Is anuyone here using the LaCrosse BC-900 Battery Charger for their AA Ni-MH
cells? I'd like to know how you are finding it to use and if you're getting
improved life out of your cells?
I debated about which charger to get for awhile, and ended up with
the BC-900. It's a little bit pricey, but I think it's well worth it. I
had a bunch of cells from a few different manufacturers that I'd been
using for awhile with a cheap 2/4 overnight charger (charging in pairs).
The first thing I did is run every one of them through a couple of test
cycles on the BC-900 and recorded their capacity. Turns out that they
varied widely and were mostly severely underrated (as expected). I paired
them up in chunks of 4 with similar capacity for the -DS and have
noticed quite a bit better life. They all go down at the same time,
instead of a single weak one making the camera think the pack is dead. My
#1 pack of 4 is made of 2 from one brand, and 2 from another, and #2 pack
is 3 of one and 1 from another. It's just the way the capacity turned
out.
My first one actually died shortly after I got it, but sent it
back and got a new one. It actually fried a component inside, so I
suspect it was just a faulty build... customer service was fine. Besides,
with all of the information available, it lets an uber-geek like myself
know WAY more than they should about their batteries... :)
-Cory
--
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* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
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