Duracell Battery Charger with USB including 4 AA batteries CEF23
Posted by Notcot on Apr 22, 2010 in Photography |
Product Description
Built for convenience and portability with a compact footprint
- Includes 4 x AA rechargeable Batteries
- Charges AA and AAA batteries in 2-6 hours
- Supplied with interchangeable plugs (EU, UK)
- Incorporates USB power port
Duracell Battery Charger with USB including 4 AA batteries CEF23
Not the cheapest battery charger, but this one has features you need, and its use will ensure a good long life for your new technology nimh batteries.
Duracell are hardly advertising them, but the batteries with this charger are the new technology low self discharge long shelf life batteries which you can charge and leave – without worrying about them discharging and becoming none-rechargeable after a couple of months.
It is not unusual for a charger to take four batteries at a time. But this charger treats each battery as an individual – you can charge a single battery, you don’t have to charge two at a time (which most cheaper chargers insist on).
The charger measures battery condition at individual level for best battery lifespan (and you will see that no two batteries are exactly identical).
A useful extra is the USB connection which you can use to (slowly) recharge your phone or mp3 player using four fully charged batteries. Useful out in the country away from a mains plug.
The UK plug can be flipped off the unit to allow for other style plugs to be used, but none are supplied in this package.
And a failed battery (it happens) or accidentally putting an alkaline battery in – is indicated by a flashing light.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
I wanted a battery charger, mainly to supply batteries for a power-guzzling Magic Mouse, and chose this one because of its features and the Duracell name. It comes with four AA low self-discharge nickel-metal hydride (LSD NiMH) batteries, a relatively new kind of battery which reduces self-discharge, extending shelf life between charges.
The unit can charge batteries singly, and can charge a combination of AAs and AAAs. It also has a USB port that can be used to charge a device from the mains or from a set of charged batteries. It’s touted as a “mobile” charger due to its compactness, but here is the one reason why it just misses out on being 5 stars: the mains plug attaches to the charger itself, meaning that you need a lot of space around the socket in order to plug it in. Thankfully, the space needed is upwards rather than downwards, but generally I find that a plug on the end of a cable is easier to use in most situations, even if you lose a tiny bit of “portability”.
If looking to buy a set of AAAs to go with the charger I’d recommend the “Stay Charged” Duracells. These are the rebranded equivalents of the “Active Charges” that come with the unit, and feature the same LSD NiMH technology mentioned earlier.
Amazon are currently selling these units for £[] – an absolute steal at anywhere near this price.
Rating: 4 / 5