Review on ⚡ Battery Charger Analyzer Tester: BT-C2400 for AA AAA NiMH NiCd Rechargeable Batteries - Comprehensive Analysis and Charging Efficiency by Amber Hickman

Failed to load media. Congratulations! You can finally stop looking for a AA/AAA battery charger. This Opus BT-C2400 charger redefines the term "smart" charger. Others claim and fail or fail. I'm a techie at heart so I was taking a trip when my last smart charger died. I really liked the last charger and thought about just getting another one. I then went online and found that they no longer make it and the fault I saw with this design was a general problem (overheating). Then I spent about 2 weeks reading and reading "free nights" ... about all the possibilities of modern chargers. Let me share some very important results of this time and accumulator. First, let's talk about what we charge. "The batteries to buy are from the Eneloop brand, a premium brand with low self-discharge. These batteries last much longer than traditional NiMH batteries. I use them in remote controls, calculators, and other devices that need to hold a charge for more than a few months. But there's one thing: these wonderful batteries don't like heat. When handled properly, Eneloop batteries can last up to 2100 charges. So if you get the right charger and batteries, it's a great investment at minimal cost and also very good for the earth (stop buying alkaline batteries that go in the trash). I have two young children who tend to forget to turn it off, so being able to reconnect the battery to the charger is very welcome. Unfortunately, if you study enough, most chargers have something called "drip charging". After the batteries are mostly charged, they pulse with a small current to keep them going. Sounds good right? Well, something like that. Most of these chargers charge too much current (about 100mA or more). If you accidentally leave the batteries in the charger for several days, you can already damage the Eneloops. Okay, so it's better to have no continuous charging or low continuous charging (less than 20mA). The Opus BT-C2400 charges most batteries I have at around 7-14mA. That's very, very little... a great compromise between topping up and charging the batteries without overheating or destroying your batteries. While I would advise you to remove them after charging, leaving them on the charger for a few days shouldn't hurt. Next, it's important to have a good display so you can see what's going on with your batteries. Many chargers have pretty icons just to indicate that the battery is charging slowly, or a green/red light, which is too basic. It says almost nothing. Ideally you should know the voltage, current, capacity of the batteries and see all this information for each charging slot. This is another area where chargers don't work. Here the Opus BT-C2400 does its job well. (see screenshots in action) with information at your fingertips. Many chargers work well with fresh batteries, but most don't work well with old batteries either. As batteries age, their internal resistance increases and their capacity decreases. Many chargers just blink or say "zero" and don't even try to charge old batteries. Blinking can be annoying as hell when you're wondering "What now?". No matter what you do, most chargers just won't try to charge. There are tricks you will read about how to get the charger to charge the battery by using a paper clip to connect the output of a good battery to an old battery. Just google "null" and a paper clip and you'll see what I mean. But who wants to spend that kind of money and do shoddy things with paperclips... I don't think that's too safe or good. Can't chargers just be smarter? Well, this is perhaps the most important feature of the Opus BT-C2400. I'm an engineer and we're talking about algorithms, those fancy mathematical formulas that make all the math work in these chargers. It is important to know that if you buy the BT-C2000 model, you may receive less optimized firmware. When you buy the BT-C2400 you get the latest firmware/algorithms. The Opus BT-C2400 monitors certain characteristics of these batteries and adjusts the current according to each battery's condition. Watch a video showing this charger set to 1000mA but charging with two old batteries (marked #1 and #2) at less current, not the dreaded "zero" . This allows sub-optimal batteries to be charged which are not charged by all my other chargers. In addition, battery heating is significantly reduced. Simply put, it charges batteries that other chargers cannot. That was the main decision for me! If the charger is equipped with excellent functions and displays, but cannot charge batteries. then the rest wouldn't matter. Speaking of features - I was adamant that there should be modes not only for charging batteries, but also to give you an idea of their general condition (diagnostic modes). We don't want to fill our earth with all those batteries that were considered bad because of bad chargers. The C2400 can measure capacity (charge test) and internal resistance (fast charge test) and these values can tell you when it's time to finally dispose of the batteries. In addition, there is a special mode called Discharge Refresh. The charger charges and discharges the batteries several times to bring them back to life. I strongly recommend that you use this feature from time to time even for "good" fresh batteries to prolong their lifespan. It's always best to drain the battery before charging, and modes like this do that and more. My old charger was compact, I thought it was so cool. Having narrowed my search to the last few chargers I thought I was missing out on their beauty and compactness as most of them were significantly larger. Many modern chargers charge a large amount of batteries such as NiMH, LiPo, Li-Ion, NiCd, etc. There are spring-loaded battery carriers for this. I already have a great one. It connects to a computer, can output results to Excel, etc. It has too many features that I'll ever use, and most importantly, it's not fun to put in batteries. It's all about holding the batteries in the right position, after all, and allowing those sliders to pinch the batteries that keep them aloft. Often the weight of the battery is so high that the battery can fall out. I assume most of you charge AA/AAA NiMH batteries and if so the Opus BT-C2400 is perfect. If you absolutely need a charger for mixed types like NiMH, NiCd, Lithium Ion and sizes above AA/AAA then there is the big brother Opus BT-C3100 charger. However, since I use AA/AAA NiMH, I was happy to skip the C3100 and go straight to the C2400. This charger doesn't have sliders, instead it has dedicated slots that allow you to easily insert AA/AAA batteries. Also, I've found that I LOVE the charger more now. I'm used to taking batteries out of an old charger and not taking out others that were still charging. An old compact charger I thought I'd like, well... I don't miss it. With the large Opus BT-C2400, I can remove the battery in the middle with little effort. This is a dream. This charger is suitable for all batteries up to 1000 mA. A nice added bonus though is that if you just use the two external slots you can charge up to 1400mA. It's worth reading the instructions! So if you are in a hurry and only need to charge 2 batteries, you can add some extra power to the batteries to speed up the charging process. This causes something I couldn't research online but had to verify myself. Battery temperature at higher power settings. With my last charger, the batteries got hot... sometimes terribly hot. This is an Opus charger, on any setting the batteries don't get anywhere near hot. Batteries get a little warm, which is normal for all chargers. Opus batteries are near room temperature most of the time. As mentioned, this means the batteries will last much longer (many years). They didn't give me a device to check, they didn't pay me, nothing. I fell in love with this charger so much and was so happy that I felt the need to share this experience. I hope this review will save some people many hours of research and almost 100 chargers I have reviewed. By the way, I also bought a second charger because I really liked it. I recommend anyone looking for an AA/AAA NiMH charger look no further. Buy Eneloops and this charger and save the planet from leaches eating our landfills.