Choosing the Right AA/AAA Battery Charger - Smart vs Dumb - OnlineToolReviews
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- Buying the right charger for your AA and AAA NiMH/NiCad batteries is critical to ensuring good service life for your rechargeable batteries. Find out why a smart, independent-circuit charger is much better for your batteries than a regular "dumb" charger.
This video features the La Crosse BC-700 Battery Charger, which is available online at www.amazon.com/... and is the type of charger you NEED to maintain the life of your rechargeable AA/AAA batteries. Recommended by OnlineToolReviews.com
If you are looking for quality rechargeable batteries, we recommend the following brands:
Eneloop - amzn.to/1xgoq8a
Rayovac Platinum - amzn.to/1iXxj3r
Duracell - amzn.to/1m8sC5T
We make these recommendations based on personal experience using these brands over many others on the market (order of preference as listed).
Please thumbs up if you liked this video and subscribe to our channel to see more!
coming from 2022 and this video is actually helpful, much appreciated
An excellent review, thank you.
If you don't have access to a smart charger (which is the best option), the following may be of interest. The ideal charge rate for most fully discharged batteries is their capacity divided by 10 for about 14 hours, i.e. the full charge being equal to about 1.4 times their capacity. For example, a 2500mah battery ideally should be charged at 250ma for around 14 hours. Charging batteries this way will prevent them overheating, enhance their charge capacity and extend their useful life considerably.
Yes.....a slow charge much, MUCH better for the battery’s lifespan. I choose to charge at 200ma with my Technoline BL700N Charger.
The Yousihiko smart charger you have there is still one of the best. I have three of them - and they can do everything you need them to do in order to keep the batteries working optimally and for a very long time. Discharge is the most common with which you can discharge and then recharge slowly. It is a brilliant charger. It is now 2024 and it says a lot that these chargers look exactly the same today as they did nine years ago, but the internals have been improved.
Good video, but current is milli-amps, not milli-amp hours. I have the Lacrosse BC-1000 and it charges at 200, 500, 700, or 1000mA. It's a great charger but I never use 1000mA, and rarely 700. There are other good smart chargers too. I can't recommend using a dumb charger at all. Years ago I had to throw away a few dozen NiMH cells because they were killed by bad chargers (Radio Shack and Energizer). Costly and frustrating wasting time. Now I've been using the same NiMHs for 2 or 3 years.
If the charger needs using pairs of batteries it's not worth using at all. All chargeable batteries need cell balacing meaning each cell MUST be charged individually (charging multiple in parallel for a short time, discharging cells with higher voltage to much the lower voltage cells and repeating the cycle is also okay).
I have an old VARTA Power Play 15 Minute Charger (Type 57075 / 57175) which charges with up to 7.5 A (7500 mA!) per AA cell and monitors voltage and temperature changes per cell while charging. The only problem with this charger is that's really picky for the cell quality and will not charge low quality cells at all. The only bad thing is pretty loud fan during the charging but it only takes up to 20 minutes to get cells full so I don't need to listen that noise for too long. Note that this charger does not have any discharge/refresh features so once a cell gets unstable / goes bad you need another charger or recycle it immediately. I prefer using high quality cells that do not go bad often but those are pretty hard to find.
The best cells for me have been Eneloop, VARTA and a bit surprisingly, modern Tronic cells. The Tronic is a very cell manufacturer that used to be pretty bad but the cells I've used that have been built about 2015 or later have been really good. I think not a single one has failed me this far and with VARTA about 10-20% of cells go bad within a year.
Also, forget all NiMH cells but LSD (low self discharge) variants. Those can cope with fast charging better and stay at pretty high voltages until empty.
I have only used dumb chargers. Some were actually double dumb. They still did the trick - although the charging time would increase dramatically from dumb to double dumb.
Dumb chargers are still perfectly good for the non-technical user - or, especially, those people who are not distressed when having to get a new set of rechargeable batteries.
For those who like to play and adjust and experiment, and are also more concerned about the health of the planet (buying and using fewer products equal less waste), a smart charger is a clever thing to go for.
How reliable is this particular product, though? How accurate, the readings? How good, the quality of the parts? Does the charger still work?
It takes seconds to use one of these better, intelligent chargers. It’s not difficult at all. I just pop the batteries in and press a button and away the unit goes.....looking after my batteries as well as charging them. I’ve got the Technoline BL700N and it’s superb.....it looks exactly like this one. It will charge and recover a COMPLETELY DEAD battery (make sure it’s the N model though, not just the BL700.
I have the exact same one he's using in the vid and mine lasted over 9 years. The only reason I replaced the charger is because my stupid in-laws tried charging some non-recharable batteries that were already leaking acid and they acid leaked into the device and damaged the circuit board.
@@inorite4553, that is most unpleasant when it happens.
I have got myself an XTAR VC4SL charger; the only con is that it does not show time elapsed and percentage charged. Combined with my dumb chargers, it helps me get all the batteries ready to be used at all times.
@@hntrains2 Question, does yours have a "Refresh" function to try to squeeze out a few mAh's out of the batteries?
Mine is the XTAR VC4 smart charger able charge Mi-MH as well as Laptop battery’s
Its awkward going over the instructions to these smart chargers if your new to them. Thanks for the helpfull review .
Thamesuser marcel Greetings! Yes they can be a bit tricky. The good part though is that they can be as easy to use as just dropping in the batteries and the default settings will usually do a more than adequate job, as long as the batteries are in sound condition.
OnlineToolReviews my charger keeps telling me my older Duracell NiMH as batteries are bad.
But they still power my Wii remote and other devices. They charged fine in the dumb charger. But the charger they worked in wasn't mine. So now Im stuck in a bad situation.
Any suggestions?
stefan barr oh and it charges my energizer batteries just fine....
Weird isn't it?
+stefan barr If they charge up in the "dumb" charger to full capacity (or near that), what then happens if you put them in the Smart charger?
Just watched your very good presentation and am looking at getting their newer BC1000.
Thank you. Go for it.
@@onlinetoolreviews4154 what voltage should I charge my AAA batteries at?
yes!!!!! i hate charging batts in pairs!!!!!!!! LOL i would love this
Hope you got yourself one!
i have an old rayovac hybrid charger that is smart, it automaticly stops when it is full, if it is the 15 minute ones that are completely dead and charge it in 15 minutes.
I like the smart charger. They provide much more detailed info than the dumb chargers.
Indeed they do
To much rambling basically smart charger can changed no needed to complete a circuit can charge one battery at a time and read amount of charged still left in the battery,so not to over charge of the battery to destroy the battery cell faster.
The Technoline BL700N is maybe better - looks the same. The BL700N will charge a rechargeable battery from completely DEAD. Must be the N model though, not just the BL700.
Hi ..please question
i read the reviews at amazon about ( la Crosse Technology charger ) maybe many of the issue that face people with this charger .. that it won't work for too long time or some things won't work like mode button... i mean short life ..some of them after 1 year some of them more or maybe less ?
is this true ?
because i want good charger .. but i don't want it to dead in few months or few years.
Yet another that like Energizer’s instructions do not show seating of AAA batteries
They go in the same way as AA's just lower down in the smaller space.
Nothing beats a Nitecore D4 or SC4 intelligent charger.
I've got a D4 too. Good chargers!
I had one of those energizer chargers blow up into flames haha!
I had one of those Energizer chargers blow up on me...
Energizer Chargers totally 100% suck
Very good video ,Thanks for the information.
You are welcome
Thanks for the video, very helpful. I have a similar charger and have all sorts of problems. Where can I get one in oz, thanks.
gototownice Hi mate, I don't think you can find these in Oz... I got mine from Amazon.com here - amzn.to/1zpwk3O They ship these to Australia. Occassionally they go on sale and you can get it delivered for a "reasonable" amount, but likely more with the low aussie dollar now. Nonetheless, if you can catch it on sale, then grab it. I've ordered a different charger from Amazon the other day (a Nitecore D4) just to compare with the BC-700, so might be worth waiting to see what I find out and have to say about that one maybe? It might be a better charger for about the same amount of money.
Anyone know of any dumb chargers that may still be available? I'm working on a project and need one. Thanks in advance.
EBay
Very informative thank you
No problem @Amy Thrower
Why they stopped making BC 700 such a good product never launched in India
smart equpment
Mon amour, the 'Mode Change' attempt, at 14:06 , was em-bare-ass-ing...oui? I kept yelling (to assist you)...guess you didn't hear.
Yeah sorry the button wasn't working great at that point.
Smart chargers have their problems too and sometimes a dumb charger is superior. Smart chargers often fail to recognise rechargeable batteries that have little or no charge remaining and will give an "error" indication. Also they can appear to charge a battery very quickly but that battery will not be fully charged and will have a very short run time. A dumb charger will often rescue a battery that wouldn't be seen and/or wouldn't charge in a smart charger. If you want to know more "bigclive" on youtube explains it all very well on his channel here: th-cam.com/video/5yFwhWeqyq4/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=bigclivedotcom
Thanks for the review. However: Why not cut out all sections which are not informative like the one where you try to change the current? The video would be shorter than 20 minutes ... You can cut videos directly on youtube
Awsome review
Thank you kindly
Good video thanks. I have two batteries showing nul on one of these smart chargers as the voltage on both lf them must be very low as they have not been used in a long time.
If I leave them in the charger will it eventually charge them? Or do I need the old skool ''dumb' charger to kickstart them?
Do you know of any of these battery chargers that can be powered by a solar panel, mate?
What about 9v pp3 ones!
I've had several of these "smart" models, which work fine - until the buttons on the front stop working.
+Steve Lamberts Hi Steve, yes the buttons on this particular one I reviewed also have started to play up and be hard to press... Well, not hard to press, but you have to apply a bit of force to get the buttons to do anything, hence why I had some issues on this video. I have since purchased two more of the same model since and those ones work fine... Maybe some quality control issue in play. Nonetheless, this one still works great as a charger, but to reset the charge rate I have to remove and re-add the batteries.
+khalil ahmed Oh thanks, I will try this and see if my charger agrees with you :)
khalil ahmed
Thanks, I'll give that a try. It's well worth it.
Great video.
Thank you.
And what is the best charger for 9v??
Probably the energizer :)
What do you think about those energizer batteries?
Or the vartas.
Not as good as the Eneloops, but IKEA Ladda batteries are best for the price.
I understood it very well.. :-( .. been a dumb charging guy for too long.
won't stand this anymore.. 😓 💪
I have the OPUS BT-C3100 v2.1 it is an amazing charger , BUT the new Nickel-Zinc batterys are not compatable with the smart chargers these days, any idea where we can find a Smart charger (measure capacity, resistance etc) for the new NiZn batterys?
Nathan Jordinson Hi there, thanks for your comments. I had about 4 sets of NiZn batteries which I have had for about 2 years now. Unfortunately there has been a very high failure rate on the NiZn I purchased. Over half of them are now dead and wont hold a charge. I have gone back to NiMH batteries for now as these are doing the job much more reliably. I don't know of any NiZn smart chargers I am sorry.
Thankz for the reply.! Quite disappointing about NiZn and failure rate. I keep hearing different negative experiences with then. I like there voltage range! But i guess if they were any good they would have taken off by now and sanyo panasonic and many other brands would have joined the ride. Ohh well back to eneloops for me too
Nathan Jordinson Yes Eneloops are pretty good. I have a few sets, although more recently, I've been buying Rayovac Platinums. They are as good, perhaps even better than Eneloops, in my opinion. They might be worth trying if you can get them for a good price, otherwise, stick with Eneloops :)
I think it'll be helpful if you add subtitles. coz not many people without english could listen very well to your words. the most part that I miss is when you explain about the number that indicates about many thing about the battery. and I'll need a lot of energy to focus hearing to it..that's just my suggestion mate.. hope your video would get much more useful to all people in the world :)
noiprocsakidna Thank you for your suggestion. I am investigating ways which will help add subtitles and captions to my videos more easily in the future.
How much will a charger cost
7:05 Fast charging is always better. If you charge ni-mh fast you will have -dv/dt indicating 100% full battery. With slow charge this can never happen. Fast charging ni-mh charger will not overcharge battery at all, when doing charging slow overcharge is possible. Overcharge is killing the cell, that's way fast charge (around 1C, C/3 minimum) is only good current for Ni-Mh. Some cells can take higher than 1C fast charge.
I would recommend to spend some time to prepare the video, maybe write few points on the paper next to You to have some plan. You spend talking 20min about what ? :)
I need help I want a battery that I can charged more then 1000 Time and in China market or any market are cheap and the battery not fake like ultrafire and yeah usb output 2.1a
Dhomy Al-motairi
eneloop battery
Get the Panasonic eneloop, which you can charge more than 2,000 times.....if you live that long.....I won’t - Lol.
Winced on all the 'bat-trees'. Normally i would let it go, but man, the brain is really craving to yell "it ends in 'ery' not 'rey'!".
With that said to get some of my sanity back, I would never use those dumb chargers if you are using good rechargeable bat trees(god damnit, now i'm doing it). I have had so many batteries killed by them malfunctioning, while good smart chargers won't let that happen.
4 good 18650 batteries for instance, may cost more than a decent smart charger. Letting a dumb charger kill them cause you want to save some money is extremely counter productive :P
I bet he pronounces military the SAME way just like the Ancient Aliens Nick Pope does🤣! He worked with the "ministree of defence" and refers to the militree doing all kind of psy-ops and UFO cover-ups!
Smart vs dumb chargers.Who knew?
Too much rambling on and repetition. A bullet point list, read out, clearly explaining all points as you went along would have been much better for a review of a battery charger.
Thanks for your feedback. Some people enjoy the extra detail, others not so much.
Ammmm 364 times
Thanks for counting. You had 5 M's in your reply too :)
Esta vendido cargando de pila cuando está vendiendo gratis
lama pijama for ma mama
I'm going to post these words of wisdom as my own on FB
Smart people use them lol
They probably do!
what the fuck- 19 fucking minutes!
This is the battery Ummm report! Sorry pal.
you should stay using the dumb one, cos you don't know how to use the smart one, not unless you have got a smart dumb one, then send it back cos it does not work right.
20 minutes of video to buy a charger. screw that
shaky voice is annoying... especially when he kept saying "Ummm" and the video is too damn long. Organize your points and summarize... damn!
bitches get angry
Love the haters!
Learn how to use it before giving instruction on how to use it!
Go troll somewhere else
Hi ..please question
i read the reviews at amazon about ( la Crosse Technology charger ) maybe many of the issue that face people with this charger .. that it won't work for too long time or some things won't work like mode button... i mean short life ..some of them after 1 year some of them more or maybe less ?
is this true ?
because i want good charger .. but i don't want it to dead in few months or few years.