Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.
Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.

--
Davey.

In article , Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.
Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.


I've got an Ansmann Energy 8 Plus - and it's brilliant.

Not cheap though - you didn't give an indication of price so don't know if
this is in range

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001FR6SNK

Darren

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.
Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.

Well worth paying the extra for proper "smart" chargers rather than the
bargain basement: smart chargers make sure a mixed set all get "filled",
and don't destroy cells by overcharging.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 10:38:31 +0000 (UTC)
(D.M.Chapman) wrote:

In article , Davey
wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added
some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which
may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a
replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in
any mix. Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are
always welcome.


I've got an Ansmann Energy 8 Plus - and it's brilliant.

Not cheap though - you didn't give an indication of price so don't
know if this is in range

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001FR6SNK

Darren


I saw the Ansmann name (which I don't know) all over the CPC site, so
that is a good recommendation from you. Yes, that's a high price
(although they offer one used at 50p!), but Ansmann have a good range.
Many thanks.

Looking at the spec. for my dead Duracell charger, it says that its
Output was 360 mAh, but it was supplied with (4) AA NiMH batteries, each
with a charging draw of 130 mA, so it could not, in theory, even
provide full charge for a full load of (4) cells, requiring 520mA. So
adding some 170mA cells probably did for it.

--
Davey.

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 12:16:31 +0100
newshound wrote:

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added
some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which
may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a
replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in
any mix. Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are
always welcome.

Well worth paying the extra for proper "smart" chargers rather than
the bargain basement: smart chargers make sure a mixed set all get
"filled", and don't destroy cells by overcharging.

I would agree, with my little knowledge. Hopefully a cheaper Ansmann
will still be Smart enough. I don't need to charge 8 cells at once, for
example.

The Duracell was supposed to be 'microprocessor controlled', but I think
I just overloaded it by using higher capacity cells, defeating any
brain power it had by brute force.

--
Davey.

On Friday, April 4, 2014 11:30:32 AM UTC+1, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some

1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or

may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement

charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.

Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?



I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always

welcome.



--

Davey.

7day shop 808 , had one for years:

http://www.7dayshop.com/7dayshop-bat...cz9j YXQ9MTYy

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 12:27:52 +0100, Davey
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 12:16:31 +0100
newshound wrote:

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added
some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which
may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a
replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in
any mix. Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are
always welcome.

Well worth paying the extra for proper "smart" chargers rather than
the bargain basement: smart chargers make sure a mixed set all get
"filled", and don't destroy cells by overcharging.

I would agree, with my little knowledge. Hopefully a cheaper Ansmann
will still be Smart enough. I don't need to charge 8 cells at once, for
example.

The Duracell was supposed to be 'microprocessor controlled', but I think
I just overloaded it by using higher capacity cells, defeating any
brain power it had by brute force.


When I investigated a couple of years ago I ended up with the
Technoline BL700 intelligent, AA and AAA. I also gradually moved over
to Eneloop batteries after chasing high power batteries only to learn
that they had high internal resistance. I nearly threw away a digital
camera until someone pointed me in the Eneloop direction. Camera sits
in boot of car - months at a time and still fires up when needed.


--
AnthonyL

Davey wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.

I have found this to be pretty good. Being intelligent, it will
also refresh tired batteries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-Intelligent-battery-charger-Version/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1396613903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

On Friday, 4 April 2014 12:24:17 UTC+1, Davey wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 10:38:31 +0000 (UTC)

(D.M.Chapman) wrote:



In article , Davey

wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added

some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which

may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a

replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in

any mix. Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?



I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are

always welcome.





I've got an Ansmann Energy 8 Plus - and it's brilliant.



Not cheap though - you didn't give an indication of price so don't

know if this is in range



http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001FR6SNK



Darren





I saw the Ansmann name (which I don't know) all over the CPC site, so

that is a good recommendation from you. Yes, that's a high price

(although they offer one used at 50p!), but Ansmann have a good range.

Many thanks.



Looking at the spec. for my dead Duracell charger, it says that its
Output was 360 mAh, but it was supplied with (4) AA NiMH batteries, each
with a charging draw of 130 mA, so it could not, in theory, even
provide full charge for a full load of (4) cells, requiring 520mA.

That's not really the case as most chargers charge 2 cells at a time so yo only have 2X130ma of current being drawn at a time rather than 4X130ma


I'm not to sure about the fast 1 hour charges or whether they are worth using.
I have a couple of chargers at work that I use.

good value
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electrica...harger-18-4001

and a discontinued uni-ross.





So
adding some 170mA cells probably did for it.



--

Davey.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 05:38:04 -0700 (PDT)
whisky-dave wrote:

That's not really the case as most chargers charge 2 cells at a time
so yo only have 2X130ma of current being drawn at a time rather than
4X130ma

This one is specifically designed to take 4 batteries at once, either
(4) AAs or AAAs, or (2) of each. It worked fine until recently, at
about the time I added the higher power cells to the mix.

--
Davey.

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 12:05:01 GMT
lid (AnthonyL) wrote:

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 12:27:52 +0100, Davey
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 12:16:31 +0100
newshound wrote:

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently
added some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh
ones, which may or may not have precipitated its death. I am
looking for a replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge
these, preferably in any mix. Are there any brands/models known
to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are
always welcome.

Well worth paying the extra for proper "smart" chargers rather than
the bargain basement: smart chargers make sure a mixed set all get
"filled", and don't destroy cells by overcharging.

I would agree, with my little knowledge. Hopefully a cheaper Ansmann
will still be Smart enough. I don't need to charge 8 cells at once,
for example.

The Duracell was supposed to be 'microprocessor controlled', but I
think I just overloaded it by using higher capacity cells, defeating
any brain power it had by brute force.


When I investigated a couple of years ago I ended up with the
Technoline BL700 intelligent, AA and AAA. I also gradually moved over
to Eneloop batteries after chasing high power batteries only to learn
that they had high internal resistance. I nearly threw away a digital
camera until someone pointed me in the Eneloop direction. Camera sits
in boot of car - months at a time and still fires up when needed.



Yes, I have read about the Eneloop batteries. But first, I need to get
a charger.

--
Davey.

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 13:20:15 +0100
Chris J Dixon wrote:

Davey wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added
some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which
may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a
replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in
any mix.

I have found this to be pretty good. Being intelligent, it will
also refresh tired batteries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-Intelligent-battery-charger-Version/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1396613903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700

Chris

Thanks. I did come across that one during my researching. Good to have
a recommendation, thanks.

--
Davey.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100, Davey wrote:

I am looking for a replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these,
preferably in any mix.

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do 2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3. The bays for the D/AA/AAA are shared.
"Computerised" so checks each cell and then charges as required.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100, Davey wrote:

I am looking for a replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these,
preferably in any mix.

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do 2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3. The bays for the D/AA/AAA are shared.
"Computerised" so checks each cell and then charges as required.


I have the Lidl version badged Tronic which is the same by your
description. One extra feature is it is self contained - no wall wart.
It's been in regular use since I bought it several years ago - excellent
device. Think I saw them in Lidl recently.

--
*Failure is not an option. It's bundled with your software.

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

Chris J Dixon wrote:
Davey wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.

I have found this to be pretty good. Being intelligent, it will
also refresh tired batteries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-Intelligent-battery-charger-Version/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1396613903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700

Chris


Seconded, though it can be confused by a cell that has been reverse
charged by being the weakest in a set of 2 or more used in a device.
They are rejected as dead. A few seconds in parallel with an ordinary
alkaline cell with charge them enough for the charger to recognise them
(or keep a cheap dumb charger to hand).

As it will also measure cell capacity, it is useful in grouping sets of
cells to equalise actual capacity.

Chris K

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 12:27:52 +0100, Davey wrote:

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 12:16:31 +0100
newshound wrote:

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added
some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which
may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a
replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in
any mix. Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are
always welcome.

Well worth paying the extra for proper "smart" chargers rather than
the bargain basement: smart chargers make sure a mixed set all get
"filled", and don't destroy cells by overcharging.

I would agree, with my little knowledge. Hopefully a cheaper Ansmann
will still be Smart enough. I don't need to charge 8 cells at once, for
example.

It seems that cells need slow charging but chargers boast of speed.
Even buying LSD NiMH cells and charger together, from Aldidl, there's a
mismatch between them.
I always charge 4 cells together to mitigate the need for speed.

The Duracell was supposed to be 'microprocessor controlled', but I think
I just overloaded it by using higher capacity cells, defeating any
brain power it had by brute force.

High capacity won't make any difference - just take longer. If the cells are
indeed high power (cordless drills etc.) then the internal resistance would
be low. Surely any worthwhile charger should be able to limit its own output
so as not to commit suicide.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 14:50:56 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100, Davey wrote:

I am looking for a replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these,
preferably in any mix.

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do 2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3. The bays for the D/AA/AAA are shared.
"Computerised" so checks each cell and then charges as required.

I have the Lidl version badged Tronic which is the same by your
description. One extra feature is it is self contained - no wall wart.
It's been in regular use since I bought it several years ago - excellent
device. Think I saw them in Lidl recently.

Ah, that's the one I referred to above. It's charging rate exceeds the
recommended rate for the cells.
Works well though.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Friday, 4 April 2014 14:07:39 UTC+1, Davey wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 05:38:04 -0700 (PDT)

whisky-dave wrote:



That's not really the case as most chargers charge 2 cells at a time

so yo only have 2X130ma of current being drawn at a time rather than

4X130ma



This one is specifically designed to take 4 batteries at once, either

(4) AAs or AAAs, or (2) of each. It worked fine until recently, at

about the time I added the higher power cells to the mix.

Mine also take 4 cells at a time in sets of 2 only.




--

Davey.

On 04/04/2014 13:20, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Davey wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.

I have found this to be pretty good. Being intelligent, it will
also refresh tired batteries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-Intelligent-battery-charger-Version/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1396613903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700

Chris


Will it charge NiZn batteries?

Is it any better than this Accupower unit which is cheaper:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004Z5XXZ...I1Y37EC4887NN8

The Accupower is not suitable for NiZn batteries.



--
Michael Chare

D.M.Chapman wrote:

I've got an Ansmann Energy 8 Plus - and it's brilliant.

I have one too (well, mine's not the plus), recommended

Davey wrote:

Hopefully a cheaper Ansmann
will still be Smart enough. I don't need to charge 8 cells at once, for
example.

As well as the Energy8, I have an older Energy4 Speed, it only does
AA/AAA but will work from 240V or from a cigar lighter, it has a fan to
cool the batteries as it charges them quickly.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100
Davey wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added
some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which
may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a
replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in
any mix. Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.


Many thanks for all the replies. I have ordered a 7dayshop 808LCD, it
compared well, was well priced, and I needed to order something today.

--
dAVEY.

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 14:50:56 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100, Davey wrote:

I am looking for a replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these,
preferably in any mix.

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do 2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3. The bays for the D/AA/AAA are shared.
"Computerised" so checks each cell and then charges as required.

I got the Aldi charger after recommendations here iirc. Works just
fine.

When you say died, do you mean completely? Normally these single chip type
chargers are just four modules connected to a pretty normal supply, either
switch mode or analogue.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Davey" wrote in message
...
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.
Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.

--
Davey.

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 14:50:56 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when
they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do
2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3. The bays for the D/AA/AAA are shared.
"Computerised" so checks each cell and then charges as required.

I have the Lidl version badged Tronic which is the same by your
description.

Hum, mines "Tronic" as well, there are no convient Lidl stores for me
but there is for Aldi. I may have got the store wrong... Wanders off
to charging shelf... Kompernass KH980.

One extra feature is it is self contained - no wall wart.

Yes I like that as well.

It's been in regular use since I bought it several years ago

Mine has a Manufactured 10/2008 sticker.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 16:18:45 +0100, Chris K
wrote:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-I...charger-Versio
n/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=13966
13903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700

As it will also measure cell capacity, it is useful in grouping sets of
cells to equalise actual capacity.

I was quite keen on that (though the price is a bit steep) but to do
it it has to fully charge, the discharge and then fully charge again.
Now if it could tell you the capacity after a normal recharge cycle
it would have been better.

I currently just measure off load terminal voltage after the cells
have been off the charger for a day to group cells of nominally the
same capacity into sets. Primitive but seems to work.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 23:01:05 +0100
"Brian Gaff" wrote:

When you say died, do you mean completely? Normally these single chip
type chargers are just four modules connected to a pretty normal
supply, either switch mode or analogue.

Brian


It does not show any LEDs under any circumstance. It makes no
difference what batteries I install. And the Torx screws holding it
together are smaller than my smallest.
Once I have a working charger, then I'll open this one somehow.

--
Davey.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 16:47:57 +0100, PeterC
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 14:50:56 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100, Davey wrote:

I am looking for a replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these,
preferably in any mix.

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do 2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3.
I have the Lidl version badged Tronic which is the same by your
description. One extra feature is it is self contained - no wall wart.
It's been in regular use since I bought it several years ago - excellent
device. Think I saw them in Lidl recently.

Ah, that's the one I referred to above. It's charging rate exceeds the
recommended rate for the cells.
Works well though.

Bought one last week in a Lidl in Devon, there were a few in the bin
so it was probably a recent stock rather than an odd one that had hung
around for a while.
G.Harman

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 22:36:52 +0000 (GMT), Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 16:18:45 +0100, Chris K
wrote:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-I...charger-Versio
n/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=13966
13903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700

As it will also measure cell capacity, it is useful in grouping sets of
cells to equalise actual capacity.

I was quite keen on that (though the price is a bit steep) but to do
it it has to fully charge, the discharge and then fully charge again.
Now if it could tell you the capacity after a normal recharge cycle
it would have been better.

I currently just measure off load terminal voltage after the cells
have been off the charger for a day to group cells of nominally the
same capacity into sets. Primitive but seems to work.

The first Eneloop cells that I had (16 of them*) were, on arrival, at the
same voltage +-0.001!

*ordered 8 from 7DayShop and 3 were damaged. e-mailed, with offer of a
photo, and a couple of days later another 8 arrived! 2 of the damaged ones
are useable but the third, although sort of OK, is too deformed to go into
anything.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.

The capacity of the battery should not affect the charger particularly -
only the length of time they take to recharge.

They must be incredibly ancient batteries to only have a stated capacity
of under 2Ah though in AA size. I didn't think they made AA NiMH in
capcities smaller than that certainly not in the last decade.

The smallest NiMH AA I have is 2Ah and the most recent ones are 2800mAh.
These days it is worth buying the slightly lower capacity but long life
low discharge types (again Aldi/Lidl sometimes have bargains).

Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.

Lidl/Aldis own brand smart charger will do all sizes of battery
automatic NiMH NiCd detection and in any combination. It seems pretty
well behaved apart from being a little conservative about recharging
really badly discharged cells that have been seriously abused.

If you need an AA only on then Maplin do one that isn't too bad and
cheap - professional ones cost more and will do controlled fast charge.
I have the predecessor of this one for travel use:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-nim...-charger-n42bx

It is hard to buy a dumb as a rock one that will just keep adding juice
until the battery explodes these days. Product liablity prevent them
being sold, but I expect you could find nasty Chinese ones on eBay.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 04/04/2014 16:18, Chris K wrote:
Chris J Dixon wrote:
Davey wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.

I have found this to be pretty good. Being intelligent, it will
also refresh tired batteries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-Intelligent-battery-charger-Version/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1396613903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700


Chris


Seconded, though it can be confused by a cell that has been reverse
charged by being the weakest in a set of 2 or more used in a device.
They are rejected as dead. A few seconds in parallel with an ordinary
alkaline cell with charge them enough for the charger to recognise them
(or keep a cheap dumb charger to hand).


Ah, wondered what that was - get it every so often with my Lidl charger.
Quick blast on dumb charger 'fixes' it, as you say.


--
Cheers, Rob

On 05/04/2014 00:46, wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 16:47:57 +0100, PeterC
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Apr 2014 14:50:56 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100, Davey wrote:

I am looking for a replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these,
preferably in any mix.

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do 2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3.
I have the Lidl version badged Tronic which is the same by your
description. One extra feature is it is self contained - no wall wart.
It's been in regular use since I bought it several years ago - excellent
device. Think I saw them in Lidl recently.

Ah, that's the one I referred to above. It's charging rate exceeds the
recommended rate for the cells.
Works well though.

Bought one last week in a Lidl in Devon, there were a few in the bin
so it was probably a recent stock rather than an odd one that had hung
around for a while.
G.Harman

Trouble with mentions of the Lidl charger is that there are (at least)
two such beasts. The compact one which can do AA and AAA cells only. And
the larger one which can do at least C as well (and maybe others). Not
sure whether there are significant differences other than physical cell
holding?

I have a compact one. It charges cells individually. It works and has
done for several years - but I am not a massively demanding user.

--
Rod

In article ,
polygonum wrote:
Trouble with mentions of the Lidl charger is that there are (at least)
two such beasts. The compact one which can do AA and AAA cells only. And
the larger one which can do at least C as well (and maybe others). Not
sure whether there are significant differences other than physical cell
holding?

I have one of each. They both work well.

--
*Why 'that tie suits you' but 'those shoes suit you'?*

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

On 05/04/2014 10:32, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
polygonum wrote:
Trouble with mentions of the Lidl charger is that there are (at least)
two such beasts. The compact one which can do AA and AAA cells only. And
the larger one which can do at least C as well (and maybe others). Not
sure whether there are significant differences other than physical cell
holding?

I have one of each. They both work well.

I have the larger newest one and it will do everything up to D-cells.
Some their Tronic low self discharge cells are a real bargain too!

It is also smart about refreshing batteries but slightly too cautious
about ones which have become seriously low voltage through abuse.

There are plenty of fast chargers these days which push batteries close
to their thermal limits. I have never known the Lidl one get my
batteries uncomfortably hot and it works plenty well enough for me.

(I am a fairly demanding user of rechargeables)

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Sat, 05 Apr 2014 09:08:02 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.

The capacity of the battery should not affect the charger particularly -
only the length of time they take to recharge.

They must be incredibly ancient batteries to only have a stated capacity
of under 2Ah though in AA size. I didn't think they made AA NiMH in
capcities smaller than that certainly not in the last decade.

The smallest NiMH AA I have is 2Ah and the most recent ones are 2800mAh.
These days it is worth buying the slightly lower capacity but long life
low discharge types (again Aldi/Lidl sometimes have bargains).

Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.

Lidl/Aldis own brand smart charger will do all sizes of battery
automatic NiMH NiCd detection and in any combination. It seems pretty
well behaved apart from being a little conservative about recharging
really badly discharged cells that have been seriously abused.

If you need an AA only on then Maplin do one that isn't too bad and
cheap - professional ones cost more and will do controlled fast charge.
I have the predecessor of this one for travel use:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-nim...-charger-n42bx

It is hard to buy a dumb as a rock one that will just keep adding juice
until the battery explodes these days. Product liablity prevent them
being sold, but I expect you could find nasty Chinese ones on eBay.

I use a Nikon Coolpix MH-71 charger to fast charge 1 or 2 AA NiMh
cells (it only takes AA cells) and it's just too brainy to charge some
of my collection of LSD cells which have turned 'funny'.

It was one of the accessories in the box when I bought the 3.2Mpxl
Coolpix in Toronto back in 2005. It was designed to quick charge the
original 1800mAH cells in about 2 hours. It takes a little longer for
it to charge the 2000mAH spares I bought at the time and, of course,
even longer for the 2300mAH LSD cells I bought in subsequent years.

It's still going strong even after all this time but I suspect that's
due largely on account of its built-in 'overheat' protection. As for
trying to fool it into charging those funny cells by charging them
from a 4 cell (AA and AAA) Uniross Compact Fast[1] ( 'dumb') Charger
(AA 350mA/AAA 150mA) which can only charge pairs of cells at a time,
it's still wise to the fact that they're 'funny cells'.

Both chargers are, rather usefully, of the 100 -240v AC type which is
rather handy for overseas visits and cruise ship voyages. The original
Coolpix is virtually unusable now on account the well hidden RTC and
settings lithium cell backup 'battery' no longer works. It would need
to be reprogrammed after every single time it's switched off, not just
after a battery swap out.

However, the MH-71 charger does charging duty for a Canon PowerShot
A720 IS [2] which also, rather conscionably, uses AA cells a pair at a
time. I wasn't at all bothered by the lack of a charger in the Canon
accessories kit since I knew could rely on the MH-71 to keep the AA
cells charged up (extracting extended ROI on my earlier Nikon
investment).

[1] 'Compact' on account it's a switch mode design which plugs
directly into a wall socket and 'Fast' because it can charge the
2000mAH cells in only 6 hours as opposed to the more typical 14 to 16
hour charging time of an 'ordinary' charger.

[2] The A720 IS does at least have a user replaceable lithium coin
cell so it won't be forced into early retirement for the sake of a
'flat battery' like the little Nikon was.
--
Regards, J B Good

Michael Chare wrote:

On 04/04/2014 13:20, Chris J Dixon wrote:

I have found this to be pretty good. Being intelligent, it will
also refresh tired batteries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-Intelligent-battery-charger-Version/dp/B003S4JQS2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1396613903&sr=1-3&keywords=bl700

Will it charge NiZn batteries?

Not so far as I know.

Is it any better than this Accupower unit which is cheaper:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004Z5XXZ...I1Y37EC4887NN8

It can select a different action for each cell inserted, whilst
the Accupower cannot.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

On Sat, 05 Apr 2014 09:53:13 +0100, polygonum
wrote:



Bought one last week in a Lidl in Devon, there were a few in the bin
so it was probably a recent stock rather than an odd one that had hung
around for a while.
G.Harman

Trouble with mentions of the Lidl charger is that there are (at least)
two such beasts. The compact one which can do AA and AAA cells only. And
the larger one which can do at least C as well (and maybe others). Not
sure whether there are significant differences other than physical cell
holding?

Fairy Nuff.
To clarify the one I got in Lidl about 12 days ago was the one whose
mention upthread was quoted in my first reply where it described what
cells it took. ,so it will be the smaller one.

Repeated below,

The Aldi charger does the business normally less than £15 when they
have them but I haven't seen one in the shops for a while. Can do 2 x
D, 6 x AA/AAA and two PP3.
I have the Lidl version badged Tronic which is the same by your
description. One extra feature is it is self contained - no wall wart.

G.Harman

On 04/04/2014 11:30, Davey wrote:
Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added some
1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which may or
may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a replacement
charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in any mix.
Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are always
welcome.

www.battery-force.co.uk


Unrivalled in my experience.
--
Peter Crosland

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 16:45:47 +0100, PeterC
wrote:

Even buying LSD NiMH cells and charger together, from Aldidl, there's a
mismatch between them.
I always charge 4 cells together to mitigate the need for speed.

Beware; my Lidl Tronic multi-NiMH charger has taken to not cutting off
properly on a couple of channels. Only today I found a battery which
came off the thing with 2.0V in it. Not good - could have fried chips
on its case.
Ho-hum - that lasted well, but now unreliable and untrustworthy.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 18:43:40 +0100
Davey wrote:

On Fri, 4 Apr 2014 11:30:32 +0100
Davey wrote:

Our Duracell NiMH AA/AAA recharger has died. I have recently added
some 1700 mAh batteries to the mix of original 1300 mAh ones, which
may or may not have precipitated its death. I am looking for a
replacement charger, able to sensibly recharge these, preferably in
any mix. Are there any brands/models known to be good or bad?

I'll look at Maplin, CPC, etc, but personal recommendations are
always welcome.


Many thanks for all the replies. I have ordered a 7dayshop 808LCD, it
compared well, was well priced, and I needed to order something today.


It arrived today, which is not bad. The 'User Manual' was printed on a
photocopier, and is barely readable, but the charger seems to work. The
manual mentions how to set it to 'Recharge' before 'Charge', but gives
no indication as to when this might be worth doing, which is very
unhelpful. I am currently (sorry) just recharging all the batteries, and
I will note any that seem to have problems of any kind.
I dismantled the old Duracell charger, and there is nothing obviously
wrong with it. Maybe the overtemp. sensor has failed. It might just
become a source of parts.

--
Davey.