AAA battery chargers

[Tim Downie]

I've got a GPS gadget that uses AAA batteries in threes. I'd like to use rechargeables but my existing charger (one of those Uniross plug thingies) will only charge 2 or 4 batteries at a time.

Now I do have four batteries but I've had problems with using my gadget on rechargeables (the batteries seem to expire long before they ought to) which I suspect is due to having to pair a discharged battery with a partially charged one for charging (NmH btw).

Are there any AAA battery chargers that charge each battery individually? Would it be worth investing in a discharger/charger or are these only really useful for Nicads?

TIA

Tim

[Colin Blackburn]

Yes. Mine does. It charges between 1 and 4 AA or AAA batteries (Nimh or Nicad) It's called the GP Powerbank Smart. GP do a variety of chargers and batteries. I think I got it from budgetbatteries.co.uk

Colin

[Tim Downie]

individually?

Thanks Colin. It would certainly seem to fill the bill (at a price). Seems disproportionately expensive compared to the chargers that work in pairs but I suppose that's just market forces.

Cheers.

Tim

[TimM]

Use two sets - six batteries. Charge them as a 4 and a 2 so that you have a charged set and a charged spare set.

[Dave Plowman]

It could be it's designed for alkalines and the lower voltage of rechargeables is causing an early warning - alkalines are nominally 4.5v for three, rechargeables 3.6. And at 3.6v alkalines would be nearly flat.

If it were an external battery pack, using all four would give nearer the correct voltage.

[Dave]

Same here....

[snip]

Yes - I have a Uniross RC101159 which charges 1-4 AA/AAA batteries at once. Mine came from Argos (980/3277 appears to be it)

I'd have thought only really useful for Nicads.....

Dave

[John Flax]

I have a UNIROSS 3-5 H* CHARGER. The instruction leaflet says that it will charge three AAA/batteries. As you can see in the following extract from the instructions it says this twice ('l to 4 batteries size AA' and 'It is possible to charge 1, 2, 3 or 4 R6 size batteries'). My batteries are labelled AA / R6 / Mignon (a rose by any other name...)

When I had a battery problem, I phoned Uniross and found them very friendly and helpful.

Uniross Batteries Ltd

Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]

Address: Uniross Ho, Blackfriars Rd, Nailsea, Bristol, BS48 4DJ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UNIROSS 3-5 H* CHARGER ? Use the charger only for Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd) or Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. Do not attempt to charge any other battery types. ? Do not charge Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries at the same time as Nickel-Metal Hydride (NI-MH) batteries. Do not mix the two technologies.

CHARACTERISTICS

1. Compact charger The UNIROSS compact charger (RC101159, RC101160, RC101161 - British plug ? or RC101156, RC101157, RC101158- European plug) is designed to charge NI-Cd or Ni-MH batteries in the following sizes / quantities: ? l to 4 batteries size AAA / R03 / Micro ? l to 4 batteries size AA / R6 / Micro ? 1 to 2 batteries size 9V Block / R22 / PP3. It is possible to charge 1, 2, 3 or 4 R09 or R6 size batteries. R22 batteries can be recharged individually or in pairs. It is possible to charge 1 and/or 2 R03 and/or R6 batteries and one R22 battery at the same time.

[geoff]

In message , Tim Downie writes

Why not buy 12 batteries (with a decent capacity) then you can charge them 4 at a time and use them 3 at a time

[Lobster]

I've got an "Intelligent Battery Charger" from Goodmans, model GBC1100; came from Argos about a year ago for GBP20-25 IIRC. Has 4 parallel charging spaces which take AAs or AAAs, individually; works on NiMH, NiCd and (allegedly) ordinary alkalines.

AFAIK discharging is only relevant to NiCds because of their 'memory' effect, which you don't get with NiMH. But there's oodles of info available via Google on that.

David