Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

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Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by S.Crow »

Looking for a decent charger that can charge 8x AA at a time and can also handle AAA.
It needs to be able to intelligently manage the charging, nothing too fancy just covers the basics well.
Ideally one that can use an external USB charger as I have loads of those and it means it’s easy to replace. That’s not a deal breaker though.
An hour to charge all 8 AA would be good although not sure if that is frowned upon as being too fast these days? Bad for the batteries!

I’m seeing that the Ikea LADDA AA 2450 are getting good reviews and can be had for about £30 for 16.
Unless I hear advice otherwise I’ll be going for those.
Panasonic eneloop seems more expensive and not as good.

I’ve put off buying but the power supply on my ancient charger went puff and it was due a replacement anyway.
Thanks.
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by resistorman »

I’ve been using this one for some years with good results:

https://www.amazon.com/EBL-Battery-Rech ... 80&sr=8-14

Not a fast charger, but I like the 9 volt capability. For fast charging and battery conditioning I bought this 6 years ago:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JL ... UTF8&psc=1

I’m sure there’s newer, better devices than these, but they’ve served me well.
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by resistorman »

Over the years, these batteries have given me the least problems and longest service:

https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Rechar ... NrPXRydWU=
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by pk.roberts »

I've been using Ansmann chargers and batteries for a few years and have been very pleased with them. CPC stock quite a range, but there's a 'package deal' that would seem to fit your needs here;
https://cpc.farnell.com/ansmann/1001-00 ... st=ansmann
I quite like that fact that each cell is charged individually and that there is a manual 'cycle' button.
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by S.Crow »

Thanks All.

After watching this video I will avoid Chinese batteries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jXQNY6 ... rojectFarm

The Japanese ones are generally the better products.
I'm looking at either the Ikea 2450 or the Duracell 2500.
The latter are currently £33 for 16 direct from Duracell:
https://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/pno/bun0052b.html

Still not sure about a charger as so many features to consider.
My old Uniross Hybrio AAs in a 1 hour fast charger lasted for a long time so not sure that I really need to spend big bucks on a charger.
With the batteries being ~2,500mAh I will need a fairly decent one or they will take 12 hours to charge which is a bit much.
I can live with 6 to 8 hours.
Back to the drawing board.
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by resistorman »

The video confirms my experience with a dozen or so each of Energizer and EBL batteries, so it’s likely pretty accurate about the other batteries, but it’s a small sample size. Also, the EBL batteries have a pretty high outright failure rate, while the Energizers last through many, many cycles.
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by BillB »

Amazon basics AA came top in a recent Which? Test and review. We have been using them for various things since we read the review and they haven’t disappointed.
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by S.Crow »

BillB wrote:Amazon basics AA came top in a recent Which? Test and review. We have been using them for various things since we read the review and they haven’t disappointed.

Thanks Bill. I overlooked them for some reason even though they were only slightly behind my two top contenders.
On looking on Amazon last night I realised that I can get 24 of the Amazon 2400 for the same or less than 16 of the others so I went for those.

Decided on this EBL charger which was recommended elsewhere and is quite similar to the one that resistorman recommended.
It’s 8 rather than 12 slots and no 9V support which suits me.
Under £15 with a code:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08CK925GP/
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by James Perrett »

S.Crow wrote: Decided on this EBL charger which was recommended elsewhere and is quite similar to the one that resistorman recommended.
It’s 8 rather than 12 slots and no 9V support which suits me.
Under £15 with a code:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08CK925GP/

Good to see that domestic chargers are using delta V detection now which prevents over charging. With NiMH cells the voltage of the cell increases as it charges but, when fully charged, the voltage dips slightly. Intelligent chargers detect this voltage dip and switch to trickle charge mode.
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Re: Shopping for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger!

Post by JessicaMoir »

I am new to this forum and just saw this message from you while browsing the site. For recommending batteries and battery chargers, I think I am very vocal because I have used at least 20 brands of batteries and chargers, whether they are expensive or cheap ones I have tried. If you want to find a not so expensive and good quality battery and charger, I highly recommend you to use the EBL battery and charger, I bought the product link is this, but I do not know if you can still buy through this link, you can try: https://www.eblofficial.com/
I hope this can help you
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