Duracell charger was £44.99 now £9.99 (merged)

TLJester

MyUserNamesTaken wrote:

Strangely enough, this charger has a a huge display showing its original price as £29.99 with the free batteries. It's definitely the same one, as I bought one today.

I found this too. Though the display does say £44.99 reduced to £29.99.
I also found that they have another Duracell battery/charger pack on sale but only with £5 off to £20 (I think). The chap at the counter was most surprised at the price reduction - he was also aware that this is the much better model.
Certainly seems like a pricing error to me.

Reading the doc's inclosed it doesnt say if it is microprocessor or timer based, though it does indicate on 'abnormal battery'.

Burtie_2

I can't comment whether there is a micro-processor but I used mine to charge 4 (2 sets of 2 different mAH batteries) and the first bank of Energizer 2100 mAH charged in under 15 minutes but the second bank of cheap Vanson 1800 mAh took the full 30 minutes (I supspect this was timer based and it switched off after exactly 30 minutes).

Of course the Energizers may not have been "empty", hence the quick charge.

The built in fan kicked in around 15 minutes.

jonnymeldrum

I went into Boots today and they definately had it nowhere, I asked about three staff and they had no duracell chargers.

AMO

Burtie wrote:

I can't comment whether there is a micro-processor but I used mine to charge 4 (2 sets of 2 different mAH batteries) and the first bank of Energizer 2100 mAH charged in under 15 minutes but the second bank of cheap Vanson 1800 mAh took the full 30 minutes (I supspect this was timer based and it switched off after exactly 30 minutes).

Of course the Energizers may not have been "empty", hence the quick charge.

The built in fan kicked in around 15 minutes.

That sounds fairly sophisticated. Follow up the test by switching the power off and then back on. A timer-based charger will charge for another 15 minutes and 30 minutes. An advanced microprocessor charger will drip charge and determine within a minute that they are fullly charged and cut off.

AMO

AMO

MyUserNamesTaken wrote:

I think the duracell one does have a microprocessor, as I remember reading something in the instructions about it detecting bad batteries.

That sounds positive. However, they all have microprocessors in them. Its just a question of how sophisticated they are. Cheap microprocessors simply have a timer. More advanced microprocessors have more features such as:

Bad battery detection
Overtime
Overload
Overheat
Over voltage protection
Non-rechargeable battery detection
Seperate charging mechanisms (rather than requiring batteries to be charged in pairs or fours)
% charging complete indicators (as opposed to just a light switching on and off)

AMO

MyUserNamesTaken

AMO wrote:

That sounds positive. However, they all have microprocessors in them. Its just a question of how sophisticated they are. Cheap microprocessors simply have a timer. More advanced microprocessors have more features such as:

Bad battery detection
Overtime
Overload
Overheat
Over voltage protection
Non-rechargeable battery detection
Seperate charging mechanisms (rather than requiring batteries to be charged in pairs or fours)
% charging complete indicators (as opposed to just a light switching on and off)

AMO

OKkk...

It detected the wrong type of rechargeables (alkaline) (flashes at me)
It detected batteries that were already charged (went off after a minute).
It detected non-rechargeable batteries (flashed at me).
It does separate charging for each battery (you don't need to pair them).
It has a built in fan to stop overheating.
It doesn't show % of charging complete, but I'd say this was down to it being a 30 minute charger.
It is definitely a charger you can use all over the world.

headcook

Picked up two of these today in Boots, Croydon. Will come in very handy for our robotaptor which seems to eat batteries!
Thanks to op.

aj2001

so i can charge just a one battery? so maybe i'll keep it and wont give it back i am confused as i have proper one from maplin. rechargables do save money and its cool for digital media.
aj I am very confused i am not sure if i should give it back or keep it.

EDIT: why does it have switch for selecting aaa or aa my maplin one doesnt it just has a slot wth contacts that needs folding so the aaa can fit.

check http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000255IU0/104-9134884-4835934?v=glance
and http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=product&id=1069297111512

greenfinger

Any of these left anywhere? looked in Cheltenham no sign of them, I off to Sedgley later, anyone know if there are any left in that direction? thank you, Tim

xueta

aj2001 wrote:

so i can charge just a one battery? so maybe i'll keep it and wont give it back i am confused as i have proper one from maplin. rechargables do save money and its cool for digital media.
aj I am very confused i am not sure if i should give it back or keep it.

EDIT: why does it have switch for selecting aaa or aa my maplin one doesnt it just has a slot wth contacts that needs folding so the aaa can fit.

Just got one of these as a second charger. It seems a good charger for the money.

As someone has already said 2050mAh isn't a particularly high capacity battery these days, but it's ok. It does say on the packaging that you can charge between 1 and 4 batteries. I'm not sure if this works on a timer system or an intelligent sensor system. There is no mention of an intelligent charging system on the packaging. However, I put in the 4 supplied batteries and 1 battery switched off after 23 minutes and the 3 others switched off simultaneously at 24 minutes - doesn't sound like a timer system (or it's a poor timer if it is! :rolleyes: ).

The AA/AAA switch at the side just lowers the metal contacts to fit either the AA or AAA size.

Anyway, for anyone looking in Boots I found these in a cardboard display stand by the photographic counter.