Rechargeable batteries/chargers

A couple questions about rechargeables and chargers:

1. I want to buy a universal recharger, am considering the Accumanager 20. Anyone have any experience with this model? For the price range, is there a better choice?

2. I notice there are lots of chargers for AA/AAA and few that will accommodate C & D. Same goes for the battery cases. This makes me wonder, is there not as much demand for C & D equipment as there is for AA & AAA stuff, and if so, why not? In our household it seems like we go through lots of C's.

Col Sanders,

Mountainwinds wrote: Some 123 battery lights that will cause eye damage.

One more question: Can any battery charger be used with a solar panel, simply by virtue of its being an electrical device?

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Col Sanders wrote: 1. I want to buy a universal recharger, am considering the Accumanager 20. Anyone have any experience with this model? For the price range, is there a better choice?

    
Col Sanders,

First off, love the chicken strips in the sweet and spicy sauce.

I have an Accumanager 20. I had to send it back because of it would NOT auto recogonize the batteries. It charges the batteries great,(I got all Accupower batteries - same manufacturer) but I returned it am awaiting the replacement. . .

I bought everything from Thomas Distributing*. Customer service was REALLY great, as were the prices. The unit can be powered off grid by a solar panel or thru an auto cig lighter.

I got a 15 watt solar panel from Cabela's** for $120.00. It will recharge auto batteries also.

Gilmore

P.S. New Accumanager 20 should arrive today and will provide an update on this thread. Thomas Dist has tested the replacement to insure the auto-recognize mode works.

P.S. I have no financial interest in, or receive discounts from ANY companies products I post about. . .

* ( thomasdistributing.com )

** http://tinyurl.com/onlr3

   
    

Also as fc17 said, solar yard light are a good cheap way to charge batteries. Just make sure you remove the batteries before it gets dark and they turn on and start using power.

If you are looking for raw recharge time for C's and D's, I believe the fastest NiMh battery charger is the Maha MH-C808M.  The accumanager 20 can recharge 4 NiMH D size batteries in about 12 hours.  The Maha claims it can do it in 5 hours.  Of course the Maha comes at a price 2x that of the accumanager 20.  My thought is, if the power was out and you wanted to conserve your generator fuel while recharging C's and D's, the Maha would be better (assuming you don't have solar).

Buy the solar lights from most hardware stores, or walmart. The batteries are alreay installed and charged. There is a strip of plastic between battery and contact, remove it to activate. Or remove batteries and install ones that are dead. Then..... simply put in the sun to charge.

Besides what sweetpea asked, can you replace the NiCads with NIMHs?

I would charge the batteries (2) for at least two days from total discharge. They will last longer than that if used in a flashlight for a few minutes a night. If using higher drain items, they won't last as long. Nimh can be used in them, but they don't get as good of a charge, since they are made for a higher charge rate. But then they also do not have the memory effect.

No, it just won't have as good of a charge, and will need to be charged sooner. I would leave them in the solar light for as long as possible. Several days even. Just remove them at night so the light does not turn on and drain the batteries.

NiMH batteries have like 1600 to 2700 amp hours. More the better. The NiCads were less than a 1000.

Can anyone tell me if regular batteries will last longer if you freeze them. I'm pretty sure I read that on here. I ask two different store clerks at Radio Shack. One told me yes, but only put them in the freeze for a few hours. The other told me I could keep them in there until I needed them. Guess thats what I get for asking the same question twice.

im probobly not thinking this entirly through, but if you were to buy a battery charger, assuming of course you were doing this because batteries were scare in stores during the pandemic, wouldnt electricty eventually turn off?    ( you wouldnt be able to use a wall charger) 

prepmeister wrote: The key behind rechargable batteries, is that you can use them over and over before having to return to a disease infested walmart once H2H is going.

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Col Sanders wrote: A couple questions about rechargeables and chargers: 1. I want to buy a universal recharger, am considering the Accumanager 20. Anyone have any experience with this model? For the price range, is there a better choice?

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Col Sanders,

SORRY I forgot to respond earlier. . .

Got the Accumanager back and it woks great.

Does AA, AAA, C, D, & 9vlt.
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