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cheers sorted and pick up option showing on ebay vs website = save delivery! boom thanks!
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PSA. This is not a better price than getting the batteries on their own if you don't need the charger. It's not a particularly good charger, but it does have separate charging channels and delta-v termination (rather than timer on the really cheap ones).
Thanks for the info. Can you please elaborate on "It's not a particularly good charger,"? Was just about to order. Thanks.
Can you please elaborate
It's good when charging one or two batteries, but when charging three or four batteries, the charge time is doubled. If you're charging four 2400mAh or higher batteries, that leads to a five-hour charge cycle, pretty slow.
Compare to Liitokala chargers Lii-500, Lii-500S and Lii-600. While more expensive, they can all charge four batteries at 1000mA each, for approximately 2.5-hour charge with 2400mAh batteries.
The Liitokala chargers are also far more useful when one or more of your batteries starts to fail. Every time you charge, it tells you how many mAh were needed to charge each battery. If you notice one battery was charged with a suspiciously low mAh, you can put the battery through a test cycle, and the charger will accurately tell you the battery capacity. Can't do that with the charger in this deal.
Compare to Liitokala chargers Lii-500, Lii-500S and Lii-600
What is the difference between these 3 models? I have IKEA Lada batteries, both AA and AAA.
@UncommonName: For the average person using them, the main difference is their appearance and the buttons. The 500S and the 600 have touch sensors instead of buttons, and the 600 has a prettier display.
The 600 also has a "brick"-style power supply, with a figure-8 lead going from the power supply to the power point, which can be easily replaced with a lead with an Australian plug. The other models have "wall wart"-style power supplies, a mains plug adapter is the only option, although I occasionally see eBay sellers who buy the Lii-500 without power supply, add a power supply with an AU plug, and sell them as a bundle.
There are also different charging currents to choose from. I recommend 300mA charging current for AAA batteries, and the Lii-500 is the only one of these chargers that goes that low.
See these links for more detail, but also note that any "higher charging current" comments only apply when charging lithium-ion batteries, which you don't have.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/liitokala-lii-500-…
The 500S and the 600 have touch sensors instead of buttons, and the 600 has a prettier display.
Any USB-C option? I am fine with 2 battery bays, already using model 202.
Any USB-C option?
Not that I know of, and unlikely to exist. The higher voltages that USB-PD uses for higher power levels would just make the charger more complex.
already using model 202.
The Lii-202 is actually a pretty good basic charger. I would have preferred the 500mA setting to be 300mA though, it treats AAA batteries a little more gently.
I would have preferred the 500mA setting to be 300mA though, it treats AAA batteries a little more gently.
lol I use the 1A option to charge the AAAs
" If you notice one battery was charged with a suspiciously low mAh, you can put the battery through a test cycle, and the charger will accurately tell you the battery capacity. " Does that mean that battery was actually fine and ready to charge but won't ever be charged to full again because of a misread "bug" unless you have a test feature?
@sofasty: If the test cycle confirms that the battery has a low capacity, it can mean one of two things.
I have noticed that using NiMh batteries in devices with low current draw (e.g. clocks and remote controls), the batteries do exhibit a form of "memory effect" (batteries appear to have a low capacity) like old NiCad batteries did. If this is the cause of the low capacity, running the battery through some more test cycles will show that the battery capacity increases with each test. I find that three or four cycles seems to bring my batteries back to full capacity, or pretty close to it
If you do this and the battery capacity doesn't improve, then the battery really does have low capacity, and has most likely been damaged. The usual way that NiMh batteries are damaged is that they have been overheated at some time, either by overcharging, or by very rapid discharging. There is a tiny rubber seal near the positive pip of the battery, usually covered by the cardboard or plastic ring that surrounds the positive pip. Overheating the battery causes pressure to build up in the battery, and the rubber seal will rupture, allowing the battery's electrolyte to leak out and/or evaporate slowly. With white eneloop batteries, this is usually visible - it looks like there's a water stain around the positive end of the battery, under the clear plastic cover.
Once the seal has ruptured, it's non-repairable, your battery will continue to lose capacity until it's completely useless. This is why smart chargers are preferred over timer-based "dumb" chargers. Used properly, a smart charger won't let the battery overheat during charging. With "dumb" chargers, overheating is common.
Another thing that damages batteries is reverse charging, which can happen in a way that most people don't realise. If you're using something that is powered by several NiMh batteries, when it shows signs of flat batteries, stop using it immediately. The batteries in the device almost certainly have different capacities, due to different battery age, different manufacturer, and how recently each battery was charged. Which means that it's likely that one of the batteries has run flat before the others. If you continue to use the device, the other batteries will still push current through the flat battery, which has the same effect as reverse-charging the battery. Unsurprisingly, this will damage the battery, but in a way that doesn't normally rupture the seal.
I have also seen occasions when a charger terminated the charge cycle too early, but it's pretty rare. When this happens, running a test cycle will just show the battery to have the usual capacity. Note that some battery manufacturers lie about the battery capacity, I've had 2400mAh batteries that tested at about 2100mAh when brand new. No-name brands are particularly prone to this, it's not hard to find "3000mAh" AA-size batteries on eBay that are lying about their capacity.
So what's a good charger?
People normally recommend LiitoKala or the NiteCore D4 'round these parts
Good pricing is $15 for these batteries. $17 is a great price for the charger to me. I don't see how other 4 bay smart & fast chargers provide any extra functionality.
You can choose what rate (current) to charge at for optimal life of a cell, and they do extra functionality like refresh a cell and check its capacity. My Maha Powerex MH-C9000 does all of that. It gives confidence to know whether a cell is performing at its optimum level.
https://www.protog.com.au/maha-powerex-mh-c9000-wizardone-aa…
Dayum expensive chargers! 99% of people won't bother doing any of that, heck most people don't understand the necessity of smart chargers or just don't keep track of their batteries at all lol. I think this Panasonic charger will suffice.
@Techie4066: You know if they perform well each charge or not based on the amount you've fed into the charger. It also tells you the voltage at every stage of the charge. Basically it gives you confidence the cell is performing as it should. Sometimes a cell won't take much of a charge and you need to start it again to coax some charge into it. It's better than guess what red yellow green means, because sometimes those can be wrong.
$30.40 + Delivery with ebayplus