AA battery charger

Additional resources

Back to the older days, when the first AA battery charger was introduced, they were named “overnight chargers” due to the charging time is too long, ranging from 8 to 10 hours (all night long) in order to get your batteries fully charged.

When the technology of charger improved, a brand new wave of “quick battery charger” overwhelming the market. They claimed to take 2 to 5 hours of the charging time. Later on with the latest technology, the charging speed improves to as fast as 15 to 30 minutes only.

In contrast, although the quicker a battery charger charging a battery, the faster it shorten the lifespan of the batteries.

There are two types of rechargeable batteries, Nicads (NiCd) and Nikel-metal hydride (NiHM). NiCd batteries do not hold their memory well, causing them to lose charge capacity in a short period of time. To resolve this problem, before charging always make sure the battery is completely drained. While the battery is charging never interrupt it. Avoiding these common mistakes can keep your NiCd battery charging to its peak potential. On the other hand, NiHM batteries do not have the memory effect. You can charge them even if the battery is halfway full with no problems. You can also remove it from the charger at anytime with no lasting effects. This makes NiMH batteries the optimal choice in rechargeable batteries as they last longer.

In the market, top brands like Duracell and Energizer sell quick AA battery chargers that can charge AA- and AAA-size NiMH batteries in 15 min, which works on rapidly charging the batteries through the control circuitry in the batteries without damaging the cell elements.

When selecting a high quality of AA battery charger, check through its charge or discharge rate normally measure in mAh or mA, e.g. 1600 mAh battery would be 1600 mA (or 1.6 amps)

Precaution

The battery charger only can be used for recharging a rechargeable battery rather than a disposable battery. It could be danger when attempting to recharge a non-rechargeable battery which may lead to a battery explosion. The manufacturer would not guarantee such accident would not happen due to the consumer ignoring the warning message on the battery charger.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 1:10 pm and is filed under aa battery charger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.