out, the Maha's are pretty good, but if you want the ultimate charger for diagnosing problem cells and whatnot I'd get the MC3000, which is kinda the Rohde & Schwarz or chargers. I've got a Pila charger for 18650s which is great, but there's no indication of what's going on in the cell, just a green and red LED, and sometimes you really need to know what's happening with the cells, for example when an entire batch of Yuasa's went bad on me within a period of 6-12 months.

Oh man I like the look of this. It's not really much more expensive than the C9000, and it does a whole lot more.

1cloud

105 posts

Master Geek

# 2025676 30-May-2018 13:31

Kiwifruta:

Hi

Our battery charger is on its last legs so I want to replace it with a proper charger, that will charge batteries independently, preserve their capacity, their number of life cycles and detect when a battery is a lost cause.

Cheers

Only choose Panasonic Eneloop used since 10-15 years ago ..

Kiwifruta

1125 posts

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# 2025809 30-May-2018 17:34

I've gone ahead an ordered the MH-C401FS from recharged.co.nz. Meets the budget and straight foward to use for the non-techies in the family. The MC3000 was definitely appealing.

For batteries I'll probably continue with eneloop and/or eneloop pro because I can buy them at heavily discounted prices.

Cheers for your help everyone.

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