Any thoughts on a reliable 4 AA NiMH charger capable of charging the new higher powered AA’s would be appreciated.
I bought a Radio Shack charger which came with 4 1800 ma RS AA’s. I keep pretty good records of the number of charges for each set of batteries (an old habit from Nicad Camcorder days) and this charger has died after only 18 charge cycles in 11 months. 1800 ma batteries are all that were ever used. Needless to say I’m not going to get another on from Radio Shack.
Not good luck at all, Bob. I’m currently using a Ray-0-Vac charger ( over a year, now ) with no problems . I use it quite a bit ( it also handles AAA NiMh cells ) .
Are you sure the charger itself is dead, and that’s rather not the power adapter ? Sometimes, twisting cables around units to store them actually damaged the cable and it end up broken (inside) after a few months.
I changed my Kodak charger for an Energizer one (when I put higher rated batteries and it died). I’ve been using it for almost a year now, charging 1 set of batteries every two weeks. No problem.
The thing I liked about the Radio Shack was no transformer, no wires. The wall plug folds into the back and it was very compact for travel. I’ve opened it and checked continuity as far as the circuit board and it is getting power. Probably better off with an external tranformer.
One vote for Ray-O-Vac and one for Energizer, so far.
I bought a Professional Digital Power2000 AA&AAA Rapid Battery Charger (Model XP555) with 4 AA NiMH batteries from B&H Photo in conjunction with the purchase of a Canon A80. It’s a compact unit with a fold-out plug like the Radio Shack Unit described by Bob. Too early to tell about its longevity, of course, but it looks pretty robust.
Robert, I would have stayed with Kodak if the stored had carried it at the time I had to bought a replacement, since it died because of my fault, not because it wasn’t built right.
I used an Eveready Energizer CHM4AA, that will handle AAA, AA and 9V NiCad or NiMH (one size/type at a time of course) for about a year, and it functioned quite nicely. Unfortunately it is a "timer" type charger and needs to run about 15hrs for the 1850mAh AA’s I am using. No cord, plugs in directly (meaning the prongs stick out)
I’ve recently purchased a Maha MH-C401FS that will handle AA and AAA, NiCad or NiMH. It uses four, individually controlled, channels and will re-charge 2200mAh NiMH’s in either 100 minutes or 5 hours (your choice). A little pricey, charger with 8, 2200mAh AA Powerex NiMH’s came in to almost CDN$120, delivered. The charger uses a small, vertical, power brick, and also came with a 12V car adapter.
Haven’t run all my batteries through yet, but it seems to work well and handles the different capacity batteries without trouble. I’ve used the 5 hour charge option and there is no noticable heating of the batteries.
I’ve had two chargers…the first one I don’t even remember the name of…I gave it to my son with an old Nikon Coolpix 950. It had the folding plug, and worked perfectly for several years, but it took about 12 hours to charge a set of four AA’s. The new one I have now takes 3 or 4 hours to charge 4-AA’s but it will also charge any combination of AA’s and AAA’s. It cost the princely sum of $16, INCLUDING a set of four 1800 ma-hr AA’s. I’ve only had it for a couple of months, so I can’t speak of long-term reliability. The brand is X1 Charge Pro, and it automatically detects Ni-CD or Ni-MH, AA or AAA batteries. No switches to get wrong. Our local Fry’s store has several different chargers in this price range. I was stunned to see an earlier post that mentioned paying $120 Canadian for a charger and batteries. Yikes! Bert
The Radio Shack equivalent is C$69.99 with 4 batteries and another C$29.99 for a second set of batteries, plus taxes (15%) and you wind up with a Radio Shack charger! So, I figured for an extra 5 bucks, what the heck!
Is the Varta a German product that used to come in some autos? I remember having problems with it’s car battery. It wouldn’t keep a charge after less than a year. But then it was thirty years ago.
Thanks for all the good answers. As it turned out I ended up with what I could find easily and quickly. Two sets of dead batteries has that effect. I ended up in a local Walmart and found a US$25.00 Ray-O-Vac with separate transformer that will charge (they claim) 4 AA’s in 1 hour. The Radio Shack took overnight. Also charges AAA’s and 9 volt and can work from the car. Has a 1 year warranty instead of 90 days from Radio Shack. I didn’t get the ability to charge above 1800 Ma but since my Olympus gets about 100 shots (without flash) on a single charge I guess I’ll be OK. Have to stop and download to the laptop after 80 or so anyway. Maybe I should get another Smart Card.
Robert thanks…but lately i’m kicking myself in the butt. It needs updating badly. Busy doing this and that and the other stuff and more other stuff ( all photoshop stuff mind you 😉 )…but I really MUST get to that soon !
Robert, Watch the ads…you can pick up SM cards cheap…they are approaching obsolescence. I have six 128MB cards…with my Oly E-20, each card holds only 33 pix in SHQ mode, but that’s 200, and I transfer them to an IBM 1GB microdrive, and I have almost 500 pix capacity. The E-20 also takes CF cards, and I watch for specials and pick up 256 and 512 cards when the price is right. Bert
