New Battery Charging technology? Any good?

Bargain.hunter_4

Hi all,

I have just seen this on the web

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/Battery-Chargers/Elonex/Elonex-Revive-Alkaline-Battery-Charger

and was wondering if anyone has one of these and if it is any good.

Apparently it claims to recharge normal disposable batteries.

I guess my question is, how good are these, and if you recharge your normal batteries, how much charge do you actually get out of them and will they be safe to use?

Also, I have seen batteries explode when recharged by mistake, anyone have any idea how these guys overcome this?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

fwor

It's not really new technology - I have an Innovations charger that does much the same thing, and it's at least 15 years old!

Typically they use a complex charging cycle, and they are designed to be able to detect over-current events so that the batteries don't over-heat and/or explode.

I recharged alkaline batteries for a few years, and the experience was a mixed one. You don't get much capacity back from batteries that have been slowly discharged (e.g. in clocks, remote controls, etc), but you get perhaps 60% back for fast discharged ones - e.g. those used in cameras. This drops away quickly each subsequent recharge.

The main problem I had was the occasional battery leak, and I eventually came to the conclusion that, for the money saved, the risk of wrecking an expensive LED torch (or whatever) wasn't worth it. I use mainly NiMh rechargables now, as there are some very good ones available.

espresso

Why buy one of those when you can get a good deltaV charger here for £10 less. Rechargeables here

Bargain.hunter_4

Thought as much and agree, dont want to ruin my camera, or even worse have battery acid coming out of the kids toys.

Will stick with what I know. Thanks for the feedback.

fwor wrote: »

It's not really new technology - I have an Innovations charger that does much the same thing, and it's at least 15 years old!

Typically they use a complex charging cycle, and they are designed to be able to detect over-current events so that the batteries don't over-heat and/or explode.

I recharged alkaline batteries for a few years, and the experience was a mixed one. You don't get much capacity back from batteries that have been slowly discharged (e.g. in clocks, remote controls, etc), but you get perhaps 60% back for fast discharged ones - e.g. those used in cameras. This drops away quickly each subsequent recharge.

The main problem I had was the occasional battery leak, and I eventually came to the conclusion that, for the money saved, the risk of wrecking an expensive LED torch (or whatever) wasn't worth it. I use mainly NiMh rechargables now, as there are some very good ones available.