oh wow I haven’t heard about that one. it’s almost the same price but has all of the displays and a cool color! That might be the one. thanks Chloe! I know bort said break-in isn’t very important but what exactly does it do?
I have no idea about break-in, but at a guess maybe for some batteries it is necessary to discharge and recharge ~10 times to achieve full capacity?
Eneloops are designed to be used out of the pack, so I use them as such. 
I think if I wanted to babysit my batteries I would have chosen lithium rechargeables! :bigsmile:
Going from dumb wall chargers to a smart AA/AAA charger that has a refresh and test modes, as well as discharge and charge- well it’s awesome. It tells you how good or bad your batteries are, so you can keep track of them over time. I think the test and refresh are really great tools- If it was a choice between saving $15 or getting a charger with the LCD/capacity readout, I’d go with the latter rather than saving the money personally.
On the other hand the i4 consolidates the amount of chargers you have laying around if you also have Li-ions.
yeah my initial though was to just buy the nice charger and ‘gift’ one of the old ones to a buddy…but they’re all so nice! i would give the wp2 away, but it’s my only one that has usb charging capabilities. then the wp6…well it charges 6 at once! the nitecore will be my only charger that will handle so many types of cells. i may just have to get another one and keep them all! whew this site is trouble :~
Well, I don’t think you necessarily need to buy a new charger. If you know to discharge fully once in a while, the i4 should be fine.
The Angeleyes also has temperature monitor as well as checking the voltage, which is nice for peace of mind. I only ran into this with my dumb Uniross wall charger that works by timer (!!!) and the cells got too hot as a result.
I do still want a little USB charger for my eneloops (like this little Sanyo), because it will be handy when traveling.
Keep in mind: the I4 also charges lithium-ion cells. That’s a BIG plus.
I have a Maha C-9000 for NIMH and a I4 for lithium.
When i travel, i only take the I4, as it can charge both kind of chemistries.
WARNING!
I had that angeleyes charger.
It almost always overheated my NIMH cells! Stay away from it! And was very inconsistent with the charges.
If you want the BEST NIMH charger, go for the MAHA MH-C9000
Maybe yours was faulty? What type of batteries were you charging?
I exchanged it two times. Maybe the batch that went to my country had a lot of faulty units.
NIMH batteries, eneloops. With my maha charger at 1Ah rate, they get only slighty warm.
Remember: the best charge rate for NIMH batteries is 0.5C to 1C.
A good charger must have dv/dt, Tº and timer for termination.
The angeleyes seemed not to terminate correctly, hence, overheat.
Wow that doesn’t sound good. 
Do you know whether the “u30” displayed on boot is the software version?
Well, I have discharged and charged some eneloops with mine today (one AA and two AAA) and it seems to terminate properly. Cells were only a little warm. I also tried to charge three “known dead” AA Uniross and it flashed, same with a pair of Philips AAA I wasn’t sure about (eneloopy doesn’t like these two either, always red nose). I will keep an eye on my charger just in case.
I bought a MAHA C9000 and I have been very happy with it. I have also found that after the newness has worn off, I’m more and more interested in just getting the batteries charged. I just want to pop them in a charger and take them out when they are done. MAHA is adjustable for when you want to charge a little faster but I’m liking the simpleness of my inteli4.because it charges my LiOn batteries too. I have not heard that it is important to discharge MiMh batteries all the way down before recharging them. That is important with NiCad batteries because they have a memory.
I really don’t worry about my Enloops and how many times they will recharge anymore. By the time they wear out, I will probably be dead or batteries will have improved to the point that I will want new ones anyway.
If they’re a little warm, it’s perfect. If they are hot to touch, stop using the charger.
To confirm the charge current, you could use a multimeter.
I have both, but the algorithm that the maha uses is better. The I4 uses a lower current (more time to charge the battery), and does not use a dt/dt algorithm so i wonder the end of charge detection is good. It seems good because the battery do not heat up, and checking the charge with the maha, it’s almost as good, but still, makes me wonder.
Also, if you charge AA eneloops, you just pop them and after 10 seconds the maha starts a 1Ah charge, perfect for 2100mAh eneloops. No buttons, just pop in the battery in the charger.
About the discharge of NiMH: Is good to do a full recycle every 20-30 cycles. Remember the rates: 2100mAh cell: 1000mAh charge, 500mAh discharge. 2 hours rest after charge and after discharge.
I’ve not had any trouble from either of my Angeleyes. OK, they are less flexible than the Maha C9000 - but around here, the best price for a Maha would buy me three Angeleyes. And leave me enough for a (small) beer.
Mine have never overheated a cell - ever and I’ve had them for years.
I do remember reading somewhere that for 1G Eneloops (I have quite a lot of these) they should not be charged above 950mA. But I’ve never been able to find that again.
On finding them at Fasttech, I’ve got another one on its way to me just now.
Some of the C9000s have been known to have issues too.
But I’ve heard too many horror stories about LaCrosse chargers (mainly the BC-900 but I have heard such stories about the 700 too) to ever touch one. The Other Plaice used to have lots of discussion about these devices - if they haven’t lost it in one or other of their blowups.
Some misinformation i’ve seen on this thread (correct me if i’m wrong with references please)
NiMH don’t have a memory effect (or if they do its negligible) and will last longer if charged as needed, fully discharging before charging has little capacity effect and uses up more cycles (out of the 500-1500 on the eneloops)
Charging above 0.5C also reduces longevity, they can be quick charged, but charging at 500ma or less will give the most charge cycles. (some non eneloop batteries i have won’t take over 200ma, they either terminate early or get too hot to hold even though they are less then 60% charged)
Hi Bort, the info I posted about refresh and break-in were taken from the manual that came with my Angeleyes charger.
What you said about charging non-eneloops is interesting. I have some Philips 750mAh AAA's that the Angeleyes does not want to charge, yet they hold some charge (enough to light a Tank007 TK-703) and can be charged with my old Uniross dumb wall charger, but this charger makes the batteries hot.
Since I have some dead Uniross NiMH¹ that have bubbled wrapping from repeated charging in the Uniross charger I don't believe heat is good for batteries. I was charging them almost every day since I used them with a digital camera.
1. I hope these won't explode or leak. I know I should throw them out but I want to dispose of them properly.
i’m guessing the fully discharge information was recycled from Nicad batteries
i have some duracell 2650 mah that terminate prematurely on charging at 500ma or higher, and a crummy rayovac model that heats up like an incandescent lightbulb if i try 500ma
wow yeah thanks everyone for the info. I got my i4 today and compared to my crappy charger it is night and day already! I think I will stick with this for a while and research a bit more before I make a decision. but for new cells I would say the 375 ma per channel will be fine (and believe it or not, it’s a lot faster than the other charger I was using). as my cells get older i will definitely get a charger with more functions.
also, I was under the impression nimh was best to discharge all of the way before putting them back on the charger…but are you saying that topping the cells off early is better than draining and recharging? this is how I have been charging my li-ions and I from what i understand, 2 half charges on li-ions is about equal to 1 full charging cycle off of the batteries and is easier on them in the long run. plus it’s nice to keep them topped up. so is this okay to do with nimh as well?
I keep my nimh fully charged, there is no data i know of that say this reduces their life
li ion on the other hand age faster when kept at full charge, 40% is supposed to be best for longevity, but from what i am told up to 80% is fine too
yeah i just top up the few li-ions that I regularly use. the rest are kept around 3.7V. are nimhs alright to keep fully charged?