Earlier on, I've splurged a bit on different types of NiMH batts. I've gotten Sonys, Panasonics, Sanyos, Energizers, Mahas, GPs, Accupowers, Rayovacs, IPowers, Lenmars, Jetcells and Kodaks. So you can imagine I might have an opinion or two when it comes to batteries.
I suppose if you're not too concerned about the usage of rechargeables, then any cell would do. But if you're like the photography community, who literally count 100mah more as a means to squeeze in a few more shots or make their CCDs last longer, then you may be more picky about the brand names. Usually, Maha and Sanyo are the best of the best in batteries, so no matter what size you get, they're your best bet against failure and a truth in advertising (they're both very close in reality to their advertised mah rating)...
You can decide between the Vanson or the CCrane. It'll be about 6 hours for a 4500mah C. I think for the most part, people have expressed a freedom (need) to charge their cells with irregularities in regards to the combination of numbers of cells (1-2-3-4).
Therefore, even though the CCrane does not have independant channels and charges in parellel, it is the most comfortable to use because of its LED dialogue output and voltage test capability. And if you're worried about the parellel charging, you can put in 1 cell at a time and have it charged quicker as well. The Vanson is your basic delta sensing charger, and although I'd also recommend the PS3, I've seen it do imcomplete charges on D NiMHs...
I'd stay away from dual channel chargers, simply because mixing different capacity batteries or mixing a more used batt with a less used one may result in a reverse charge or an incomplete charge on the lower capacity cell.
There's no way to tell on the charger itself, or the documentation that came with it; only in that it was made specifically for CCrane. Although I kind'a doubt it's made by the radiotronics company (Sangean)...
The Saitek and Ccrane don't look like the same charger. The Ccrane takes 16 hours to recharge four size D NiMH cells. Any idea how long the Saitek takes?
D nicads are capable of taking a fast charge; it just takes a lot of power. I don't offhand know where to get chargers that can actually charge them fast (1-2 hours or whatever). An R/C modeller supplier might be a good place to look.
The Saitek charger you posted a pic of looks exactly like my RS charger. So, they are almost certainly one and the same.
To make my remark about the CCrane charger less vague, its function is similar to that of the Saitek--though not exactly the same. The icons in the display are the same, just in a different layout. I am assuming both are OEMed by the same company, but the technology could be licensed instead.
I have a DuraTraxx IntelliPeak NiCd/NiMH pulse charger that will charge 4-8 cells in series, from .5A up to 6.5A. It's a true delta-peak charger, but doesn't have any overcharge protection. It does, however, provide voltage/current/mAh readouts--useful when you want to analyze how well a battery pack is accepting a charge and how much useable capacity it has. The only drawback is you can't charge anything with fewer than 4 cells...
The RS charger I have does NOT charge in parellel. It's a series charger, and a dual banks charger. I doubt the RS charger and the CCrane are the same. They may be licensed by Saitek (I really don't know for sure), but they definate don't share the same charging circuitry...
That's interesting....the RS charger that I have does charge them in parallel. It's the one thing that (initially) I didn't like about it...but never had any problems with. What P/N is yours? (I don't have mine handy, I'll have to check it and get back to you.)
I know for a fact that Saitek makes my RS charger, because the Saitek logo is silkscreened on all of the PCBs inside.
Not getting defensive here, I just think we might be talking about two different chargers.
• Two charging bays—bay 1 holds two or four nickel-cadmium/nickel-metal hydride D/C/AA/AAA batteries, bay 2 holds one or two nickel-cadmium/nickel-metal hydride 9V batteries
• Advanced discharge circuitry completely discharges your batteries to ensure a top-capacity charge every time! Color-coded charge and discharge lights (for each charging bay) show you the status of the charging process
• Reverse polarity protection
• Short-circuit protection
• Alkaline battery detection
• Safety timer protection
FalconFX, what voltage does your charger discharge the batteries to. Not too far? Does Maha make a charger taking all rechargable batteries, or C and D's that would individually charge them like their AA chargers?
Bill, my CCrane brings down voltages to anywhere from 1.1V to 1.05V. There are a few times I see my Mahas go down below 1.0v very briefly. For the most part, most of my batts see just over 1.0V before the IDS (intelligent discharge system) pops off... It brings it way down for AAs and AAAs as opposed to Cs and Ds, and it does it within 5 minutes for Ds and 2 minutes for AAs, quite quick...
Hey guys-If you have a charger that discharges the batteries to aprox. 1v per cell, that is great UNLESS you are using metal hydrides. They hate this process. They have no memory effect to speak of and therefor hate being ran down that low. If that discharge feature is manually controlled, don't do it to the NiMH cells.
Obviously, for NiMHs, the discharge system on the CCrane isn't needed. It's a feature meant for NiCads only. I'd think most people know that NiMHs don't have the memory problem of their more toxic cousins.