Best NiMh Charger

BTW, I have 3 Panasonic BQ-CC17’s I got from Costco. Great reliable chargers, but very slow. Not that’s a bad thing. That said, I still love my C9000 for it’s analyzing/ refreshing/ break-in functions.

My CC17 sits in a drawer somewhere. I just like all the detail that my other chargers provide, not to mention they can charge quite a bit faster.

Yes, any NiMH AA or AAA battery.

BTW, whatever charger you get, try to get one that does not do any “trickle charge” after the main charge is complete. One thing Eneloops (or any low-self-discharge NiMH cell) hate, is to be over-charged. A trickle-charge is designed for NON-low-self-discharge cells. If you do a trickle-charge on a low-self-discharge cell, it will overcharge it. This is reduce it’s life-span and capacity, if you do it regularly.

I bought a Foxnovo Digital Battery Charger 4S back in February 2016.

I like that when I put the batteries into the slots, the charger recognizes the Li-ion or Ni-MH/Ni-CD battery automatically and the LCD shows the present voltage and charging capacity.This let’s me see how much capacity I have used after my daily flashlight walk.It helps me know just how much real time I have on high settings on all my flashlights when walking at night.

Being able to discharge and recharge a battery helps me see the real capacity and know the quality of the battery.This is a very valuable feature. It does a great job at rapidly charging many different types of batteries. I normally use the .5a setting.

It comes with a DC 12V Car Adapter but I have never used it.

The ability to turn the beeping sound on or off would be good.

Yes, I can second that. If you want an analyzing charger then OPUS BT-C2000 is an excellent choice. I have a clone/rebrand - EverActive NC3000 - and I like it. A bit bulky, but it has a reliable internal resistance meter - a very good indicator of battery health.

If you want simple then Panasonic BQ-CC17 is a good choice. It has a battery health indicator as well - solid LED to indicate a good battery, flashing LED to indicate a bad battery. I like the simplicity of BQ-CC17.

I bought a C9000 the first year of production and have not looked back. They did replace the unit for a firmware issue somewhere in year 2 and all I had to do was ask for the replacement.

Check reviews by HKJ; best quick source of info. I would still recommend the BQ-CC17 charger as being easy, foolproof, and gentle on the batteries. Slow speed is a possible drawback (allow overnight) but it will fill - and not overfill - and there are no settings to mess up. Any Xtar charger for lithiums; I am partial to VC2 (not VC2 plus). These are reasonably priced entries until you get more involved in this stuff.

Yes the BQ-CC17 from the Costco packs like everyone else already said. It’s a no brainer smart charger. If you can hold out until Nov/Dec, those packs at Costco drop to as low as ~$20. A steal since it includes batteries. I own 2 of these packs currently.

Personally, I do not consider it that slow of a charger. It is 4x750mA.

Also, FYI, HKJ has reviewed the BQ-CC17.

Just read HKJ’s review. It is positive, but termination does seem to be dv/dt. He makes no mention of thermal cut-off/termination.

Not to get too far off topic, but does anyone have any idea if Costco will in fact get Eneloops back in? I’ve seen them before, and once I deiced to some, they were long gone. I’ve been to several, both in FL and GA, and no eneloops, so I just presumed they would not longer carry them.

Does the bqcc17 tell when a cell is dead / should be replaced?

I’m pretty sure it flashes the LED if you try to charge a bad cell. So far I haven’t had an issue with bad cells

Yes, it will flash if the cell is bad. I get this on some very very old NiMH cells. Basically, it just measures the internal resistance, and if it’s too high it won’t charge the cell. This is also how it detects alkaline batteries, and won’t charge them.

Is the Ikea charger any good? I have one bought in a pinch during a road trip.

I use Ansmann for my RC needs and thought the quality was excellent. also have the VC4 (xtar) but it is a slow charger, at least for me (usb vs. ac)

Another vote for Panasonic BQ-CC17. It’s a simple and overall a great smart charger. Might be slow, yes, but doesn’t overheat batteries, is easy use to use, does not trickle charge and can detect dead batteries. I don’t think the slow charging is such a big drawback. I just plug it and let it charge batteries overnight or in the morning, before going to work. Have been using it for 10 months, and it’s a rock solid charger.

Which one do you mean? HKJ tested 3:
Ikea Ladda YH-990BF
Charger Ikea Vinninge
Charger Ikea Storhögen

I use the first one if I just want to charge some batteries fast (it charges at 1A) and don’t care about analyzing. The batteries do get a bit warm though, so not sure whether it fits the requirements of the OP.

The second one I take on holidays as an emergency charger, but I haven’t needed to use it yet. I wouldn’t use it unless really needed.

Just to bump this thread, but what would be second choice for similar criteria? The BQ-CC17 isn’t available in a UK plug and EU>UK adaptors never work very well for big plug mounted devices.

Something that also did C and D batteries would be ideal.

You’re into a bigger charger, once you want C and D cell charging. For NiMH only, I use an Accumanger 20. It’s an old charger (not sure if they still make them, but you can still find them for sale), and will do all kinds of NiMH cells (AAA, AA, C, D, and 9v). 4 slots, and you can mix cell types if you want.

Or, for an all chemistry charger, I like the Nitecore SC4. It does 3 kinds of lithium-ion chemistry, as well as NiMH. It’s a 4-slot charger, but you can only charge 2 D cells at a time because of their width. This is a new charger, and definitely easy to buy.

If you don’t need to charge D cells often, I’d go with the Nitecore.