The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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Sweep
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The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Sweep »

http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/technolin ... harger.asp

I have the 700 model.

Very good - it's not terribly fast though I realise that that is best for the batteries.

But this one has two very high power options if you are charging just two cells.

While clearly best to stick to slower charging normally this will surely be very useful on tour now and again. You could easily charge two batteries while sitting in a caff/Weatherspoons etc.

Maybe then could even forsake the dynamo option?

Anyone know what the battery converters are it refers to as included?
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beardy
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by beardy »

The battery converters let a smaller battery be used inside the converter to fit in the place of a larger one.

From the picture I think it is to convert AA into fake C cells. Personally I would have more need for AA to AAA converters but not much point in them with this charger.
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by PH »

And looking like it came out of the same factory, there's this one on offer for £20
http://www.7dayshop.com/products/7daysh ... WH2-DS-127

For touring, when I need AA cells, I take a simple plug into the wall charger, not the best for the cells but not so expensive that I wouldn't leave it unattended somewhere.
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Sweep
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Sweep »

Yes, I saw that a few days ago.

May be a good alternative to the 700.

But it's not the same model as posted at the top of the thread - doesn't have the two highest charge settings which would allow you to charge over a pint or two.

Or pint and a burger.

I have a high power SMART front light which only needs two batteries - it could be very useful for that.
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by PH »

Sweep wrote:Yes, I saw that a few days ago.

May be a good alternative to the 700.

But it's not the same model as posted at the top of the thread - doesn't have the two highest charge settings which would allow you to charge over a pint or two.

Or pint and a burger.

I have a high power SMART front light which only needs two batteries - it could be very useful for that.


Ahh, right, I saw it was called the BC1000 and thought...
That is quite a fast boost charge, but if you don't mind cooking them there are faster and cheaper options. Possibly usefull to have both functions in the one unit, but I think I'd still rather stick to two and use the cheap one for touring.
Tacascarow
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Tacascarow »

If you are going to cook them by rapid charging IMHO probably cheaper just to buy cheap disposables as & when you need them.
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by PH »

Tacascarow wrote:If you are going to cook them by rapid charging IMHO probably cheaper just to buy cheap disposables as & when you need them.


Even with the likes of wilkos 4 AAs for 50p it's unlikely to be cheaper. I've seen fast chargers with 4 AAs selling around £20 so anything over 40 cycles would be a saving. What I've read suggests fast charging reduces lifespan by 20%, that's still 100s of cycles before it's below 80% capacity, and even at that it can have some use depending on the application.
I can see the convenience of disposable batteries, but I doubt there's a financial case.
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Sweep
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Sweep »

PH wrote:
Tacascarow wrote:. What I've read suggests fast charging reduces lifespan by 20%, that's still 100s of cycles before it's below 80% capacity,

Does ultra fast charging (alarmingly dubbed "cooking" by some) do permanent damage or can it be assumed to be minimalreversible as long as most charging is done at a slower pace?
I use rechargeables as i sometimes use a Hope Vision 1 and Hope pretty much says that normal cells aren't up to the job.
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by PH »

Sweep wrote:
PH wrote:
Tacascarow wrote:. What I've read suggests fast charging reduces lifespan by 20%, that's still 100s of cycles before it's below 80% capacity,

Does ultra fast charging (alarmingly dubbed "cooking" by some) do permanent damage or can it be assumed to be minimalreversible as long as most charging is done at a slower pace?
I use rechargeables as i sometimes use a Hope Vision 1 and Hope pretty much says that normal cells aren't up to the job.


Just bump this up in the hope that someone with more knowledge than me answers.
My understanding is that some chemical evaporates if the battery gets too hot, that I think is overcharging rather than fast charging, though the first is more likely to result from the second. In that case I'd think the damage was permanent. Battery technology, both the cells and the chargers has come a long way in the last decade. Ten years ago using an early LED light, cheap rapid charger and two sets of four batteries, I had no trouble over two years of an hour each way nightshift commute. That would be at least 100 charges each and the batteries are still knocking around somewhere, made redundant by the higher capacity of newer batteries rather than any damage done by misuse.
That's probably the reality for me, I like the idea that with my intelligent charger and the high capacity batteries I'm set for life, but I expect some new technology will be along to tempt me before they get to the end of their useful life.
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Sweep
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Sweep »

Thanks for the reply/bump PH.

While we wait for an answer to the significance of any cooking damage can I ask which batteries you use?

Their capacity?

Do you run a high power light like the Hope Vision 1 which recmmends, I think, 2500 batteries**.

** Well they did for the first model - since the second is reconnmed to be 30 per cent more efficient it would seem to me (as a non-techy) that lower capacity batteries could be a goer for that, though of course you would forfeit an increase in run time and just "stand still". As always, folk feel free to put me right.
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Cunobelin »

The sleeves are something like this:

Image

The battery fits in the sleeve and the sleeve then fits into the device.


You can only convert up

AAA can fit in a sleeve and be usable as AA
AA can fit in a sleeve and be used as a C

As AA is physically bigger than AAA you cannot use AA cells in an AAA device
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Cunobelin
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Cunobelin »

Personally I treat my batteries differently on tour


I tour with a compact fast charger that I use for speed and ease of carriage.

Then when I get home I "recondition" the batteries in the smart charger at home.

Seems to work well enough
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by PH »

Sweep wrote:Thanks for the reply/bump PH.

While we wait for an answer to the significance of any cooking damage can I ask which batteries you use?

Their capacity?

Do you run a high power light like the Hope Vision 1 which recmmends, I think, 2500 batteries**.

Over the years I've become less dependent on AAs, due to dynamo and in built batteries (Which I don't necessarily consider progress, I wish there was a camera I liked that used AAs). My only bike use is an Etrex and rear LED lights, though I also have some household uses. I have the 7 Day Shop charger I linked to above and eight of their branded 2100 slow discharge batteries, which according to the charger make up three well matched pairs and two to use as singles.
I don't have a high power AA battery light, if I did and it was in frequent use, I'd sacrifice the slow discharge benefit for some extra capacity.
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Cunobelin
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Re: The ultimate battery charger for touring?

Post by Cunobelin »

PH wrote:[
Over the years I've become less dependent on AAs, due to dynamo and in built batteries (Which I don't necessarily consider progress, I wish there was a camera I liked that used AAs).



OT....

The use of AA was one of the deciding factors when I bought my Pentax K50 about 18 months ago
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