La Crosse BC900 / Techno Line BC900?

Just got one this morning, after reading all the positive reviews online (and over at The Strobist).

Currently 'refreshing' an old set of Energizers to see how they fare, but it's taken over 8 hours so far... I know it's going to slow-charge them back-up, and the manual says it could take 'several days' - DAYS!?

Are they worth the £40 is cost?

yup

Thanks for you insight and contribution.

you bought a new charger, get some new Sanyo Eneloops and dump the old Energizers. You'll be glad you did.

According to my MaHa charger "manual," it can take up to 35 hrs to condition a set of batteries. That's about in line with my experience using it, although I don't sit beside it with an egg timer.

sando wrote in post #6303644
Thanks for you insight and contribution.

Sorry, how about I say "Yes, they worth the £40 is cost" instead? Does that make my answer to your question better?

They're absolutely worth it. I bought one and it's helped me identify several bung batteries and the level of control it gives you over charging is just awesome.

I'd ditch the Energizers, though, and pick up some good Powerex 2700mah or Imedion/Eneloops.. I gave away most of my Energizers after getting so frustrated with their inability to hold a charge. It does take a couple of days to condition the batteries...

Unless you choose a higher charge/discharge rate than the standard 200/100 mA then it will take a damn long time to completely refresh a set of cells. Think about it - it can easily take three full cycles (perhaps more) to bring a set of cells up to optimum performance. At a minimum it will cycle them twice in order to see what they can do the first time and then again to see if they can do any better. It will carry on cycling until there is no more gain to be had. If they are a nominal 2000mAh capacity it will take 20 hours to discharge them and 10 hours to charge them up again. Repeat that three times and you've got the better part of 4 days in the charger. Of course, you can speed things up if you like, but at the risk of warming the batteries more than is ideal.

By the way, I bought the Techno-line BC700, which is functionally identical to the BC900 but without the accessories which I don't need, and at substantially lower cost as a result.

A refresh took 4 days for a pair of AAs (the ones that came with my BC900)

This was at 200mah...I had the time

A full refresh on the LaCrosse could take a while depending on the batteries. It has a mode where it will continually perform it until it detects no more increase in capacity and that can take days. I've got the LaCrosse myself and I do quite like it, the only issue with it vs the Maha from what I understand was a concern with high charging rates and having the batteries too close together. The new version only charges at the higher rates if you have one battery at each end (can't put any in the two center spots). This is supposed to prevent overheating issues.

SMP_Homer wrote in post #6310161
Sorry, how about I say "Yes, they worth the £40 is cost" instead? Does that make my answer to your question better?

No, real English would be much better.

Well, it's now Wednesday, 9pm and they've been on since Saturday afternoon! Still 'refreshing'! I have a shoot on Sunday and was hoping to have refreshed all my AA cells before then!

If you can't afford to wait then you can always interrupt the cycle and just stick them on again to do a regular charge.

I don't have my instruction book handy, so check the facts on this, but if you want to do a "one cycle" refresh I think the "Test" mode will top them up, discharge them to empty to measure their capacity and then brim them again. Of course, you will still be looking at a cycle time of over 30 hours just to do that once, so do it wisely. Another option (again check the facts) would be simply to start a discharge cycle. This should drain them and then top them up again to full, which should take somewhere between around 20-30 hours depending on their capacity and current charge state.

If you're really strapped then just stick them on a regular charge and worry about refreshing them next week. If you're really really stuck, and have several sets to charge, then you may have to bump up the charge current to speed things along. That is not at all ideal, so use that as a last resort. Mine do get warm at 500mA and warmth is the big "No-No" for battery life. I would not use 700mA.

sando wrote in post #6327644
No, real English would be much better.

Well, it's now Wednesday, 9pm and they've been on since Saturday afternoon! Still 'refreshing'! I have a shoot on Sunday and was hoping to have refreshed all my AA cells before then!

Not only is this an international forum where not everyone speaks English natively, but you also said "Thanks for you insight and contribution," so you shouldn't be so quick to shun others if you understand their point.

As for the charger, it does take quite a long while to condition batteries. I conditioned a set of really old and worn Energizer 1600mAh batteries and it took around 2.5-3 days to finish and reach the trickle-charge stage.

sando wrote in post #6327644
No, real English would be much better.

Then I guess I'll take my english back to my tribe and hide in the jungle a bit longer. Sorry to have offended anyone

SMP_Homer wrote in post #6333967
Then I guess I'll take my english back to my tribe and hide in the jungle a bit longer. Sorry to have offended anyone

Apology accepted.

I wasn't having a go, mate, I just don't think that "yup" is even worth bothering writing in response to a question.