Any better battery charger?

[joshwa]

I am kind of bored of battery chargers (AA/AAA) that are "dumb" or semi "intelligent" with just a green or red flashing LED and me left guessing whats going on... so was looking on Amazon and found this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-I...hu-rd_add_1_dp

Tells you the charge rate, and the actual voltage of the battery.

Is there anything else similar / better / cheaper than this?

I know I can use a multimeter to check the voltage, but if I have 20+ (an exageration) batteries I want to sort all in one go, that's gonna be a pain in the b...

Ta,

Josh

[GoNz0]

there really isn't anything to beat that m8 (unless you buy the bigger version), brought one last week after giving up the search, you can also buy direct from there website, i placed an order this time last week and it arrived Monday morning 10am, amazing service but they promise and deliver!

http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/techno...line-BL700.asp

also got the eneloop xx 2500ma batteries, they lie, they charged between 2900 and 3100mah

i had some old 2450mah energizers and used the refresh mode to bring them back to more than 2500mah

also good thing is the single channel charge, never does them as a group, always charges each cell correctly.

[joshwa]

thanks really helpful - ordered

[GoNz0]

i doubt you will regret it

[smargh]

I've had one of those for a few years. Works fine. Came in a nice cloth carrying bag.

[Sputnik]

I've got a Technoline IC8800 which is the higher power unit, Had it for a few years now and it has been great.

And I also Agree about the Sanyo Eneloops - Best batteries I've had.

[GoNz0]

the eneloop xx ones can keep up with my f42 flash gun without needing to recharge unless its on full power, then its only a second or 2

[peterb]

Yup, I bought the Technoline a few months ago - excellent. I use the Uniross Hybrio batteries, same technology as the Sanyo eneloop, but slightly less expensive.

I use them in my Canon flashgun, but as thety are such low self discharge, I'll probably fit them into things like TV remotes and so on, which it wasn't worth doing with conventional NiMh batteries as the self discharge rate was faster than the device discharge.

[Funkstar]

Great thread, something I've beein looking into for a while now. Having four kids in the house now, there is a great deal of batteries kicking about. I really want to start replacing them all with Eneloops or similar and get one of these high end chargers to deal with them. Good to know they work as expected.

[Flibb]

Another technoline user here, forked out for it after recomendations on a torch forum. Forums like candlepower are great for info on beatterys and chargers, they build very high drain units and have the equipment to test batteerys and chargers

[Funkstar]

Anyone got experience with Batteries like these: http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ucts_id=107341

7dayshop's own brand "good to go" rechargeable batteries. Same tech as an Eneloop just a good bit cheaper (unless you can get a special price on the Eneloop, then they are just a little bit cheaper).

[mikerr]

I have both that Technoline and the slightly more expensive Maha c9000
http://www.mahaenergy.co.uk/products...rger--analyser @ £49

The main advantage of the Maha is the higher 2A max charge rate (1 hour), and slightly easier to use IMO. At it's simplest, you don't press any buttons, just put a battery in and it'll charge at 1A until charged, and give you a capacity/ voltage readout as it goes.

Comparison of the two
http://www.256.co.uk/?p=719

Or the candlepower discussion:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...-Crosse-BC-900

[GoNz0]

i avoided that c9000 for the default 1amp charge rate, nice to know i can stick cells in and have them charge at 200ma to make then last longer

[Sputnik]

7dayshop's own brand "good to go" rechargeable batteries.

My friend bought some 7 day shop batteries and they might be 'good to go' but, His were 'quick to fail' too.

i avoided that c9000 for the default 1amp charge rate, nice to know i can stick cells in and have them charge at 200ma to make then last longer

Yeah, We don't have to press any buttons to charge at 200mA and the batteries last longer. Anyway if I wanted to kill the batteries quicker my Technoline can charge at 2A.

Edit: I lied...... It does 1800mA.

[Funkstar]

My friend bought some 7 day shop batteries and they might be 'good to go' but, His were 'quick to fail' too.

"good to know" I'll pay the extra couple of quid then

[nonstandard]

Another +1 for Eneloops. El-cheapo batteries seem to be fatter than the proper AA dimensions, so Duracells for e.g. will fit in my AA maglite, but a Lidl/Uniross/Varta Ni-MH is too fat - very frustrating. Eneloops are the proper AA size and fit just fine... oh, and they hold their charge and last longer too, nearly as long as a Duracell. Don't bother with other rechargeables, the extra couple of quid saves lots of stress.