So you want to buy a charger, but where do you start to look? The market for consumer chargers is flooded and with a new types of charger being released at a high rate, each supposedly offering that little bit extra other chargers do not offer. It can be very difficult to find the right charger which will suit your requirements as well as your pocket. We currently stock around 20 different chargers; quite a large range which we hope will suit the charging needs of everybody. |
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We have worked very hard to try and make our site contain as much information as possible so our customers can make decisions for themselves on the products they wish to buy. To help with choosing the right charger, this section has been put together to outline the key features to look for when buying a charger, which of these features make a charger expensive and provide an guide to the chargers we have in stock.
If you have any queries or comments about this section or any other aspect of our website or the products we offer please don’t hesitate to contact us using the details at the bottom of the page.
There are three main factors to look at when choosing a charger:
Batteries to be charged:
- Type or chemistry: Nickel Cadmium (NiCd), Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh), Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)
- Size of battery: AAA, AA, C, D, PP3, CR-123A, CR-V3, Digital Camera Battery, Camcorder Battery
- Number of batteries to be charged at the same time, many charges will charge up to 4 cells however we have multi-chargers available which can charge up to 16 batteries at once.
Speed of charging:
- How fast you wish your batteries to charge will have a bearing on the choice of charger, some basic chargers can take up to 24 hours to charge standard AA cells where as other high tech chargers can charge the same batteries in less than an hour.
Charge control/intelligent charging:
- Most basic chargers simply apply a constant current to the inserted batteries until you take them out again.
- Standard middle range chargers generally have some charge control such as a timer, or some form of end of charge detection, details of these are explained in detail later in this section.
- The high end chargers will contain end of charge detection along with a range of battery management features such as discharge functions, refresh functions and general battery analysis features. Again, these will be explained in greater detail later in this section.
The thing to note with chargers as with every piece of electronic equipment, you get what you pay for; the chargers we have selected in our range are all manufactured to a high quality and the differences in price represent the features the charger contains, the more features the higher the price.
To make it easy to compare the chargers we stock at a glance we have developed a number of tables outlining the key features each charger contains. We have also put together a detailed information section providing detailed information about the additional charger features available.
Recommended Chargers
- If you do not wish to search through all of the different information and features of each charger we have put together a list of chargers which are suited to three types of use; Basic, Ultra Fast, Feature Packed.
Charge time comparison table
- This table details the charge time for each charger and also indicates the number of each type of battery that can be charged.
Want to calculate your own charge time?
- There is a general formula that can be used to calculate suitable charge times for your batteries. You will need to know the capacity of the batteries you wish to charge and the charge current of the charger.
Charger features table
- If you are interested in what features each charger offers, this is the place to look.
Charger features explained
- This section provides detailed information regarding the various features available on the various chargers we have in stock. This will hopefully make it easier for you to make a better choice on the right charger for you.
Digital Camera / Camcorder Chargers
- This section outlines the features of the chargers designed specifically for charging Digital Camera and Camcorder batteries; it also includes the chargers we stock for CR-123A and CR-V3 batteries.
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