01-10-2007, 04:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,291
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LaCrosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger
Product Category: Battery Charger
Manufacturer: LaCrosse Technology
Where to Buy: Amazon.com (affiliate link)
Price: $79.95 USD MSRP (but available many places for half that)
System Requirements: Works with all NiCd and NiMH �AA� and �AAA� rechargeable batteries
Specifications: Charger is 3.0" x 5.1" x 1.5" and operates at 100-240 VAC
Pros:- Great measurement tool to measure actually battery performance;
- Refresh function allows you to recondition batteries that would otherwise be worthless;
- Lots of nice accessories included.
Cons:- Poorly written documentation;
- Larger than most travel chargers.
Summary:
Rechargeable batteries are great but it is hard to be sure you are getting the most out of them with standard chargers. The LaCrosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger fully delivers on its promise to help you maximize your investment in rechargeable batteries.
Read on for the full review!
The Problem With Rechargeable Batteries
If you are like me, you have tons of items in your household that rely on AA and AAA batteries rather than built in battery packs. Personally, I prefer using standard batteries over proprietary battery packs simply because of the replacement cost when these packs eventually die. Plus standard batteries are available everywhere. The downside of standard batteries is that they are disposable which can get costly as well as not being the best for the environment. I'm sure many of you, like me have gone for the best of both worlds by using rechargeable batteries in standard sizes. There are still a few downsides to this strategy. I've found that most rechargeable batteries don't hold their charge for a long time, so a charged battery that has been sitting for a few months probably won't last too long in your camera. Secondly, their capacity tends to drop over time, eventually leaving you with a battery that even when full won't do you much good. There are a plethora of standard chargers on the market, but today we are going to look at a charger that promises to help you get the most out of your investment in rechargeable batteries.
The LaCrosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger has all the functionality of your standard charger, along with the ability to let you measure the capacity of your batteries as well as refresh your batteries to restore capacity that has been lost over time.
What's In The Box
Let's start by taking a look at what you get in the box. In addition to the charger, you get 4 2400 mAh AA's and 4 800 mAh AAA's along with a set of converters that will allow you to use your AA's as C or D size batteries in a pinch. This all comes in a travel bag more than large enough to hold everything as well as most digital cameras.
As you can see, a big difference between this charger and your standard charger is the LED display and control buttons which are the key to unlocking the features of this charger. There are four main modes of operation for this charger.
Charge mode allows you to charge your batteries at user selectable rates between 200 mA and 1800 mA. This flexibility give you the option for a really quick charge when you are in a rush, or a slow and gentle charge to preserve the life of your batteries.
Discharge mode fully discharges your batteries before charging them up.
Test mode performs a full charge followed by a full discharge, allowing the unit to measure the actual capacity of your batteries. When the test is complete, the batteries are fully charged.
Refresh mode allows you to take batteries that have lost much of their original capacity and improve their performance. It does this through a process of slowly charging and discharging the batteries 20 times.
After a charging cycle is complete, the charger switches to trickle charge mode to keep the batteries topped off. This is a really nice feature since it can assure that you always have at least one set of batteries ready to go.
Testing
When I first saw this charger, I was impressed by the charging functions as well as the test mode, but was a bit skeptical about how effective the refresh mode would be. So, when I received it, I tested it with a random selection of 16 rechargeable batteries of various ages. For each battery I first ran it through test mode to get a baseline for the battery. I then ran the refresh mode, followed again by the test mode. The table below outlines the results.
I was extremely impressed by these results. As you can see a number of batteries which were pretty much worthless were refreshed to being within 10% of their rated capacity. While there were 2 of the 16 batteries that the charger could do nothing to help, at least it let me identify these batteries and pull them from my rotation. Also, take note of test item #2, this was a fairly new battery that tested pretty close to its maximum capacity. For this battery, the refresh cycle hurt the capacity, so I would recommend only using the refresh cycle on batteries that really need it. Another important caveat is that the test and refresh cycles can be painfully slow on high capacity batteries since it is using the lowest charge and discharge settings. As an example, the refresh test on battery #2 (2500 mAh) took days to complete all 20 cycles. Additionally, as a tip, I found it useful to number my batteries with a Sharpie. This makes it easier for anyone who is anal retentive like me to track the performance of their batteries or keep track of which ones are the best for use in their highest demand products.
Conclusions
This is by far the best charger I have ever owned. It does everything it promises and does it well. Still, there are a couple of minor areas in which it could be improved. While not large, the combination of the unit and its power brick is not as portable as I would like. However, I don't really plan on using this as a travel unit anyway since I already have an small, collapsible quick charger. Secondly, I found the instruction manual really hard to follow. Luckily, the manufacturer has a cheat sheet on the product page that was far clearer than the instruction manual. I'd suggest the cheat sheet be included in the box.
Chris Gohlke is a Contributing Editor for Digital Media Thoughts. He loves Sci-Fi and loves to get his hands on real-life tech gadgets. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, USA with his wife and three cats.
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