Energizer 15-Minute Battery Charger Kit With Car Adapter
by Energizer Batteries
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Energizer 15-Minute Battery Charger Kit With Car Adapter
Customer Review: Great Product Beats the rest
Summary: 5 Stars
You cant beat this charger. Batteries are ready in 15 minutes and the last a long time.Customer Review: ya it CHARGES in 15min
Summary: 5 Stars
BUT HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?any 1 hr charger can charge in 15 min but they don't last longCustomer Review: Initial Impressions are Very Good
Summary: 4 Stars
After an unimpressive experience with NiMH about 4 years ago and throwing away numerous non-rechargeable Lithium primary batteries from my shoe-mount camera flashes since then, I decided it was worth giving NiMH cells another shot.
So far, things are much improved. Energizer has excellent rechargeable batteries by reputation, and initial impressions of this charger are favorable.
What I like:
- 4 independent charging circuits. This means it charges each battery individually, rather than treating each pair as though it were a single battery. Since batteries in series are limited by the weakest battery, this is important because it ensures that each individual battery is topped-off.
- 25 mA pulse maintenance charge after initial charging period (100 mA spread among the 4 circuits is 25 mA per battery). This means I can leave batteries in the charger indefinitely without worry because this is a slow enough charge rate for any quality NiMH AA battery to tolerate.
- Even in fast charge (1,875 mA), the batteries stay cool due to the fan. In fact, even when charging at 1,875 mA in this charger, batteries are cooler than in my old 700 mA charger.
- Detects reverse polarity and primary batteries. If I get stupid and accidentally put a non-rechargeable battery in this, or if I put a battery in backwards, the charger will refuse to charge it instead of blowing it up. That's nice.
- Detects battery voltage and temperature to intelligently shut itself off. Some of the more inexpensive chargers are simply timer-based, which can leave you with batteries that are overcharged and damaged, or that are undercharged.
What I dislike:
- Power adapter is huge. This is not a convenient travel charger. On the other hand, the power adapter does stay cool, which is a positive thing. And it does draw 85 watts during fast-charge mode, so a smaller adapter probably isn't an option.
- It is LOUD during fast-charge. Definitely not something to plug in right before going to bed at night. This is the price to pay for keeping the batteries cool. Thankfully, the fan shuts off in trickle-charge mode.
Customer Review: Decent Battery Charger
Summary: 4 Stars
I am not crazy about this product, I have both positive and negative feelings toward it.
The charger works good for some products at certain times. I don't mean the batteries don't last long for machines pulling a lot of juice or that they last long for machines that don't. It is kind on mixed. I would get great performance out of my digital camera one day and then horrible the next. I expect this is resulting from the charger not fully or evenly charging batteries. Its like it has a mind of it own, either that it is the batteries.
I know with certain batteries they have a memory and if not charge properly the first time it can be ruined. I don't think this is the case with these types of batteries, plus I followed the instructions. So I am not sure 100% sure why the charger or the batteries are not fully charged at times. I just know it to be fact it happens.
It doesn't happen often and I have gotten a better performance out of the machine than a negative one, that's why the 4 stars. As well as I have used other brands before which were a flop and died after a year. I have had this one for going on two. A lot of things change in two years, I recommend seeing what else has popped up on the market before buying. This does have its faults but is also works rather well as well.
It all depends on you and what you expect from a product. It works but it also have faults, choose to live with them or seek a new product. I would definitely keep searching and come back to this if you don't like what you find.
Customer Review: Too Fast without Pause to Think
Summary: 4 Stars
A fast charger is an ideal way to work with NiMH cells. Fast charging doesn't seem to impractically shorten cell life but I think the 15 minute charger rejects too many good cells. The price of NiMH cells has dropped considerably, while capacity has increased. 4 AA Energizer 2300mAH cells run for under $7, and quality no name brands for half that. So, even if cell life has been reduced from its high of 500 charges, its reasonable to replace cells sooner, to insure high performance were NiMH cells are used. The 15-minute charger is also apt to reject marginally bad cells than slower chargers, further fueling a consumer to buy more batteries.
The fan is an excellent addition, because the charged cells are cooler to touch than the older model 30-minute charger, suggesting they are stressed less despite the faster charge. Alas, it has only one LED indicator, and when it flashes that a cell is defective, one cannot instantly detect which of the 4 charging cells it is: you need to test each one individually to see which one triggered the error light. Further, one has to cell swap to insure its not the charging chamber that is defective. If Energizer dedicated one LED per charge chamber, it would help troubleshoot and identify status of each battery much better.