Anyone recommend a good NiMH charger and AA batteries?

[leesonic]

Can anyone recommend a good NiMH charger and AA batteries? I bought a Targus one last year on clearance from K-Mart, it came with four 2700mA batteries, and it died within a year. I also bout some Duracell 2650mA NiMH AA batteries, and they won't hold a charge at all now. The Targus batteries seem to be doing better than the Duracell ones though, at least they hold a charge.

I just bought a Monster charger at Parts Express (#269-004). While it charges the only remaining batteries I have (Targus) within about 20 minutes, after using in my digital camera (Nikon L100) for only 10-15 minutes, the low battery indicator comes on.

I have one other charger, an Energizer, which doesn't have the capacity to quick charge NiMH. But if I leave the batteries in it for a day or so, they seem to last longer in the camera.

Good job I'm no longer using my old HP Photosmart 620, the Nikon says 6V, 0.5A on the bottom, by the HP proudly declares 6V, 2A!

 

[Mchaz]

At work we use a lot of AA's. I just bought one of these for use in the office:

http://www.amazon.com/Maha-Powerex-...USLM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1305084801&sr=8-3

So far so good, but I have only used it for a couple of days thus far. It has all of the capabilities that a good charger should have, and it is well reviewed. We had a La Crosse, but it had a meltdown after someone put alkaline batteries in it. After some reading it turns out that La Crosse chargers have a history of meltdowns even with the proper batteries in good condition. I wasn't going to risk a fire in the office so I went with the Maha.

Rechargeable batteries can only handle so many charge/discharge cycles. Storing them properly and periodic charge/discharge cycling can help prolong their life, but you will eventually have to send the batteries to the recycling center. Fast charging batteries will also cause them to heat up unnecessarily and shorten their lifespan. Try to charge only in the manufacturer specified safe range for your batteries.

 

[trhee]

IMO, the best rechargeable AA batteries are Sanyo Eneloop's. You can find them on Amazon. There's a newer version of the Eneloop that's been out for awhile now and are good for up to 1500 charges whereas the older ones were good for up to 1000.

I bought this set from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-Eneloop...AEPQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1305085778&sr=8-2

Also bought a La Crosse Technology BC-700 charger even though the Sanyo kit above came with one. I use the La Crosse at home and if I ever need to take a charger with me somewhere, I'll take the Sanyo charger.

This is the La Crosse charger from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Techno...OV50/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1305085905&sr=8-3

 

[JonL]

Apple makes a beautiful little charger that I think is very competitively priced. I don't have one (want one, though), I think it's gotten good reviews. They have a lot of wireless devices (keyboards, mice, etc) that use AAs, and I think they made a charger to give their customers something in keeping with the great Apple experience while pricing it to encourage people to use rechargeables instead of disposables.

 

[whoaru99]

I have a Maha C204 charger and with that got a quad of their PowerEx NiMHs. Some years and lots of charge cycles on the batts and they're still holding up well.

 

[Brian]

Some years ago I went to Radio Shank and bought a charger that holds AA and AAA, total of 4 and 4 each of the RS rechargable AA and AAA batteries. Maybe 5 years ago and only recently have 2 od the AAs started to give up the ghost. I ran the batteries in my Palm device and several remotes so theydid not sit around.

 

[Tapehead47]

I finally ended up using the Sanyo Enerloops. Bought them on clearance when Circuit City was going out of business. I have about 16 of them and they just don't keep a charge anymore. But they were fantastic when new.

That was about 3 years ago. I would still highly recommend them however. Few of my dozens of rechargables lasted as long as the Sanyos.

Ray-0-Vac is a good choice. And Radio Shack makes a decent one, too. Look up the online store "Battery Station" and see what they have.

I have a Ray-O-Vac Universal battery charger. Can charge 4 sets of any AA or AAA, or 4 D, or C, or any combination. Each battery has it's own seperate circuit. One can mix any sort of combination without worry.

Oh, and I use my batteries ALL the time!

 

[chillwolf]

I finally ended up using the Sanyo Enerloops. Bought them on clearance when Circuit City was going out of business. I have about 16 of them and they just don't keep a charge anymore. But they were fantastic when new.

That was about 3 years ago. I would still highly recommend them however. Few of my dozens of rechargables lasted as long as the Sanyos.

Ray-0-Vac is a good choice. And Radio Shack makes a decent one, too. Look up the online store "Battery Station" and see what they have.

I have a Ray-O-Vac Universal battery charger. Can charge 4 sets of any AA or AAA, or 4 D, or C, or any combination. Each battery has it's own seperate circuit. One can mix any sort of combination without worry.

Oh, and I use my batteries ALL the time!

+1 on the Rayovacs. I have been using them for a while in my cameras and camcorders that use AA or AAA batteries. They seem to hold their charge pretty good. I feel a slow charge is better than a fast one for the longevity and performance of the battery.

 

[toxcrusadr]

They do seem to do a lot better when you use them, so don't buy more batteries than you will really use.

Are there NiMH C cells, and will they fit into any of the chargers mentioned in this thread? I need some for a game camera I've been using alkalines in, but they won't fit in my little 2xAA Energizer charger.

 

[Tapehead47]

They do seem to do a lot better when you use them, so don't buy more batteries than you will really use.

Are there NiMH C cells, and will they fit into any of the chargers mentioned in this thread? I need some for a game camera I've been using alkalines in, but they won't fit in my little 2xAA Energizer charger.

http://www.amazon.com/Rayovac-PS3-U...5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305226244&sr=8-5

I have this one, but it was only about $30 from Amazon a couple of years ago. Their price must be a typo.

It also charges 9v batteries, which is not mentioned.

 

[ranch 22b]

I second the Maha charger mentioned above. It's sophisticated, easy to use and did a great job of bringing some older batteries back to life that my Radio Shack charger could do nothing with.

 

[markdi]

if I remember right enloop batteries have a verry low self discharge rate.

regular nimh self discharge pretty fast.

 

[toxcrusadr]

http://www.amazon.com/Rayovac-PS3-U...5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305226244&sr=8-5

I have this one, but it was only about $30 from Amazon a couple of years ago. Their price must be a typo.

It also charges 9v batteries, which is not mentioned.

It sounds like this one was discontinued, but it was a great charger since it did 8 AA or AAA's, and C's and D's and 9V. Being good and discontinued it's expensive now if you can find one. This was in the customer reviews:

This is the ORIGINAL Rayovac (PS3) Universal Smart Battery Charger which I first reviewed more than two years ago. Unfortunately, Rayovac has discontinued this excellent charger around end of 2009, and replaced it with an inferior Rayovac PS3D Universal Battery Charger (just remember 'D' stands for Dumb). So now the original Rayovac Universal Charger is getting difficult to find - which explains the increase in price.

 

[Tapehead47]

It sounds like this one was discontinued, but it was a great charger since it did 8 AA or AAA's, and C's and D's and 9V. Being good and discontinued it's expensive now if you can find one. This was in the customer reviews:

Unbelieveable! Glad I got mine when it was available. Thanks, Tox.

 

[Tapehead47]

if I remember right enloop batteries have a verry low self discharge rate.

regular nimh self discharge pretty fast.

Yes, they are excellent, and are even charged when you buy them. There may be much better batteries out there but the eneloops served well until they got charged hundreds of times. Now I only have two pair left that are reliable. But my latest cameras use propriety batteries. And I bought spares for them from Amazon and other places.

 

[jimreeves]

At work we use a lot of AA's. I just bought one of these for use in the office:

http://www.amazon.com/Maha-Powerex-...USLM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1305084801&sr=8-3

So far so good, but I have only used it for a couple of days thus far. It has all of the capabilities that a good charger should have, and it is well reviewed. We had a La Crosse, but it had a meltdown after someone put alkaline batteries in it. After some reading it turns out that La Crosse chargers have a history of meltdowns even with the proper batteries in good condition. I wasn't going to risk a fire in the office so I went with the Maha.

Rechargeable batteries can only handle so many charge/discharge cycles. Storing them properly and periodic charge/discharge cycling can help prolong their life, but you will eventually have to send the batteries to the recycling center. Fast charging batteries will also cause them to heat up unnecessarily and shorten their lifespan. Try to charge only in the manufacturer specified safe range for your batteries.

Exactly right, and the Maha looks like a good charger. Heat kills all the goodies inside rechargable Nimh batteries. Back in my RC racing days no one would be caught without a decent balancing charger with temperature detection.

 

[markdi]

I think nimh are limited to - around - about - 300 charge cycles or so.

enloop cells have a low self discharge and a little less capacity and maybe less charge/discharge cycles.

 

[trhee]

The latest Eneloop's are rated for 1500 charge cycles. I can't speak for whether that's true or not. What I can say is that they've already paid for themselves in the year that I've owned mine which I use for wireless keyboards and mouses as well as all of my remote controls.

I also believe that Apple's Rechargeable AA Batteries are a repackage Eneloop. Some guy on the internet decided to take apart one along with a Eneloop and found them to be identical once the outside wrappers were taken off. I love Apple products as much as anyone else, but this is one case where I won't buy the Apple product.

Apple makes a beautiful little charger that I think is very competitively priced. I don't have one (want one, though), I think it's gotten good reviews. They have a lot of wireless devices (keyboards, mice, etc) that use AAs, and I think they made a charger to give their customers something in keeping with the great Apple experience while pricing it to encourage people to use rechargeables instead of disposables.

I think nimh are limited to - around - about - 300 charge cycles or so.

enloop cells have a low self discharge and a little less capacity and maybe less charge/discharge cycles.

 

[markdi]

wow - I did not know any nimh would do 1500 charge/discharge cycles.

I remember some of the nimh aaa aa c d and f cells I have being rated at 300 to 500 or so full capacity charge discharge cycles.

After that their capacity starts going downhill.

 

[tubeboob]

Sanyo eneloop!!!

I would recommend Sanyo's Eneloop AA's.

Available in 2000 mAh and 2500 mAh form, with the 2500 being the better one to get. I have the 2000 mAh units, but have ordered the 2500 mAh's and am awaiting delivery.

Absolutely the best, no comparison, from my real life experience.

Use them in my camera, and I have absolutely no issued.

Cheers