Recommend a battery charger

Ebe_Scrooge

I've got an "intelligent" battery charger that I use for AA and AAA batteries, but recently it's been playing up.  Sometimes if I put a battery in to charge, it'll say "Null" on the display and won't attempt to charge that battery.  If I take the battery out, stick it in my old cheap 'n' cheerful "dumb" charger for a while, then stick it back in, it'll start charging.  I know rechargeables don't last forever, but this happens even with pretty new batteries.  Can anyone recommend a decent - not too expensive - charger that will do AA and AAAs, ideally with individual circuits so I can charge 1 or 3 at a time without having to do them in pairs or sets of 4?

Yes, I can still use my old dumb charger, but I'm always a bit OCD that it'll overcharge/overheat them, so don't like leaving it on unattended - hence why I went for an "intelligent" one in the first place.

chrisw

Ive had one of these for a few years and does the job:-

https://www.7dayshop.com/products/lloytron-ultra-fast-4-channel-lcd-intelligent-aa-and-aaa-ni-mh-battery-charger-wh2-b1504

Norman_Castle

I use a dumb charger with a plug in timer.

Ebe_Scrooge

Thanks for the replies.  Chrisw, that looks like the kind of thing I'm after, and not at all expensive, might look at getting one :-) But Norman_Castle, that is a genius idea !  I've got a timer kicking around in a drawer somewhere, never thought of that.  Thanks both :-)

billn

I don't think there is anything wrong with your smart charger unless we have exactly the same fault, mine has always done the same and I solve it in the same way as you, I think if the battery is fully discharged the "smart" part of the charger detects this as a fault.

Norman_Castle

http://convert-to.com/491/recharging-rechargeable-nimh-nicd-batteries.html

esuhl

A bit pricey, but I have a TechnoLine BL700N.

https://www.batterylogic.co.uk/technoline-bl700n-battery-charger.asp

You can discharge a cell before charging (to avoid the memory-effect), refresh a cell (repeatedly charge/discharge to forcibly recover an old/dead cell), measure the capacity of a cell... or just charge it normally... in which case you case choose between 200, 500 and 700 mA of current.  When the cells are charged, the current is cut to a trickle.

The display shows the charging current, cell voltage, charged power (mAh), time charging, "Full" when the battery is charged, etc.  And the buttons allow you to change the charge, mode or display settings for each cell independently.

And it gets good reviews...  (Yeah... I'm still desperately trying to convince myself that it was worth the money!  But it is a good charger...)

billn

esuhl said:

A bit pricey, but I have a TechnoLine BL700N.

That is the charger I have, in my reply I wrote smart instead off intelligent. It is a good charger but still shows a fault if the battery is completely flat,

chrisw

esuhl said:

A bit pricey, but I have a TechnoLine BL700N.

Damn. I want one of those now.

SteveJW

chrisw said:

esuhl said:

A bit pricey, but I have a TechnoLine BL700N.

Damn. I want one of those now.

7 day shop used to do a smart charger that looks exactly like the TechnoLine BL700N, all the same functions
Had one for a good few years
Appears to be no longer available

pallyman

Lidl chargers are good and charge most types of batteries.