Get ready ozbargainers .. its the famous BC-700 smart charger for all your eneloops
Cheapest its been for over a year of waiting
Enjoy
$US30.44 + Shipping
CamelCamelCamel.
1000mA max charge current vs 700mA
What are the benefits of the BC1000 over the BC-700? Are they worth paying extra for?
The BC-700 and BC-1000 (I own the latter) are quite similar, but the BC-1000 allows AA or AAA batteries (NiCd or NiMH only!) to be charged at a maximum rate of 1000 ma (4 cells inserted) or 1800 ma (2 cells inserted), while the 700 charges to a maximum of 700 ma. In addition, the BC-1000 is supplied with 8 NiMH cells (4-AA and 4-AAA), while the 700 comes with none. Other features seem to be identical. The cells supplied are not "grade A" types - I'd advise you purchase "low self discharge cells" like Eneloops (available on Amazon), which will retain their charge for months vs. the weeks for standard NiCd or NiMH cells. As far as maximum charge currents, one should probably avoid the 1000 or 1800 ma charge rates anyway, since they cause more internal heating of the batteries and can shorten their life. 250 or 500 ma is a good starting point for charging and will maximize battery life. I like the BC-1000 very much, but one could buy the 700 unit and apply the savings to a set of good NiMH cells instead! You would not go wrong with either unit. Do check the Amazon posted reviews for the 700 for an excellent tutorial by NLeeEngineer on these chargers. Good luck!
thanks for pulling that. Good explanation.
Looks to be a great price. Have been waiting to replace the old dumb charger. Ordered one. Cheers EC.
It's all about the C rate. 1C is relative to the capacity of the battery, ie 1C on a 2000mAh battery is 2000ma. Modern batteries don't mind being charged at about 0.5C, so a 2000mAh battery is fine to charge at 1000ma. 2700mAh @ ~1300ma and so on. Charging a 2000mAh battery at 1800ma is what a fast charger would do and will shorten the life of your batteries. Not something you'd want to do all the time.
The Maha C9000 has selectable charge rates in 100ma increments, so you can select the ideal charge rate you need.
From US - Does it require an additional adapter to fit aussie power socket?
My BC-1000 does but I just use a cheap 2-pin adaptor and have had no problems for years of use. Had originally contemplated replacing the original US Power Supply with an Aussie equivalent but never got around to it and probably wont bother now anyway as it works so well.
What a great price. Thanks EC.
Not to be used in Australia (original LaCrosse support statement)
That is, unless you want to risk it.. It may "only" stop working very fast..
I posted this before, these LaCrosse units are buggered with bugs so to speak, I had 2 of them, first one melted (no kidding!!) and second one just stopped working after 1.5 months - save your money, seriously.
What do you recommend as a smart charger?
For me, the Maha MH-C9000 works perfect and it actually comes with Australian plugs if bought in the right place.
You can already see from how it's built, the LaCrosse is tiny with no airflow (which probably causes most issues).
Yes, the Maha is more complicated to handle, if you are "playing around", but otherwise, it doesn't melt, doesn't stop working, just does what it does and very good :)
If the BC-700 would actually be available for the AU market and also work, it would be nice. It's easier to handle non-standard recharging, but that's just not the reality right now, sadly.
Thanks. They do seem to say the BC-700 is 100-240V, oddly.
Care to point us to "the right place" for au plugged mahas? :)
protog seems to be well regarded (and oft-mentioned) on WP; not sure if the WP discount still applies but have seen a few mentions in the past. They have a MH-C9000 for $129.95 delivered on ebay (4 available), or $99.95 + shipping via their online store. The latter might work out cheaper depending on which shipping method you choose.
Listed as one of the features:
Worldwide switching power supply, can be used in any country. Pins are Australian.
I actually located one for $90 pickup not too far from my route home:
http://www.lemac.com.au/Products/MahaPowerexMH-C9000?RawUrlR…
@Mobe1969: LeNice.
I can't believe it - an hour before you posted I was actually in Richmond.
I don't live near there and would go there maybe once a year! :(
The site says nothing about delivery costs…
http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/40241314/
-dV charge termination and 4 separate channels. A good little charger and at $20 the price is right
1000ma for AA's and 500ma for AAA's charge rate is pretty good for most current batteries too (AAA's could maybe be 100ma lower).
Strange. I've been using a BC-1000 for years without any problems and I'm even using the supplied US Power Supply with a simple AU adaptor.
Could be luck of the draw… mine blew up doing the exact same thing…
I knew I'm not alone :) LaCrosse support acted quite annoyed when I mentioned I'm in Australia, they seem to know about the issue, whatever exactly it is..
What charger would you recommend? I've tried a nitecore i4 and it was imho rubbish so am burnt on that brand. I'm looking for a decent one.
See above, Maha works very well for me.
Was bad enough when they were $80-$90. With the AUD where it is the Maha c9000 is now selling for over $100.
i can get a decent r/c hobby charger for less than that. Unless you have a lot of batteries to recondition, why? I use use a stupid charger for $20-$40 from Jaycar and Dick Smith.
This is the last one I bought but for $35 or $40 not $50.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/Power-Products-Electrical/Charging/…
Here's a cheaper $20 one without the USB and with slower charge but still has current, voltage, heat cutoff. Haven't used it so no idea about the quality
http://www.jaycar.com.au/Power-Products-Electrical/Charging/…
What about the old Nitecore D4?
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/189957 by way of example, though the deal has expired.
Mobe1969 explicitly said he was burnt on the brand. I haven't tried it myself. Have seen a lot of very mixed reviews.
@syousef:
Thanks. Yes, I think from what I've read the N4 has some better circuitry to solve problems I had with the i4, but seriously, that I4 is such rubbish I'd not purchase anything else form a company that would sell something that bad. I'm not even sure the N4 has full independent channels - the I4 doesn't, and I think possibly the N4 doesn't either.
Bought this couple of months ago for same price and love it. http://www.gearbest.com/chargers-batteries/pp_71595.html
It told me new Adli rechargeables I have are 2100maH not 2300mah they market them at.
As per this post, isn't this Technoline charger identical and cheaper ($43.31 AUD including postage, its normal price)?
That site also has a newer model La Crosse RS-720 for $50.67 AUD delivered.
€29.70 is ~ $45 after conversion and bank fee's. They post via normal post so if it gets lost, your screwed.
Amazon send it via tracked insured post. If it gets lost or doesn't arrive on expected date, they refund your postage. If you complain a bit more, they send you another one via expedited shipping (3 day ship)
I still prefer to buy from Amazon due to there customer service. If it breaks down within the first year, they will send you one FREE OF CHARGE.
Its always been the case for me.
You just have to push them a little bit. For example
I bought a Tommy Hifler wallet that i didnt like. I disputed that it did not appear as per pic. They refunded me and told me to keep it. I still have it at home sealed in its packaging
I bought Leather Gloves in M/L. The gloves were more like X-large. Again got onto chat and they refunded me and told me to keep the gloves.
I bought NB runners. After 3 months of minimal use, the bottom plastic was peeling. I argues this as quality was inferior and they refunded me .
I ordered an SSD. Its shipping was delayed. Chatted with them and they sent me a new one and didn't ask for the old one.
@easternculture: I agree Amazon are usually very good, but as their returns policy is officially only 30 days you have no guarantee that Amazon will help you after that. I just thought your statement that implied Amazon provide 1 year of warranty themselves was a bit misleading, that's all.
I've been using a BC-700 for the past year, haven't got any issues…
Yeah I'll add my testimonial! Been great, no problems at all, been using it for years now with simple plug adapter. Easy to be swayed by the minority with dysfunctional units. Just take it into account that you won't get much support if something does go wrong!
can this revive dead batteries?
eneloops are so cheap so why bother
It's not that issue, cos I notice some my batteries go down to 0%, and other charger cannot revive it.
But some dumb charger can do it.
No this charger needs to be able to detect a voltage in order to charge it so it won't detect a battery that has drained so far that it has undetectable voltage. There are some tips and tricks using paperclips to 'jumpstart' your batteries. Or have a dumb charger around…
If you're VERY careful (and I take no responsibility if you leave it on charge and start a fire) older chargers that do NiCd can sometimes work. You switch to NiCd for a few minutes (depending on charge rate) and then power off and switch back to NiMh.
But once a cell has been that badly discharged a few times it becomes worthless anyway.
@aNoPHeLeS: That's the most annoying thing about this charger to me: when my eneloops are so flat that it just shows "null" and refuses to charge. Bit silly when a 'smart' charger to need a 'dumb' one to help it work.
Also had it over-charge; heard weird noises, so I checked it out and found one of them was boiling hot and crackling…
I don't leave it on while I'm away or sleeping anymore :-)
That said, it does still work ok, though the display is a bit stuffed up
try the Nitecore variety, I once left a few torches on with eneloop batteries inside to try to drain them and the Aldi one could not revive it, put them in the Nitecore i2 in a few minutes and they're back to life again.
happy camper here too, been using my BC700 for around 3 years no problems, plenty of ventilation slits so it doesn't overheat, you shouldn't put it on carpet or anything that can block airflow anyway as there's no fan inside, only minor issue is sometimes when handling charger it can reset randomly, but cleaning the charger plug fixes that
Just to chime in I have had the Maha C9000 for a few years I'd like to point out that the most annoying thing for me is that you cannot get a quick overview of every single battery from a glance. You have to cycle through each battery to see which one is done (because it only displays the stats of 1 port) and the status of them which requires a lot of button presses. Whereas this charger has a individual display for every battery.
I guess I'm just not savvy enough to make use of the c9000. Nowadays I just put in a battery and let it charge on default because I can't be bothered changing everything.
But if I had a choice I think I'd go with the Nitecore D4 charger since they can charge the li-ion batteries most of the torches we get from ozb uses (and pretty much every other consumer battery you'd use I think).
Quick q - as an owner of a BC700 - what sort of shelf life are you getting out of your AA eneloops?
I have a bunch of the glitter variety from all the OzB deals over time and I would say once I charge them and get around to using them a couple of weeks later, the charge remaining is quite low.
I'm charging these at 200ma.
Is this normal or should I change some settings on the BC700 to get the reported "months" of charge life?
200mA is way too low a charge rate for AA eneloops.
Here's the rule of thumb: a smart charger should be set so it charges the batteries from flat in about three hours. For AA eneloops, that's a charge current of about 1000mA.
There's a fair bit of leeway in the calculation. If it takes less than two hours, you are pushing energy into the batteries too quickly, and you could overheat them and cause the pressure seal near the positive pip to rupture. If you have any batteries that look like they have water damage on the label, at the positive pip end, they have almost certainly had the pressure seal rupture already. Once that happens, the battery will slowly dry out, losing capacity as it dries. You will often see blue "fuzz" near the positive pip, that is dried electrolyte and can be corrosive.
If your charger is set to take longer than four hours to charge the battery, it is charging too slowly, and the dV/dt effect that smart chargers look for, will be too small and your charger will almost certainly miss it, so your batteries will be overcharged.
Great thanks for the info, will give 1000ma rate a go next time
I've got a C9000 and happy to recommend it. Got mine from Protog some time ago, though my brother got one overseas from here Just need travel adaptor as is a universal powerpack. 34.95 Euro + 8 or 19 euro shipping (about $64 or $79 AU)
Yes that place does seem to come highly recommended from what I've seen online.
Why is a smart charger so expansive
'Expensive'? It has smarts built-in that control & monitor the health of each battery during the charge process to ensure the longest possible life for each charge and best overall life for the batteries. A normal charger basically just continually pumps current into the battery without checking its health status and although 'OK' this is the best way to reduce the life of your cells.
So is there any difference between this type of smart charger and the original eneloops one? Other than the screen obviously.
Like this: https://m.catchoftheday.com.au/product/eneloop-quick-battery…
While it's not on sale at the moment it can get quite cheap when on sale.
That's a good charger however it has a set charging current versus other 'smart' chargers such as this one that allow you a bit more control over the charge hence the need for the screen & buttons etc.
This is known as an analysing charger, in that it can test batteries (and display how much charge they had), refresh them (discharge + recharge many times until optimal capacity is reached), etc.. Your basic smart charger simply supplies a fixed current and terminates on a fixed condition (like -dV/dt, dT/dt, voltage, time, etc.) with no measuring capability or memory - they work fine for charging the battery, but not as many bells and whistles.
How's this compared to the Aldi professional charger?
Same charger, different brand name. It cost me about $43 delivered from memory.
http://www.nkon.nl/technoline-bc-700.html
Why do people rate these. Mine melted. Hardly used the thing….
To those saying their BC700 melted, under what circumstances did this happen?
For people who missed this deal, have a look at AccuPower IQ-328. A few detailed reviews and discussions:
"It's much better build quality then the LaCrosse (…) has more power and options, better display information, and does everything you will need a AA-AAA charger to do. The charger is larger, better venting, thermal protected, more display information and size, and more solid buttons"
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?349027-AccuPower-IQ-328-AA-AAA-Charger-Nice-and-Smart!!
and another one from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1W62S0X09QMMQ/
I bought IQ-328 over a year ago (eBay, US), and it keeps working without any issues. Some people mentioned overheating when charging 4 AA cells at 1000mA - something I would no recommend anyway. Currently sells on eBay from various places, one seller offers it with Aus plug for around AU$53 incl shipping.
LacrosSE OR opus or maha?
Whats the diff between the bc1000 and 700?