Long time fan of Ozbargain. First post!
Costco (Ringwood) are currently selling a pack of 8 AA + 4AAA Sanyo / Panasonic Eneloop with charger for $38.89. The charger is a slow overnight charger.
Back of packaging says the batteries are made in Japan and the Charger is from China.
Damn! Slow charger.
Please let us know if you see the smart/fast charger there.
Had a look - no fast charger!
Thanks, keep a look out for us :)
Slow chargers are better for the battery, fast chargers will lessen their life. If you're paying this much for rechargeables, take care of them and use slow chargers.
You are getting your information from the wrong sources, or you haven't been told the full story.
Slow chargers have a timer cut-out mechanism, or no cut-out mechanism at all. As such, unless your battery requires exactly the amount of energy they will supply before the timer cut-out activates, you are overcharging your batteries. This is definitely bad, and will definitely shorten the life of your batteries.
So-called "one hour" chargers are also bad for batteries. Pushing that much energy into a battery that quickly will make it heat up quite considerably, usually causing the pressure-release valve to burst, which also damages the battery.
For maximum battery life, you need a smart charger, that will cut off the charging when the battery reaches full charge. There are two ways full charge can be detected: by stopping when the temperature of the battery starting to rise rapidly, and by dV/dT detection - a slight dip in the battery voltage as it reaches full charge.
dV/dT detection works best when the charge duration is between two and four hours, so you should choose the charging rate to give a charge duration within these limits. The Sanyo/Panasonic "2 hour" charger is such a smart charger, and is usually considered to be a "fast" charger.
The other moderately-safe way to charge NiMh batteries is trickle charging, which takes more than 24 hours. Your batteries are protected from overheating, but will eventually grow "dendrites", which short out the battery. You won't get as long a life as you would with a good smart charger, but you'll get a pretty good life.
Note that just because a charger says "smart" on the packaging, doesn't mean that it is. I have seen Energizer "smart" chargers in Coles and Woolies, that say they have dV/dT detection, but have a ten-hour charge time - so slow that it is impossible to acurately determine when the batteries reach full charge.
Thanks for your good information Russ, brought back some memories of physics classes years ago.
What charger would you recommend as I need to buy one soon
@Mosher:
If you can get the Eneloop smart charger for under $30 I'd get this one if your buying Eneloop batteries as its a 2 hour charger which cuts off precisely at the right moment based on the Eneloop technology. (I got it for $26 last time I bought one, not sure why they are at $50 now but <$30 is the normal prices for charger and 4 batteries)
https://www.masters.com.au/product/100679971/eneloop-quick-b…
Otherwise search the forum for discussions on eneloop. There are a couple users that have bought good smart chargers and have provided details but I can't recall the models.
Don't get a Rezap. They are terrible!!!
@Mosher:
If you need one quickly, i.e. stocked in Australia, I believe there are only three choices:
- On OzBargain, the Maha MH-C9000 is widely regarded as the most versatile charger, but you'll be paying about $80 for that versatility. Here's a link to a Maha MH-C9000 seller at $79.95 plus delivery:
http://www.protog.com.au/buy/maha-powerex-mh-c9000-wizardone…
- Masters Hardware may still have some stock of the Sanyo "2 hour" charger. This model was obsoleted a few months ago, but you may be lucky. Note that this charger has no display at all, so you won't be able to see how much capacity your batteries have.
- The new model of the above Sanyo charger is branded Panasonic, model number is BQ-CC16. Some camera stores sell these, usually $50 with four AA batteries included. Make sure you get this exact model number, Panasonic also sell a dumb charger with a very similar model number.
For a little bit slower, buy a LaCrosse BC-700 charger from Amazon. Don't forget you'll need a US/AU mains plug adaptor! This charger has been mentioned many times here on OzBargain, and has a display that is almost as good as the Maha mentioned above. Not as versatile as the Maha, and can't charge higher than 700mA.
Slower again (1 month typical), some Chinese suppliers sell LaCrosse chargers.
Ebay is another option.
If you also have 18650 Li-ion batteries, I believe NiteCore chargers will charge both types of batteries, but I have no experience with them. Read this comment and the following comments:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/165663#comment-2306399
I also recall reading that one model of Nitecore charger had a problem with the plastic case melting in one spot, research first, and don't buy that model!
is there one without a charger, already have a smart charger.
no just the one pack as described above
Front on image http://costcocouple.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Sanyo-Ene…
Must get as I don't have these colours in my collection. What are these called? Eneloop Earth?
You're buying them because of their colour? Oh dear.
unity1 I think the colour is only about branding them as "environmentally friendly" batteries, because you can recharge them 1800 times.
The colour used also designates the blue AA from the green AAA.
The recharge-cycle count seems OK (ie, if anyone's done an independent count to test the claim), but do we really need to "trade-away" cell capacity to get it?
(When I've asked for cell capacity spec's, OzBer's tend to reply either that they don't know -or- it's ~2000 mAh.
Compare to Sanyo 2700 mAH AA cells - for which I don't have their nominal recharge-cycle life spec's at hand… sorry. There's always some important spec missing…)
Maybe it's not yet possible to make a high-capacity rechargeable cell that withstands so many charge-cycle…? 'dunno.)
PS On buying to collect "all the (offered) colours" …I guess one just has to IMAGINE the colour(s) one has inside a torch or other battery-powered device, to get any joy from that.
(We was surprised, when we first arrived in AU, in finding free "Messenger" (ad newspapers tossed onto our front lawn or porch, in our Eastern suburb of Adelaide), rather long lists of "OCD clubs" in the Social Events section…
Our first thought was: When a place looks nice (eg, down to the smallest bit of grass, in all the nearby gardens), perhaps people can be adversely affected by being surrounded by "perfection".
Perhaps you can offer other theories? :-)
@IVI: I think (I am not the Eneloop expert that many OzB users are so I'll prolly be corrected here :p ) that their minimum charge is 1800mAh, it may be higher earlier in the batteries life, up around 2000mAh.
TLDR.
So don't shop there and stop writing manifesto's about why you don't on OzBargain?
I personally like Costco, but I'm more of a consumer than saver :)
This documentary may answer some of your questions. The Costoco business model is less about exploiting accounting loopholes, but more taking advantage of the psychology of consumers :)
Yup, the model is, you are a club member, and rent the item. However, you don't need to return it. I heard this is the original model they have to avoid GST, VAT, etc.
I dont see any bargain here, can someone care to explain? consider I can get these for around 25$ free shipping. why bother to drive there apply for membership before you can buy it!
Because eneloops
why bother to drive there apply for membership before you can buy it!
This is for people who have already bothered.
For lifetime warranty. Batteries not as effective after 5 years? Return them for a full refund.
precisely though Eneloops I think are reliable enough so I doubt you'd ever return them. ;)
Costco at it's new location in Adelaide tried to get a liquor license.
The premise of Costco's argument was their exclusive club membership meant they were offering a different business to what was already there.
The judge at the LLB decided against Costco.
So the opposition was successful by the local bottleshop and a pub (or similar).
If Costco had been able to undercut everyone else. It would made it an easy choice for people to join.
They are already offering neck-breaking deals at their "Gasoline" servo at the same location.
I wonder how Woolworths or Coles would go?
Locally I have known a few examples where Woolworths buy a small bottle shop and use the license in a much bigger store.
Anyway, the days when people bought their grog from the local bottleshop or pub are long gone, prices were way higher than the current model.
not available at Auburn store?!
They are now available at Auburn store - seen today
It says here Expired. I was at Costco yesterday and they're still there.
I had originally put one month because you never know with costco how long something will be in stock for…..
Very true. I didn't know why everyone's talking about these batteries but they do sound fabulous. I will buy some and probably save a bomb.
Costco!!! I thought Dick Smith had monopoly on eneloops.