Camelion Standard Battery Charger Ni-MH Always Ready Power Pack Includes 2 AA Rechargeable Batteries $4 @ The Reject Shop

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  WatchNerd on 27/07/2016 - 00:06

  That's crazy dude, I have never heard of the brand but who cares.
  You could buy some Aldi LSD's for $5.99 a 4 pack to go with it.

  • 

    doperst on 27/07/2016 - 00:19

    +3

    They (Camelion) used to make good rechargeable batteries about 10 years ago, I had lots of them in pre-Eneloop times.

    Although 1000mAh is a pretty poor capacity rating for AA.

  • 

    Namesareapain on 27/07/2016 - 10:00

    The Ikea Ladda LSD batteries are said to be better and they are cheaper ($3.99 for a 4 pack of AAs if you have a free ikea family card).

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  nightelves on 27/07/2016 - 01:25

  +3

  What's so special about these smart chargers that everyone keeps talking about?

  • 

    17833 on 27/07/2016 - 01:41

    I'm no expert so someone will be able to explain better. It can charge batteries more slowly, which is better than for them in the long term, they have individual circuits so you can charge 1 battery at a time, great for toys and things that require 3 batteries, a standard charger can only charger 2 or 4 at a time. Plus they have "programs" that can discharge and cycle the battery, not entirely sure the use of this but I think it increases the longevity of the battery and can bring back to life almost dead batteries.

    • 

      nightelves on 27/07/2016 - 02:16

      Wow maybe it is worth the extra bit of money to invest on one of these to retain battery life.

    • 

      Nukkels on 27/07/2016 - 07:07

      It can charge more slowly than 27 hours? Nah, this is the slowest chargers I've seen to date - but that's a good thing. No damage to your batteries from overheating while charging.
      This also has independent charging circuits to charge 1 battery at a time. It won't be able to do that fancy stuff though.

      • 

        Namesareapain on 27/07/2016 - 09:13

        This is not a smart charger, a smart charger detects when a battery is fully charged and shuts off, this on the other hand will continue charging the battery until you remove it from the charger.
        Meaning that if you forget to pull it out (or over estimate how much charge a part empty battery has when you put it on to charge), it will overcharge the battery and damage it.

      • 

        Russ on 27/07/2016 - 16:20

        @Namesareapain:

        it will overcharge the battery and damage it

        That is almost correct, and is good for a brief explanation, but there is more to it.

        The usual way "dumb" chargers damage batteries is because once the battery is "full", any additional charging causes the battery to overheat, building up internal pressure, and the battery's safety vent will rupture. From that point onwards the battery's electrolyte will both leak out (producing a blueish "fuzz" on the contacts) and will dry out. Both effects reduce the capacity of the battery, and leakage can damage the equipment containing the batteries (although not nearly as badly as a leaky alkaline battery).

        If this charger is used with AA Eneloops, the charge rate is so low that no significant heat will be generated after the battery is full, so no rupture of the safety vent will occur. Charging that takes 24 hours or longer is generally referred to as trickle charging. A different failure mechanism can happen if the battery is charged this way too often - a tiny "dendrite" of metal will grow from one of the battery's internal electrodes, until it contacts the other electrode, and then the battery shorts out. While the battery can be recovered by "zapping" it, it will forever have a higher propensity to fail the same way.

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      bio on 27/07/2016 - 13:08

      +1

      Actually it is better to charge the batteries at a certain rate, which is approximately half the capacity. For example, the best current for a 2000 mAh battery is 1000 mA.

      Most smart chargers allow you to choose the charging current (my LaCrosse has options for 200, 500, 700, and 1000 mA). If you choose a value that is too low, charger may fail to detect that the battery is fully charged and overcharge it, hence reducing the life of the battery.

      • 

        17833 on 27/07/2016 - 13:16

        Thanks for the info, didn't realise that, I have been charging my eneloops really slowly thinking that was better

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        bio on 27/07/2016 - 19:40

        @sparkyglo: It is an old assumption about rechargeables, but not with modern chargers and batteries. Most smart chargers use a technique called "-deltaV" to detect that the battery is fully charged, and if the charging current is below 0.3C (that is, 0.3 times the capacity of the battery) detection may fail. It won't matter with dumb (non-smart) chargers as they don't try to detect it anyway.

        It is also important to know the actual capacity of your batteries. The capacity of a battery will obviously diminish after some time, and you should start using lower currents for lower capacity cells. That's why a smart charger with capacity testing feature is necessary. It also helps match similar capacity cells together.