Hi,
There is a long way to go before I end up here. I was reading battery reviews, and they said it is good to have a charger with a trickle charge, so I went to check if mine had one. The only website having some actual information on my charger GP Recyko + was lygte-info.dk, where I read that the trickle charge is a bit too high and HKJ wouldn’t charge eneloops on it. So I was like, oh no! I need a new charger.
Two weeks later, and I’m here. Choice paralysis got me again. Before that was keyboard enthusiasts’ forums, an even bigger rabbit hole than chargers.
I will be charging mainly eneloops and eventually 1.5V in the future. A capacity checker and repair modes would be nice.
I have narrowed my search to a few options.
BQ-CC65 seems perfect for me, but for £42, I can get something more advanced and future-proof for LiIon.
X4 HKJ says it’s a good charger. It charges four NiMH at the same speed. No, 1.5V and quite pricey for its age. £30
VX4 This was my first pick. Mainly for the USB C PD as I have some PD devices but no charger, and charger is included in £25. But it charges NiMH very slow, also Tim McMahom wrote that it is well documented that Xtar has problems with NiMH. £30
S4+ This is the winning candidate. Charging fast and low trickle charge. But lacks 1.5V and has a bulky power supply. £35
BL4 I cannot find in the reviews how it deals with NiMH as you guys focus on LiIon more. Only found Ladda takes 3 hours, so this is similar to S4+. This one would fit nicely, but absolutely hate QC3 instead of PD as I have no devices nor charger. It is £25 for a charger and another £10 for a power supply.
So maybe I should buy BQ-CC65 and wait for Vapcell to include PD in BL4 V2?
I love the high-end chargers like Dragon or Lii 600 etc, but don’t think I should spent so much on the charger. I still need to buy cells as well.
Thanks for all the reviews. I’m amazed at how dedicated you are here.
Below is my comparison table to help me decide. Numbers are provisional.
There are far more experienced views here but my contribution…
In an ideal world Eneloop/NiMH AA cells should be charged between 500 and 1000mA, the latter is preferable, for me at least. Hence I would discount chargers that cannot provide at least 750mA for 4 cells. I like the VX4 in principle but the limit of 500mA puts me off, this said as an owner of the VC4 which is limited to 500mA also on 4 cells. Personally I also prefer chargers that show data for each cell all the time, in other words voltage and mA data below each cell slot, some of the Xtar’s do this (VX4) and similarly the MC3000 and possibly Opus?
Keeping cells cool while charging is also high on my lists, hence having a fan is a nice option, believe this then limits you to SkyRC MC3000, some Opus (C3100) and Enova Gyrfalcon S8000. Of course not essential but nice to have for safety and battery life. Temperature sensors for each cell are something else I prefer to have if possible, MC3000 and S4+ have this feature, some others also I think.
I would say CC65 or Vapcell S4+ from that list, not so familiar with the BL4. Currently own VC4 and SkyRC MC3000 and looking for second charger along similar lines to your options. As a side note, I find it quite difficult to pick chargers below the MC3000, some compromises, the SkyRC is an easy decision, price aside of course, they are not cheap! - easy to recommend other than price though, never had issues with termination, voltage or temps, quick grab attached of a SkyRC app showing 3x AA Eneloops charging and 1x 18650 Lithium, standard AA Eneloop normally take around 1950-2000mA and Eneloop Pro AA about 2500-2600mA, temps rarely go above 28-29 degrees with either. My Xtar VC4 will normally leave around 100mA on the table when it has ‘completed’ an AA Eneloop charge, compared to the MC3000 which will normally squeeze an additional 100-150mA into the same batch.
I have an Xtar VC4SL and can’t say I’ve noticed a problem with it charging Ni-MH.
The thing that puts me off the S4+ is that it bleeps when it’s done charging and I hate things that bleep. Seemingly the only way to stop it from bleeping is to turn off the display, but then you can’t see what it’s doing.
So I have almost bought VX4 but have ruled out all Xtars completely now. Per what Tim wrote, I have also ruled out Panasonic because they are picky with higher IR and do not charge some cells. This is what my GP Recyko + was doing to some cheap cells. It wouldn’t charge them after a few uses, and it was very annoying.
So 1 amp is important, temperature of course, but from my understanding, also post charge behaviour. If it is top-up or trickle charge and what current it uses.
I’m now between S4+ and BL4, leaning towards BL4, as I found I can get QC/PD in one adapter (sic!).
This brings me to the next question. I’m struggling to find an adapter with at least QC 4.0, which is PD compatible. Many manufacturers (Belkin, Anker, Baseus, and UGREEN) aren’t providing those specs - they only list compatible devices and max power output. Am I missing something here? If I type QC 4.0 in the search engine, I only get results about chargers supporting PD. Weird. Qualcomm has a list, but it only has a few chargers; it seems like it hasn’t been updated. For QC 5.0, they only list one charger.
All those things aside, I’m self-employed, and instead of taking jobs, I sit and read chargers reviews. I guess if I was taking on some jobs instead, I would already have enough dough to buy an MC3000.
Take a few more jobs … joking aside, tough decision honestly, I am struggling myself and awaiting NC3000 Pro reviews for assistance. Regarding the power adapter, just try to dig out specs and go with highest rated reliable brand, if there is such a thing! makes a huge difference though. I was using an Apple 10W 5.1v 2.1A unit on my VC4 and it was terrible, no where near enough power! Switched it for a up to 6v at 3A and transformed the charging times and rates. This raises an interesting point though, some of the more costly chargers come with high rated power bricks, either wall plug or inline, something else to keep in mind when costing, a $50 dollar charger could soon become a $65 dollar charger etc.
I try to live by the saying ‘buy cheap, buy twice’ - of course none of the chargers on the list are cheap but it does stand long term. Not like we are just talking another 20-30% cost I realise, more like 200%+ in some cases, hard to justify honestly I am aware.
Just another thought, had you considered the Gyrfalcon chargers, older I know and more basic with essentially only charge facility I believe but @HKJ technical data for these is not in doubt, especially for NiMH. In fact I believe they review the best out of almost all other chargers that had been tested. I am more than tempted by their latest S8000 unit but the older 44 and 88 models look excellent also. For simply throwing in a set of AA or AAA cells, lot to be said maybe.
Don’t expect any charger FOR SURE to be able to handle 1.5v lithium. I have about 10 fairly high end chargers. NONE of them work with 1.5v Li. Those have propriety chargers or USB. Basically they are ALL 5v/USB chargers.
It is basically a lithium battery with electronics in ‘front’ of it. This makes charging by any ‘regular’ NiMh/Lithium charger unfeasible since the charger sensory mechanism is messed up by that.
This is only available for USA and Canada. I mean one retailer has it and they ship international only bulk orders plus tax, duty, fee and postage. This probably adds for value of a Skyr.
Thanks for the worm welcome!
VX4 and BL4 do charge them. VX4 can even test them for capacity. But I can leave without them.
My Zoom recorder has an setting to choose between dry battery and rechargeable.
The only other place I might want them is Roland Cube amp. I was wondering if it would sound nicer on 1.5V’s.
So it got even more confusing now. Do not want to add more, but I could.
So far not good:
BQ-CC55 seems to be a good idea. Just get it done!
BL4 would choose it if I only knew what trickle charge it has.
S4+ seems the best choice atm.
C3100 trickle charge puts me off.
C9000 Pro seems like a great charger, but from this price range, it makes sense to double it and get the MC3000.
No LiIon charger should trickle at all, ever. But doing a timed trickle charge on a NiMH cell after termination is recommended. Often topping off like that can add a few extra percent to the available capacity.
Yes, I see that timed trickle is called top-off charge around here. Panasonic does that, some Xtars do it, in high end chargers it can be switched on and off.
Vapcells, Opus do it continuously and so much prised MH C9000 do the timed trickle followed by lower current trickle. From my understanding thats ok for most NiMH cells it is bad for any Long Self Discharge.
I have ben using the C9000 and the 808M for many years (easily over 10) with Eneloop (LSD) cells. I have 10 year old cells that are still quite healthy. I let the cells sit in these chargers for 2 hours after termination to “top them off”. BTW, I have read the same thing about top off charges and LSD cells. It just doesn’t fit my experience… or if it is detrimental, it is not significant. As I have lots of older cells with lots of cycles that still work fine with over 90% of their original capacity.
It seems to me, for my usage, getting the extra charge into the cells is worth it.
So I guess the question is, are you seeing chargers that trickle charge Lithium cells, or is your concern trickle charging NiMH cells? If it is NiMH, then my advice is to not make having the capability a criteria for avoiding a charger. If it is LiION, yes, run the other way.
