Billy X - Thank you. So which is the best way to terminate a NiMH battery in a charger ideally? I have been reading too many things lately and must have need for a refresher course!
Smart just means it actually detects when the battery is full instead of just charging on a timer only. Its harder the detect full charge with ni-mh than li-ion. Sometimes the charger can actually miss the change in the battery that indicates full charge (delta V) in which case the charger would use temperature (if it has a sensor) or just a dumb timer as the charge termination backup. Extra features would be measuring capacity and a refresh function.
DeltaV (aka ΔV) is the usual smart full charge detection / termination of charge.
As Billy X said TΔ is temperature delta. A temperature based smart method of full charge detection / termination of charge.
The BQ CC17 table listing "Charging control: TΔ /Timer" looks like an error to me. Should have also included ΔV since the description says it uses deltaV.
BQ CC16 is also smart but faster.
It has no display to show capacity. Measuring capacity is not needed for full charge detection / termination of charge.
Its not ideal that it refused to charge them but he did say they were old enough to be from pre-eneloop days. Old, worn batteries will look different to a charger. Some do refuse to charge them. It may be that the charger can no longer be sure they are ni-mh, impedance too high.
Do you mean cheap but good like the original TP4056? Nothing cheap since all the smart ΔV ni-mh charger chips are a few times more expensive than li-ion chips. They may never get to be as cheap since ΔV just seems harder to do.
_Having looked at HKJ’s this Enova charger has the temp bump at charge termination on the Eneloop graphs and is rated good for Ni-MH.this Enova charger does not have the temp bump and is rated as not fully charging the cells.
You have to scroll down just past the thermal imaging pictures.
Merry Christmas 
Smart charger was first used on NiCd chargers for all chargers that did not use timed charge, i.e. detected battery charge state and terminated when the battery was full, instead of just charging for a fixed time period.
Looking at the specifications for BQ-CC17 it looks like it barely fit the "smart charger" description: it has fixed time charging and will stop early if it gets hot (TΔ /Timer) (Depending on implementation it can be a valid smart charger termination).
The BQ-CC16 looks much better: Smart Charge1/-ΔV /Timer. I do also have a review of it, but I do not know when I will publish it.
The BQ CC17 description says it uses deltaV. The lack of ΔV on the spec table could be an error, no?
TΔ as a backup in case deltaV is missed.
HKJ - Thank you for your input. I did try to find any reviews of yours for any of the Panasonic/eneloop chargers but found none. Please publish your review as soon as it is convenient for you.
How about that BQ-CC15 I had found? The tech sheet does have the various charge currents specified.
I did this as a "backup" review to use if I do not have any other charger review ready. At the current time I do have a few chargers in queue and also reviews ready for some of them.
I could not find much info about it, but it may use a timed charge for 9V batteries (16 hours charge time sounds suspicious).
Well I found a page with multiple Sanyo Chargers but it may be dated as it seems Panasonic is making too much money to care about details in their marketing efforts these days. This is also from their Singapore regional office intended for South Asia distribution so models may have a different model number elsewhere. This is posted for the convenience of those who may wish to peruse the selections from Sanyo/Panasonic: http://panasonic.net/energy/eneloop/sg/?p=battery-chargers
I probably got ruined looking at all the various chargers since now I want a SkyRC MC3000 found in their catalog but not on their regular charger page. Their new 2015 pdf catalog can be gotten from here: http://www.skyrc.com/download/catalog.pdf
More news as it comes in!
Me too! Interesting thread on the other side about the SkyRC MC3000. I think a Spring launch was suggested (hope they mean Spring in the Northern hemisphere). 
Yes I saw that thread and have been following it. Now....to try to save what probably will be >$100.
An odd variation — I’m looking, for friends, for a charger that
— handles NiMH properly,
AND
— takes 18650-sized cells — that size cell, when it’s NiMH, is called a <a href=“”4/3AF”“\ - Google Search>”4/3AF” cell
Example: Sanyo 4/3AF 4500 mAh
(I gave them a couple of magnet-wire-alligator-clip extensions to use to charge this size cell with a regular Eneloop AA-size charger; that works but it’s clumsy)
So any li ion capable charger that handles nimh properly should also work? Li ion capable means 18650 will fit, nimh charging for the chemistry. im just spit balling as Ive not seen the battery you refer too.
Nitecore D4 or 2 should work, Opus BC3100, XTAR VC4 or 2?
Yep, and “inexpensive” I think rules out the Opus. That’s about what I came up with too, plus the latest version Nitecore I4/I2.
Nitecore i2 / i4
Niteore i2 for about $10-12 bucks….Best value for money imho.
The Nitecore i series are noted by HKJ as having potential issues re: nimh, fine for li ion, but theres potential to miss terminations in nimh, and iVe read two people state theyve cooked nimhs using them.
The D series uses -dv/dt so doesnt have the same issue. Not sure about a new i series though.
Nitecore I-series 2014 models supposedly fixed failure to terminate problem, but added a trickle charge problem.
“changed NiMH charging. With the added trickle charging the batteries will be filled, if they are left in the charger, but they will also be over charged if left to long, due to the high trickle current.” -hkj
The older I-series sometimes missed termination but didn’t trickle charge
> This Opus at $17
That’s AA/AAA only, doesn’t take 18650-length (4/3AF length) cells, which is what I’m looking for.
Opus BT-C3100 “charger is using a CC/CV algorithm for NiMH … uses trickle charging when the main charge is finished, this is not really a good idea for LSD cells.” — hkj
Xtar VC2 doesn’t charge NiMH; EDIT: VC4 does
VC2 doesn’t include a power supply; and requires USB 5v EDIT and that works out fine
Probably going with the Nitecore D2 or D4 I guess, unless something better shows up fairly soon.
I guess the rule is “good, inexpensive, fast — pick any two”
EDIT: I ended up happy with an Xtar XP4c (which has one slot that will cycle (discharge/charge NiMH) and an Xtar VC4 (for the meters showing voltages); I’m figuring the 500 mAh charge is acceptable for 950mAh Eneloop AAAs.
I’m happy with the Sanyo quick charger (MQR06). I bought it together with four Eneloop Pro AA. It looks very much like the Panasonic Quick Charger (BQ CC16) so it might be the same product just with a different name. I think it’s a pretty good deal when you buy it together.
> Sanyo
Yep. Looks like a fine charger for AA/AAA cells.
It won’t accept the 4/3AF size NiMH cells though.