Best Inexpensive NiMH Charger?

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.

XTAR VC series will do nimh, its the VP that does not. PSU can be just a run of the mill USB phone charger, a 2.1 amp tablet version would be better. Most modern smart phone PSU are 1 amp, so a VC2 would be getting somewhere near 500ma each. If going with the VC4 Id use my tablet PSU so again each slot could get somewhere near 500ma, a VC2 would be able to do near 1 amp per slot with the same PSU.

I’m relying on this review for that:
http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Xtar%20VC2%20UK.html

Yeah OK, hadnt noticed the VC2 is li ion only, the VC4 is both. Well thats embarrassing. I wonder why that is? Maybe a new VC2 is on the way and the one you link predates the VC4?

Yep, VC4 is different:

and — hmmm, slightly longer slot, hkj says: “cells from 30mm to 71 mm long.”
That’s a plus, for what I’m looking for — for the 4/3AF NiMH size.

The VC2 is replaced by an improved — NiMH capable — VC2+Master
(thread goes offtopic after about 16 responses, no need to wade through it all)

I don’t have one; I”m happy with an XtarWP2H, and nowadays that’s what I’d give people who want to charge NiMH from AAA on up, as it fits the 18650-sized 4/3AF NiMH cells.

Tenergy TN142 2-Bay AA/AAA NiMH Fast Battery Charger

I have a Panasonic four channel charger which is cheap and good but not made anymore. I bought an Xtar Vc4 from GearBest, they were sometimes doing them for about $20, a bargain price, you need to follow the sales threads here, but clearly I do not know if and when they will do it again.

Which one did u buy ( Ni-Mh )

I know this is an older thread.........

Nitecores are great for Li-ions and will work with Nimh BUT the Opus 3100 does a better job with Nimh. I tried using the D4 for Nimh but it does not seem to want to finish/terminate properly and the batteries get hot. I was going to buy a dedicated Nimh charger, and probably still will for my parents, but I went back and read the review for the Opus 3100 and tried that. Viola!! Perfect!

The advantage about the Opus 3100 is that:

  1. You can also discharge for break-in/conditioning Nimh
  2. It can analyze the batteries (as well as any can for this amount of money)
  3. It will also do the Li-ions at 4.35

It is more than $15 but for an additional $15 you get more than twice the charger.

Note: If I recall correctly, the Opus 3100 does not do the LifeP04 but I know the Nitecore D4 will do that for me.

The same internal switch that makes the opus a 4.35v charger also have a 3.7v mode :wink:

I have a lacrosse but just bought an eneloop bq-cc17 as a gift
since it has independent channels. the charger with 4 eneloops is $16.21 on amazon right now. it’s slow @200 but IMO way better than the paired cell chargers at stores like walmart.

I don’t know what inexpensive means, and what “best” means but the Lii-400 does a pretty good job with NiMHs, it terminates on -ΔV so it fills batteries completely. It also charges 3.7V LiIons as a bonus. For a $21-$25 charger I think it’s great.

I use an Duracell model CEF21. It charges individual cells. Is it a smart charger?

The Ikea Ladda charger is worth a mention: Review of Charger Ikea Ladda YH-990BF
I bought it because one of the channels of my BC-700 is not working properly anymore, and I have some sets of 4 that I need to charge pretty quickly. With 1A per channel, it is charging AA cells at the recommended rate, and does dV/dT termination on each cell individually. It was only 10 euro at Ikea, which I think is a very good price. There are not that many inexpensive chargers that can charge 4 cells at 1A. The cells do get a bit warm at the end of the charge though, I measured around 50C.

Some time ago, when someone else needed a simple but good quick charger, I advised the Sanyo MQR06, which was a good deal together with Eneloop batteries. That has also been working well for charging sets of 2 AAs quickly. If I remember correctly, it can charge 2 batteries at 1.3A each, with more it’s slower. I think it also has the possibility to charge a single cell even faster, but that might not be good for the lifespan of the cell. I think the newer Panasonic BQ-CC16 is similar, although I don’t see the very quick single cell mode in de review: Review of Charger Panasonic BQ-CC16