NiMH charger for my father

Any suggestions for a good, simple and safe NiMH charger for my dad?

At least 4 bays, reverse polarity protection, non rechargeable or bad cell detection, stop when the battery is full…

Thanks in advance

You can buy 4 Eneloops and get the bundled charger almost for free. It’s somewhat slow but it uses a better algorithm than many of the multi-chemestry chargers.

I’m not sure if detecting non rechargeable cells is possible at all.

Dlyfull D1, fast & reliable.

Probably needs translation: DLYFULL D1 Smart Charger | Taschenlampen Forum

I’ll second the recommendation for the regular Eneloop charger. I’m not sure if there is a newer one but mine is model BQ-CC55. It has four slots and can charge 1-4 batteries from different charge levels simultaneously. It uses colored lights to indicate charging level. It can handle AA or AAA just fine. I’ve never tried putting one in upside down so I can’t comment on that. What I do know is that mine has worked reliably for over a year with well over thirty batteries in circulation, both regular white Eneloops and the black Eneloop Pros.

I like the Ikea charger as tested by HKJ https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Ikea%20Ladda%20YH-990BF%20UK.html

It has physical reverse insertion protection and charges quickly. The Ikea Ladda 2450 is a good cell as well.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/ladda-battery-charger-60241308/

Thank you very much.

My dad had a charger and ¿nimh? batteries years ago, but… an old (now vintage) and bad charger, and bad batteries… now, when I talk with him about rechargeable batteries, he says: shit!!.

Now he doesn’t know where the charger is, and use alkaleaks.

So I have been looking for simple and better chargers and batteries (eneloop!) for him.
Even “LESS” simple. Panasonic eneloop chargers, Xtar VC4 (too slow?), Nitecore I4 or D4, Dlyfull T1 (new and no reviews), Powerex C9000 (non reverse polarity protection?)…

One option is the panasonic eneloop BQ-CC17.Is it better than the BQ-CC55? I think the BQ-CC55 is, “quick”?

About the Dlyfull D1, I have read the HKJ review…

“The charger works well for AA/AAA NiMH at 2000mAh or lower, but due to a time limit cannot full charge empty high capacity NiMH cells (if the cell is only partially discharged it will work fine). There is some trickle charge at around 40mA.”

Unheard, thanks, I will translate it.

About the ikea chargers, I will take a look at this.

Yeah.

Old NiMH chargers used to absolutely destroy my NiMH cells, and I didn’t know that when I was younger, and neither did my father.

Anyway, a quality NiMH charger is very important when charging NiMH cells for the obvious reason stated above.

I would go with the BQ-CC17. I had a quick charger (similar to the CC-55) kill off some old no-name NIMH’s cells that I had. I use the CC-17 more than any other charger and I have never had a problem - it’s slow but it treats cells very well. I only use the quick charger when I really need it, which is rare.

Thanks!!!

I’ve used the BQ-CC55 for over a year now. It charges quickly. I haven’t noticed any real changes in performance, but I do have a ton of Eneloops in circulation. Will this charger really hurt name-brand Eneloop or Eneloop Pro batteries? Will the BQ-CC17 really be that much better for the long term function of these batteries?

I use an iq-328 for my NiMH needs, hasn’t let me down yet and it’s going on like 5-6 years now.

It works much better than any of my multi-chemistry chargers, hits termination spot on 100% of the time, selectable charge rate, analizer and refresh function…

I’m always buying the newest / best li ion charger, never once felt the need to “upgrade” the iq-328

Thank you very much for the advice. :+1: :+1: :+1:

Hey, howbow one of those Tenavolt setups? 4 cells, each cell has a Li cell inside with protection/charging circuit.

Vipon and Slickdeals had coupons for them, SD very recently.

Prime’s unnecessary, as I ordered a set no problem.

Tenavolts? I have read about them.
Thanks

Tenavolts (on special @ $11-12) are actually pretty decent. Simple charger, that is easy to use (unless you KNOW what you are doing use only their charger). Cells seem well made and work well. I’ve ended up with 12 of ’em, and I have dozens of NiMh.

Same here. :person_facepalming:

I am also searching for a good choice, for Ni-MH-charger.

As I noticed on my search, most Ni-MH-chargers are many years on the market and a bit “frumpy”…for example the Opus BT-C700 and some Panasonic-chargers.

New models mostly are universal-chargers.

Does it harm the Ni-MH battery, to charge it with such an universal-charger, line Nitecore UMS4 or Vapcell S4+ for example?

I just got a, Universal smart charger, MiBoxer C4 V3 this year. Replaced an old Xtar for Lion and a LaCrosse BC700 for nimh.

Seems to me that this is a much better charger for the nimh than the dedicated BC700 it replaced. With the BC700 I typically set it to 500 mA for AA and 200 mA for AAA. This usually worked fine and I thought all was good except for the occasional time when it would cut off early or more rarely keep charging when I thought it should have quit.

The MiBoxer is a completely different animal when used in its default “smart” mode. I did not realize how much variance in internal resistance my cells have. Some cells charge much faster and some much slower based on the resistance. All cells end up charging without noticeable extra “leakage” energy going into the charge. I have to believe this is better for the batteries than my old dedicated charger. Could be that the newer ones are even better and that a dedicated would indeed be a better choice. From my experience I am more than happy with my universal charger and see no need to get a dedicated one for each chemistry.