AA Battery Charger

  • Thread starter Thread starter Boo
  • Start date Start date
Boo

Boo

Suspended / Banned
Messages
214
Edit My Images
Yes
Good news I finally decided on what digi compact to get until I can get my Nikon DSLR (or I should say OUR - sorry hubby :D )

WE now own the Canon Powershot A610 got it for a snip at £165 from Amazon and its a pukka little piece of kit let me tell you.... full of manual modes and all sorts of goodies including the ability to use filters woo hoo! :woot:

Anyway I digress..... I'm now on the look out for an AA battery charger. I'm a tad confused as there seems to be some that are dirt cheap, ones that are like a plug that goes straight into your socket and then there are some that are quite expensive.

Obviously I don't want to spend too much if I don't have to but is there a difference between cheap v more expensive when it comes to chargers?

Any makes/models recommended?

Thanks ;)
 
The difference with the chargers is really to do with how well they control the charge. The high speed chargers need a good set of electronics or they will fry the batteries giving you a short life and before long they need to go in the bin.

I have a lot of AA batteries of various makes and ages. Most of the older ones are low capacity now and I ruined a few newer ones with a cheap fast charger. I now only use slow type chargers and have enough batteries that I don't need to recharge in one hour instead of 14 hrs.

I bought some cheap NiMh AA's from 7dayshop and they have been fine. link to batteries
They have some chargers there too with good user reviews. This is a fast charger that has good reviews. Even if it does reduce the life a bit the batteries are quite cheap anyway.

If you want quality then Ansmann are one of the best brands but you pay for it.
 
When i had my s7000, i bought the 2000 Nimh AA's from Jessops complete with charger. You got 4 batteries and a charger for about £10 - £12.

Never had a problem with them.
 
I have the Friwo as seen here:
http://www.adventure-motorcycling.co.uk/products/?product=22

Not really fast, 1 to 5 hours, only a 500ma ( thats half an amp) charge current so does not cook the batteries like some of the 1.5 to 2.5 amp charge current etc chargers.

Also switches to a trickle charge after charging, and discharges also if you want it to.

Nor sure if £35 is a good price or not, but looks OK as £36 approx at farnell/CPC etc

A quality product :)

Mark.
 
Get a charger that charges cells individually rather than all together, these will also usually, measure the current and cut to a trickle charge when full, whereas cheaper ones work on a timer andwill 'overcharge' partialy draned batteries.l
 
neos said:
Get a charger that charges cells individually rather than all together, these will also usually, measure the current and cut to a trickle charge when full, whereas cheaper ones work on a timer andwill 'overcharge' partialy draned batteries.l
Click to expand...
I would strongly urge you to seriously consider Neos' suggestion - his remarks are bang on the nose. In this respect I would also recommend the Ansmann 4 as Sean said. It monitors individual cells and shuts off each one when finished. It also incorporates a fan for cooling the cells. Not cheap (around £40) but well worth it.

regards
 
Thanks for the help guys, will take a look at Jessops to see what they have as I've got £25 worth of vouchers that have been laying around waiting to be used. Do they have any decent ones other than the one already mentioned that doesn't cook the batteries and individually charges them?
 
I can't recommend any other, to me the Ansmann has it hands over fist. Why not put a bit more to your £25 vouchers and get the right one first time?

regards
 
B&Q was where i got 2500niMH batteries with a two hour charger, i think around 15.99
 
Well I popped into Jessops with my vouchers, they didn't have much choice unfortunately but I managed to get a slow charging one by Uniross. It takes 19 hours to charge up a 2100 mah nimh battery. It doesn't let you know when its fully charged though so you have to remember when you started charging. Also I bought an extra set of batteries. The only ones they had were 2500 mah and it doesn't tell you on the instruction sheet for the charger how long to charge.... has anyone any ideas how much more than 19 hours they would take?

I figured that seeing as I didn't have to pay for this charger that it would tide me over til I can get a pukka one (Ansmann).

Oooh just thought, can anyone tell me how many hours of life or how many pikkies worth I'll get out of 2100 and 2500 mah batteries per each charge - roughly?

Ta.
 
I would have thought 100's with ease. Your manual should state how many shots with flash on/off etc you can get out of a a normal set of batteries.

Ref advice on chargers, the cost of the rechargeable batteries are so cheap I would just get something cheap & replace when it goes wrong. I have done this 3 years ago & all my batteries are still going strong.
 
Energizer 15 min charger + 4 2100mah batteries for £20 in Currys. Usually £39.99. I bought 4 x 2500mah Energizer batteries from svp.co.uk and they charge in 18mins. Quality stuff.
 
Boo said:
Oooh just thought, can anyone tell me how many hours of life or how many pikkies worth I'll get out of 2100 and 2500 mah batteries per each charge - roughly?
Click to expand...
Last time I took a load of photos, I got 204 pics out of a set of 2500mAh AA's. That's using a Fuji S5100 but I don't know how its power consumption compares to the A610.
 
Boo said:
Well I popped into Jessops with my vouchers, they didn't have much choice unfortunately but I managed to get a slow charging one by Uniross. It takes 19 hours to charge up a 2100 mah nimh battery. It doesn't let you know when its fully charged though so you have to remember when you started charging. Also I bought an extra set of batteries. The only ones they had were 2500 mah and it doesn't tell you on the instruction sheet for the charger how long to charge.... has anyone any ideas how much more than 19 hours they would take?
Click to expand...

With a bit of luck your second set might be charged before your first set go flat!

Seriously though, if it takes 19 hrs to charge 2100mAh, that suggests its output is around 110mAh, which means that a 2500mAh should take 22 hours. The advantage is that providing that you don't leave them in too long, they will last longer as the heat from fast charging shortens their life.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top