Slightly off topic I know but there are several people on here who have
given advice on battery technologies in the past...

I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?HPSQ

Is my favourite so far - it uses -dV which is supposedly good ;-) Comments?
I quite like the fact that it has a cooling fan as well. The uniross charger
that I currently use makes the batteries very hot and I'm sure it must be
cooking them :-(

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4 2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Can't say I've ever heard of "HAHNEL" either - google seems to suggest they
have been around a while and make a fair number of custom camera batteries
so I guess they can't be too bad....can they?

Cheers,

Darren

On Mon, 28 Mar 05 19:09:15 GMT, (dmc) wrote:



Slightly off topic I know but there are several people on here who have
given advice on battery technologies in the past...

I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?HPSQ

Is my favourite so far - it uses -dV which is supposedly good ;-) Comments?
I quite like the fact that it has a cooling fan as well. The uniross charger
that I currently use makes the batteries very hot and I'm sure it must be
cooking them :-(

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4 2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Can't say I've ever heard of "HAHNEL" either - google seems to suggest they
have been around a while and make a fair number of custom camera batteries
so I guess they can't be too bad....can they?

Cheers,

Darren

You had a look at www.7dayshop.com
Stuart






Shift THELEVER to reply.

dmc wrote:


I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?HPSQ

Looks like the right sort of specs. Per-cell 'smart' charging has come
down to this sort of price point - 30-50 quid, and about time too. (At
one-off prices the charger ICs needed are maybe 3 quid, so call it half
that for production quantities; cell-mounting hardware, LEDs, cheapie
SMPSU, and assembly costs should get us up to a mfg cost of 10-15 quid,
tripling that for final retail price to cover distribution costs all the
way down the chain would account for the price range). Per-cell dV is
indeed the 'preferred' control technique, and the charger you point at
also connects up the charger-IC thermistor inputs so that there's a more
direct 'oops, seem's I'm cooking the cell' control.

Build quality is likely to be no better than reasonable, at the price.

Since (like any halfway decent uP-controlled charger) it's happy to
trickle the cells indefinitely, you may want to buy (if you don't
already have) another set of cells for your camera, so you can have one
set fully-charged in the charger (assuming its fan only cuts in when
needed, or the noise will drive you bonkers.

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4 2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Only car-compatible one I know of - but I haven't searched - is the
Friwo, which I notice the same supplier will sell you; but it weighs in
at over twice the price - 89 notes!

Maybe someone else can chime in with better knowledge of per-cell AA
chargers which occupy the 'middle ground' between the
timer-if-you're-lucky cell-cookers and the model-airplane 6x-AH-capacity
price-no-object beasties?

"dmc" wrote in message ...


Slightly off topic I know but there are several people on here who have
given advice on battery technologies in the past...

I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?HPSQ

Is my favourite so far - it uses -dV which is supposedly good ;-)
Comments?
I quite like the fact that it has a cooling fan as well. The uniross
charger
that I currently use makes the batteries very hot and I'm sure it must be
cooking them :-(

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4 2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Can't say I've ever heard of "HAHNEL" either - google seems to suggest
they
have been around a while and make a fair number of custom camera batteries
so I guess they can't be too bad....can they?

Cheers,

Darren


Have a look at the Ansmann range of chargers (www.budgetbatteires.co.uk are
a good supplier I've used before) - The "Digispeed 4" charger comes with 4x
2200maH batteries and both a mains PSU and car lead:
http://www.budgetbatteries.co.uk/cgi...457&_pageid=23

Alan.

"dmc" wrote in message
...


Slightly off topic I know but there are several people on here who
have
given advice on battery technologies in the past...

I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need
to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

This isn't a 1 hour charger, rather a 2 hour one; but it works off a 12V
mains adapter AND a car lighter adapter. We've used it for holidays etc
for a couple of years and are very pleased with it.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?... ID=&doy=28m3

Cost £19.99 including 4x NiMH AA (1800mAh ) - £14.99 for a set of
2300mAh AAs.

dmc wrote:
Slightly off topic I know but there are several people on here who
have
given advice on battery technologies in the past...

I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need
to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

I was in Maplin the other day and noticed Varta's new range of 'Charge
& Go' batteries/chargers. They utilise 'in-cell charge control
technology (IC3)' and a 7500mA charging current to charge 2000mAh AA's
in 15 minutes without risk of overcharging/damage (so they claim, and
up to a 1000 times). A 'resistor strip' on the base of the battery is
used to indicate to the charger that it can use this high(er) current
thus it can also charge 'standard' cells too, at a lower rate.

I couldn't find them on the website (Maplin) however, as a guide, a
charger and 4 cells were selling for =A339.99 (item code N57BN).
Replacement cells were =A313.99 for four 2000mAh AA's or 800mAh AAA's.
Uniross appear to be using comparable technology in their 'Sprint'
range at similar pricing.

Incidentally, whilst I saw some dual voltage (110/240v) chargers I
didn't see any 12v versions - at 7.5A it may be pushing some
'cigarette-lighter' supplies.

Mathew

In article ,
Stuart wrote:
On Mon, 28 Mar 05 19:09:15 GMT, (dmc) wrote:

You had a look at www.7dayshop.com
Stuart

Yeah. Thats where my current cell-cooker came from. Its ok but I want
something a bit more sophisticated - and they don't really have anything

Cheers,

Darren

In article ,
Stefek Zaba wrote:

Looks like the right sort of specs. Per-cell 'smart' charging has come
down to this sort of price point - 30-50 quid, and about time too. (At
one-off prices the charger ICs needed are maybe 3 quid, so call it half
that for production quantities; cell-mounting hardware, LEDs, cheapie
SMPSU, and assembly costs should get us up to a mfg cost of 10-15 quid,
tripling that for final retail price to cover distribution costs all the
way down the chain would account for the price range). Per-cell dV is
indeed the 'preferred' control technique, and the charger you point at
also connects up the charger-IC thermistor inputs so that there's a more
direct 'oops, seem's I'm cooking the cell' control.


Good good. I've ordered one so will see how it goes.

Build quality is likely to be no better than reasonable, at the price.

yeah. Still, I'll give it a shot. Can't find anything else of equiv
spec for anywhere near the price (which maybe a clue that I should listen
to I guess!).

Since (like any halfway decent uP-controlled charger) it's happy to
trickle the cells indefinitely, you may want to buy (if you don't
already have) another set of cells for your camera, so you can have one
set fully-charged in the charger (assuming its fan only cuts in when
needed, or the noise will drive you bonkers.

Got plenty of cells so thats not a problem. Any ideas how long cells are
likely to remain charged for if not trickled? I seem to recall NiMH having
a fairly fast self discharge rate.

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4 2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Only car-compatible one I know of - but I haven't searched - is the
Friwo, which I notice the same supplier will sell you; but it weighs in
at over twice the price - 89 notes!

Yeah. Not sure I can quite justify that. I'd need to cook a lot of cells to
start getting payback at that level. If this turns out to be a turky I'll
try one though.

Cheers,

Darren

dmc wrote:
Slightly off topic I know but there are several people on here who
have
given advice on battery technologies in the past...

I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need
to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?HPSQ

Is my favourite so far - it uses -dV which is supposedly good ;-)
Comments?
I quite like the fact that it has a cooling fan as well. The uniross
charger
that I currently use makes the batteries very hot and I'm sure it
must be
cooking them :-(

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4
2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Can't say I've ever heard of "HAHNEL" either - google seems to
suggest they
have been around a while and make a fair number of custom camera
batteries
so I guess they can't be too bad....can they?

Cheers,

Darren

IMHO, digi camera batteries lose most of their charge when downloading
pics, so I bought a mains adaptor for mine. (Others know far more
about chargers than I do.)

In message .com,
Homer2911 writes

IMHO, digi camera batteries lose most of their charge when downloading
pics, so I bought a mains adaptor for mine. (Others know far more
about chargers than I do.)


But not as much as leaving the display on - that's the real power drain

--
geoff

In article ,
Steve Firth wrote:
dmc wrote:

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4 2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Yes, there's a Uniross rapid charger from Argos IIRC that costs £19
comes with four 2300 mAH AA batteries and it works from the mains or
from 12V DV. Extremely fast it charges the batteries in about an hour to
two hours.

That sounds much like the uniross I have. It certainly warms the batteries
up nicely - so much so that I can't hold them for five mins after I've turned
it off.

USB charger is an interesting idea - not come across one of those. Still,
I've ordered the Hahnel one to see what it's like.

Cheers,

Darren

(dmc) wrote in message ...
Slightly off topic I know but there are several people on here who have
given advice on battery technologies in the past...

I'm looking for a new battery charger for my digital cameras. I need to be
able to charge 4 AAs - quickly if possible

http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?HPSQ

Is my favourite so far - it uses -dV which is supposedly good ;-) Comments?
I quite like the fact that it has a cooling fan as well. The uniross charger
that I currently use makes the batteries very hot and I'm sure it must be
cooking them :-(

Any other suggestions? Ideal specs are 40 quid complete with 4 2100mAh
NiMH AA cells. Being able to use it in the car would be handy but not
essential.

Can't say I've ever heard of "HAHNEL" either - google seems to suggest they
have been around a while and make a fair number of custom camera batteries
so I guess they can't be too bad....can they?

Cheers,

Darren

Why not use an ordinary slow cheapo charger (under a tenner) and get
some more batteries instead? Trickle charging is way better for your
batteries and charges them to a higher capacity than fast charging.
Another suggestion: forget downloading pics from the camera and get a
USB memory card adapter instead (if you haven't got one already,
they're under a tenner), it saves an awful lot of battery juice, worry
(batts going flat), they are plug and play (no software to load) and
are usually quicker, plus they do about 6 different types of memory.
Mark K.