Hi there,

We are considering buying a battery charger and rechargeable batteries
for my younger brothers various toy cars as he seems to go through an
alarming amount of batteries.

What things are there to consider when buying a battery charger and what
type would be suited to this sort of use?

And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

--
David

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:11:20 +0000, gremlin_95 wrote:

We are considering buying a battery charger and rechargeable batteries
for my younger brothers various toy cars as he seems to go through an
alarming amount of batteries.

Look out for the Lidl (or is it Aldi?) battery charger and the
precharged ("ready to use") NiMH batteries. Very good value for money
on both the charger and batteries.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 20/01/2012 20:11, gremlin_95 wrote:
Hi there,

We are considering buying a battery charger and rechargeable batteries
for my younger brothers various toy cars as he seems to go through an
alarming amount of batteries.

What things are there to consider when buying a battery charger and what
type would be suited to this sort of use?

And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

The main thing IMHO is to get one which charges and monitors each cell
separately. You won't get that with the cheapest but you don't have to
pay a fortune. Mine is a GP Powerbank and does 4 AAs. Each cell has its
own status lights, and a copper strip which (I guess) senses temperature.

On Jan 20, 8:11 pm, gremlin_95 wrote:
Hi there,

We are considering buying a battery charger and rechargeable batteries
for my younger brothers various toy cars as he seems to go through an
alarming amount of batteries.

What things are there to consider when buying a battery charger and what
type would be suited to this sort of use?

And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

--
David

lidl multi bay one (£10/15?) is well regarded on here and by me, comes
up quite regularly at Lidl.

Jim K

On Jan 20, 9:46*pm, Jim K wrote:
On Jan 20, 8:11 pm, gremlin_95 wrote:









Hi there,

We are considering buying a battery charger and rechargeable batteries
for my younger brothers various toy cars as he seems to go through an
alarming amount of batteries.

What things are there to consider when buying a battery charger and what
type would be suited to this sort of use?

And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

--
David

lidl multi bay one (£10/15?) is well regarded on here and by me, comes
up quite regularly at Lidl.

Jim K

I gave up trying to buy the LIDL one and bought one o these:-

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ucts_id=105029

Which can discharge/recharge 1 -4 cells, junior has several RC cars
that take 3 cells.

Seems to do the job fine without cooking the batteries - a 2000mAh set
of AAs take around 2 hours.

I use Eneloops mainly these days.

In article ,
gremlin_95 wrote:

And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?


I've got a Ansmann Energy 8 Plus that's brilliant - but not cheap. Think
I paid about 45 quid for it from CPC but that was on special offer.

Charges up to 6 AA or AAA, 4 C or D and 2 PPÂ3 types (or various combinations).
Individual cell charging, cell conditioning and all sorts of clever things I
don't understand but seem to result in it being brilliant :-)

That and a load of Sanyo eneloop batteries have restored my faith in
rechargables

Darren

On Jan 20, 10:24 pm, dmc@puffin. (D.M.Chapman) wrote:
In article ,

gremlin_95 wrote:
And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?

I've got a Ansmann Energy 8 Plus that's brilliant - but not cheap. Think
I paid about 45 quid for it from CPC but that was on special offer.

Charges up to 6 AA or AAA, 4 C or D and 2 PPÂ3 types (or various combinations).
Individual cell charging, cell conditioning and all sorts of clever things I
don't understand but seem to result in it being brilliant :-)

That and a load of Sanyo eneloop batteries have restored my faith in
rechargables

Darren

well whaddya know??

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lidl...-196622?page=3

Jim K

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:35:37 -0800 (PST), Jim K
wrote:

well whaddya know??

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lidl...-196622?page=3

The update says it isn't.
Fwiw, the multi-bay Lidl charger does things too fast and overheats
batteries. I only use on cells I don't really care about but never on
Eneloops or similar.

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:37:58 -0000, wrote:

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:35:37 -0800 (PST), Jim K
wrote:

well whaddya know??

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lidl...-196622?page=3

The update says it isn't.
Fwiw, the multi-bay Lidl charger does things too fast and overheats
batteries. I only use on cells I don't really care about but never on
Eneloops or similar.

And end of thread suggests it is.

--
Rod

On Jan 21, 12:37 am, wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:35:37 -0800 (PST), Jim K
wrote:

well whaddya know??

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lidl...der-a-tenner-1...

The update says it isn't.
Fwiw, the multi-bay Lidl charger does things too fast and overheats
batteries. I only use on cells I don't really care about but never on
Eneloops or similar.

no big issues here so far but not a *heavy* user - kids toys, odd
Maglite torch, remotes etc

never measured temps but never really thought "thats too warm" -

for info what is "too" warm?

Jim K

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:11:20 +0000, gremlin_95 wrote:

Hi there,

We are considering buying a battery charger and rechargeable batteries
for my younger brothers various toy cars as he seems to go through an
alarming amount of batteries.

What things are there to consider when buying a battery charger and what
type would be suited to this sort of use?

And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

For the cells, try Eneloop (Aldi sometimes does an equivalent) from e.g.
7dayshop.com. I didn't risk that place's own brand.
Eneloop type stay charged, unlike ordinary NiMH, for a long time and also
run much longer.
Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.
The plain white Eneloops at 2.1Ah can be recharged about 1000 times; the
newer ones with higher capacity not so many.
I try to have 4 cells to charge so that they take longer - the other option
is to spend £30+ on a settable charger.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

In article ,
wrote:
Fwiw, the multi-bay Lidl charger does things too fast and overheats
batteries. I only use on cells I don't really care about but never on
Eneloops or similar.

I use one pretty heavily with Lidl (and other make) cells and it's fine.
The cells do get warm - but then so do the ones on all my decent quality
cordless tools after charging.

--
*If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Does this mean they have a higher voltage? Or are you saying they are many
times the capacity?

--
*A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:02:47 -0800 (PST), Jim K
wrote:

never measured temps but never really thought "thats too warm" -

for info what is "too" warm?

Hot - very hot - sometimes so hot I could barely touch them.
I suspect it caused the premature end of a few batteries.
After that, I kept a close eye on it. There might be a fault in one or
more channels, but it does charge fast and just on that basis I'd be
leary of it.
For eneloops and good quality non-LSDs I use a couple of older slow
(16hr) chargers and no complaints about them. Ironically, the slow
chargers came as bundlepacks and were quite cheap - they've performed
like Trojans.

On 21/01/2012 11:28, wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:02:47 -0800 (PST), Jim
wrote:

never measured temps but never really thought "thats too warm" -

for info what is "too" warm?

Hot - very hot - sometimes so hot I could barely touch them.
I suspect it caused the premature end of a few batteries.
After that, I kept a close eye on it. There might be a fault in one or
more channels, but it does charge fast and just on that basis I'd be
leary of it.
For eneloops and good quality non-LSDs I use a couple of older slow
(16hr) chargers and no complaints about them. Ironically, the slow
chargers came as bundlepacks and were quite cheap - they've performed
like Trojans.

The Uniross Universal-Li-Ion-Charger at a tenner works well

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uniross-U017...52921&sr =1-6

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:08:03 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Does this mean they have a higher voltage? Or are you saying they are many
times the capacity?

Lower iinternal resistance?
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:08:03 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut
out; Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Does this mean they have a higher voltage? Or are you saying they are
many times the capacity?

Lower iinternal resistance?

If it is designed for alkalines, I doubt it.

--
*Geeks shall inherit the earth *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:08:03 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut
out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Does this mean they have a higher voltage? Or are you saying they are
many times the capacity?

Internal resistance has been mentioned, they may have different
discharge curve as well.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In message , PeterC
writes
On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:11:20 +0000, gremlin_95 wrote:

Hi there,

We are considering buying a battery charger and rechargeable batteries
for my younger brothers various toy cars as he seems to go through an
alarming amount of batteries.

What things are there to consider when buying a battery charger and what
type would be suited to this sort of use?

And finally can anyone kindly give me any recommendations based upon
their own personal experience?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

For the cells, try Eneloop (Aldi sometimes does an equivalent) from e.g.
7dayshop.com. I didn't risk that place's own brand.

I use the 7dayshop own brand ones 'Good to go'. They saeem to perform
just as well as the branded (Eneloop and Ansmann) ones I have.

Eneloop type stay charged, unlike ordinary NiMH, for a long time

Yup, I only ever bother with buying LSD ones now. The only time I bother
with the standard ones is if I wanted the maximum capacity, which tends
to be a bit higher.

and also
run much longer.
Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Never noticed that with any of ours (at least 3 different cameras).


As for chargers. I recently killed my Ansmann energy 8. I replaced it
with an Ansmann Powerline 5, which I managed to find from Expansys for
about £30 (it was a euro model by the looks of it as it didn't have a UK
lead, but I swapped that for a spare lead.

http://www.expansys.com/ansmann-powe...lligent-charge
r-205652/

(seems to have gone up in price a bit)
--
Chris French

In message o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:08:03 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut
out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Does this mean they have a higher voltage? Or are you saying they are
many times the capacity?

Internal resistance has been mentioned, they may have different
discharge curve as well.

I've never noticed such performance difference with any of our cameras
that use them.
--
Chris French

snip

Thank you very much for all your responses.

Does this charger seem okay?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/7dayshop-AA-...184997&sr=8-10

Plan on using it with some Sanyo Eneloops


--
David

In article ,
chris French wrote:
In message o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:08:03 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut
out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Does this mean they have a higher voltage? Or are you saying they are
many times the capacity?

Internal resistance has been mentioned, they may have different
discharge curve as well.

I've never noticed such performance difference with any of our cameras
that use them.

It certainly seems rather a dramatic difference. My guess is a faulty cell.

--
*Can fat people go skinny-dipping?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:04:39 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:08:03 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut
out; Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Does this mean they have a higher voltage? Or are you saying they are
many times the capacity?

Lower iinternal resistance?

If it is designed for alkalines, I doubt it.

TBH I don't know. The ordinary cells were in good condition and have since
worked well in lower-drain items and the Eneloops are good in the camera.
I'd like to know why but as it's all working I'm not messing with it.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:32:38 +0000, gremlin_95 wrote:

snip

Thank you very much for all your responses.

Does this charger seem okay?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/7dayshop-AA-...184997&sr=8-10

Plan on using it with some Sanyo Eneloops

I rather fancy one of these, when I can justify it!
http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/techno...line-BL700.asp

or for flexibility and nice slow charging:
http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog...otocam_5_.html
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:26:03 +0000, chris French wrote:

For the cells, try Eneloop (Aldi sometimes does an equivalent) from e.g.
7dayshop.com. I didn't risk that place's own brand.

I use the 7dayshop own brand ones 'Good to go'. They saeem to perform
just as well as the branded (Eneloop and Ansmann) ones I have.

It's just that I have some 7day NiMH that do so badly that I must get rid of
them; some Aldidl NiMH are OK, so I just went for the Eneloop while they
were on offer.

Eneloop type stay charged, unlike ordinary NiMH, for a long time

Yup, I only ever bother with buying LSD ones now. The only time I bother
with the standard ones is if I wanted the maximum capacity, which tends
to be a bit higher.

Out of curiosity I'm trying an Eneloop in a clock (yes, hardly worth it)
that will run its cell to about 0.95V (some clocks dip out at ~1.25V and so
won't really go on a nominal 1.2V) and so far its managed 7 months. An
ordinary NiMH would have discharged by now.

and also
run much longer.
Ordinary NiMH in my camera managed a few shots then the camera cut out;
Eneloops managed ~200 shots, about 30 or so with flash.

Never noticed that with any of ours (at least 3 different cameras).

I've only the one camera, so no comparison. All cells tried were good and
run OK elsewhere but the camera was shutting down on low battery. I tried 3
pairs then got the Eneloops and they just work.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

PeterC wrote:

I rather fancy one of these, when I can justify it!
http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/techno...line-BL700.asp

I have one, and it is performing well. It enabled me to check all
my old cells, working out which could be persuaded to hold a good
charge, and which were beyond redemption.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.