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Help me find an AA battery charger

steve62388

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2013
3,103
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I’m trying to find a suitable AA battery charger and it’s doing my nut in.

I need
- a U.K. charger.
- for two or four AA batteries (not C, D or 9V, it needs to be compact).
- mains powered, not USB.
- no LCD display, they are pointless. LEDs are fine.
- independent charging circuit for each battery.
- overcharge cut off.
- slow charging, 4 hours plus charging time. I don’t want to send my batteries to an early grave.

I have an Apple charger and it’s useless. I have to re-seat the batteries 20+ each time before they make contact. ‘Yes’, all the contacts are clean. It was a common fault with them and was extensively moaned about in reviews on their website.

This would have been ideal https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-POWER...005128ARW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 but it’s no longer in production.

This would have been okay too https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-BQ-CC17KSBA-Advanced-Individual-Indicator/dp/B00JHKSLM8?th=1 but they don’t make a U.K. version.
 
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Minor battery geek here & UK based too so you're in luck. Globally, the most commonly recommended intelligent chargers are the Technoline BC1000 or the La Crosse BC1000. I own the previous model, the Technoline BC900, which has given me sterling service for many years. It looks exactly the same as this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Technoline-BC-1000-Battery-Charger/dp/B0064A5QM2

I didn't pay £60 for mine, it was a lot cheaper when it was on the market. Yes, at this level, you need a LCD display so that you can set charging rates individually for each battery, and so that the charger can inform you if the battery is dead, dying, needs a refresh, is nearly full, is full, what the various voltage levels are etc.

This is the current UK equivalent of these high-end chargers:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Youshiko-YC4000-Intelligent-Professional-Standard/dp/B00N7GHUH0/

£25 at the moment and worth it. Will last you a lifetime. As for batteries, I only buy buy Eneloops:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...s&field-keywords=eneloops&rh=i:aps,k:eneloops

They cost around £2 a battery, which is more than some others, but again they last a lifetime, never go flat in storage, and last a really long time in use. I've had various other rechargeables die on me and become un-rechargable, but never eneloops (yet). I also have a pack of AmazonBasics rechargeables which I keep in reserve for emergencies or for lending to people / kids who might not return them, & they're not too bad either.

Hope this helps.
 
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steve23094 said:
Indeed it does.

I’m considering this charger now https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-...pID=51b1O7Wj7HL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

It’s a BQ-CC55 as far as I can tell, typo in the product title. I could use a few more batteries, but I have no idea if they’re Eneloop or Japanese. They would still be handy though.

I’ll mull over the charger you recommended.
Click to expand...
Your first post says you wanted slow charging time - the BQ-CC55 only does fast charging far as I can tell. The batteries it comes with are definitely not long life / low self discharge (will go flat in a year, means low capacity after a couple of months on the shelf).

re the YC4000, most of the time I don't bother to set mine up, I just chuck in the batteries and they're done when they're done. It's nice to have the various built in readings available when I'm suspicious about a battery though.
 
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Posting back for the benefit of others should they stumble across this thread. I have done some more research.

The YC4000 is a Chinese knock off of the superior German Technoline BL700N. The BL700N (the 'N' is important) can better handle flat batteries. When a battery is completely flat the YC4000 is more likely to report it as 'bad'.
 
steve23094 said:
I’m trying to find a suitable AA battery charger and it’s doing my nut in.

I need
- a U.K. charger.
- for two or four AA batteries (not C, D or 9V, it needs to be compact).
- mains powered, not USB.
- no LCD display, they are pointless. LEDs are fine.
- independent charging circuit for each battery.
- overcharge cut off.
- slow charging, 4 hours plus charging time. I don’t want to send my batteries to an early grave.

I have an Apple charger and it’s useless. I have to re-seat the batteries 20+ each time before they make contact. ‘Yes’, all the contacts are clean. It was a common fault with them and was extensively moaned about in reviews on their website.

This would have been ideal https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-POWER...005128ARW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 but it’s no longer in production.

This would have been okay too https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-BQ-CC17KSBA-Advanced-Individual-Indicator/dp/B00JHKSLM8?th=1 but they don’t make a U.K. version.
Click to expand...

https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Rechargeable-Battery-Recharge-Batteries/dp/B00IM3P8GS
This is the best AA charger I've used. The batteries are fantastic as well. This one is for US adapter. You'll have to see if they make one with a UK adapter.
 
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