Energizer Rechargeable 15 Minute Charger
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List Price: Our Price: $21.99 You Save: $31.60 (59%) Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Energizer Rechargeable 15 Minute Charger
Customer Review: Great charger
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to say I bought this item from Kmart for $34.00. Why I bought this item from Kmart was because it came with a car adapter for a cigarette light output. The item above does not appear to include the DC adapter.
I'm not going to go over all the +'s like single channel, tickle charging, fan and speed in charging.
1 Like most males I'm shade color blind. I hate when they use the tiny red / green lights which presents a problem when telling if the batteries are finished. The light is bright enough to tell the difference with this unit. However, the other way to tell if the batteries are done is that the fan stops running when finished.
2 If you read the instructions, if the red light is blinking simplly means their a problem (contacts, bad batteries etc.). Sometimes its only a matter of unpluging the unit and pluging it back in to resolve the problem. Even those the unit is single channel, mismatched batteries (2000mah vs 2650 mah) could cause a problem (most times not). Blinking light with 4 batteries, try just 2 or different conbinations. Then again the batteries could be bad. A pair of 4 year old batteries did not work, still got my money worth out of them. The blinking light doesn't always happen, but its important to understand why it happens then just throwing out the batteries which might not be bad.
3 The fan is a bit loud which annoys my wife but doesn't annoy me. So, this is a individual thing. For any unit the fan is very important which keeps the batteries cool and stop them from going bad during fast charging and is a must!
In summary, I think its a great charger and I can live with the little things. If it went in 6 months, I'd still buy another.
That's my two cents
Customer Review: Very Touchy Operation
Summary: 2 Stars
This charger can be very good, then again it can be horrible.
When it works, it charges batteries in 15 minutes as advertised. Though the instructions say that to fully charge batteries they should be kept in the charger for at least 10 minutes after the green light comes on indicating the batteries are charged, this can be shortcutted by removing the batteries and re-inserting them or else disconnecting and reconnecting the charger via the plug on the side of the unit. It will then add further current to the batteries for a minute or two. Do this a couple of times and it should fully charge the batteries.
The bad parts of this charger are, as others have pointed out, rejecting perfectly good batteries as being unchargeable.
I have learned to "nurse" it into accepting these types of batteries by warming them up by sitting them atop charging batteries so the warmth generated by the charging batteries will heat up the offending ones but this is a real pain to keep track of. If this doesn't work you are out of luck for those that fail.
Another pain is the fan. It doesn't always work smoothly and when it doesn't the vibrations the fan causes will make the red light blink just like it does when unchargeable batteries are detected. So you have to rap the unit on a table top until the fan runs smoothly before you can really determine if it is a battery problem or unit problem.
So though this unit has potential, it is more for quickie charges. If you have the time, a slower charger is better for battery life and will cause less battery rejection.
Customer Review: Hey, It Works!
Summary: 5 Stars
I really like it. Although I have a few reservations, I do recommend it 100%. It really does charge the batteries in 15 minutes; this is a miracle to me, since I have always used those overnight chargers (you know, once your batteries are empty, you can't use them again until tomorrow).
The heat issue is what concerns me. It has a built in fan, which is a good thing since the batteries get pretty warm. I make sure that I stand it on end, so the fan is aimed at the air and not the table. I suspect that charging the batteries so fast and making them so warm shortens the lifespan and capacity somewhat.
There are many good things. You can do 1, 2, 3, or 4 batteries (hooray-I have several things that use 1 or 3 batteries, and my other chargers will only do 2 or 4). It is a smart charger, so if a battery is no good, it won't charge. When the batteries are done, the red light turns green. It comes with 4 AA NiMH's that are 2200 mAh and made in Japan.
Some things I did not like:
* it is really 25 minutes, since you are suppose to leave it in 10 minutes after the light turns green.
* there is only one light for all 4 slots; if you get a blinking red light, you have to take batteries in and out to find the bad one
* the + side of the slot is a moveable, black button
The wall plug is your basic block adapter. The input to the charger (from the plug) lists 11-16volts and 5amps. Output (to the batteries) is 5.6volts, 7.5amps (for AA) and 3amps (for AAA).
Customer Review: Very Excellent Charger
Summary: 5 Stars
This charger is awsome, although it is sensitive of detecting bad cells (in my case the rayovac ic3 batteries were actually bad). Even my slow smart charger won't charge these batteries properly. Like it would charge for an hour and give me a blinking red flash. Now for those that are having issues with this charger I can explain why and here what I discovered that might make things much easier.
1.This charger is very sensitive to changes in resistance. If the resistance is too high you get a red blinking LED flash. So make sure the contacts on the charger, and batteries are clean before putting them in the charger.
2.There is a trick to actually get bad cells to charge in this charger. To get them to charge you have to power cycle the charger repeatedly until it charges the cell while the batteries are in the charger by simply unplugging and plugging until the red flashing stops. Now if the cell does not charge, then the cell actually is bad and needs to be replaced.
3.when fully charged or the light turns green. Leave it for another 15-30 minutes so the cells can cool while being topped off even after the fan has shut off. This is for maximum performance out of your cells.
And lastly any nimh battery charges in 15 minutes. It seems to like the precharged duracell a lot. So far no problems with the charger once you figured it out how it works. This has to be the most advanced charger ever.
Hope this help.
Customer Review: Energizer Recharger 15-Mintue Charger & battery package
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking for a way to reduce battery usage cost with my new X-Box 360 as the controllers were burning through batteries at a rather steep rate. After reading the reviews of this product on Amazon I checked pricing and ordered from Amazon.
To my delight this battery recharger is all I expected and more. Also it came packaged with four AA LiMeH batteries, just what I needed for my two controllers.
The charge time on the new batteries was < 30 mintes with recharge times on two batteries < 15 mintues. When the recharged batteries are left in the charger for a bit after charging is completed they cool down to room temperature quickly.
The charger is quite compact and stylish in design. Indeed there is a bit of sound from the cooling fan but it is hardly noticible and in no way objectionalbe, IMO.
A nice feature of the charger is that the electrical contacts are designed so that it's impossible for the charger to apply power to the battery if it's inserted with wrong polarity, a very nice feature indeed.
The batteries last about a week of heavy usage in my X-Box controllers before needing the amazingly quick recharge. So far they have been recharged a half-dozen times.
I strongly recommend this charger & battery package to anyone who wants the saving and convenience of less frequent battery replacement along with a quick recharge.