I have many different aa nimh chargers as a photographer who uses them with AA cells.
-2 ikea slow chargers. they are pitta to some batteries showing a red light (cant charge) and it is a really slow charger. I want slow but its too too slow.
-powerex 808 x2 1 died, the other charges and I put the cells in another charger and it shows it only half full. never powerex again
-I have a palo charger 8x. annoys the hell out of me the display turns off when done.
-tenergy 8x also has the same issue as ikea. except that hours later it finally flashes showing it cant charge some cells.
-vapextech overheated some after some time but ultimately fast but not reliable
-liitikola s8 8x multi
all of them arent reliable except perhaps the ikea who gets the job done and I know it charges them well.
I had opus 3100 with the loud whining small fan. I disabled the fan and after time it stopped working. if it didnt have the fan noise, id buy a few more.
I was looking to get 6 slower chargers (200-350mah) so they dont overheat as my chargers overheat the batteries.
I think both are the same. just in one shows spec for 2500mah battery which is 9 hours and the other shows 2000mah which takes 7 hours. but it doesnt say how much mah it puts out.
my other problem is I feel all the other chargers arent properly charging them to the top. so im also looking for a under $50 charger where I can slip in batteries from the other chargers I have into and it can tell me how capacity it has in it. also can do a health check of the cells. not just capacity. is there a thing that checks more then just capacity?
I mainly charge ikea 2450 cells which is similar to eneloop pro black.
bottom line is I want chargers that are CONSISTENT AND RELIABLE that will fill it to its capacity and not overheat them. all the chargers except the ikea overheat and dont fill to capacity
The Vapecell S4 has adjustable charge rate. It does show mAH input. There 2 versions, one has 3 amp total for entire charger and one has 3 amp total for each charging slot for a total of12 amps. Priced under 50 dollars.
pass. dont know the company, and dont care to try. ive tried many different kind. nope. for slow chargers im going after solid known brands. for analyzer, not sure yet.
if you look on alx, there is like 5000 different kind of 4 cell charger analyzers and they all look the same but no more brands I dont know. too let down, dont care for no name brands.
The Vapcell S4 Plus gets recommended on BLF all the time.
I have two of them.
It’s an excellent charger for NiMH (and Li-Ion cells, too.)
If you want to charge both NiMH and Li-Ion cells, the Vapcell S4 Plus is very tough to beat, unless you want to spend a lot more money.
I charge a lot of NiMH batteries and use three OPUS BT-C2400 chargers (which do not have fans), but be aware that they only charge AA and AAA size NiMH or NiCd batteries (without the difficult to find specialized OPUS adapters for C and D size batteries) and they do not charge Li-Ion batteries.
Have to wonder why you are asking for Our Opinion as Flashlight enthusiasts on these battery chargers but then want to trust Amazon Ratings, most of which are from customers getting free product or customers not wanting to read the directions and listing BS results.
We run them thru the wringer here. If they suck, we say they suck.
When the overall majority of members say they work well, they probably do.
Considering Amazon’s liberal return policy, what do you have to lose trying the Vapecell?
Go for it!
P.S. you can always use the Opus without the fan and keep it cool by placing on one of those cheap laptop cooling bases. Have 2 of them and they are very quiet and run off USB.
HTH
You came here asking for our expertise. Vapcell is a well known company producing high quality products. The Vapcell S4+ is one of the best chargers for cylindrical batteries.
I also don´t trust the Amazon reviews. Lot´s of not so good til bad chargers get a 4,5 or higher rating. Don´t hink they´re getting all free chargers but giving 5 stars if the charger don´t catch fire while using
Opus BT-C2400 and similar everActive NC3000 have lot of charging currents and good functonality but don´t know it´s reliability.
I have the BT-C700 which works good for some years but because of it´s performance and small size it´s IMHO not the best for AA, more for AAA
And my favorite NiMH-charger is also the Vapcell, and I use many NiMH
I dont know the brand and im tired of buying no name brands. I asked about the panasonic chargers and all you come and push this no name brand. to you its a brand, to me, Its another brand ive never heard of. I bought many chargers based on PR reps on forums saying “get this one!!!” and I do. those days are over. pass. give me info on slow chargers if you have any.
I trust amazon reviews. how about we talk about the panasonic chargers? I dont know the vapex brand. I dont care to buy it.
what do you have to lose trying the Vapecell?
cause its my money and I dont know or care for the brand. can we stop with the insistent pushing and selling the vapex brand. dont care for it. sop getting offended like I said sonething bad about your family. I dont know the brand and your word is the same as the reviews. you say good, 4.4 says bad.
even a friend bought an xtar “high quality” brand and it burnt a cell so really lets say id even prefer to just buy the panasonic ones and not even get these off brand ones. you are in the know of brands. I have enough experience buying these brands as you see in those I own. they are all trash except the ikea which never overhears cells. im not buying no name brands. I dont know them. Im 1000% certain there are workers for the companies/pr reps here pushing brands and products.
I did the bs when a few pr reps said “hey get this” and I bought it and regretted it.
so get the opus charger and then pay more for a laptop cooler that has MORE fans. it makes absolutely 0 sense. I dont want to hear a fan-period!
you can do you. doesnt mean I will. lets talk about the panasonic chargers or im going to think youre a salesman for brands here. lets scratch the idea of an analyzer/charger.
Vapcell is a well known company producing high quality products.
to you, not me. never heard of them and thats what matters.
you posted, I did research, I saw reviews and made my decision.
I even saw the review here and not impressed. and even a post here talking about heated cells and thats EXACTLY what im posting here about and dont want that anymore. a charger that will never overheat my cells, will be super reliable consistent and top it off properly. if I already see a post of heated cells, it makes me run away from that brand.
I dont know the brand and im tired of buying no name brands. I asked about the panasonic chargers and all you come and push this no name brand. to you its a brand, to me, Its another brand ive never heard of. I bought many chargers based on PR reps on forums saying “get this one!!!” and I do. those days are over. pass. give me info on slow chargers if you have any.
Forget the Panasonic charger, it’s not worth the money.
XTAR is OK, but has very limited functionality for NiMH batteries. Probably the best charger (but also very expensive) is the SkyRC MC3000, followed by the Enova Gyrfalcon S8000 (was just released and still has a few bugs that are being fixed now). And then of course the Vapcell S4+, which most of us would recommend because it has many useful features, manual control, works reliable and precise - and sometimes is available for $35-45. Everyone here knows Vapcell, it’s not a “no name brand”.
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and I got screwed over from aliexpress way way too many times. fake tracking for items that never arrived. broken items and then having to fight with alx for my money. with amazon you pay more but the sellers are more worried to feck up and theres no such thing as fake tracking. everything always arrives. its more money but I always get the item.
Btw, slow charging with low current can damage the batteries and cause excessive heating. Modern NiMH are better charged at fairly high current that allows a proper termination (-dV/dt). The last few minutes the cell will heat up, absolutely normal and a consequence of the chemical reaction inside the battery. In case the battery is already in bad shape and -dV/dt doesn’t work, most good chargers have safety features like a voltage termination and temperature monitoring.
