RichK
Guru
- Location
- Birmingham, England
I needed a new battery charger & the Battery Logic bl-700 often gets good reviews here & elsewhere but at £33 it was a bit more than I really wanted to spend. However, they now have a cheaper alternative – the BL-500 “chipmunk” at £20. So, I bought one.
First impressions are good. It seems well enough put together. The instructions are minimal - but then there's not really any more needed.
This is a really simple charger. Plug in. There’s both mains & car leads included. Put in batteries. Any number between 1 and 4. There’s a small flip down to accommodate either AA or AAA. Switch on. Batteries charge. Simple.
Unlike the 700, there’s no options. No discharge or recondition option & no charging rate option. Charging is at a fixed 500 ma for AA & 250 ma for AAA. It does have four independent charging chanels with intelligent charge control. So, those items that need 3 batteries aren’t a problem (I seem to have several).
The indicator panel shows the batteries charging. When they’re full, it switches to trickle charging & apparently shuts down after 8 hours (not tested yet). The display is clear & simple.
If you want the charge rate options (for faster charging), discharge & recondition functions then you'll need to spend the extra & buy a 700. If you just want a simple (intelligent) AA/AAA charger then I think this is worth looking at.
First impressions are good. It seems well enough put together. The instructions are minimal - but then there's not really any more needed.
This is a really simple charger. Plug in. There’s both mains & car leads included. Put in batteries. Any number between 1 and 4. There’s a small flip down to accommodate either AA or AAA. Switch on. Batteries charge. Simple.
Unlike the 700, there’s no options. No discharge or recondition option & no charging rate option. Charging is at a fixed 500 ma for AA & 250 ma for AAA. It does have four independent charging chanels with intelligent charge control. So, those items that need 3 batteries aren’t a problem (I seem to have several).
The indicator panel shows the batteries charging. When they’re full, it switches to trickle charging & apparently shuts down after 8 hours (not tested yet). The display is clear & simple.
If you want the charge rate options (for faster charging), discharge & recondition functions then you'll need to spend the extra & buy a 700. If you just want a simple (intelligent) AA/AAA charger then I think this is worth looking at.
