I have a Tronic KH980 charger, from Lidl, which seems reasonably good. Is there any point in paying more for a so-called intelligent charger?
But I was wondering what it means if you get a flashing red light when a battery is inserted. Does it mean that the battery is useless? I get it occasionally even with new batteries.
Don't know - but they are excellent chargers at a good price.
Yes.
Same here. Lidl ones. ;-)
It means that it thinks the battery is dead. Mine does the same from time to time, I have to put them in an old Uniross charger which brings them back to life as far as the Lidl charger is concerned.
battery is inserted. Does it mean that the battery is useless?
It means the charger isn't happy about that battery. Had it this morning on one from a set of three AAA's. Took it out, counted to ten, put it back in and it was happy.
Consistent flashing red would indicate a battery that really is "past its best". Before rejecting a battery as truly dead I'd use a normal, simple, constant current, charger for an hour or so then try the clever one again.
battery is inserted. Does it mean that the battery is useless?
If a battery has been left in something switched on, it's terminal voltage goes below a certain value that the charger would regard as dead. In fact it's partially right as rechargeables do not like being discharged that low, but I find that if I stick them momentarily onto a 'simple' charger it brings them up above the trip voltage and they recharge OK.
Interestingly I've another intelligent charger that does a battery refresh over several days showing in the end what the capacity of the cell is, and even these apparantly abused cells come back to near enough their stated mA-hrs.
Rob
I've a Tronic KH971. I can't answer your question but add another. It seems to have two flash modes, One is twice as fast as the other ( the slower one misses out alternate flashes) I gather one indicates trickle charge and the other B******d batteries. The trouble is I don't know which is supposed to be which. Because of this I've just changed to an Aldi activ energy charger MD11954 which works well so far.
In message , CD writes
I have another type of intelligent charger that does a similar thing, flashes the LED when ti detects a battery it doesn't like, however, it still pulses a small charge into the cell so if I leave the offending cell in the charger it will pulse enough into it to initiate the full charge routine after varying periods of time. Perhaps it would be an idea to leave the 'duff' cells in the charger and see if they recover?
From the "manual":-
Note : should type C or D batteries be charged in the outer charging slots, the operating condition is displayed by the inner LEDs.
Thanks. I have of course long ago mislaid the manual. I did try googling for it, but didn't have any luck.
... and yet my (3 year old) Uniross charger has decided, starting about a month back, that every one of my Uniross/Duracell/Sony rechargeable AA and AAAs is suddenly past its best, based on the flashing red light criterion. I have just ordered a new (Sony) charger to put that to the test. Dennis
My tronic charger flashing red light continued without battery inside. If I put battery inside start to charge for 1min. and after stop again and sta rt flashing the red light again. I try with many battery with the same pro b. What is the problem and how can I fix it ? Thanks.
Get the manual from here
Most of their stuff has a 3 year warranty so you should get it fixed under that.
Hope you have the receipt.
Thanks guys. I sended today back to service office and he say to me he will replace with new one.
Had the red light flashing on Lidl battery, which was feeling warm. Put it In the freezer for 5 minutes and now charging ok.
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