with all the AA and AAA batteries i am using now what kind [brand] of charger do you guys recommend?
thanks for the help

Get one that says it has a peak detect option or says it only charges them as much as they need (this indicates the same thing)

A good NiMh charger should leave the cells slightly warm but not hot. I've got a cheapie that leaves them hot at the end of the charge. That means some small damage each time that adds up. Lukewarm is fine but if they come out hot that's bad.

Brands change constantly. I've got one from about a year back but I can't find it on the 'net now. But it works well. A hair over lukewarm but far from hot. The Everready one I tossed. They came off "cooking" hot.

One that google found for me that looks like it's got all the right stuff is this one....

https://www.onlybatteries.com/showite...t1=11&uid=1644

The negative V peak Smart Charge is the key thing. That'll peak your cells without overcharging them if they aren't fibbing about using the delta V method. The status light and microprocessor controls are just a bonus.

https://batteryuniversity.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technol...m_syf_dtl_pl_1

https://www.rechargeable-battery-revi...ery-tests.html

I have this one https://tinyurl.com/56tv7c from Radio Shack. It comes with AA & AAA batteries as well. Works for me...

I have this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technol...7987713&sr=8-2


The amount of things it can do is bananas. But it's also pretty easy to use, and it comes with lots of batteries to start with. Even brought a couple old rechargeables back from the dead.

Be sure to get a battery that charges each cell individually, not in pairs. This is indispensable if you have things that take an odd number of cells. Also if one cell of a pair goes bad, a "pair" charger will not do the right thing with the cells. It's nice not having to try to match pairs of batteries that you think might be discharged about the same amount; with individually-monitored charging slots, you just chunk the batteries in and let them charge.

Go here
https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...S&Category=311
and pick out one that says "1-4 pc" under AA and AAA, NOT "2-4 pcs" which means in pairs. Also make sure it's a "smart" charger.
This one looks nice:
https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...S&Category=311
This one has a wall-wart, which is a bit of a pain sometimes, but it'll charge directly from 12V in your car too, which is convenient when on vacation:
https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...ROD&ProdID=189

From what I've read, battery freaks think Maha is very good.

I own a La Crosse - and a Maha 808


Are either any "better" than something cheap from Target? Hell if I know.

The La Crosse sits in my office at work and impresses any gearhead who sees it powered on. The Maha stays at home where it's also used to charge some D batteries (something the La Crosse can't do).

I'm not a battery geek, but as you can tell, I have a tendency to overbuy at every opportunity.

+1 on the La Crosse. The others people have suggested are all good as well

Any smart charger that uses -deltaV is going to work fine. Stay away from slow chargers; they have no intelligence and can wreck batteries. Battery charging is a well understood technology, and it's not like it even costs more to make a good charger than a bad one; once you put in a microcontroller, it doesn't cost any more to program it right than to program it wrong, so there's no immediate cause to think that the cost of a smart charger indicates how good it is.

I have a MAHA now (2 actually) but I've had them since before other smart chargers became available for cheap. I sure wouldn't pay the $40 each I paid for them originally. Any smart charger contains a power supply, a battery holder, and a charge controller. The difference in cost to manufacture a $40 charger and a $12 charger is probably close to zero, the difference is strictly marketing and profit.

I got a $20 unit that plugs into the wall, or 12V cigarette lighter plus. The unit charges 2 or 4 AA or AAA batteries. It came with 4 AAs of decent capacity. (I use them in my bike's ipod speaker.)
https://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5640639

I like the wal-mart unit because I can charge it from 12V with my small off grid solar PV power plant without using the inverter.

I charge my Ipod, and my headlight's 7.2Volt pack, as well as all of my AA and AAA batteries via 12Volt solar power. My bike is totally OFF THE GRID!

I think you mean fast chargers? Typically, the slower you can charge a battery the better.

That's true if it's the right value and you don't leave the cells on charge for days on end when you forget about it. It's the way I use on my RC models because it's less stressful to the cells. But I don't leave them sitting for days. Only overnight or overnight and a bit.

A lot of the peak detect chargers also have a post cut off slow trickle that can be left on for days at a time with no damage other than it keeps them at their peak. For most busy folks that may be a better option since it removes the risk of forgetfullness.

I'm thinking about putting these two on my xmas list.

https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...PROD&ProdID=11

and

https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=2554

Will they work well for my PB blaze as well as my digital camera and xbox controllers? (Cannon IS300)

Thanks
Greg

Those batteries are excellent and will work great with all your stuff. I use those exact batteries in my bike lights and my Canon A700 and A710. Those batteries are what Dinotte shows packaged with their 200L-AA lights.

The charger looks good too. I have never used one but I've scoped that particular one out before as one I might get if I ever need another charger. I often cycle a lot of batteries through my 4-cell charger, it'd be nice to be able to pop 10 batteries in at once for overnight charging.

I've got about 3 dozen batteries currently, the ones I got from Thomas Distributing years ago are just about all gone (they're going to die eventually, I have no complaints, these are years old now) and most of what I have now are Powerizers from BatterySpace, plus a few brand names that I bought from a store when on the road and ran short of rechargables.

Thanks!
I'll let santa know.