Most helpful client reviews
54 of 55 persons found the following review helpful.
Very good but not perfect…
By D. Culley
I likewise own the LaCrosse BC-900 charger, and am glad that I own both; each has it is own benefits.
Either charger is very good because:
- They charge each cell individually, rather than in pairs, resulting in the best possible charge for each one.
- They offer dissimilar charging rates, so as often as you are able, you may slow-charge the batteries to make sure they last longer, but you may still quick-charge when you must.
The PowerEx charger is better in that:
- It handles eight cells, not just four.
- A major vantage they didn’t advertise, as far as I saw: it pulse-charges the batteries. Pulse-charging noticeably improves each battery’s total charge capacity, in both mAh and voltage… even when you switch to another charger later on, the battery is the better for having been pulse-charged. LaCrosse doesn’t do this.
The PowerEx misses on these fronts:
- It false-peaks a little more often than does the LaCrosse. This is where an actual voltagte reading would come in handy, because you could effortlessly spot the untrue peak, and charge the battery again.
- It doesn’t offer charge rates beneath 500mA; you have only this or 1A. I like the 200mA setting the LaCrosse offers.
- If a cell is deeply discharged (below .9V?), the PowerEx won’t undertake to charge it. LaCrosse suffers the same problem. In such case, though, I pull the cell out and use a couple of paper clips and a charged cell… kinda like jump-starting a car… for 20 seconds, and then try putting the battery back on the charger.
Overall, I’m glad I purchased this charger.
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
Does precisely what it ought to do.
By dsrussell
This is a finelooking big battery charger, but if you need to charge a lot of rechargeable AA or AAA batteries often, then this one will do it, and do it well. I have an outdoor walkway solar lighting system that requires 24 rechargeable AA batteries. Since I swap these out with 24 other rechargeable batteries somewhat often, I actually necessitated this product.
You may charge one battery or eight batteries or any number in between, and they may be a combining of AA or AAA NiCAD or NiMH batteries — no other type (but there is no worry in regards to where they are placed in the charger or in what order). The Powerex gives you 3 modes of charge: Rapid, Soft and Conditioning (refresh). Its default setting is Rapid (just put in the batteries — there is not one thing further to do). If you want to Soft charge, place just one battery in and push the button on the right within 5 seconds (release the button when you see “soft charging” printed in the window), then add the rest of your batteries — they will all Soft charge). If you want to Condition, go through the same procedure, except you push the button on the left. I don’t use the Rapid mode. I use Soft mode (easier on the batteries and I think this will have to have been the default mode) and no doubt I will condition these batteries if they commence to show signs of not performing as long as they should.
How long does it take to charge your batteries? The manual states 1 to 2 hours on Rapid mode, 2 to 4 on Soft mode, and up to 16 hours on Conditioning mode. Time is also dependent upon the mAh of your batteries. It will take a lot longer to charge 2700mAh batteries than it would to charge 600mAh batteries (for batteries underneath 800mAh always use Soft mode, never Rapid mode).
Unlike the La Cross BC-900U (which I also own), this unit is very simple to operate (but costs more). The La Cross has more flexibleness (allows wider range of charge rates starting at 200mA, not just a Rapid 1.0A (1,000mA) charge rate or a Soft 0.5A (500mA) charge rate, but it’s more complex and more restrictive to use). Between the two, I prefer the Powerex MH-C800S (and the capacity to charge twice the batteries). Plus, the La Cross display bit the dust after a month of use and needs repair already.
Batteries fit tightly in the Powerex and are reasonably difficult to remove (not so on my La Cross), and the screen fonts are so tiny that they are next to inconceivable to read (depending upon your vision). Luckily, the screen displays 8 huge battery icons to let you recognise what is happening to each battery for the duration of the charge and when they are done. The batteries do get very warm right after being charged (they cool quickly though). I would not commend using this and going to bed. It’s likewise a good idea to place this on a non-flammable surface. But I think that would be the case for any battery charger. Better to be safe than sorry.
All-in-all, a quick commodious way to charge a lot of batteries with a unit that is very simple to operate. Between 1 and 10, I give the Powerex an 8. It’s far too early to tell how long this charger will last (or if I’ll have troubles like I did with the La Cross), but hopefully I’ll get a heap of years of usage of it.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
Great charger, crappy instructions
By Kim Mcannally
I love this charger, but the instructions are horrible.
The charger uses your choice of 500 mAH or 1000 mAH charging rate.
The default rate is “rapid mode” which is the 1000 mAH rate.
Personally I would prefer the default mode to be the slower charge rate.
The instructions don’t tell you that the “condition” mode is genuinely done using the higher maH charge of 1000 mAH.
I had at least two AAA batteries vent while conditioning them since I thought the condition mode would be done using the lower 500 mAH charge rate.
You may genuinely condition batteries at the lower 500 mAH rate by inserting one battery and pressing BOTH the condition and soft charge buttons. Highly commended for AAA that are rated beneath 1000 mAH to keep from frying them with the higher charge rate.
It would be genuinely nice if the instructions told you regarding this option.
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