Battery charger go bang!

Apr 04, 2019 Last reply: 7 years ago 9 Replies
P

Several years ago I bought a Tronic charger from Lidl. After about 34 months it packed up and Lidl sent me a new one - well done Lidl. This second one went bang and emitted the smell of burning (elec)tronic bits



- as the was some metallic content in the sound I guess at an aluminium capacitor. It also took out the 3A fuse.



I'm now looking for a decent charger, preferably one that gentle on good NiMH cells and, if possible, give the capacity. I considered this one, as it's had good reports:

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there seems to be only one supplier and has only 12 months' warranty, so reliability/price seems dubious.



Any recommendations please?


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J

Take your choice...

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Or if you definitely want only NiMH...

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Read the reviews!

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A

I have one of these

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Pleased with it for NiMH AA/AAA and Li-ion 18650/26650s, it will do a discharge/recharge cycle and measure voltage, capacity, internal resistance etc.

Advert says NiCd also, but I don't remember it handling those.

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T

Replace the capacitor. May need a new mains diode/bridge too.

NT

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T

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my go-to reference.

I've used the ISDT C4 which is pretty nice and easy to use:

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and the Opus BT-C3100 which is not as shiny but still does the business and is cheaper (also fits 4x 18650s not 2 as the C4 does):
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On both of these you can set the charge currents so as not to overcook small batteries. They do all the cell analysis stuff you might want too.

Theo

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C

I have one that looks identical to that but is branded 7dayshop

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Had it for a couple of years, and seems to work well. Gives capacity, adjustable charge/discharge current, cell voltage. Only does AA/AAA cells and does not do lithium batteries but for what I need its good.

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P

I have a couple of Lidl chargers. The BL700 is a LaCross BC-700 lookalike and I have a similar lookalike.

The Lidl chargers are chunky but very simple to use and do a good job. By contrast the "700" chargers are very compact (I'm not sure they deliver full power to all 4 cells at once) and have a lot options which can get in the way. Of course the 700s don't charge C, D or PP3 cells.

Not all LaCross lookalikes have the exact same spec but this one I got for £20 is fairly close and is cheaper than your link:

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P

Yes, I always read the reviews to see if there's any no-go point arising.

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P

Thanks for all the links and feedback - plenty to go at there. Now I have to choose one, um, er...

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J

But has the massive downside that it doesn?t do protected 18650s.

But the UI is much worse than the C4.

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