# AccuPower IQ-328 AA/AAA Charger -- Nice... and Smart!!



## Verndog (Dec 1, 2012)

I wanted to put out some info on this new charger I've been looking at the last few weeks as there is not much info in the US on it. The charger is German design and has been selling in Europe and the UK for I believe a little less then a year. I found a bunch of reviews on it on Amazon UK and they were very good. Those can be seen here.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-rev...iewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

I own several high end hobby chargers, and a LaCrosse BC500 for AA-AAA rechargeables, and several other various chargers including 2 Tenergy chargers. The LaCrosse charger lasted 1 year and the display went bad, still works but irritating to look at. This is a known issue with BC500 and 700 along with other issues from them steered me another direction. The Maha's seem to have other issues including interface that forces many selections I didn't care for...so here I am. This charger is just starting to sell in the US, in fact I may be one of the first before "Nele the engineer" Amazon guru even. 

On with the specs and pics.

*AccuPower IQ-328*

*AccuPower fast charger with capacity display, discharge function and LCD-display for AAA/Micro, AA/Mignon NiMH rechargeable batteries*
The intelligent fast-charger with LCD display for AAA/Micro/LR03 and Mignon/AA 


For all Micro/AAA / Mignon/AA NiMH and NiCd rechargebale batteries 
Capacity max. 3500mAh 
Single channel control (x4) 
*Charge current adjustable:* 200, 500, 700 and 1000mA for 1-4 batteries or 1800mA for 1-2 batteries 
*Discharge function* to prevent from memory-effect (.9 volt cutoff) 
Microprocessor control, precise measurement of the -dV charging signal 
*Trickle charging* automatically after charge end 
*Overheating control *= safety for your storage battieries 
*Special care program* to regenerate damaged batteries (because of charge / discharge cycles) 
*Battery** test *for nearly real values 
*Capacity measurement *for 1-4 Mignon/AA or Micro/AA 
 
 Technical details  

Input voltage: 100-240 VAC 
 

Charge current (adjustable): 200, 500, 700mA, 1000mA for 1-4 batteries, 1800mAh for 1-2 batteries  
 

Discharge current: max. 500mA 
 

Capacity limit: max. 3500mAh 
 

Dimensions (LxBxH): 130x83x35mm 
 

Weight: 129 gramm 
 

2 years guaranty  

 











*Here you can see the thermal protection / heat sensor. This cuts off at 55C / 131F*






*Hitting Display you can view Time / mah input or discharged / charge voltage / cell voltage at anytime without cycle interruption.*











I am very impressed with this charger, and it was only $29.99 on Amazon. It's much better build quality then the LaCrosse that was $34.00 a year ago, has more power and options, better display information, and does everything you will need a AA-AAA charger to do. The charger is larger, better venting, thermal protected, more display information and size, and more solid buttons.

One very smart feature I like, is you can put 1 cell in and press current to select the amps to charge at then add another cell and repeat...or, just put all 4 in and do it once to keep all 4 the same. You can also do the same with the mode...discharge 2 and charge 2 the same way. By default it will charge at .2 amps, so if you do nothing it will just slow charger.

I ran some cell tests and compared the numbers to the cells previously tested in a high end hobby charger (Team Checkpoint 10amp) and the LaCrosse and the mah is very accurate...less then 3% difference on 3 cells.

Any question feel free to ask...


----------



## lwien (Dec 2, 2012)

Looks like a cloned BC-1000.


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 2, 2012)

I read a bunch of Amazon reviews and more than one mentioned that if you load a recently fully-charged battery it can begin charging that battery, resulting in meltdowns, perhaps fires. 
Would be nice to know they squashed that bug..

there's a couple at amazon us, one cheaper than the other,

Accupower Accu-manager 2010 AA-AAA Battery Charger Charges Nimh, Nicd, or Ram Batteries $19.97

Product Features
The rechargeable batteries can be left in the charger for a longer period of time, as overcharging of the batteries is not possible
Batteries can also be charged individually. Interruptions and additions can be made at any time during the charging procedure.
1-4 batteries can be charged simultaneously. Combination of sizes and battery chemistry is also allowed.
An adapter for a 120V/60Hz wall outlet and for a 12 Volt automobile electrical supply system is included with the charger.
The unit contains electronic reverse battery protection and rejects batteries with reverse polarity. If a battery is defective, the corresponding LED will remain off.


AccuPower LCD Fast Charger IQ328 for AA / AAA batteries $34.27

Product Features
Charges 4 AA or AAA, NiMH or NiCd rechargeable batteries simultaneously
Four independent channels each battery charged and monitored separately
LCD shows capacity for each battery when discharge/test/charging is complete
Automatically detects defective batteries Overheat detection to protect batteries
Test your batteries for actual capacity and restore old batteries.


----------



## Verndog (Dec 2, 2012)

lwien said:


> Looks like a cloned BC-1000.



Cloned would usually mean the same, jus re-badged. It's not. Display is different, no cell select available or required (auto select with cell insertion), select buttons are re ordered...ect. It does share many similarities, but is also half the cost.


----------



## Verndog (Dec 2, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> I read a bunch of Amazon reviews and more than one mentioned that if you load a recently fully-charged battery it can begin charging that battery, resulting in meltdowns, perhaps fires.
> Would be nice to know they squashed that bug..



I provided a link to all the reviews I found on Amazon on this charger and saw nothing about missed termination or meltdown. It also has thermal protection so I'd say this is unlikely. I've topped off cells already on it and have not seen it miss termination yet. I'll try more...but possibly these issues are a different charger? Can you post a link to this problem found?


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 7, 2012)

Verndog said:


> I provided a link to all the reviews I found on Amazon on this charger and saw nothing about missed termination or meltdown. It also has thermal protection so I'd say this is unlikely. I've topped off cells already on it and have not seen it miss termination yet. I'll try more...but possibly these issues are a different charger? Can you post a link to this problem found?



http://www.amazon.com/review/RT32UA...0NPE59E&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=#wasThisHelpful

"On the other hand, the problem you experienced may have been a design flaw in the product. I did notice in the charger manual's troubleshooting section that new NiMH cells may overheat on the first charge. While it is documented, it's in a location one might not read. I know i often don't read the troubleshooting section unless i just can't get the product to work, so it could easily be overlooked. This seems to me to be a design flaw in the product. Overheating cells can permanently damage them. Smart chargers are supposed to avoid this. TheMaha Powerex Wizard One MH-C9000 Advanced Battery Charger and Analyzerdoesn't do this, and seems to be a generally superior charger (for AA and AAA NiMH/NiCad cells; it doesn't do C, D or 9v, nor Alkaline rechargeables, nor have a solar option, however). For what it's worth, Thomas Distributing is a reliable vendor (i've bought from them before)..."

somebody else wrote: "...The problem with both chargers was the overheating of some batteries, which the "Smart Charging" technologies are suppose to prevent. When I charge batteries I always keep a small fan blowing on the charger at all times because I have found this keeps things "cool" and when one becomes "warm-to-hot", then you know for sure it is the charger..."


OK? That said, it looks like a really cool charger, I don't feel the overheating will be an issue more than very rarely, it seems very nicely made, and I would definitely buy one.


----------



## Verndog (Dec 7, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> OK? That said, it looks like a really cool charger, I don't feel the overheating will be an issue more than very rarely, it seems very nicely made, and I would definitely buy one.



Those reviews are an entirely different "Fast Charger"...the AP2020 AccuManager 20 Super Fast Charger. That charger also does NOT have the Thermal detection / Shutoff system that the IQ328 I'm reviewing does. Also it charges AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V. Personally I would avoid any fast charger that claims 1/2 hour charging. It's very hard on cells, and yes can overheat cells that are in poor condition.

I have now recharged 20 batteries that ranged from 1/2 full to just charged and topped off (to see if it will overcharge), and tested many more. This charger terminates perfectly every time with everything I've throw at it. I charge AA @ .7amps, and AAA @ .5 amps. I have not seen a battery go over 107F yet, and the charger itself keeps considerably cooler then the LaCrosse it's replacing.

Here are 4 cells that are 14 months old that just came off in test mode. Test mode charges, discharges (to test actual mah), then recharges. All were barely warm to the touch, and cells were full when it started in charge mode. These are 800 (.750 min.) mah LSD cells, and all tested perfectly.


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 7, 2012)

Good to hear! I definitely want one, but where to buy? When I went to amazon they were gone!

..So I posted reviews of what they still had available at the time..did not intend to confuse the two,

but as you can see: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z5XXZU/?tag=cpf0b6-20

.."not available" last time I looked..


----------



## mccririck (Dec 7, 2012)

Argh, what a pain. I was just about to order. It's not available on amazon.co.uk either now.


----------



## Verndog (Dec 7, 2012)

Wow...there was just 27 left when I last looked yesterday at that add, now all sold out??

I found them on Ebay for $31.00 and free shipping.

I think these are just making it over to the US. Mine the box was mostly written in German, but the directions were in English. Someone else posted a review on his and his box was written in English. Wouldn't worry about the box though, instruction book was good to go.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AccuPower-IQ328-Battery-Charger-Analyzer-Tester-AA-AAA-/320749631694?pt=Battery_Chargers&hash=item4aae2af8ce


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 7, 2012)

got it. thanks. :thumbsup:


----------



## ChrisGarrett (Dec 7, 2012)

These have been available in America for at least a year, as my Maha and LaCrosse dealer also is an AccuPower dealer. I ended up buying the Maha C9000 and the La Crosse BC-700 from him last January, but considered the AccuPower IQ 328. I thought at the time, it was very similar to the BC 900, almost a 'clone.'

'rdana' is my dealer on Ebay, for anybody wondering. His prices were pretty good at the time. $44 shipped right now.

Chris


----------



## Verndog (Dec 7, 2012)

ChrisGarrett said:


> These have been available in America for at least a year, as my Maha and LaCrosse dealer also is an AccuPower dealer.



Thanks Chris. When I bought my LaCrosse around a year ago i never came across the IQ328 after researching a bunch of options. I have a feeling they must limit their US distribution then because there are very few reviews here, but quite a few in other countries.

When I searched for the charger after the Amazon supply went dead, I saw they are for sale at Sears for $68.00! . So they are out there...somewhere.


----------



## Verminator (Dec 7, 2012)

I've read good things about this charger as well. One question I have though....is the LCD display backlit or no? I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't, and if not, that is a real shame given the good reviews and features of this charger. The backlight is a deal breaker for me. I love the backlit display on the MH-C9000...not sure I could go to another charger that doesn't have that.


----------



## mccririck (Dec 8, 2012)

ChrisGarrett said:


> These have been available in America for at least a year, as my Maha and LaCrosse dealer also is an AccuPower dealer. I ended up buying the Maha C9000 and the La Crosse BC-700 from him last January, but considered the AccuPower IQ 328. I thought at the time, it was very similar to the BC 900, almost a 'clone.'
> 
> 'rdana' is my dealer on Ebay, for anybody wondering. His prices were pretty good at the time. $44 shipped right now.
> 
> Chris



I'm sure it was about £22 shipped on amazon.co.uk when it was in stock, which is about $35. I hope they're back in stock soon.


----------



## mattheww50 (Dec 8, 2012)

Verminator said:


> I've read good things about this charger as well. One question I have though....is the LCD display backlit or no? I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't, and if not, that is a real shame given the good reviews and features of this charger. The backlight is a deal breaker for me. I love the backlit display on the MH-C9000...not sure I could go to another charger that doesn't have that.



The display is definitely does not have a backlight. I know because I have an IQ-328 charger. Like everything else in life, you make choices, For me the value of the backlight is nowhere near the difference in cost between the Maha C-9000 and IQ-328 price differential. I paid $31 for mine including shipping.


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 8, 2012)

me too; $31.45 pp. the lcd print on my maha c801d is too tiny to read anyway..the IQ print is BIG. I hope.


----------



## lwien (Dec 8, 2012)

Currently available on Amazon for 29.97 (as of right now).............free shipping. 9 in stock.


----------



## mccririck (Dec 8, 2012)

Still not back on UK amazon...


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 8, 2012)

dang! I overpaid $1.48 ! oh, wait, there's tax now.. haha!


----------



## Verndog (Dec 8, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> me too; $31.45 pp. the lcd print on my maha c801d is too tiny to read anyway..the IQ print is BIG. I hope.



It is. My eyes are not as great as they once were, and the display is easy to read. I dont like the backlit option for the simple fact it stays lit up 24-7 just to read 5 minutes a week. Besides, even if the room is dark, I get another chance to use a tactical tailswitch light I rarely use. In fact, I have a spare E11 right next to it and with light and charger still payed less then the C9000.


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 13, 2012)

I was surprised to discover the IQ328 is made in China...all this time I was thinking Germany...mmm.


----------



## Verndog (Dec 14, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> I was surprised to discover the IQ328 is made in China...all this time I was thinking Germany...mmm.



German based company and design, but like most everything mass produced nowadays...manufactured in China. What I find most important nowadays, is the QC standards that control production and the companies attitude on quality and standing behind their products. 2 year guarantee on the IQ328, 1 year on most others.


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 14, 2012)

hopefully I won't have to dial up China for repairs;

Support

If you have any problems with our products, please contact:

E-Mail: [email protected]
Tel.: +43 (0) 316 26 29 11-10
Fax: +43 (0) 316 26 29 11-36

AccuPower Research, Development and Distribution Company (Ltd.)
Kärntnerstraße 87
8053 Graz
AUSTRIA


----------



## Verndog (Dec 14, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> hopefully I won't have to dial up China for repairs;
> 
> Support
> 
> ...



They wont repair a $30.00 electronic device, they'll throw it away and give you a new one. If you had any issues then you'd prob. want to go to the dealer you got it from first anyway.

Do you have your new charger yet?


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 14, 2012)

yup, and the first few hours have been wonderful. 
the only thing I had to check the instructions for was how to change the amp charge number; press within five seconds of placing battery..
But the ability to scroll through the various volt, accumulated milliampere, and amp charge measurements is great, something I used to laboriously do removing each battery and measuring with a multimeter.
Being able to greatly increase the amp charge for few seconds really helps with some sluggish, or questionable batterys.
Used to have to take those to the power supply and electrocute them with higher voltage..
I dont know how it keeps the voltage reading down, though , when increasing the amperage..would I get a different reading of I stuck my mm probes in there?


----------



## Verndog (Dec 14, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> I dont know how it keeps the voltage reading down, though , when increasing the amperage..would I get a different reading of I stuck my mm probes in there?



I don't believe it starts charging within the 5 seconds. In fact, if you are just recharging, if you put all 4 in pretty quickly, you can select the amp setting and have it get all 4 at once. If you miss it, you can unplug a second, replug in and select amps for all 4 again, then the cycle you want (or just do individually while putting them in if you prefer). Once you see the screen flash, then I think it takes the command and executes (charge, discharge, test...ect), and it seems that's about 15-30 second delay after selection.

Once it starts the charge, then IIRC you will see a much faster rise in voltage. I'm in the habit of checking voltage after I remove all cells out of the device, to see if there is any problem cells to check out (use a MM for that myself).


----------



## mccririck (Dec 16, 2012)

Still not back in stock on UK amazon


----------



## Verndog (Dec 16, 2012)

mccririck said:


> Still not back in stock on UK amazon



Not sure what shipping charges are there @ Amazon UK, but this seller ships to UK for $16.60. Another buyer from Australia bought from them and it was cheaper for him then buying there.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AccuPower-I...31694?pt=Battery_Chargers&hash=item4aae2af8ce


----------



## mccririck (Dec 16, 2012)

Verndog said:


> Not sure what shipping charges are there @ Amazon UK, but this seller ships to UK for $16.60. Another buyer from Australia bought from them and it was cheaper for him then buying there.
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/AccuPower-I...31694?pt=Battery_Chargers&hash=item4aae2af8ce



The amazon shipping was very low, it came to about £22 all in.


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 17, 2012)

back on US amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z5XXZU/?tag=cpf0b6-20

$29.97 free ship.


----------



## mccririck (Dec 18, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> back on US amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z5XXZU/?tag=cpf0b6-20
> 
> $29.97 free ship.



I'm checking amazon UK 3 times a day at the moment!


----------



## Verndog (Dec 18, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> back on US amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z5XXZU/?tag=cpf0b6-20
> 
> $29.97 free ship.



Just ordered my 2nd one this weekend since I plan on picking up the TK41 U2 that uses 8 cells... and this is a great bargain IMO. I expect at some point they will raise the price since Amazon likes to play the numbers games.


----------



## TedTheLed (Dec 18, 2012)

yup. the price can go up and down while it is sitting in your shopping basket..seems only logical in the digital consumer age.

..and two IQ's are cheaper than what I paid for the 8 bay maha..


----------



## mccririck (Dec 22, 2012)

Back in stock amazon UK £22.99 delivered!


----------



## Verndog (Dec 22, 2012)

mccririck said:


> Back in stock amazon UK £22.99 delivered!



Excellent....good things come to those that wait. Got unit #2 up and running, no surprises and working great.


----------



## tocs (Dec 31, 2012)

Can someone please tell me if this charger can be used to measure the remaining charge (mAh) in a cell? The manual says "once the batteries have been discharged the charging process will start automatically." So even if the cumulative charge dumped during discharge is available on the display, it probably switches immediately to mAh charged when charging is initiated.

In an Amazon review of the Imedion 2400 batteries, however, a reviewer states that he used the La Crosse BC-900 charger to measure the charge remaining (to determine amount of self-discharge) when he received the batteries. Since the BC-900 starts charging right after discharge also, perhaps he watched the display regularly or used a different process.

I also have an interest in testing the capacity of some Radio Shack C and D cells that I still use. (I probably won't be going out and putting down $ on any more of that size since these still work well.) I am wondering if the discharge function on this charger or the BC-1000 could be used to measure capacity after charging them in another charger. Just use some test leads from cell holders to the charger.

Thank you and if you have any ideas on these things, well, then double thank you.


----------



## Verndog (Dec 31, 2012)

You would have to watch the display during discharge to know for sure. This is true for all chargers except some hobby chargers that retain the charge and discharge info through several cycles. You can estimate the mah left using voltage. Roughly 1.37v and above 100% 1.26 50% 1.20 dead (these are no load resting voltages)

None of these AA chargers will measure capacity left accurately IMO, roughly using the resting voltages with this charger or a multi meter / volt meter will get you close enough.


----------



## mccririck (Jan 1, 2013)

I have been using this charger now for a few days. When I ran the refresh cycle on one set of batteries it did display the remaining charge once it had done the first discharge. This stayed in the memory until it had done a full charge and discharge cycle, where it was then replaced with the full capacity reading.

One thing I have noticed is it seems to read slightly higher when you do a Test than when you do a Refresh. About 30 to 40mAh higher, although one crept up 5mAh on Refresh so I'm not sure.

So far I have found that the Vapex 1100mAh AAA batteries I bought on ebay came in at 913, 742, 735 and 790mAh. the last one (790) I had to put in a dumb charger first to boost it up a bit as the AccuPower said it was dead. I'm asking for a refund from the seller on the Vapex batteries as he made a big thing in the description about these being 1100mAh and he'd tested them himself, but I tested and then refreshed and they didnt improve.


----------



## mccririck (Jan 1, 2013)

Just tested 5 Turnigy AAA 900mAh LSD:

945
920
910
909
887

These are good, I'll be using them in my T7 at work.


I really like this charger. Tested my Eneloop AA and Vapex LSD AA and even though they're a couple of years old they all came in at stated capacity.


----------



## tocs (Jan 1, 2013)

Ah, thank you *mccririck* and *Verndog*! The trick then would be to use the REFRESH mode and not the DISCHARGE mode so that the discharged mAh is held on the display through the next charge.. long enough to read without watching it constantly. Then just interrupt the process if you don't want to do the full REFRESH. You have given me enough confidence that it can do what I want to try it out. I suppose one could also charge a D cell nearly full and then use the IQ-328 in TEST mode so that it would fully charge it then discharge and give the capacity. It would not fully charge again (3500 mAh max charge spec in manual) but would give the desired capacity. That is of course assuming that it would continue to DISCHARGE past 3500 mAh which I will have to try. I'm just tired of using weird rigs to test capacity. I was about to build in a comparator in a constant current tester at 1.0 or 0.9 volt to switch out a relay and stop discharge. I have a 1.5V clock that could be used in line with the relay to measure the discharge time and it would then be hands off but.. maybe I'll drop all that.

Also thanks, using OC voltage to *estimate* remaining capacity will be very useful. I found a link (http://www.maximintegrated.com/app-notes/index.mvp/id/121) to an article discussing the use of OC voltage to estimate capacity that gives a good table for different temperatures so it can be done with better accuracy. I understand that it is only an estimate.

I used to read CPF a lot a few years ago, then life got in the way. In a better world, life should never interfere with hobbies! I have a few decent LED lights (nothing really nice) and one 25MCP Sunforce HID light that tends to be enlightening to people who have never seen such a thing. Haven't been able to find a lumen rating on that one. Thanks again, and HNY!


----------



## Verndog (Jan 1, 2013)

tocs said:


> I suppose one could also charge a D cell nearly full and then use the IQ-328 in TEST mode so that it would fully charge it then discharge and give the capacity.



This charger is only for AAA and AA cells, it will not hold or fit any C or D cells to even test voltage.


----------



## tocs (Jan 1, 2013)

Verndog said:


> This charger is only for AAA and AA cells, it will not hold or fit any C or D cells to even test voltage.



I know. I had mentioned using test leads to a cell holder in my first post, but now I think I will make some dummy AA cell forms with contacts on the ends wired out to the D or C cell holder. I won't do this much, I mainly will be buying AA/AAA but I do have a lot of those old Radio Shack NiMH Cs and Ds that are not full capacity but are about 2x and 3x AA capacity respectively. They still work, but I would at least like to be able to test them. Why? It can be done. Maybe, if the IQ-328 will give measured discharge beyond 3500 mAh.

oh yeah ... ordered the charger ... we'll see on the Cs and Ds


----------



## mattheww50 (Jan 1, 2013)

Even if you build the leads to connect this charger to C or D sized NiMh cells, I think you are in for an unpleasant surprise. 

According to the instructions that ship with the IQ328, the maximum battery capacity supported is 3500mAh (see bottom of 'page 7'). I am pretty sure your batteries have capacities larger than 3500mAh.


----------



## tocs (Jan 1, 2013)

Yes, I know, the whole thing rests on whether they also limit the DISCHARGE to 3500 mAh. Maybe not, since the 3500 limit is likely just a fail-safe charge termination. But maybe so on discharge too, in which case I could do discharge twice or more. Anyway it is a great charger and I need something like this for the AA and AAA. Guess it won't handle those 3800 mAh Sofirn AAs on eBay either. (It must be true.. its on eBay and they are Sofirn batteries!) Seriously, these guys are pretty competitive so I'm surprised no 4000+ mAh AA yet. They have the technology. It is called a label printer. Thank you all for the help.


----------



## mccririck (Jan 2, 2013)

I've been thinking of using leads to test the 4000mAh C cells I got from Lidl. If they go right up to 3500mAh in the test I know they're pretty decent.


----------



## tocs (Jan 2, 2013)

As soon as I get the IQ charger I will test a large cell in DISCHARGE mode. I think I can use an old alkaline D (14 Ah or so @100mA discharge) unless the charger minds the higher voltage when it is discharging. I'll find out, as well about whether it minds having >3500 mAh when discharging or will continue to read the mAh. Also, *mccririck*, interesting that you posted about the Turnigy batteries. I'm considering those (the price!) to replace my aging AA and AAA NiMH. Some are so old the issue is probably not crystals et. al. but cobwebs. The IQ will help me decide which ones get a reprieve. It was your information that the IQ remembers the discharge mAh until the next cycle if you use REFRESH instead of DISCHARGE that convinced me to get it.

I just posted in an old thread called "Maximum current draw for D alkaline's" that when checking for some Ds and AAs to weigh I found a leaked D in a flashlight and a leaky AA on the table. The thread is old so it may not be seen but I didn't want to start a new one yet. My issue is why D alkalines suffer the same capacity degradation in going from 25 mA to 500 mA as AA, about a factor of two less at the higher current. I guess I thought Ds would behave more like several smaller cells paralled and not do that. Any way, funny that I found leaky batteries, and the 5 that were not leaking I cleaned and will burn in capacity tests with the IQ charger since they are barely used and 1 year old but from the same batch as the D that tried to kill my light.


----------



## Mr Happy (Jan 9, 2013)

I picked one of these chargers to have a look at, and so far I do not like it very much.

On the user interface side the LCD display is small, low contrast, and hard to read unless the lighting is just right. The requirement to press the mode button for five seconds to change modes is somewhat awkward. I'd rather it respond instantly and then have a "set" button. The firmware also seems to get confused. I got it into a state where different slots were showing different things, one slot voltage, another slot current. Pressing the Display button to cycle through the values didn't help. I couldn't figure out how to fix that except to power it off and on again.

Then we come to the charging performance. I put four discharged cells on charge at 1000 mA and they all switched to Full after only a few minutes, long before they were fully charged. So I got a false termination on the first day of ownership. I've also been experimenting with the discharge and test modes, and it has been hard to make sense of the results. I'm not getting a warm feeling that the charger knows what it is doing.

I am doing more testing to see if I can get a better feel for the device, but so far I have to reserve judgement. I do not recommend you get this charger unless you are a battery expert and can make sense of its foibles.


----------



## Verndog (Jan 10, 2013)

Sorry to hear that Mr Happy. Possibly there is an issue with your unit? I now have 2 and no false peaks on either with GP Recyko, Eneloops, Tenergy Centura, or older Tenergy blues. Yes, the mode button needs to stay down a couple seconds (initial selection only), but I still find this easier then having to set every cell individually. All my cells are getting very good full charges (does not stop @ 1.48V like some), and no heat issue. I do charge AA mostly at .7amps though.

Also, the display is easier to read then my BC500 that is comparable in price, so I'm not sure what you are comparing to? Are you taking about the smaller font on display for the mode...ie charge-discharge..ect? If you are used to "standing over to read", then you'll need to readjust your position as this screen is more in front. I leave at the rear of my workbench and display is easy for me and my not so great eyes.

Here is a pic of mine, contrast looks excellent. Is yours different then this??


----------



## shadowjk (Jan 10, 2013)

Looks kinda like a BC-900 with battery slot buttons missing... From the descriptions in this thread, it sounds like the user interface behaves exactly like BC-900 when you don't press the slot buttons...


----------



## Mr Happy (Jan 10, 2013)

I find the display clarity depends a lot on lighting direction and viewing angle. If you view from the front with the light from behind you then it is quite readable as pictured. But in lower light with the light from above it is not so good. It's crying out for a backlight. Also I do find the "CHARGE" mode indication to have very tiny letters. 

As far as charging is concerned, I tried four Eneloops at 700 mA and it completed the charge correctly. My initial troubles were with some different batteries (not Eneloops) that had been sitting unused for a while and that need reconditioning. Two of those repeatedly fail to charge fully on the IQ-328. I'm going to work with them a bit on my C9000 and see what it does with them. Or maybe I'll try to refresh one of them on the IQ charger and the other on the C9000 and see what gets the best results.


----------



## Verndog (Jan 10, 2013)

Yes, it's tough to evaluate a new charger with unknown condition cells. I've had cells that sat too long (non LSD) false peak on a $150.00 high end hobby charger. Also, I do not recommend 1 amp charges on batteries that are unknown condition with any charger personally. You'll be better off reviving cells at lower settings.


----------



## mccririck (Jan 10, 2013)

Mr Happy I think the cells you tried first that terminated early probably needed refreshed. I have now put several cells through refresh as they were coming in far too low and it has improved many of them. I had an interesting 1000mAh AA cell, over 6 years old. When I refreshed it it first read 68mAh, then about 125mAh and finally I got it up to about 600mAh after about 5 cycles!

I don't really have a problem with the display, perfectly readable imo.


----------



## Mr Happy (Jan 10, 2013)

Indeed, the cells I tested are under performing and do need refreshing. But the thing about a charger like this is that it is likely to be used for exactly such tired and stale cells. For good cells in good condition a regular charger should be fine. So a key test of an intelligent charger is how well in fact it deals with cells that need maintenance to improve their performance.


----------



## Verndog (Jan 10, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> Indeed, the cells I tested are under performing and do need refreshing. But the thing about a charger like this is that it is likely to be used for exactly such tired and stale cells. For good cells in good condition a regular charger should be fine. *So a key test of an intelligent charger is how well in fact it deals with cells that need maintenance to improve their performance.*



Thats a fair statement...but this comment is possibly a bit unfair IMO....



Mr Happy said:


> ...I put four discharged cells on charge at 1000 mA and they all switched to Full after only a few minutes, long before they were fully charged. So *I got a false termination on the first day of ownership*. I've also been experimenting with the discharge and test modes, and it has been hard to make sense of the results. *I'm not getting a warm feeling that the charger knows what it is doing.*


----------



## Mr Happy (Jan 10, 2013)

Possibly unfair, but the charger stopped and said "Full" as if it had finished normally, when the cells in question were far from full. If I had just taken them off the charger a couple of hours later without looking more closely I could have been misled. It would have been nicer if the charger could have said something like "Bad" or "Overheat" or something similar, to indicate that a full charge was not achieved. When I repeat the experiment I will have to watch the charger from start to finish and see exactly what the voltage was doing at the point of termination.

(I wasn't actually aware the cells had any issues until after I observed the charger getting upset. I wasn't knowingly trying to fool the charger.)


----------



## Verndog (Jan 10, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> Possibly unfair, but the charger stopped and said "Full" as if it had finished normally, when the cells in question were far from full.



As far as the IQ-328 or ANY minus delta type charger was concerned it was full, as that was the signal given from the cell that could no longer accept the charge given. In batteries that have been sitting long periods (especially more sensitive non LSD cells) this can happen due to inactivity (and is more pronounced with higher charge rates). If you probe the questionable cells further with the saved info on voltage and mah input, you can quickly spot issues with cells. I always tend to press display after charging a set of batteries. If they are the same cells, and came out of the same device, then VERY similar mah should have gone back into those cells. Great tool for watching cells and possible performance issues. 



> The minus delta V bump that is indicative of end-of-charge is much less pronounced in NiMH than NiCad, and it is very temperature dependent. To make matters worse, new NiMH batteries can exhibit bumps in the curve early in the cycle, particularly when cold.


----------



## nightshade (Jan 10, 2013)

Verndog, thanks for the review! After you posted, I ordered one (and cells) for a recently unemployed friend, so he would not sweat battery usage for his kids during the holidays. After seeing his in use I liked it so much I purchased another for myself. I have a few high dollar hobby chargers, also a C9000 and Accumanager 20. For the price point, the IQ-328 is a solid performer.


----------



## Mr Happy (Jan 10, 2013)

Verndog said:


> As far as the IQ-328 or ANY minus delta type charger was concerned it was full, as that was the signal given from the cell that could no longer accept the charge given. In batteries that have been sitting long periods (especially more sensitive non LSD cells) this can happen due to inactivity (and is more pronounced with higher charge rates). If you probe the questionable cells further with the saved info on voltage and mah input, you can quickly spot issues with cells. I always tend to press display after charging a set of batteries. If they are the same cells, and came out of the same device, then VERY similar mah should have gone back into those cells. Great tool for watching cells and possible performance issues.



You're preaching to the choir, actually 

But hey, I'm having fun with a new toy, and it doesn't hurt to pretend to be a dumb user from time to time. I'm doing more experiments and I'll see what happens as I go along. I'll report back when I have more information gleaned.


----------



## Verndog (Jan 10, 2013)

nightshade said:


> Verndog, thanks for the review! After you posted, I ordered one (and cells) for a recently unemployed friend, so he would not sweat battery usage for his kids during the holidays. After seeing his in use I liked it so much I purchased another for myself. I have a few high dollar hobby chargers, also a C9000 and Accumanager 20. For the price point, the IQ-328 is a solid performer.



Excellent, always good to know the options available...glad it's working out for both of you!



Mr Happy said:


> You're preaching to the choir, actually



I kinda thought so. But like most preachers I'll keep preaching until the boys start singing! 

Enjoy, and please share what you learn. I haven't personally used refresh much as I recently went through all my cells a year ago and tossed everything questionable and started new with all LSD cells. I have just a few non LSD left, and those IMO are "the problem cells" generally. I'm a bit of a NiMh nut from RC racing for years where often batteries were the difference between winning and losing.


----------



## mccririck (Jan 11, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> Possibly unfair, but the charger stopped and said "Full" as if it had finished normally, when the cells in question were far from full.


 Yes but did you have it on a fresh cycle or just charge? Unless you tell it to refresh it will not do that. It's quite clear in the instructions.


----------



## Mr Happy (Jan 11, 2013)

mccririck said:


> Yes but did you have it on a fresh cycle or just charge? Unless you tell it to refresh it will not do that. It's quite clear in the instructions.



It's going to take time to get a full picture of the charger, and it is unwise to leap to hasty conclusions. However, I have made a couple of observations so far.

Firstly, I have observed the early termination three times in succession, at charge rates of 1000 mA and of 700 mA. In each case the charger stopped with a cell voltage at about 1.38 V after 30 minutes to one hour of charging. When I watched closely a voltage dip occurred in the region of 1.39 V to 1.38 V.

Secondly, the early termination always occurred with the middle two cells of the four, in slots 2 and 3, and these middle batteries were warmer than the outer batteries in slots 1 and 4. On feeling around the charger the electronics underneath the battery compartment were warm and this warmth seemed to be rising into the charging bay.

One observation is that no NiMH battery is fully charged when the charging voltage is only 1.38 V. In all batteries I have examined, including the worst of the worst, the full charge point occurs above 1.44 V. A smart charger could usefully ignore any dip in voltage unless the charging voltage is above 1.4 V or so.

A second observation and hypothesis is that the premature dip in voltage may have been caused by the cell being warmed up. The charging voltage is known to decrease with increasing cell temperature, and there is often a flat plateau in the charging voltage of NiMH cells during the middle portion of charging. If the charger was warming up the cells it may have fooled itself into seeing the end of charge during the plateau period when better heat isolation would have maintained a flat voltage rather than inducing a decreasing voltage.

I may try and test the charger heating hypothesis by running the charger in a different orientation than flat on the table top, such as on its side or on its end. It is something to note that people have often thought it helpful to put fans on this charger to increase the external cooling.


----------



## Verndog (Jan 11, 2013)

Question: Are any of these quick terminations happening to known quality cells that have recently charged to full capacity on a different charger?? I've temp checked my cells with a digital laser temp gage many times and not seen the condition you are reporting. I've never seen a cell over 107 degs F and have found the charger always cooler then the cells near peak while on charge cycle.


----------



## Mr Happy (Jan 11, 2013)

The cells I am testing with are the Duracell 1700 mAh cells that came packaged with the Duracell Power Gauge charger CEF21. In my previous estimation these are very high quality cells with a capacity of about 1900 mAh and a low self discharge rate (although they are conventional NiMH and are not LSD). In this case however, they have been sitting idle for a year or two and clearly need a bit of waking up.

It may be said that the best rechargeable battery experience is obtained with good cells and a good charger. A good charger can be foiled by bad cells, and good cells can be ruined by a bad charger.

In this case I have found some nice cells to use as test fodder, cells that do not give the charger a comfortable walk in the park. I think the results are interesting and lead to a fascinating study.

I should mention that the cells in the middle bays did not get hot when they reached early termination, and nowhere near 100 F. When I say warm I mean exactly that, just gently warm to the touch. However, they were much gently warmer than the cells on the outside, which remained quite cool.

I have also charged some Eneloops at 700 mA and all four of them reached full charge at the expected time, with a charge supplied close to 2.05 Ah for all four cells. But this does not surprise me. If a charger can't do a good job with Eneloops it doesn't deserve to be used.


----------



## Verndog (Jan 11, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> ... If a charger can't do a good job with Eneloops it doesn't deserve to be used.



Agreed....I assume you are looking to replace the C900 that terminates @1.48 volts prior to full charge on Eneloops?


----------



## mccririck (Jan 12, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> I have also charged some Eneloops at 700 mA and all four of them reached full charge at the expected time, with a charge supplied close to 2.05 Ah for all four cells. But this does not surprise me. If a charger can't do a good job with Eneloops it doesn't deserve to be used.


 My eneloops came out the same, and my Vapex LSD all came out at 2.3Ah (good batteries also btw). I charge AAs at 1000mA though as that is closer to the 0.5C threshold.


----------



## kosPap (Jan 16, 2013)

shadowjk said:


> Looks kinda like a BC-900 with battery slot buttons missing... From the descriptions in this thread, it sounds like the user interface behaves exactly like BC-900 when you don't press the slot buttons...



It seems the conumdrum of lineage and function is solved....

Japcell BC-4000 Battery Charger = Accupower IQ328 
(check the link code) http://eu.nkon.nl/accupwer-iq328.html

_Comparable with the La Crosse BC-1000. The BC4000 (and the IQ328) can charge as fast as the BC-1000 (Thus faster than the La Crosse RS-700). Main difference is that this charger does not have the buttons labeled 1-4 for selecting the channel. This means the program you select will be applied to ALL channels. Running different programs at the same time is thus not possible.

_Also, 
La Crosse RS-700 Alpha Power Charger = Voltcraft IPC-1L = Technoline BC-700 charger = conrad IPC-1L = Accupower IQ-128.

from
http://eu.nkon.nl/maha-powerex-sanyo-eneloop-chargers/technoline-bc-700.html
http://eu.nkon.nl/maha-powerex-sanyo-eneloop-chargers/la-crosse-bc-700-charger.html


----------



## Verndog (Jan 16, 2013)

kosPap said:


> _...__This means the program you select will be applied to ALL channels. Running different programs at the same time is thus not possible.
> _



It actually is possible. If you put in 2 cells and set them to test mode, and let that cycle start, you then can add 2 more and go into charge mode. the limit being the 2nd mode you go to would have to be the default charge mode.

Personally I always run the same modes for all anyway, so either way would not bother me.


----------



## yrnkrn (Jan 25, 2013)

I have been using this charger for over a year and it worked very well.


----------



## Verndog (Jan 29, 2013)

yrnkrn said:


> I have been using this charger for over a year and it worked very well.



That's good to know, thank you for checking in. Where did you find this available 1 year ago? Are you in the USA?


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 3, 2013)

I have now had some time to run more tests on this charger, which we will look at in detail here.

Firstly, the test fodder. As mentioned previously, I have been testing with Duracell 1700 mAh cells that I have previously found to be good solid cells of the non-LSD variety.







For each of the tests I recorded the charging voltage across the cell terminals and the cell temperature using a thermocouple probe pressed against the outside of the cell. The temperature probe was attached by strip of paper wrapped around the outside of the cell and held in place by rubber bands.

To understand the basic characteristics of the cell I first charged it by itself outside the charger using a constant current power supply. The result of this test can be seen in the first chart below.






We can see that the cell nicely displays the expected characteristic of an NiMH cell under charge. During the main part of the charge it remains cool while it accepts the supplied energy and stores it. Near the end of the charge the cell is no longer able to store the supplied energy efficiently and it escapes as heat causing the cell temperature to rise. As the cell temperature rises the internal resistance drops and eventually the cell voltage reaches a peak and starts decreasing. Once the decrease in cell voltage is observed charging can be stopped.

This chart shows that the cell under test is very well behaved with no uncertainty about the end of charge point and with no excessive temperatures reached at the end of charge. A temperature of 38 Celsius may be described as lukewarm.

So with the cell understood, the next step was to introduce it to the IQ-328 charger. I put four of the cells into the charger and monitored the cell in the #2 slot (the same physical cell as used for the above test). Set the charge current to 1000 mA and off we go.







Well now, this isn't looking pretty. About 35 minutes into the charge the IQ-328 decided it was getting too hot and suspended charging, displaying 000 on the LCD. After it cooled down it resumed charging, but the same overheat situation occurred three more times. The charger was sitting on its feet on a hard flat surface, presumably as it is designed to do. There was nothing restricting airflow under or near the unit.

It is clear by comparing the above two charts that the overheating situation is coming from the charger and not the batteries.

If the charger was not happy with a 1000 mA charge rate, the next step was to try 500 mA.






This time the charger completed without shutting down, but all is still not good. The battery got all the way up to 48 Celsius, which is toasty warm! At only 500 mA too.

When the charger finished, the status of the four slots was like this:

Slot Time Charge
#1 3h45 1874 mAh
#2 3h52 1928 mAh
#3 3h52 1930 mAh
#4 4h34 2270 mAh

The first three slots completed about when expected, but the fourth slot had a significantly delayed termination (or over charged cell, in other words). We can understand how this might happen if considering the first three slots. The minus delta-V termination signal is triggered by rising cell temperature. But after the charger stopped charging the first three cells it produced less heat and everything started cooling down. The temperature was _dropping_ and so the fourth cell was unable to produce an end of charge indication. Only when the charger reached thermal equilibrium was the end of charge state on the fourth cell detected.

In conclusion, I don't see any way to recommend this charger. The overheating situation, the early terminations, the delayed terminations, all add up to a poor design. It looks nice, but it doesn't work well. Avoid.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 4, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> In conclusion, I don't see any way to recommend this charger. The overheating situation, the early terminations, the delayed terminations, all add up to a poor design. It looks nice, but it doesn't work well. Avoid.



Funny, not a lick of trouble with either of my 2 on many different cells. I suppose if you plan to use crappy 7 year old rechargeables that sit for a year.... it makes sense to spend double the $$ on a Maha that terminates 1.48 volts then?
Have at it...to each his own.

Truth is the reviews on this charger are every bit as good as the more expensive chargers...but when you set out to find fault, likely you'll find what your looking for...IMO.


----------



## mccririck (Feb 4, 2013)

I have to say I have noticed cells getting quite warm in this charged (but never too hot to touch). I think with AA it is better not to charge 4 at a time, 2 is better imo.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 4, 2013)

mccririck said:


> I have to say I have noticed cells getting quite warm in this charged (but never too hot to touch). I think with AA it is better not to charge 4 at a time, 2 is better imo.



For many cells pushing an older weak cell to it's charge limit of .5C (which on a Duracell 1700mah is exceeded BTW @ 1 amp!!) and charging at 1 amp is not a great idea IMO. Also this will shorten the cells useful life. Go with .7 amps on AA and charging 4 at a time is no problem for any cells I've charged including some older tired Tenergy blue 2600mah cells.


----------



## netprince (Feb 4, 2013)

Mr Happy, thanks for the research. I own one of these chargers and I can confirm the behavior you describe. If I had read your post before buying, then I wouldn't have. 

I use my charger to recharge either 1 or 2 eneloops. If I charge at a rate higher than 1A, then it terminates way too soon. I have had zero problems charging with the c9000. 

That said, I like how the LCD is not backlit (keep mine on the night-stand), and if I keep the charge rate low its not a problem.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 4, 2013)

I never charge over 1 amp since it's hard on cells and I have no rush ever when charging. That said, have you attempted just slots 1 and 4 when charging at higher rates...IIRC the instructions recommend the outside slots and heat is likely the reason. Also IMO given these high charge rates will generate more heat naturally, in this case it likely is best to limit to 2 cells even though the charger allows 4 (2 at higher rate and 2 @ 1amp or less).

Also, I find it peculiar that people want to compare it to the C9000 at near twice the cost. Why not compare it to other $30.00 chargers to be fair in the evaluation??


----------



## mccririck (Feb 4, 2013)

I think it could do with bigger feet. If you look at the underside there's a lot of ventilation slots there. I have been charging AAA at 0.5A and AA at 1A bout I'm going to change to 0.2A and 0.7A now.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 4, 2013)

mccririck said:


> I think it could do with bigger feet. If you look at the underside there's a lot of ventilation slots there. I have been charging AAA at 0.5A and AA at 1A bout I'm going to change to 0.2A and 0.7A now.



I've been charging AAA @ .5A and have seen no heat issues. Have you had heat problems at that charge rate? All my AAA cells are 1 year or less old LSD though...and there is no doubt that older cells can accentuate these issues.

After giving this further thought...The fact I generally charge at .7A max is likely why I've never experienced cells getting too warm. When you looks at 4 AA's in the charger, they are pretty snug much like the LaCrosse BC900 (and they share similar experience at higher rates and 4 cells). Out of curiosity I'll try some tests at higher rates running full discharge cycle and digital thermometer to temp cells using 4AA then 2AA @ 1 and 4 only.

Also, the AAA have more spacing so they should breath better...I think the foot / spacer idea is worth trying too. I'll try to temp check compare with rubber feet under for better circulation and see if temps drop as well.


----------



## mccririck (Feb 4, 2013)

Yes, I'm going to try checking it periodically with a digital thermometer too.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 4, 2013)

Verndog said:


> For many cells pushing an older weak cell to it's charge limit of .5C (which on a Duracell 1700mah is exceeded BTW @ 1 amp!!) and charging at 1 amp is not a great idea IMO. Also this will shorten the cells useful life.



But I don't think those Duracells are weak cells. They are some of the best NiMH cells I have come across. They routinely test at a capacity at or above the 1700 mAh on the label, they have a low internal resistance, and they hold their charge for months. Look again at the first graph in post #71, where I charged a cell at 1 amp on the bench. The cell even cooled down between 20 mins and 70 mins while being charged! At the end of charging it was barely warm. This is a cell that can take 1 amp charging in its stride.

I do actually use these nice Duracells for real, and the only reason some of them were sitting on the shelf for a year is that I have more batteries than things to use them in 

If you want crap, I have crap cells, but I don't use those. They live in my hall of fame as exhibits in my bad cells menagerie.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 4, 2013)

Mr Happy...can I ask what intervals the testing was done? Were the cycles all ran the same day?

I have some data on a 1.5 amp fast charge on 2 cells that shows this charger is not heating up the cells. And yes...the manual clearly states that above 1.0A rate is 1-2 cells only.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 4, 2013)

> It is clear by comparing the above two charts that the overheating situation is coming from the charger and not the batteries.



Nothing I see in either of my chargers supports this. I just ran a high charge cycle @1.5A on 2 cells in 1 and 4 per manual max recommendation and here are the temps I got. Both cells were completely dead prior to charge.








Above is Cell 4 at 1497mah at 1.5A charge. Cell 1 was within 2 degrees of this.






Above Cell 1 at 2.06ah just prior to termination.







Above Cell 4 at 2.06ah just prior to termination.






This is the hottest point anywhere on this charger @ 6 degrees max warmer then the warmest cell, hardly enough to adversely effect the cell temps.
Cell 1 terminated @ 2.120ah and 2.130 on #4. Both cells were under 115 degs at 1.5A charge rate, and not only that both cells terminated within 1 minute of each other!

Also, these cells even at the higher rate are very consistent with what I see at lower .700A rates, just a tad warmer but very reliable termination and very good full charges.

I'd recommend this charger all day and any day to the best of friends. It gives a fuller complete charge to Sanyo Eneloops at termination without waiting for trickle mode unlike the charger you are so happy to promote...(and for 2x the cost no less). Please find me a better charger for the price...I'll buy 2 more!


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 5, 2013)

Verndog said:


> Nothing I see in either of my chargers supports this. I just ran a high charge cycle @1.5A on 2 cells in 1 and 4 per manual max recommendation and here are the temps I got. Both cells were completely dead prior to charge.



That's a test I can duplicate and indeed it's running now. Two eneloops in the outer slots at 1.5 A. We can verify that our samples of the charger are behaving similarly.

Meanwhile, take a look at the test I did previously where I charged an eneloop at 1.6 A on the bench to get a reference picture of what to expect:






The dotted line is just after the peak voltage where the IQ-328 is observed to terminate. The eneloop at this point had reached a temperature of 87°F. I let the charge continue beyond this point to see a bigger minus delta-V signal and the temperature peaked just beyond 92°F.

I'll plot a similar chart on the same axes when my test with the IQ-328 finishes.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 5, 2013)

Here is the result of my test, charging AA eneloops from empty in slots 1 and 4. I measured about the same peak temperature of 115°F, checked with an IR thermometer. I have overlaid the data from my previous bench reference test using dotted lines, re-scaled to fit the same time axis. In the reference test I had charged an eneloop at 1.6 A on the bench using a constant current lab supply. Note that the voltage curves cannot be compared directly because the IQ-328 uses a pulsed charge current and the voltage is filtered to give a smooth measurement. The filter gives an average voltage between the "on" state and the "off" state.

The difference between the two temperature curves indicated by the arrow may be attributed to the heating effect of the charger bay on the battery. The IQ-328 is by no means the only charger that behaves this way. In fact nearly all small and compact battery chargers heat up the batteries rather more than they would if the batteries were isolated and this is especially true at higher charging currents since the charger electronics tend to run hotter at higher power levels.







When finished the results for the two batteries were:

#1: 1h25m 2.13 Ah
#2: 1h23m 2.08 Ah


----------



## Verndog (Feb 5, 2013)

Interesting. By looking at that graph it would appear your charger is indeed heating the cell more during mid cycle then mine. If you look at my post and pic you'll see my cell was still @ 82 degrees F about an hour into the charge (yours @100 F). Looking at yours I see it's running 15 to 18 degrees warmer at that time. 

I also have a hobby charger setup to off charger "bench" charge with no heat influence. I'll run that tonight and check for any temp difference to the IQ328.

Also, I didn't get an answer from the interval you ran the bay 2 test above between the bench test and the IQ test...were they run the same day back to back?


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 5, 2013)

Verndog said:


> Also, I didn't get an answer from the interval you ran the bay 2 test above between the bench test and the IQ test...were they run the same day back to back?



I didn't see that question. No, the bench test was run on Sunday afternoon and the IQ-328 test was run last night. 

(I think the temperature fluctuations in the IQ-328 graph may be related to the room heating switching on and off. That makes the ambient temperature go up and down by a couple of degrees. The heating was off on Sunday afternoon and the room temperature was a steady 72 degrees.)


----------



## Verndog (Feb 5, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> I didn't see that question. No, the bench test was run on Sunday afternoon and the IQ-328 test was run last night.



The test I'm referring to is where the cell #2 overheated in post 71. That was posted 2 days ago so that couldn't have been last night.??

One other question I have in that post is you stated that...



> About 35 minutes into the charge the IQ-328 decided it was getting too hot and suspended charging, displaying 000 on the LCD. After it cooled down it resumed charging, but the same overheat situation occurred three more times.



Looking at the tempurature when the charger shut down from "over heating", it was running @ 42C or 107F. The charger temp sensor is set to shut down @135 degs and 107F is plenty safe and in the margin of normal, and in fact it let the cell continue to go way beyond that later in the cycle. My point is...you are guessing what the charger is doing, and clearly it is not temperature related at that point given the info you have posted. It may be part of the pulse cycle or programming to give brief cool down periods, it could do it for voltage rise, or any number of logical reasons...(I have no idea personally and won't claim to "know"), but concluding it overheated there when your data shows otherwise is irresponsible IMO.

One other glaring issue I have with your bench curve. How does that dead cell show 1.47 volts 5 minutes into the charge @ 1.0A charge?? That my friend is impossible IMO, and yet it terminates @ 1.57 Volts?? Something is way wrong with your benchmark on this cell.


----------



## netprince (Feb 5, 2013)

Hey Guys,

Just an interesting point of data, I tried my charger last night with one cell, with the charger turned up on it's side. I figured the heat from bottom of the charger could escape without warming the battery. The cell fully charged at 1.5A without early termination (the same cell that terminated too early in previous tests). I'm still suprised how warm the bottom of the charger got for just a single cell. (no numbers, just felt it with my hand) I could also feel heat escaping from the side vents near the LCD.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 5, 2013)

Netprince...

Did this early termination occur using slots 1 and 4 only? Also do you know about how old these cells are?


----------



## netprince (Feb 5, 2013)

Yes, slots 1 and 4 are the only ones that can do 1500ma (unless I misunderstand something). Sorry, not sure how old they are.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 5, 2013)

netprince said:


> Yes, slots 1 and 4 are the only ones that can do 1500ma (unless I misunderstand something). Sorry, not sure how old they are.



Thank you...yes 1 and 4 only on above 1.0A charge, but it may be possible to run 2-3 also at lower amps by putting them in after 1-4 are running. Just checking. 

I'm going to run some higher amp tests and check temps over the next few days...this is distubing why some have such great results and a couple guys not so much..

What I do know so far is mine absolutely will not false peak (on over 100 total cells owned), and has never over temped out (that I have seen).


----------



## netprince (Feb 5, 2013)

Wonder if there has been a revision update with new hardware or something...


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 5, 2013)

Verndog said:


> One other glaring issue I have with your bench curve. How does that dead cell show 1.47 volts 5 minutes into the charge @ 1.0A charge?? That my friend is impossible IMO, and yet it terminates @ 1.57 Volts?? Something is way wrong with your benchmark on this cell.



Here is the charging graph from Sanyo's eneloop datasheet. It shows very similar voltages:


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 5, 2013)

For comparison with the graph in post #93, here is a graph I made some time ago with the GP PowerBank GPPB14 charger. That is also a compact charger that likes to heat up cells.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 5, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> Here is the charging graph from Sanyo's eneloop datasheet. It shows very similar voltages:



Nice try but NO. That is a charge rate of 2 amps, and it will be considerably higher beginning voltage then the 1A rate you posted.

My dead Eneloop on a hobby charger begins @ 1.41V with 1amp charge and after 20 minutes is @ 1.45V.


----------



## netprince (Feb 5, 2013)

I was curious so I took min apart (mostly) to see what I could see. Those large resistors, one for each charging channel... Yeah one of them nearly burned my finger. That is definitely the source of heat in my charger. The modder in me wants to find a way to put a heatsink on them...

Couple of shots:


















Link to images: http://oneitguy.com/blog/board-shots-iq-328


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 5, 2013)

netprince said:


> Couple of shots:



Your images aren't showing up (maybe a public access problem?). You might want to try imgur instead.


----------



## netprince (Feb 5, 2013)

They working now?


----------



## Verndog (Feb 5, 2013)

netprince said:


> They working now?



Yep...good job. I was checking for a serial # on mine and saw this was 4 screws away from opening...I was tempted but since mine it working at this point...nothing to fix or play with.

I'm running a comparison on mine to see what temps mine has on the bench compared to the IQ to get a baseline temp difference between mine and Mr Happy's.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 6, 2013)

Well, I bench tested 1 Eneeloop @ 1 amp charge and it never went over 89F or 31.6C. I will run again at 1.5A and see how it compares to the IQ that it reached 114F in. Early suspicion is that yes the charger does heat the cells some, but the question is...is this a problem? For me not yet but I suppose that doesn't mean it never will.

First on this issue I'll say it clearly is going to increase in frequency the higher the charge rates. Looking at the 4 bay in terms of total capacity it will put out a max of 4 amps. that can be 4 @ 1.0 amp or 2 @ 1.8 amps = 3.6A total output. Knowing that IMO one needs to look at how comfortable they are running things right at their max limit all the time. Personally I never like to, whether it's a boat, a car, a computer, or pretty much most mechanical or electrical devices running at the limit "generally speaking" will reduce life, increase heat, and increase the potential for problems. Knowing this is a $30.00 charger, and expecting to run just like a charger at 2x that cost isn't really a fair expectation IMO. 

That said, I think it will work well at max rates in most cases, but being at it's limit there will be cases where it may not. I believe that is what we are seeing at this point.* Everything has it's sweet spot, and I think .7 amps AA and .5 amps AAA is the sweet spot on this charger.* Thats full, trouble free charges in under 3 hours for all cells for me so far, and just what I'm looking for. If you really prefer the higher rates to run regularly, I'd suggest looking at cooling options like a small fan...easy to pickup @ radio shack and put under the charger. possibly elevating would be enough. I'm going to try some different options and temp check this week and I'll report back what I find.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 6, 2013)

Here are my findings in 3 stages using the same cells, Eneloop 1500's 2 months old under 5 charges.
All charging done on bench - away from heat source at 70F.

1.0 amp charge -- Peak Temp 89F / 31.6C
1.5 amp charge -- Peak Temp 102F / 38.9C
2.0 amp charge -- Peak Temp 107F / 41.7C

Using the IQ-328 on slots 1-4 (2 cells) and charging at 1.5 amps I got 114F / *45.5C +12 degs.F over bench.

*Here is a pic of the bench setup, the power supply was 2ft away from the charger.


----------



## kojack6319 (Feb 6, 2013)

I'm interested in this charger and appreciate the testing that all you guys are doing. I look forward to your upcoming results Verndog. I'm not ready to buy it just yet, quite frankly, because of heat concerns raised by a few in this thread. 1000mA is 0.5C of an AA Eneloop and should be a walk in the park for this charger, charging in all 4 slots. External cooling might be an option, extra laptop coolers laying around. But if it interferes with the charger detecting cell temps, simply elevating it for improved air flow might be better.

In all fairness the price difference today is roughly $17 between the C9000 and IQ328. IQ328 $35 eBay $36+ Amazon. I didn't pull the trigger when it was $30 The C9000 is about $52 before -10% Facebook coupon, ends Thursday, then add $5 shipping (a wash) at Thomas Distributing. Same eBay seller of the IQ328 has the C9000 for a little under $53. 

I own two C9000s. Adding the IQ328 might salvage some "HIGH" batteries the C9000 rejects.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 6, 2013)

kojack6319 said:


> .... External cooling might be an option, extra laptop coolers laying around. But if it interferes with the charger detecting cell temps, simply elevating it for improved air flow might be better.



Welcome Kojack! Yes...they jacked the price as I predicted early on... so ya I agree the charger needs pull it's weight. I have yet to have these heat issues, I'm trying to gather data to see just where mine stands for someone who is to compare and see how much different theirs is. Yes...you are a mind reader...I'm running another test cooled at 1.5 amps to see how much heat I can drip off. Resuls in another 1/2 hour or so.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 6, 2013)

Success!!

Ran the same charge rate 1.5 amps as prior with a fairly light fan raised under this charger. Not only did it meet the bench charge, it was actually 1 degree less!! A bit hard to read but that is 100.9 degrees, bench test with 0 charger heat was 102, the second cell was within 1 degree and both once again terminated perfect within 10mah. So with something like a small computer case fan you can totally eliminate the heat placing UNDER the charger. I'll run again when I get a chance with all 4 @ 1.0 amps as we now know where those benched at.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 6, 2013)

This evening I ran the test with four eneloops at 700 mA after discharging them yesterday. They reached a temperature of about 47°C/117°F, which feels quite warm to the touch. However, they did all terminate nicely at about the same time with the four slots reading as follows:


```
[FONT=courier new]#1     #2     #3     #4[/FONT]
[FONT=courier new]2.05   2.03   2.09   2.06 Ah[/FONT]
[FONT=courier new]2:55   2:53   2:58   2:56 h:mm[/FONT]
```

Here is the temperature and voltage profile:






And here is the IR thermometer reading on cell #2 at the end of charging for comparison with the thermocouple measurement:






I definitely get the feeling my charger is running warmer than other samples?


----------



## mccririck (Feb 7, 2013)

I'm not sure a cork mat is the best place to position your charger. Cork is a heat insulator and isnt going to help the cooling slots on the base of the charger.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 7, 2013)

mccririck said:


> I'm not sure a cork mat is the best place to position your charger. Cork is a heat insulator and isnt going to help the cooling slots on the base of the charger.



That's a point, maybe so. I was thinking more about air flow than conduction, but perhaps it might help to position the charger on a "colder" surface. I will do a test later with the charger raised up off its feet so there is more clearance underneath it.


----------



## amham (Feb 7, 2013)

I'm reading this post looking to purchase the absolute finenst AA charger available for Enelops, cost no object. Would one of the several chargers discussed here fill the bill? I've had bad experiences with Maha chargers over the years...they invariably cook all batteries or destroy themselves with excessive heat. Would a hobby charger be the best option? If so, what make/model? Or is my search in vain with each charger failing the grade in some manner? Thanks to all.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 7, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> I definitely get the feeling my charger is running warmer than other samples?



I've had that feeling all along also. You seem to always check slot 2 (I understand why) and I can't say I've focused on that slot but real normal temps for me on .7amps x 4 Eneloops is 103-105F / 39.4C
Room temp is always 70F and flat smooth wood table top surface.

I would run the exact same test - no feet- without that cork on a flat smooth surface that may allow less airflow drag and heat retention and see if any effect is noted.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 7, 2013)

Verndog said:


> You seem to always check slot 2 (I understand why) and I can't say I've focused on that slot but real normal temps for me on .7amps x 4 Eneloops is 103-105F / 39.4C



I've checked the other batteries with the IR thermometer from time to time and the battery in slot 4 seems to get hottest, measuring a few degrees higher than slot 2. In the 700 mA test the fourth battery reached about 51°C on the thermometer.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 7, 2013)

amham said:


> I'm reading this post looking to purchase the absolute finenst AA charger available for Enelops, cost no object. Would one of the several chargers discussed here fill the bill? I've had bad experiences with Maha chargers over the years...they invariably cook all batteries or destroy themselves with excessive heat. Would a hobby charger be the best option? If so, what make/model? Or is my search in vain with each charger failing the grade in some manner? Thanks to all.



Both my samples of this charger are excellent for Eneloops (and everything i've tried), but as you can see there are a couple with heat issues at higher rates. Your question cannot be answered easily... Hobby charger is always going to be better then any consumer grade multi bay charger...but they are impractical for mass small cell charging IMO.

Which series Maha gave you troubles, in theory it "should" be one of the better choices out there (C-9000)?? Also, what charge rates were you running into troubles with?


----------



## amham (Feb 7, 2013)

Verndog said:


> Both my samples of this charger are excellent for Eneloops (and everything i've tried), but as you can see there are a couple with heat issues at higher rates. Your question cannot be answered easily... Hobby charger is always going to be better then any consumer grade multi bay charger...but they are impractical for mass small cell charging IMO.
> 
> Which series Maha gave you troubles, in theory it "should" be one of the better choices out there (C-9000)?? Also, what charge rates were you running into troubles with?



Most of the early Maha chargers all of which I have discarded. The latest and most disappointing is the MH-C800S, a real "cooker". I've used the default charge rate which is designed much to high to yield the fastest charge times possible (complete design failure in my opinion). The slower rate does reduce heat but I still question it's efficiency.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 7, 2013)

amham said:


> I'm reading this post looking to purchase the absolute finenst AA charger available for Enelops, cost no object. Would one of the several chargers discussed here fill the bill? I've had bad experiences with Maha chargers over the years...they invariably cook all batteries or destroy themselves with excessive heat. Would a hobby charger be the best option? If so, what make/model? Or is my search in vain with each charger failing the grade in some manner? Thanks to all.





amham said:


> Most of the early Maha chargers all of which I have discarded. The latest and most disappointing is the MH-C800S, a real "cooker". I've used the default charge rate which is designed much to high to yield the fastest charge times possible (complete design failure in my opinion). The slower rate does reduce heat but I still question it's efficiency.



There are three basic requirements for successful fast charging of NiMH cells:

1. Constant (average) charge current
2. Unvarying ambient temperature
3. Terminal voltage measured while current applied for detection of minus delta-V signal

The MH-C9000 gets the first two of these right, but it messes up on the third. The C9000 measures the cell voltage in the resting interval between current pulses. This is going to produce a very weak and hard to detect voltage drop for triggering the end of charge.

The first version of the C9000 in fact had some reported problems with missed terminations and overheated cells and Maha revised the firmware in later revisions to fix this. What they did is make the unit end the charge when the off-load voltage goes above 1.47 V (possibly revised to 1.48 V in later models). This "hack" is actually very successful with modern cells that exhibit a steep rising voltage profile near the end of charge. Eneloops and similar cells will terminate very reliably without getting warm at all, with the downside that they stop about 5-10% short of a maximum charge. The charger applies small top-up charge at the end of the main charge cycle to compensate for this.

It may be that the other Maha chargers also mess up the voltage measurement for minus delta-V detection and that could explain why they cook batteries.

However, the current model C9000, in spite of its "unconventional" end of charge algorithm, is very reliable and never cooks cells. Combine this with the good hardware design and flexible user interface and it can be highly recommended. We might call it "a flawed genius".


----------



## amham (Feb 7, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> There are three basic requirements for successful fast charging of NiMH cells:
> 
> 1. Constant (average) charge current
> 2. Unvarying ambient temperature
> ...



How would one know what version C9000 they may have?


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 7, 2013)

amham said:


> How would one know what version C9000 they may have?



There's a factory code on the bottom of the charger. It begins with something like "0G0", "0H0", "0J0" where the letter corresponds to the year of manufacture.

As far as I know, only the "0F0" models had the original firmware design. Unless you buy it used, you will not get one of those. All of the units sold in the past few years have had the updated firmware.


----------



## amham (Feb 7, 2013)

Thanks for the info. _I'll give it a try._


----------



## kojack6319 (Feb 7, 2013)

Great to see the temps come down and the termination with your external cooling at 1.5A, Verndog! :goodjob: Hopefully, similar success with [email protected] looking forward to that and even [email protected] for the AA Eneloops.  It's interesting to see if the external cooling and lower mAs might challenge termination. And then there's the AAAs...

I've got an extra Notepal U3, (overkill in size for one charger). It won't be the modded one with 120mm case fans and adjustable CFM that my old laptop needs,  just the little 80mm fans. The C9000's tilting bail seems to be good enough for cooling but I could set the on the U3 without using it. But if it aint broke don't fix it.:thinking:

It's obvious that the IQ328 borrowed from the BCs in design; appearance, size and similar programming. But why not borrow from the C9000 too, the tilting bail, battery spacing, truly independent channels oh, yes, the backlight too but with on and off. It's the sizing of a travel charger but not really a travel charger with all the features incorporated. Refresh mode and Test on the road, not so much. End price or cost, is the reason not to include some of these features? It wants to look like one but compete with both? It's interesting to note some advertising (pics) of the IQ328 with a backlight (rdanas eBay pics) on the actual box too? They decided to scrap it? The independent channels may be the cause of the button pushing complaints on the C9000, not an issue for me, I like the freedom and control. There might be a work around for programming channels on the IQ328. A few more programming choices in the mA range, at least a 400mA for AAAs.

Great work being done by Verndog, Mr.Happy and others in this thread. Possibly, the go to place for info on the Accupower IQ328 (& clones) on the web. Great site!


----------



## Verndog (Feb 7, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> That's a point, maybe so. I was thinking more about air flow than conduction, but perhaps it might help to position the charger on a "colder" surface. I will do a test later with the charger raised up off its feet so there is more clearance underneath it.



Mr. H...please look again at this. pic and data. On all charge rates my cells stay in the 80-85F range for better then 75% of the charge. Yours are 12-20F higher during this period and they go right there early in the cycle, even your .5A charge is 12F over my 1.5A charges. This will contribute to false peaks and other heat issues...and we need to find out why. I suggest you get onto a smooth flat cool surface first then try elevating or cooling to see where the issue is.

This is a pic - non cooled at 1.5 amps charge over 1000mah into the charge. 

Also, can someone else verify temps at mid charge and tell if you stay in the low to mid 80F range like mine??


----------



## Verndog (Feb 7, 2013)

Well...4 x 1.0A charge did not go so well. Running fan cooled temps were holding well around 85-88F, so at 45 minutes in I decided to turn off fan to see how much temp would rise. Within 15 minutes it went up 13 degs so I turned it back on. Checked again about 5 minutes later and the charger was running at .2 amp with 2 minutes on timer, almost like a power surge or something?? So I restarted the test at 4x 1.0 and within 10 minutes cell 4 false peaked (read Full at 1.38 volts) (first one I've seen) and the other 3 were running .2A charge rate again?? WTF??

Anyway I restarted the cycle @ 4x .7A and it finished perfectly @ 102F. I must add that this is my #2 charger that I hadn't ran 4x 1.0A before (I ran 2 cycles on #1 testing, then all remaining charges have been 4X .7A).

I'm left with this at his point... anything over 3.0 amps total output appears potentially unreliable. The good news is I don't think this charger will cook any cells and has been very reliable at .7A for me, but when run hard may false peak.

Sorry for those that really wanted 4x higher rates that made the purchase, I advise to dial it back and keep looking.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 7, 2013)

I'm one hour into a 4 x 700 mA charge right now resting on a wooden table top and temps are running around 100°F. I'm not sure the cork mat is really a factor.

One detail we have to look at this the power supply. Are they all exactly the same? There was certainly an issue with power supplies on some of the LaCrosse chargers requiring a recall and replacement. If power supplies have slightly different characteristics it might affect how hot the charger gets.


----------



## kojack6319 (Feb 8, 2013)

Verndog, your results are disconcerting. But they raise other questions. If I understand correctly, charger #1 did the 2 cells at 1.5A twice with temps OK and good termination and all other charges at 700mA also no issues. Charger #2 did the 4 cell 1000mA charges. Would the results be the same on #1? As long as it won't overheat and do no damage to the unit or the cells it might be worth the effort. But close scrutiny seems to be a must at this point. 

The reset is disturbing if there was no power surge or loss. All connections were solid? I haven't read the manual to know if it's part of the overheat protection, a shutdown of the whole unit if one cell overheats. I believe there is something similar on the BC-1000 but I am not sure exactly what it does. The unit being plugged in might be the reason for the restart. I understand the C9000 will also default to a charge after a power loss. 

At 700mA only, it's equivalent to the BC-700 in performance but still cheaper by a few dollars. But it is rated to the BC-1000 (at $60 too high) So, not too bad for the current owners.

As of today, I will hold off on purchasing this charger. Consistency and reliability of advertised performance are concerns. Thank you Verndog and Mr.Happy for testing this charger and continue the good work being done here.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 8, 2013)

I finished the test with the charger sitting on a hard wooden table top, four eneloops at 700 mA charge rate. but the results were essentially the same as previous ones. I think my sample of the charger is running hotter than Verndog's.







(Ignore the noisy voltage measurement in the first part of the chart. I forgot to enable the noise filter.)


----------



## Verndog (Feb 8, 2013)

kojack6319 said:


> ...If I understand correctly, charger #1 did the 2 cells at 1.5A twice with temps OK and good termination and all other charges at 700mA also no issues. Charger #2 did the 4 cell 1000mA charges. Would the results be the same on #1?



Close, but no. All my testing this last week has been on my #2 charger (want to keep all results consistent), so it charged fine 2X 1.5A then malfuntioned @ 4X 1.0A. I had run a couple 4X 1.0A on #1 charger and 2 X 1.5A (never ran 2X 1.8) on my first charger a couple months ago after I first got it but never since.

Mr H. I will add that temps do rise some charging 4X vs 2X on mine also, I'm guessing +7-10 degs so most of the charge in the low 90's when charging 4. I mostly watched the end temps since it never felt alarming prior to that, so I'll verify those mid temps on 1 more uncooled 1 amp test back on my first charger.

For those that dont have a temp gage, I personally look at 120F (thermal cutoff is 131F on this charger) and over as beginning to be alarmed (this is still safe but indicates your on the edge). At this temp the cell will be uncomfortable to hold more then prob. 10-15 seconds...you'll naturally want to put it down (unless your trade makes your hands insensitive to heat).

Also I'm going to add that I have discharged the test cells at 2amps on my hobby chargers to run these last few tests (takes too long otherwise LOL). Cells never felt hot, and they got only a 10 minute break before I tested, so possibly that has some bearing...but IMO I would not think it should.


----------



## mccririck (Feb 8, 2013)

I doubt it's a power supply issue, most likely the internal design of the charger. It probably should have heat sinks and a bit more space between the AA batteries. I'll be using mine at no more than 0.7A from now on.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 8, 2013)

Charger #1 at 4x 1.0A acts entirely different. Mine did just what Mr. H's did. Temps were running upper 90's and 45m to 1hour in I noticed it read all 000 (right at 1.37V where the other charger did this). 000 was the charge amps at the time (it was pausing), temping it, it was somewhere average around 108 with no cells much higher. This time I waited and watched and sure enough it started charging again at the full 1.0 amps just like Mr Happy's did.* I really do not believe this is a high temp issue* at this point, it was nowhere close to 131F and no warmer then I've seen it at other times. I think they put pauses in the 4X 1.0, and if you aren't watching it and don't have it on the charge amps page you'll never know. I usually don't leave on that screen to notice this. What I think happened on #2 charger is it glitched out and did a reset during the pause and thus started again at default .2amps.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 8, 2013)

Verndog said:


> Charger #1 at 4x 1.0A acts entirely different. Mine did just what Mr. H's did. Temps were running upper 90's and 45m to 1hour in I noticed it read all 000 (right at 1.37V where the other charger did this). 000 was the charge amps at the time (it was pausing), temping it, it was somewhere average around 108 with no cells much higher. This time I waited and watched and sure enough it started charging again at the full 1.0 amps just like Mr Happy's did.* I really do not believe this is a high temp issue* at this point, it was nowhere close to 131F and no warmer then I've seen it at other times. I think they put pauses in the 4X 1.0, and if you aren't watching it and don't have it on the charge amps page you'll never know. I usually don't leave on that screen to notice this. What I think happened on #2 charger is it glitched out and did a reset during the pause and thus started again at default .2amps.



That's interesting. But I think you'll find that if you repeat the 4 x 1 A more than once you will get a different number of pauses at different times. Also I'm betting that if you run the 4 x 1 A with the fan cooling it then it won't pause at all.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 8, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> That's interesting. But I think you'll find that if you repeat the 4 x 1 A more than once you will get a different number of pauses at different times. Also I'm betting that if you run the 4 x 1 A with the fan cooling it then it won't pause at all.



I suppose it could be monitoring for a certain rise in temp or even voltage over time then pausing? Not sure, but my temp gage has a laser pointer on it and stores high reading and I scanned it passed all the metal thermal pickup clips and they were no hotter then anything else.

Actually....that could well be it since it didn't pause yesterday until right after I turned the fan off...temp went up pretty quick & minutes later it reset...again nowhere near 131F.


----------



## Mr Happy (Feb 8, 2013)

Verndog said:


> I suppose it could be monitoring for a certain rise in temp or even voltage over time then pausing? Not sure, but my temp gage has a laser pointer on it and stores high reading and I scanned it passed all the metal thermal pickup clips and they were no hotter then anything else.



I'm guessing it also monitors the temperature inside the case, c.f. those resistors that someone said they burned their fingers on.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 8, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> I'm guessing it also monitors the temperature inside the case, c.f. those resistors that someone said they burned their fingers on.



Well, I'm winding down trying to figure out and watching this. I may do a 1A x 4 cooled and leave the fan on the whole time or 2 knowing this drops the temps a good 10-12F, then just see if it completes in the correct time frame. Don't have the cool data monitor equip. to make this easy to watch. 
Also, I just need to just go back to .7A worry free charges and take on some other worldly crisis.


----------



## VidPro (Feb 8, 2013)

""Charger #1 at 4x 1.0A acts entirely different. ""
*""I just need to just go back to .7A worry free charges""
*
:laughing: Love the testing, and I always thought that the rates you had picked and were discussing, were just about right for todays cells (mabey in the future they have a magic 5000ma AA) and the rate and type of charger.


----------



## kojack6319 (Feb 19, 2013)

N.Lee reviewed the IQ-328 on Amazon. I pointed him to this thread in the comments and a youtube video for the Kweller X-1800 (same charger) showing a workaround for channel programming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNU2sAn0H0I

Mr. Happy have you tested at 1500mA or 1800mA charging and graphed the pauses that are seen at 1000mA? I'm thinking it might be programmed, at least, at 1000mA x 4 cells as a safety or for heat concerns.

Edit: I see, looking back, the 1500mA was done.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 19, 2013)

kojack6319 said:


> N.Lee reviewed the IQ-328 on Amazon. I pointed him to this thread in the comments and a youtube video for the Kweller X-1800 (same charger) showing a workaround for channel programming.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNU2sAn0H0I
> 
> Mr. Happy have you tested at 1500mA or 1800mA charging and graphed the pauses that are seen at 1000mA? I'm thinking it might be programmed, at least, at 1000mA x 4 cells as a safety or for heat concerns.



From my testing even cooled I had 1 charger that instead of the pause, would drop down to .2 amps (only running 4 x 1A did it do that), and this happened right around 1 hour or so in. I also pointed out that yes, you can run multiple modes, the limit being the last mode (2nd mode) has to be default charge mode. 

Running right where I always have (.7 AA .5 AAA) both chargers run flawless / full charges.

I've moved on to playing with my new 18650 Xtar VP1 charger. :thumbsup:


----------



## kojack6319 (Feb 20, 2013)

I knew I read it in this thread about multiple modes but I didn't want to re-read it to find the post number to quote.


----------



## John_s (Mar 17, 2013)

I'm searching for a for a budget charger and I believe I found it, so far as I get it right, charging @.7amp for aa shouldn't be a problem right? I also have some old energizer cells wich I m curious to check their state as I believe there are dead for quite long now. Anyway, thanks for the thoroughly review of the iq328, I'll buy one if these


----------



## Verndog (Mar 17, 2013)

John_s said:


> I'm searching for a for a budget charger and I believe I found it, so far as I get it right, charging @.7amp for aa shouldn't be a problem right? I also have some old energizer cells wich I m curious to check their state as I believe there are dead for quite long now. Anyway, thanks for the thoroughly review of the iq328, I'll buy one if these



Correct, keeping the 4x AA cells at .7 works excellent in this charger. If your charging just 2 cells the 1.0 or 1.5 work without issues or delays as far as I can tell.


----------



## John_s (Mar 17, 2013)

Verndog said:


> Correct, keeping the 4x AA cells at .7 works excellent in this charger. If your charging just 2 cells the 1.0 or 1.5 work without issues or delays as far as I can tell.



Thank you! You've been very helpful


----------



## tocs (Mar 25, 2013)

I did finally test a D cell using test leads. It stopped (DISCHARGE mode) at 3700mAh and went into a 16mA maintenance mode. This is good, I have many 4500mAh Ds and if I want to go further I can just repeat in REFRESH mode and add 3700. I have been in rather poor health this winter and I must say I hope winter does end this year! I have also had the termination issues discussed here and use .7A or a fan.

I also have a request for assistance: where to post a topic/question? The issue is how to store Li-Ion near full charge. I want to store at 4.0-4.1V, but limit degradation. This is so the 18650s and Li-Polymer packs I store will be ready to use. I have searched posts, read at Battery University and powerstream.com, as well as read the Panasonic and other Li-Ion books. I am now near to concluding that the freezer is the best place. Battery U has data down to freezing and from the Panasonic curves extrapolation would suggest that going even lower would slow degradation further. I don't think even 20 below F would kill them, but....

Thank you, I have enjoyed catching up on the forum and the charger is ok even if not perfect.


----------



## VidPro (Mar 31, 2013)

Tocs, I would not freeze a li-ion to preserve it or its state, unless I had a freezer just for that purpose, and that is not going to happen. I would think about putting them in a refridgerator, but dont because of food being in the same thing.
the reasons for not freezing unless it is a special freezer, are the fact that most freezers have defrosters, the air inside gets warm even when defrosting, that means there would not be a constant. the battery would daily undergo tiny expansion and contraction , there would not be any sort of "lab" temperature testing, quite the opposite. None of the battery sites recommend freezing. I have never tried it, but it is logical that my standard freezer wouldnt be a good place to do so.
Even for refrigeration, the cells would be put in sealed container, and then brought back to room temperature in the container , to keep condensation away. 
Most li-ion have a releace ability for gass buildup, a cylindrical cell could be "open" and it might not be known, the nasty solvents getting in a closed up fridge, with food in it , yuck. even a li-poly could be building up gass (puffed) as we have all seen, I have never seen one releace under normal conditions, but I still wouldnt want to risk getting some acrid stench in the plastics of a costly fridge.


----------



## tocs (Apr 1, 2013)

Thank you VidPro. I don't want to divert the trajectory of this thread further. Without further input or suggestion of where to start a relevant thread, and in view of your cautions I will try the freezer in a Tupper-type container inside a steel box (to moderate T) in small individual bags for "thawing." In a JPL study standard Li-Ion was _operated_ at < -30C but with terrible performance. Since going to lower T slows degradation, and I want charged cells ready but don't want to spend $$$ and not have them last, I see this as the only answer. I may try freezer/refrigerator/room for 6mo on new high-quality cells and compare.


----------



## tocs (Apr 1, 2013)

I add that what can be gained is a way to store our Li-Ion cells in a way that they are useful in emergency. Perhaps a few cells may be damaged by the experiment, but that is ok. Some people are already putting laptop packs in the freezer. I suspect it will be fine. Refrigerator temperature near full charge still causes significant capacity loss. Post new thread? Where? I'm new to this. Thanks.


----------



## matttaylor (Apr 2, 2013)

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased the AccuPower IQ-328 along 4 AA 1,900 mAh eneloop cells.
I was a bit confused about the stats the charger was showing when charging the batteries and further investigation has brought me to this thread.

It's quite a long thread to follow and I'm no expert in all the technical stuff but it seems I'm not the only one that has experienced some issues.
Could someone sum up for me if this charger is OK for eneloops?
The ones I have really aren't lasting long at all and the charger is reporting full at about 100 mAh.
I'm also having similar problems with Hybrio cells.

Thanks,

Matt


----------



## tocs (Apr 2, 2013)

Hi Matt. It should work very well with Eneloops and all other low-self-discharge NiMH cells if it is functioning properly. Try using the TEST mode. (Manual page 7) You use the MODE button to select this. I have trouble inserting the batteries fast enough to get it right, so I unplug the connector on the back, insert the batteries, then plug it back and select the MODE. Use the CURRENT button to select 700mA charging current. The batteries will then be charged fully, discharged to show their capacity, and then charged again. If you don't like the measured capacity then try it again. There is also a REFRESH mode but I don't use it much because there is no user control over how many times it cycles. I think it should be called the CONDITION mode because it is used to condition cells by repeatedly cycling them. Any thoughts on where to post about putting 18650s et. al. in the freezer? And welcome, this is a very cool forum and I am new here too.


----------



## Mr Happy (Apr 2, 2013)

matttaylor said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I recently purchased the AccuPower IQ-328 along 4 AA 1,900 mAh eneloop cells.
> I was a bit confused about the stats the charger was showing when charging the batteries and further investigation has brought me to this thread.
> ...



Some may disagree with me here, but I really don't believe this charger lives up to its specifications. I found that too often for comfort it ended the charge prematurely, before the batteries were fully charged. Worse than that, it overheated when trying to charge at higher rates that the manual says are acceptable.

It would appear to me that the best results are obtained when charging 4 AA cells if the charge current is set no higher than 700 mA. Although 500 mA may be better.

If charging 2 cells, you can put them in the outer two slots and use 1000 mA.

It doesn't seem advisable to use the 1800 mA setting.

Overall I was disappointed with the charger.


----------



## Verndog (Apr 2, 2013)

matttaylor said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I recently purchased the AccuPower IQ-328 along 4 AA 1,900 mAh eneloop cells.
> I was a bit confused about the stats the charger was showing when charging the batteries and further investigation has brought me to this thread.
> ...



Hello Matt,

Yes the charger works excellent for Eneloops, the main thing to remember for best reliability to charge at .7 amps or less when charging 4 cells to keep heat down. 2 cells (use slots 1 and 4) 1.0 or 1.5 amps works fine from my experience.

On the cells coming up short. Most likely they are toast, thus the reason you looked for better cells like Eneloops. As stated above, you can cycle them a few times to try to revive them (try .5 amps to bring back really bad cells). What I found best was after checking and wasting a day or more on a $2.00 battery, just toss them and buy the cells that will change your mind about rechargables (Eneloops only!). There are some other decent LSD batteries out there, GP Recyko, Tenergy...ect...but spend a little more now and save the headaches and replace your other bad cells with Eneloops and never worry again for about 5-7 years.


----------



## netprince (Apr 2, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> Some may disagree with me here, but I really don't believe this charger lives up to its specifications. I found that too often for comfort it ended the charge prematurely, before the batteries were fully charged. Worse than that, it overheated when trying to charge at higher rates that the manual says are acceptable.
> 
> It would appear to me that the best results are obtained when charging 4 AA cells if the charge current is set no higher than 700 mA. Although 500 mA may be better.
> 
> ...



I agree with you. Can't recommend this charger.


----------



## matttaylor (Apr 3, 2013)

Thank you to everyone who has replied.

I followed tocs instructions this morning putting the 4 AA eneloops on TEST mode at 700 mA of current (until now I've stuck with the default 200 mA).
They are now sitting there showing full at about 300 mAh each.

Like verndog says it looks like these cells are toast but I only bought them last week along with the charger.
The same thing with another set I bought last year and have hardly used.

I'm not sure which way to turn or test further, either the charger is duff or both sets of cells are.


----------



## Mr Happy (Apr 3, 2013)

If you only bought the cells last week they shouldn't be toast yet.

I recommend you do another test, but this time watch the charger carefully during the test and see what it does.

Do the test with one cell only, and run a Discharge cycle at 700 mA charge, 350 mA discharge.

Start the cycle going and watch the display. You are going to be interested in the discharge and charge current (should be close to 350 mA and 700 mA), the cell voltage and the accumulated capacity.

If the cell is fully charged at the start the discharge should show a voltage of about 1.25-1.3, slowly decreasing during the discharge. The discharge should run for about 6 hours and the voltage should decrease to about 1 V. Watch this and see if it happens.

Next the charge should start. You should see the cell voltage begin at about 1.2 V and be slowly increasing up to higher than 1.4 V over a period of 3 to 3.5 hours. During this time the current should be constant and showing about 700 mA. After about 3.5 hours Full should appear. The voltage should be around 1.4 V and the capacity shown should be 2 Ah or higher.

Try this, watch exactly what happens, and report back.


----------



## Verndog (Apr 3, 2013)

matttaylor said:


> Thank you to everyone who has replied.
> 
> I followed tocs instructions this morning putting the 4 AA eneloops on TEST mode at 700 mA of current (until now I've stuck with the default 200 mA).
> They are now sitting there showing full at about 300 mAh each.
> ...



The problem here is everything is new (except the group of older cells). I own well over 100 cells, 3 brands and 2 IQ-328 chargers and never have seen a false peak yet (I have experienced a few resets due to pushing charger to it's 4 amp limit). Your best bet at this point is attempt to charge suspect cells in another charger, then run test and see if you can get higher capacity.


----------



## mccririck (Apr 3, 2013)

I've never had a problem with eneloops in this charger.


----------



## matttaylor (Apr 4, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> If you only bought the cells last week they shouldn't be toast yet.
> 
> I recommend you do another test, but this time watch the charger carefully during the test and see what it does.
> 
> ...



Thanks Mr. Happy.
I'm running this test now and will report back.


----------



## matttaylor (Apr 4, 2013)

Verndog said:


> The problem here is everything is new (except the group of older cells). I own well over 100 cells, 3 brands and 2 IQ-328 chargers and never have seen a false peak yet (I have experienced a few resets due to pushing charger to it's 4 amp limit). Your best bet at this point is attempt to charge suspect cells in another charger, then run test and see if you can get higher capacity.



You're right, I'm going to try my old Uniross X-Press 700 charger with the new eneloops but the reason I bought the IQ-328 was because I was so unimpressed with the performance of the old eneloops after using my old charger. I figured they needed something more intelligent.

Just for info I've just received 4 x AA Hybrio, 2 x AAA Hybrio & have a 4 pack of new AAA eneloop to test with.

Thanks, Matt


----------



## matttaylor (Apr 4, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> If you only bought the cells last week they shouldn't be toast yet.
> 
> I recommend you do another test, but this time watch the charger carefully during the test and see what it does.
> 
> ...



Thanks Mr. Happy.

I followed your instructions with one of the new eneloop AAs and this is what happened:

*Discharging cycle*:

Time 0:01
350mA
1.42v
005mAh

Time 0:16
345mA
1.37v
092mAh

Time 0:35
343mA
1.30v
201mAh

*Charging cycle*:

Time 0:00
705mA
1.37v
008mAh

*Full*:

Time 0:08
41mA
1.37v
040mAh 

I then repeated the steps with another one which was full 20 mins into the charging cycle at 239 mAh.


----------



## Verndog (Apr 4, 2013)

Something is very wrong with those numbers, and quite possibly your charger IMO. The Discharge cycle should take the cell down to .9V yet your numbers stop @ 1.3v??

One thing on charging. .7amps is ideal for AA, and *.5amps for AAA*. I'd run in *Test Mode @.5 amps* with the new Eneloops. If you can't get consistent near 750 + mah testing those then that would indicate your charger is defective and you need to return it.

I can't comment on the Hybrio cells, I've never run or tested them.

Here is what some of my AAA's tested at.


----------



## Mr Happy (Apr 4, 2013)

matttaylor said:


> Thanks Mr. Happy.
> 
> I followed your instructions with one of the new eneloop AAs and this is what happened:
> 
> ...



As Verndog said, something seems to be quite wrong with this. Did the discharge cycle actually stop after 35 minutes when the cell was still at 1.30 V? It should have discharged for several hours and taken the voltage down below 1 V.

Perhaps your charger is faulty. Try with one of the Hybrios to eliminate the battery as the problem. 

[paragraph deleted]


----------



## tocs (Apr 4, 2013)

Yes Matt, this is a very good procedure for finding the problem. I suggested the TEST mode to see if it would show a reasonable capacity for the Eneloops. I must regretfully agree with Mr H's assessment of the IQ charger also. The one I have is quite useful in a limited sense, but not reliable to use at all settings. Perhaps there is a QC issue. I say this because some have not had the issues that I and others have had. Mine behaves like a prototype that needs another design round.

Please please, someone suggest what to do about exploring the issue of storing Li-Ion at very low temps. I have done a lot of research, it appears there is no problem with a standard freezer, and it appears also that there is much to be gained in limiting degradation. As I said, the refrigerator is not good enough to store them fully charged. Going to lower T and being able to store ready-to-go-charged Li-Ion long term would be very useful. The permanent capacity loss of a Li-Ion in a high-charge state reduces rapidly with T.


----------



## Verndog (Apr 4, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> Are you inserting the battery fully and securely into the battery slot? *You must put the + end in first and then push the - end down firmly afterwards.* If you try to put the - end in first the + end will not seat properly.



:thinking:
I'm not sure where this is coming from. On both my chargers I cannot even get the Neg. end in 2nd by hand. I've always slid Pos. in last pushing in on Neg. spring end with no problems.


----------



## Mr Happy (Apr 4, 2013)

Verndog said:


> :thinking:
> I'm not sure where this is coming from. On both my chargers I cannot even get the Neg. end in 2nd by hand. I've always slid Pos. in last pushing in on Neg. spring end with no problems.



You're right, I was talking nonsense. I hurriedly picked up the charger to check battery insertion and without thinking I was holding it upside down. I've deleted the comment.


----------



## nightshade (Apr 4, 2013)

Yep. Still impressed by my sample of this charger. In todays market it does all come down to what is your sample like. QC is still a abstract.


----------



## matttaylor (Apr 11, 2013)

Thanks for all the help with my charger issues.
I've concluded the charger is duff.

After trying a brand new set of Hybrio AA cells I found the first two slots stopped short of capacity whilst the last two worked as expected.
Trying the partially charged cells in the last slot resulted in a good charge.
I also had my brother report his charging story to me as I had purchased the same charger and eneloop batteries for him at the same time. His all worked as expected.

I'll get it replaced.

Cheers, Matt


----------



## mccririck (Apr 11, 2013)

Verndog said:


> :thinking:
> I'm not sure where this is coming from. On both my chargers I cannot even get the Neg. end in 2nd by hand. I've always slid Pos. in last pushing in on Neg. spring end with no problems.



Me too. It's awkward getting them out again.


----------



## TedTheLed (Apr 19, 2013)

p.s.

I wish there was a charger like the IQ, but that you could SET THE CHARGE RATES FOR INDIVIDUAL CELLS!!!

I must admit I thought the IQ did this, at first, so,ething about charging different chemistries and sizes all at once..
but then they woupd all be charging at the same rate! phooey! if you mix aaa and aa 's you have to charge at the lowest rate acceptable to ALL them, ie 200ma in my h. opinion 500ma is too much for aaa's ... still a nice charger ... I shoulda bought two when they were $32...!


----------



## Verndog (Apr 19, 2013)

TedTheLed said:


> p.s.
> 
> I wish there was a charger like the IQ, but that you could SET THE CHARGE RATES FOR INDIVIDUAL CELLS!!!
> 
> ...



Actually you don't. You can set the charge rate for each bay individually. The only limit you have is, after setting the first charge rate, then subsequent charge rates cannot be higher then #1. So put your AA's in first, set them, then your AAA's and set them. :thumbsup:

One little trick some may not have noticed. After setting charge rate #1, you have to wait 5-10 seconds till the screen flashes...then it's now charging. after that, put you next cell in and repeat process.

Here is proof of this. AA on left at 1.0amps, cell on right at .5amps.


----------



## TedTheLed (Apr 19, 2013)

holy freakin crap!!! it works!!! Verndog how have you kept this a secret so long???
Nobody else knows this, not even engineer NLee famed amazon reviewer of chargers..!!!

Thank you!!! you are genius. too.


----------



## Verndog (Apr 19, 2013)

Verndog said:


> *One very smart feature I like, is you can put 1 cell in and press current to select the amps to charge at then add another cell and repeat...or, just put all 4 in and do it once to keep all 4 the same. You can also do the same with the mode...discharge 2 and charge 2 the same way. By default it will charge at .2 amps, so if you do nothing it will just slow charge.*
> 
> 
> Any question feel free to ask...





TedTheLed said:


> holy freakin crap!!! it works!!! Verndog how have you kept this a secret so long???
> Nobody else knows this, not even engineer NLee famed amazon reviewer of chargers..!!!
> 
> Thank you!!! you are genius. too.



LOL...it wasn't kept a secret. It's right there in my first post where I reviewed the charger. 

NLee is still a rookie when it comes to this charger. :devil:


----------



## TedTheLed (Apr 19, 2013)

well, you said, 

"One very smart feature I like, is you can put 1 cell in and press current to select the amps to charge at then add another cell and repeat...or, just put all 4 in and do it once to keep all 4 the same. You can also do the same with the mode...discharge 2 and charge 2 the same way. By default it will charge at .2 amps, so if you do nothing it will just slow charger.." 

Since this is also what I believed was true, it worked fine for me, for a while .. thats right, when I had faith, I unknowingly must have placed the batteries high to low charge current, and when I tried to do it the wrong way (low to high) it seemed to me the charger NEVER really worked that way... and so, I saw your photo,
and instantly assumed it was a FRAUD ; that the picture was in fact a photo of the accumulated ma read out, very similar in appearance to the current setting..so I tried the high to low, and it worked! 

It was thrilling, I tell you. a virtual ecstatic god experience.


----------



## Verndog (Apr 19, 2013)

TedTheLed said:


> It was thrilling, I tell you. a virtual ecstatic god experience.



You think that was cool wait until our next lesson on how to operate the "Uncle Festor" in mouth battery charger...no power needed!


----------



## TedTheLed (Apr 20, 2013)

Uncle Festor always was kind of a religious enthusiast, wasnt he...( didnt he do an "unplugged" for mtv?.)


----------



## TedTheLed (Apr 22, 2013)

...got a new one for ya; you dont have to go left to right. Just make the first battery the highest current, and each subsequent placement of battery lower, you can put them in any slot. just dont remove the highest charging battery, that will lower the highest possible charge to the next lowest charge rate. hope thats clear enough..?


----------



## Verndog (Apr 22, 2013)

TedTheLed said:


> ...got a new one for ya; you dont have to go left to right. Just make the first battery the highest current, and each subsequent placement of battery lower, you can put them in any slot. just dont remove the highest charging battery, that will lower the highest possible charge to the next lowest charge rate. hope thats clear enough..?



Correct. That is what I was referring to when it said it auto detects the cell slot last inserted. Left to right is a natural order, but not required. Also, contrary to others postings...you can discharge / test 2 and charge 2 at the same time. The limit is the last cells have to be charge only.


----------



## mccririck (Apr 22, 2013)

Mine started buzzing a bit last night. I turned the power connector a bit in it's socket and it stopped, but it started again when I moved it. Seems to happen when I was a bit heavy-handed filling up the slots with AAA batteries. At the moment I can stop the buzzing but tweaking the position of the power connector a bit, but I hope it doesnt get worse.


----------



## joef63 (May 25, 2013)

Hi, after less than a year of use, the device does not always detect batteries, not switch the mode (only charge can be selected). Is there is any solution like reset or something else? Thank you.


----------



## mccririck (May 25, 2013)

joef63 said:


> Hi, after less than a year of use, the device does not always detect batteries, not switch the mode (only charge can be selected). Is there is any solution like reset or something else? Thank you.



You'd probably be best to contact the manufacturer and ask them.


----------



## malow (Jun 9, 2013)

DealExtreme now have a "similar" to this charger (with backlight it says)

http://dx.com/p/2-5-lcd-intelligent-ni-mh-battery-charger-w-adapter-cable-black-silver-aa-aaa-219514


----------



## mccririck (Jun 9, 2013)

malow said:


> DealExtreme now have a "similar" to this charger (with backlight it says)
> 
> http://dx.com/p/2-5-lcd-intelligent-ni-mh-battery-charger-w-adapter-cable-black-silver-aa-aaa-219514



Interesting, but the Accupower one is only 18p more in the UK (actually it's probably cheaper when you take exchange rate charges into account) and it will be delivered far quicker than the DX one I'd imagine!.


----------



## Dirtbasher (Jun 9, 2013)

malow said:


> DealExtreme now have a "similar" to this charger (with backlight it says)
> 
> http://dx.com/p/2-5-lcd-intelligent-ni-mh-battery-charger-w-adapter-cable-black-silver-aa-aaa-219514



Looks like a clone or rebranded, I notice the backplate is in German?

Just ordered a IQ328 costing me $70, to ship out to SA, local camera shop sells the MAHA for $120 with local delivery, so if this charger is the real deal I might order just to find out.


----------



## Dirtbasher (Jun 10, 2013)

My IQ-328 just arrived with new Eneloops X series, any advice on which mode to use to break in the new eneloops?


----------



## Verndog (Jun 11, 2013)

Dirtbasher said:


> My IQ-328 just arrived with new Eneloops X series, any advice on which mode to use to break in the new eneloops?



I prefer to run test cycle on all new cells, then label the actual mah on each cell. This will also serve to break in the cells, and you have a baseline to test the battery against down the road if you suspect a weak cell and want to re-test.

Test cycle charges, discharges and records capacity, then recharges.


----------



## Dirtbasher (Jun 11, 2013)

Verndog said:


> I prefer to run test cycle on all new cells, then label the actual mah on each cell. This will also serve to break in the cells, and you have a baseline to test the battery against down the road if you suspect a weak cell and want to re-test.
> 
> Test cycle charges, discharges and records capacity, then recharges.



Thanks, busy running the " test cycle " with my older cells to get an idea of the control panel , your early review certainly assisted.
I think I'm going to keep a spreadsheet log of charge cycles, especially with my new Eneloops.

Question what type of label do you use on the cells?


----------



## Verndog (Jun 11, 2013)

Dirtbasher said:


> Thanks, busy running the " test cycle " with my older cells to get an idea of the control panel , your early review certainly assisted.
> I think I'm going to keep a spreadsheet log of charge cycles, especially with my new Eneloops.
> 
> Question what type of label do you use on the cells?



I use the Brother label maker that comes with the thin white tape x 3/8 wide. Works very well, and doesn't come off in any devices I use the rechargeables in. If you scroll up you can see the labels in a couple of my pics.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004I2EDA4/?tag=cpf0b6-20


----------



## Dirtbasher (Jun 11, 2013)

Verndog said:


> I use the Brother label maker that comes with the thin white tape x 3/8 wide. Works very well, and doesn't come off in any devices I use the rechargeables in. If you scroll up you can see the labels in a couple of my pics.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004I2EDA4/?tag=cpf0b6-20



Ahh , had a feeling you were using the Brother, it has been on my wish list for years, now I have to get one !
Thanks again.


----------



## bob_ninja (Jun 26, 2013)

I remember similar talk about heat issues with BCxxx chargers. I am using BC500 these days, which is simplified version of 900 that is fixed at 0.5A charging rate. So bit below what you are testing herein.

I happen to have a PC fan, so I placed it under charger and inserted 3 Eneloops and one Duraloop. Fan is 7W and running at top speed, so far too much cooling. As expected both charger and cells remained cool. They all reached 1.54V and 1.55V showing 95% but got stuck there and never terminated. Once I removed the fan they terminated within 2-3 min. No surprises here as noted in previous BC discussions. However I am puzzled.

1) BC is clearly missing dt/dv signal even on Eneloops (mine are not too old and gently used). We also know that Maha C9000 is also missing hence 1.47V limit. So then why is it so hard to detect the signal? Does this charger truly detect the dt/dv properly?

2) I was bit surprised with Happy's tests on bench (see #83) that peaked at 1.63V when my charge peaked at 1.55V
I am guessing this is function of the charge rate (0.5A vs 1.6A)?

3) My practice was to remove them at 1.47V much like C9000 does. Once cell surface starts to heat up some cell damage is already taking place inside. So I would rather give up 5% capacity and prolong the cell life. I am mostly using 0.5A and 0.7A rates. Now that I see some tests going to 1.6V I am wondering how much charge is missed at 1.47V? 5% or more? Much more?

4) Back to cooling. Both BC500 and this one are using a very tight packaging. Too much cooling is clearly problem. It would be nice to have some passive cooling (heat sinks), but it is hard to do it externally on plastic without invasive procedure. I am wondering about using my powerful fan. Instead of having it active at all times, what about turning it on for 5 minutes only from time to time, so long as cells are below 1.47V? That way cells are not close to full charge and charger electronics get a welcome blast of air cooling.


----------



## bob_ninja (Jun 26, 2013)

One more thing.

Since I have BC500 at 0.5A how does this one compare when used at 0.7A?
My batteries do get bit warm at the end of charge. Like I said I wouldn't mind it charge terminated at 1.5V
How does this one compare? Do cells get warm? What is termination voltage at 0.7A?

thanks


----------



## Mr Happy (Jun 27, 2013)

bob_ninja said:


> I remember similar talk about heat issues with BCxxx chargers. I am using BC500 these days, which is simplified version of 900 that is fixed at 0.5A charging rate. So bit below what you are testing herein.
> 
> I happen to have a PC fan, so I placed it under charger and inserted 3 Eneloops and one Duraloop. Fan is 7W and running at top speed, so far too much cooling. As expected both charger and cells remained cool. They all reached 1.54V and 1.55V showing 95% but got stuck there and never terminated. Once I removed the fan they terminated within 2-3 min. No surprises here as noted in previous BC discussions. However I am puzzled.
> 
> 1) BC is clearly missing dt/dv signal even on Eneloops (mine are not too old and gently used). We also know that Maha C9000 is also missing hence 1.47V limit. So then why is it so hard to detect the signal? Does this charger truly detect the dt/dv properly?



The -dV signal is caused by the battery heating up at the end of charge. If you prevent the battery heating up by excess cooling the -dV signal cannot happen.

The reasons why the C9000 has the 1.47 V limit are complex and partly due to the way the charger measures the voltage. For reliable -dV detection the voltage should be measured while the charge current is applied--the C9000 measures the voltage during the "off" period between pulses to avoid noise from the charging circuit and this compromises the ability to detect end of charge.



> 2) I was bit surprised with Happy's tests on bench (see #83) that peaked at 1.63V when my charge peaked at 1.55V
> I am guessing this is function of the charge rate (0.5A vs 1.6A)?



Correct. The measured voltage has two parts: the inherent cell voltage plus the internal resistance part. If, for example, the internal resistance is 0.1 ohms, then a charging current of 1.6 A will produce an additional voltage of 0.1 ohms x 1.6 A = 0.16 V over and above the actual cell voltage.



> 3) My practice was to remove them at 1.47V much like C9000 does. Once cell surface starts to heat up some cell damage is already taking place inside. So I would rather give up 5% capacity and prolong the cell life. I am mostly using 0.5A and 0.7A rates. Now that I see some tests going to 1.6V I am wondering how much charge is missed at 1.47V? 5% or more? Much more?



There are two voltages during charging: the "off" voltage when no charging current is applied (between pulses), and the "on" voltage when the current is present. The C9000 measures and displays the "off" voltage. However, the 1.63 V that I measured was during the "on" state. There can be quite a gap between these two voltages. 1.47 V measured with no current is very nearly fully charged. 1.47 V measured under charging conditions may be far short of fully charged.



> 4) Back to cooling. Both BC500 and this one are using a very tight packaging. Too much cooling is clearly problem. It would be nice to have some passive cooling (heat sinks), but it is hard to do it externally on plastic without invasive procedure. I am wondering about using my powerful fan. Instead of having it active at all times, what about turning it on for 5 minutes only from time to time, so long as cells are below 1.47V? That way cells are not close to full charge and charger electronics get a welcome blast of air cooling.



Most of the heat during charging, especially with the BC-family chargers, comes from the charger electronics. So when you look at cooling arrangements, try to cool the charger and not the batteries. Whenever I charge batteries on the bench far away from any external heat sources they stay much cooler. It becomes very clear to me that the battery charger tends to act as a battery toaster.

Rather than run a powerful fan from time to time, it may be better to run a much gentler fan continuously. Direct the fan through the vents on the underside of the charger to cool the circuit board and try to keep the air currents away from the batteries on top.


----------



## bob_ninja (Jun 27, 2013)

Wow very informative. Thanks Happy 



Mr Happy said:


> ....
> Most of the heat during charging, especially with the BC-family chargers, comes from the charger electronics. So when you look at cooling arrangements, try to cool the charger and not the batteries. Whenever I charge batteries on the bench far away from any external heat sources they stay much cooler. It becomes very clear to me that the battery charger tends to act as a battery toaster.



Indeed. Now I examined my BC500 and noticed most of electronics are placed in front of the cells. Compared to this one seems to have electronics under cells. So while BC500 electronics clearly produces heat, I would imagine most of it escaping in other directions. Then again the plastic cover is solid, so I suppose heated air travels laterally including into cell bay.



Mr Happy said:


> Rather than run a powerful fan from time to time, it may be better to run a much gentler fan continuously. Direct the fan through the vents on the underside of the charger to cool the circuit board and try to keep the air currents away from the batteries on top.



Indeed I was considering much smaller fans. I have few of them, combined heat sink with a smallish fan. Actually they are designed to conduct heat via direct contact to heat sink, then fan cools heat sink. Without breaking charger's plastic case, these would not work.
The other problem is that a small fan needs very little power. So I would have to connect fan into charger electronics I guess, to avoid another cable, etc.

I will keep this possibility in the back of my mind. If I happen to find a small fin that would work I may try it at some point.

thanks again


----------



## bob_ninja (Jun 27, 2013)

One more idea:

What about changing fan orientation so it blows air away from charger bottom?
In other words create negative air pressure under charging circuitry. Then cool air will flow in from sides and possibly not affects cells much. Again it would have to be a smaller lower CFM fan.


----------



## tripplec (Jun 27, 2013)

Hard to find in Canada. Good price on Amazon.com but not amazon.ca!!! I would consider the IQ-328 but its pricy IMO for a charger. I have Eneloop standard charger and an Energizer CHDC7. Which seem ok but don't do single channel (single cell charging).
Any good sources in Canada. I was looking at this but it charges AAA the same as AA which is 800mA. Too much from the reading I have done on this forum and other areas.

http://www.onlybatteries.com/showitem.asp?ItemID=16074.14&cat1=11&uid=1644


----------



## tripplec (Jun 28, 2013)

Wow, ok now I have READ the entire thread. I am almost cross eyed and went to have a bite to eat. A little better now. It seems the charger is good but could be better from the perspective of heat management. It concerns me that there are components (surface mount resistors) getting so hot. This can be a long term problem if not short term causing many irregulatities discussed here. Solder joints opening and becoming cold joint and or cooking the PCB. I wonder if the C9000 has those extra finger burners in them. 

The designed early -ve termination of the C9000 is not the best and a downside for that charger. Requiring an extra 2hrs of waiting for a top up charge compounds this. A the price of the C9000 here its not the best value due to that behavour and total charge time is misrepresented. IMO

Heat sinking and or better airflow design seems to be overlooked in both cases. Neither was designed to be a travel charger (small compact) but still transportable. But since heat is an issue in its ability to perform and heat transferred to the cells from it should not be allowed to happen and generate false conditions of the cell are clearly oversights of the engineers. IMO

I been around circuit boards for far more than 2 decades and have repaired countless circuits isolating poor solder joints may degrade by very hot high powered circuits and cold low voltage points. Although neither charger is optimum its difficult to be driven 100% to one or the other by spec's, performance and cost considerations. Warranty claims can be quite difficult as well as the cost to ship from Canada to the handler. 

I don't think I'll run out and buy either at this time. Someone was building a "Kickstart" charger project and maybe worth tracking down if its 4 cell etc. I do appreciate the in depth info and test performed over considerable time and intensive effort which was time consuming. Well done...


----------



## Mr Happy (Jun 28, 2013)

tripplec said:


> Heat sinking and or better airflow design seems to be overlooked in both cases.



Well we don't have reported overheating issues with the C9000 electronics. One of the reasons the C9000 does not stand out as a travel charger is the larger size, but this size allows for plenty of space around the batteries and plenty of space inside the charger for air circulation. 

Another of the ways the C9000 deals with heat management is to take a 12 V power feed and then use on-board switching supplies to generate the low voltage needed for each battery channel. Switching converters can be very efficient with low heat dissipation. 

The IQ-328 uses a 3 V power supply and it seems to be very sensitive to the actual voltage and regulation quality in that supply. It may be using linear current regulators to generate the necessary charging current for each cell.


----------



## tripplec (Jun 28, 2013)

Ok, I can appreciate the different method employed. Ok A 3V PS is poor it should always be higher and regulated down at the output points. A Sturdy 5VDC at minimum if they're doing it that way.


----------



## silvereagle (Jul 6, 2013)

Hi folks. I just wanted to say thanks all who contributed to this thread, especially Verndog and Mr. Happy. 

I scored an IQ-328 off Amazon for less than the price of a La Crosse BC-700. The way I looked at it was this: I'm getting the same basic functionality of the BC-700 plus the option of higher charging rates with the IQ-328 (even if it is a bit quirky) for less cash...so it's better value for money. At a higher price point it obviously would not have been as attractive.

And I doubt I'll be using the higher charging rates very often. But if I do, I'll know what to look out for thanks to you guys.


----------



## tripplec (Jul 7, 2013)

silvereagle said:


> Hi folks. I just wanted to say thanks all who contributed to this thread, especially Verndog and Mr. Happy.
> 
> I scored an IQ-328 off Amazon for less than the price of a La Crosse BC-700. The way I looked at it was this: I'm getting the same basic functionality of the BC-700 plus the option of higher charging rates with the IQ-328 (even if it is a bit quirky) for less cash...so it's better value for money. At a higher price point it obviously would not have been as attractive.
> 
> And I doubt I'll be using the higher charging rates very often. But if I do, I'll know what to look out for thanks to you guys.



How is it for you doing NiMH individually if you've done that. We have two flash lights that use odd number of batteries. Small keychain w/1 AAA & another using 3 -AAA. No real way of properly charging them properly with the Sanyo charger or a Energizer one which also does pairs even though it shows each cell separately. I've see the I4 on ebay but would land at $45 or more from the only seller I saw a few weeks ago. I am holding off for now to see if something else or a deal pops in front of me. LOL


----------



## silvereagle (Jul 7, 2013)

tripplec said:


> How is it for you doing NiMH individually if you've done that.



It's great for charging Ni-MH cells individually. I've got a couple of personal grooming products and a wireless optical mouse that use single AA and AAA cells. Previously, I'd have to wait until I had a pair of run down cells to charge them...but not anymore...




tripplec said:


> I am holding off for now to see if something else or a deal pops in front of me. LOL




I can relate. I'd been postponing purchasing one of these smart chargers/analyzers for a couple of years now, hoping the price would come down to where I both thought it was reasonable and had the spare cash on hand.

The I4 looks good but check the size of those batteries. I've read some reviews that say they may not fit in some devices.

If you're just looking for a charger to do individual cells and don't need the analysis functions of the higher end models, there are some sub - $ 15 Ni-MH smart chargers on Amazon which seem to have good reviews.


----------



## tripplec (Jul 7, 2013)

Thanks, Amazon Canada does not carry most of what the US side does and if they do its usually 3x the price even more than MSRP. I either have to shop locally or eBay for a product hence the problem here. The C9000 is available at $60 locally which is somewhat high for my requirements and overly sophisticated as well.

I do appreiciate all the feedback.

Cheers


----------



## Mr Happy (Jul 7, 2013)

tripplec said:


> Thanks, Amazon Canada does not carry most of what the US side does and if they do its usually 3x the price even more than MSRP. I either have to shop locally or eBay for a product hence the problem here. The C9000 is available at $60 locally which is somewhat high for my requirements and overly sophisticated as well.
> 
> I do appreiciate all the feedback.
> 
> Cheers



$60 is about the cost of a tank of gas, or a dinner for two at an inexpensive restaurant.

OK, I appreciate times may be hard for some, but when we start saying an the amount of an incidental expense is too costly for an investment that will last years, it is no wonder our industry is shut down and all our manufacturing has been outsourced to China...


----------



## greeny1 (Jul 8, 2013)

I've had mine for a few months now, working like a charm, 1 or 3 batteries - no problem. I charge AA at 700mA or 1A, AAA at 500 mA or 200 mA. So far it's worked perfectly at all charge rates with no missed terminations and the capacity measuring cycle 'test' seems accurate (or at least consistent).


----------



## bob_ninja (Jul 9, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> $60 is about the cost of a tank of gas, or a dinner for two at an inexpensive restaurant.
> 
> OK, I appreciate times may be hard for some, but when we start saying an the amount of an incidental expense is too costly for an investment that will last years, it is no wonder our industry is shut down and all our manufacturing has been outsourced to China...



And speaking of Canada, ask us what is hockey game ticket cost!
Agreed, $50 range is cheap for a device that lasts a long time. Even my original BC900 is still working fine.
I would like to try it *IF* it runs cooler and keeps cells cooler than BC900/500.

BTW I assume that the device from DX having EU plug can be used in N. America using the plug converter. Right?


----------



## tripplec (Jul 13, 2013)

bob_ninja said:


> And speaking of Canada, ask us what is hockey game ticket cost!
> Agreed, $50 range is cheap for a device that lasts a long time. Even my original BC900 is still working fine.
> I would like to try it *IF* it runs cooler and keeps cells cooler than BC900/500.
> 
> BTW I assume that the device from DX having EU plug can be used in N. America using the plug converter. Right?



I have seen is quite a bit cheaper on Amazon US site almost half what it cost to get in Canada. So no its a deal for you but not for us here. No sale 

Just look at this http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Iq-328+charger
Who in there right mind is going to pay that for a 12v PS for the charger? Are they crazy? the charger is not list for us but the C9000 is and sit down before searching for it. Extorsion is the word that comes to mind.

Fair price is equivalent in both countries and it is NOT.


----------



## Dirtbasher (Jul 19, 2013)

My IQ-328 clone arrived from DX, so far first impressions are good.
Has a backlight ; has more features like repair mode , timer mode, and test mode.
I would post a link but not allowed , SKU: 219514 if interested, looks identical but I suspect they have re -vamped the inner electronics somewhat.
Half the price of my IQ-328!


----------



## 3alfa3 (Jul 23, 2013)

Hello from Croatia...

Just received Accucell Alpha BC800 charger (the same as Accupower IQ-328).
This is my setup for charging 4AA Eneloops at 1000mA each. Botom cover is unsrewd for monitoring (iwth fingers) temperature. So far, charging one AA @ 1000 and with no fan under the charger (PC fan for P4 processor, 70mm Thermaltake Volcano 7+ driven by 9V 350mA adapter), resistor in charger for that cell is hot and can be touched only for second or two. With fan, only warm, maybe 40 Celsius.
Fan does not cool the cells (at least, i cant feel air around cell), only charger.
In the next few days, i will charge 4X1000mA and report if everything went as planed. If its going to be resets, or drop in charge current, that is probably not going to be matter of temperature and i wil step down with current to 700mA per cell. Here is the picture of my setup






(sorry for bad english)


----------



## lowks (Jul 23, 2013)

I thought 'Nele the Engineer' as you call him also complained that this unit's heating was questionable ? Is that so?


----------



## 3alfa3 (Jul 24, 2013)

Charging 4AA Eneloops (5-6 years old, but in good condition) at 1000mA in test mode (500mA discharge). Fan is running under the charger. After 30 minutes, everything is OK, charger and cells are cold, but power adapter is warm. About 45 degrees Celsius if not higher (finger test). Ambient temperature is high - 28C (83F).
Will report how it finished.

btw, measuring voltage of power adapter with no load, im getting 3,13-3.14V


EDIT:

First charging cycle was perfect (took 45 minutes) cells barely warm at the end, maybe 40C (ambient temp is 29C), all cells terminated within 1 minute at 1,52V.
2,5h into discharging, all cells are at 1,18V.


EDIT2:
Discharging completed, second (last) cycle of charging started


----------



## 3alfa3 (Jul 24, 2013)

Success.
All 4 AA Eneloops finished charging within 2 minutes at 1,52V. Last cycle of charging was finished in 127 minutes, so there was no interruptions or lowering current.Cells temperature arround 45C for the last 10 minutes. Before that - much lower, allmost at ambient temp which was 28-29 Celsius.
Charger "cold as ice" because of fan under, but power adapter was hot. I would say at least 50 degrees Celsius (20-25C higher than ambient temp).

Picture 1: total discharge time @ 500mAh
Picture 2: trickle charge after charging. To much for eneloops if im not mistaken, but if i unplug power and reconect it - basically, if i put fully charged cells in charger, trickle charge is 13-14mAh. Got to be in relation to charge current settings because default charging current is 200mAh.


----------



## Etsu (Jul 26, 2013)

I have an older charger by Accupower, the Accumanager 2020. I think you can still find these for sale on line. I haven't had any problems with cells overheating, but perhaps that is because it's a much larger charger. (It also accepts C and D cells, so there's lots of space around AA cells inside the charger.)

It seems to be a very reliable charger, at least for AAA and AAs. I have noticed that it sometimes fails to detect the end-of-charge on D cells, but that is likely because the charging current is too low for a reliable dV termination with a D cell capacity. No problem with cells of "normal" capacity.

It maxes out at 700mA, so that may be another reason why cells never get too warm. The manual claims it automatically adjusts charging current based on cell resistance, etc., and I believe this to be the case. It certainly doesn't seem to apply a full 700mA charge to AAAs, and also normally takes 4 hours to charge AAs, so I don't think it uses the full 700mA even with AAs. I have no idea how it figures out what charging current to use (it's automatic).

Anyway, it might be an alternative to those worried about the IQ-328 performance.


----------



## lowks (Jul 26, 2013)

Just want to hear what you guys think about the comment left by NLee Engineer on Amazon stating that there is a design flaw in terms of heating with the AccuPower IQ-328 ?


----------



## tripplec (Jul 26, 2013)

Well I have plenty of fans here I could rig up. I'd get one if it were available in Canada or cost effective other sources. There is only one seller moving them on eBay and hundreds are sold when you look at the link. Landed cost it much higher than your Amazon USA sources. One day, I just got an I4 unit and its working fine.


----------



## 3alfa3 (Jul 27, 2013)

tripplec said:


> Well I have plenty of fans here I could rig up.



With fan under charger, I used "Test" mode for 12 AA Eneloops @1000mAh charging current per Cell. This is 6 full cycles of charging so far with no problems and the charger remain cool, and Cells only warm for the last 10 minutes of charging.
Will use fan allways, even on smaller charging currents.


----------



## mccririck (Jul 27, 2013)

I use 700mA for AA cells in this charger - than you dont need a fan under it.


----------



## Etsu (Jul 27, 2013)

mccririck said:


> I use 700mA for AA cells in this charger - than you dont need a fan under it.



Sounds like Accupower messed up the heat dissipation when they went above 700mA. I'm surprised, since I except better from German design.


----------



## 3alfa3 (Jul 27, 2013)

Found something interesting....

In the box, i've found manuals in english, german and separately in Croatian (my native language). The Croatian one stated charge current of 200, 500 and 700 mA. Thats it.
German and English are "generic" manuals without that "limitation"


----------



## 3alfa3 (Jul 29, 2013)

So far, at least 10 charges at 4x 1000mAh with fan under charger and no problem. Charger remain cool, cells warm (maybe 40-45C) for last 10-20 minutes before they are fully charged. Room temperature 28C (82F).
Power supply adapter is hot, so i put charger close to it and fan manages to cool power supply. At least, plastic enclosure is not hot.
However, i did not tried without fan and i don't intend to do so (with charging current at 4 x 1000mAh)

All in all, i'm pleased with charger(+fan).


----------



## BillMPL (Aug 2, 2013)

I just finished reading the whole thread and it sounds to me like there is no perfect smart charger, they all seem to have their pros and cons.

How would you say the IQ-328 compares to the La Crosse BC-700? I know the BC-700 can only go up to 700mA but it seems that to run the IQ-328 safely, it too should also be kept at that rate. Are there any other aspects where one is better or worse than the other?


----------



## 3alfa3 (Aug 3, 2013)

BillMPL said:


> Are there any other aspects where one is better or worse than the other?



When charging 1,2 (or 3?) cells, iq-328 offers higher currents with no problems. Faster discharging (but be careful when discharging 4 cells @ 500mAh - charging after will be @ 4x1000mAh)


With fan, there is no limit, but cool only the charger, not cells.

If the price is the same, iq-328 offers more. Btw, my charger cost arround 40$ in Croatia in local stores


----------



## austinios (Nov 8, 2013)

Just came across the clone of the clone (since some consider the accupower a clone) ... unbranded BM110, identical specs, but I think no backlight.

The predecessor BM100.





The successor BM110. Just to make the clone more like the clone (see the LCD display).


----------



## Mr Happy (Nov 9, 2013)

I am uncertain whether these are "clones" as such. I think it more likely that there is a standard reference design out there from an original unbranded source and this design can be licensed by OEMs to produce and sell under their own brand. Given the wide range of products LaCrosse sells it is highly unlikely that they have done the original design and development of the BC series of chargers in-house. I believe any company with sufficient capability could license and produce the same basic design (maybe with some variations) under their own brand name if they can locate and work with the original design holder.


----------



## austinios (Nov 9, 2013)

It could be either way. 

These OEMs may had been engaged to build a certain design and build a certain Qty as part of the contract. Once that qty is fulfilled, the OEM may just continue selling that similar design under a different brand. But they should not be able to sell something that look exactly the same as the "original". 

On the other hand, more negatively, it could be the "original" was reverse engineered and a similar version is created.

In any case, it seemed this "clone" has now a model revision of BM200 and then BM210. The revision change is quite fast and frequent. Seemed like they are aspiring to be OEMs themselves. Releasing certain qty of their "prototypes" to the market to test. Correct the flaws discovered by users. And then fix and re-release new versions. When they finally find the stability that they defined as their design goal, they could re-market it under a different brand, or simply sell it to big brand names. 

Well, these are all just speculations. The fact is, they look and perform similarly to the familiarly branded ones. They have similar strengths and flaws. However, this "clone" seemed to be still work in progress and the designer is still improving it and releasing improved versions (not sure if the branded one is going anywhere further at this moment).


----------



## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 22, 2013)

Right guys can you help me please!

I ordered the IQ328, but since then (its in the post) I found verndogs / lees review on amazone and this thread!

I read upto page 5 but I admit skipped the rest!

What is the end decision with this charger then? Is it keep it at 700ma and dont use the 1000ma on 4cells.

(And could I run 4 AA @ 1000ma WOTH cooling or best to stick to 700ma?

But on two cells you can still use the higher rates (I was hoping to use the higher rates but oh well!)


And lastly on termination, I read that below 0.3 cuases missed termination so that's why I wanted to use 1000ma as I dont want to miss terminations and like the faster charge rate!, will charging at 700ma causes termination issues?

I ask this because 700ma is only 0.28c not above the 0.30c minimum recommended? As I use Enloop XX 2500 cells so the C rate drops compered to 2000mah normal enloops were 700ma if a 0.35 charge rate.



_*SO TO SUMERIZE!

A) Can I charge at 1000ma * 4 Cells (will cooling make a diffrance?) Apprantly it gets to hot at this setting and starts thermal cutting out.

B) if I can't charge at 1000ma and have to do 700ma will the 700ma rate cuase termination issues as the C rate is to low (0.28c) on 2500mah batterys?*_


----------



## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 23, 2013)

Bump, anyone? The Red bit is what I want to know?


----------



## idleprocess (Nov 23, 2013)

The power supply that came with mine is 3V DC * 4A, so it can _hypothetically_ deliver 1000mA over 4 channels.

In reality, even at 700mA per channel it experiences heat problems so I generally limit charging current to 500mA. Cells are often warm coming out of the charger, but never hot like they would be at higher charge rates. The couple of times I've looked at the mAH ratings after completion of a charge, they're always reasonably close to the cell's rated capacity.

The one issue I've discovered so far seems to be long-term operation. Running the charger for more than 48 hours or so will result in it making a popping sound every few minutes when charging, which suggests some sort of heat problem.


----------



## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 23, 2013)

Right it looks like or better keep it at 700 or under then, just hope I dont get termination issues, as my highcap cells mean the C rate is very low.

I'll look into some kind of cooling as well then, proberly just a fan on or under it might help keep it fine.


----------



## Mr Happy (Nov 23, 2013)

Unfortunately the charging rate guidelines for AA or AAA NiMH cells are theoretical, applied without reference to which charger is doing the charging. If the cell is charged in free air with wires connected to its terminals it is quite different from the cell being inside a small charger next to other cells and close to the charging electronics.

So the charge rate guidelines need to be adapted to the charger being used. In the case of the IQ-328 the charger is very compact with four cells in the slots all pressed close together and all close to electronic components inside the charger that get hot. It is a rule of thumb that power supply components should be fixed to a heat sink and/or have fan cooling and/or have good air circulation around them. The power supply components in the IQ-328 have none of these (a NiMH charger is a constant current power supply). Consequently the IQ-328 is not satisfactory when charging four AA cells at higher rates and limiting to 500 mA or 700 mA is best.


----------



## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 24, 2013)

:thumbsup: Mr happy! I'll just have to keep it under 700 then, shame means longer chargeing but I'm in no rush. Not great that its can't do as advertised .


----------



## Dirtbasher (Nov 24, 2013)

Personally , I don't like charging AA cells over 700ma
I've had no major heat issues with 4 AA at 700ma, they do get warm but that is part of the termination of decent NiMh chargers.


----------



## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 25, 2013)

Well I just mine, looks a lot better constructed that I'd imagined and its also a lot smaller so I can easily belive the heat issues! 

I'll be chargeing at a measly 0.28c (700ma) (Well below the minimum 0.5c recommended) but its not like have any other options currently. 

Is there any charger than can handle 1c charging (upto 3A (3000ma)) and also charge well as although the BC9000 or whatever it is charges faster even it has issues.

Is there a charged that just works perfectly, disregarding price? Without using a hobbycharger and if not why has no one released one?

Anyways I'm hoping to get into lithiuam in the new year.


----------



## greeny1 (Nov 25, 2013)

I've been using this extensively for the last year using primarily standard eneloop (1900mah) and some 7dayshop 2250mah cells. If charging 4 cells at once I have always used the 700ma setting and have had zero missed terminations and although the cells get warm certainly nothing to be concerned about. I have also charged a few at 1000ma when I have had just one or two cells to charge and this has also worked great. I haven't really tested 4 * 1000ma as I don't usually have an issue with waiting 3 hours for a full charge.

I use the 500ma setting for AAA and this works well. 

For the price I am more than happy with this charger, does everything that I hoped it would.


----------



## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 25, 2013)

Yhea for the price and functions I ain't gonna complain, much better than I expected it to be build wise, nice thick plastic ect. For £24 hard pushed to beat it!


----------



## schizeckinosy (Nov 25, 2013)

You know what I like? I gave my FIL a 2xaa light with eneloops, and I told him to drop off the used ones anytime and get new ones from the stash. So, last night he said he said he swapped out the batts, and I found 3 aa's waiting for me there . No prob, I popped them all into the IQ-328, and it quickly became apparent which ones were more depleted, but I let them all just terminate on their own. Having 4 independent channels is great!


----------



## shelm (Nov 26, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> I am uncertain whether these are "clones" as such. I think it more likely that


i contacted a distributor of the IQ328 and upon inquiry he leaked the info of who the original maker behind the product is. so i have the name, company and all other details but i don't see any need to disclose it lame i know lol.

just this for now.

it is 100% not AccuPower themselves.






hope this helps. nosey. lol.
:nana:


----------



## Choccy (Nov 26, 2013)

I've just come back to this thread to ask a question and have most of the answer but need a little more advice.

Just got the IQ328 a week or so ago and some 2500 Vapextech LSD's. I've been running a refresh and test on them at 1000/500 but would like to drop this to 700/350. 

My question is does the first measurement for the refresh come from the first discharge, if so would it be good to charge batteries on my Ansmann Energy 4 then do a 200 charge on the IQ328 to get the batteries to their max, then rest them for 1 hour before starting the refresh cycle.

Also how much does the thermal cut out affect batteries on the 1000 cycle as my batteries never seem to get hot like the do in the Ansmann charger.

Oh and hi all..........

Choccy...


----------



## Choccy (Nov 26, 2013)

Mr Happy said:


> That's interesting. But I think you'll find that if you repeat the 4 x 1 A more than once you will get a different number of pauses at different times. Also I'm betting that if you run the 4 x 1 A with the fan cooling it then it won't pause at all.



I had mine charging at 1.0A with a pause as described with a display of 000 but mine was on an open window with an outside temp of 2C and the batteries felt quite cold.

Choccy...


----------



## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 26, 2013)

Yhea same, batterys are not getting beyond warm leading me to think it would be ok, yet, it clearly cuts out as people have stated, so I think of the charged gets to hot it cuts out not just the battery temp, same really with better cooling it could be a really neat charger.

Takes forever to discharge 2500's on a 350 setting ahh! Shame I can't use the 1000/500 boo hoo!


----------



## tony_roti (Dec 4, 2013)

malow said:


> DealExtreme now have a "similar" to this charger (with backlight it says)
> 
> http://dx.com/p/2-5-lcd-intelligent-ni-mh-battery-charger-w-adapter-cable-black-silver-aa-aaa-219514



I just ordered one on 11/27/2013. Today I saw that they changed the order status "One or more of your items are temporarily out of stock". Another wait for restocking.:tired:

Looks good on specs. 6 mode for choice: Charge, Discharge, Refresh, Repair, Timer and Test Capacity.

US $28.76 here: 
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-...ttery-charger-with-LCD-display/897983029.html


----------



## austinios (Dec 4, 2013)

This may be the older model of the BM100. I would rather you buy the La Crosse BC700 from Amazon, if possible.


----------



## viperxp (Dec 4, 2013)

Hello, If you are into buying clone I would suggest googling or BC1000 charger. Looks like hybrid between the MAHA and Lacrosse. It also has a "quck test" feature that test internal resistance of batteries.


----------



## austinios (Dec 5, 2013)

The BC1000 seems to be the rebranded version of the BM200. It was released around Jun 2013. It seems to me, the BMXXX series are very experimental. They look like design prototypes, that are of reasonable functionality, 1 time volume build and that's it. That's why their model numbers roll quite fast, with some fixes or improvements with each revision. Either the BMXXX designers are releasing the final market version as BC1000, or another company is purchasing the BMXXX and marketing it as a BC1000. If 1A charging is not a big thing for the user, I'd save some USD10-15 getting the LaCrosse BC700 from Amazon. If 1A charging is big for you, spend about USD10-15 more for the Maha C9000.


----------



## viperxp (Dec 6, 2013)

austinios said:


> The BC1000 seems to be the rebranded version of the BM200. It was released around Jun 2013. It seems to me, the BMXXX series are very experimental. They look like design prototypes, that are of reasonable functionality, 1 time volume build and that's it. That's why their model numbers roll quite fast, with some fixes or improvements with each revision. Either the BMXXX designers are releasing the final market version as BC1000, or another company is purchasing the BMXXX and marketing it as a BC1000. If 1A charging is not a big thing for the user, I'd save some USD10-15 getting the LaCrosse BC700 from Amazon. If 1A charging is big for you, spend about USD10-15 more for the Maha C9000.



The differences are not only at the charging current, you know....


----------



## tripplec (Dec 6, 2013)

I bite the bullet and ordered one today from Amazon US since it so much cheaper there than anything I can get in Canada or eBay. I have someone coming at a Christmas to bring it with them. Amazon.ca is totally useless I must add. This will complement the Nitecore I4 which works very well.


----------



## tony_roti (Jan 17, 2014)

It's been a couple of days since my DX Inteligent charger clone has arrived.










Looks like a clone of BM100 series but a new one with nice blue backlight function.




The backlight automatically turns off after 15s if no key is pressed. It has 4 independent channels that can be programmed separately. Works fine. My last charger GP PowerBank Smart 2 did not want to charge those GP cells anymore but this charger does.




I saw a little bug (or not). On capacity test, after discharging is finished, instead of charging the cells (like they say in the user manual), the charger stops and do nothing. 
Warms up a little (a lot) if charging current is bigger than 700mA. I opened mine to look for a serial # inside but did not find anything. I think it's a f...cking cheap chinese clone.
There is another big circuit on the other side of the board that controls the LCD (I think).




After all it's working very well and i'm very pleased with it. For that price (USD$ 31,90) you cannot find something better.:thumbsup:


----------



## tripplec (Jan 17, 2014)

I have used mine twice. 
1st with AA Eneloop @700mA charging a pair. It finish very warm, some might say hot. I did not like that. 
2nd the other day with one AAA @200mA default rate and it finished warm. I noted the display saying 1.52V before I removed it. It was higher while charging.

I am certain its over charging the batteries. There I no warranty information in the package. I got it at Christmas so time is short. My I4 Nitecore charger did these batteries just fine.

PS What is wrong with this board. I cannot type fast as characters are omitted as well as spaces. I am using IE 11. This is the only board that does this. Somethings wrong here!!!


----------



## shelm (Jan 30, 2014)

i am not sure if it was mentioned already but this charger exists in relabeled version from various EU importers:



AccuCell BC-800 (Germany)
Reichelt A1000 (Germany)
AccuPower IQ-328 (Austria)
JapCell BC-4000 (Denmark)

the charger model was designed and manufactured in the china :thumbsup:


----------



## markr6 (Jan 30, 2014)

shelm said:


> JapCell BC-4000 (Denmark)



"Asian-American is the preferred nomenclature" (Big Lebowski...LOL...anyone?)


----------



## matttaylor (Feb 4, 2014)

matttaylor said:


> Thanks for all the help with my charger issues.
> I've concluded the charger is duff.
> 
> After trying a brand new set of Hybrio AA cells I found the first two slots stopped short of capacity whilst the last two worked as expected.
> ...



The replacement unit worked fine!


----------



## tripplec (Mar 5, 2014)

Well I am back regarding the IQ-328 charger overheating Eneloop batteries. I've been in contact with AccuPower who don't believe anything is wrong with it. It was strange that the subsequent tests of charging the 2000mah eneloops did not cause the heat issue even with a pair in the outer location at 1000mA. 

However my new X series 2450maH cells which I used for a while an decided to charge up for my camera (uses 4 AA cells). I checked them several times charging a 1000mA and when the had reached 1.46VDC basic on the charger display. They were very very warm and too hot by 1.48 - 1.49VDC. I then pulled them to cool down. I am finishing them off now in the I4 Nitecore charge which never overheat any cells put in it. The IQ-328 has temperature sensors but what do they actually do? I did not see a reduction in charge current. All 4 cells were hot, far too hot and something has to be wrong with this design.


----------



## kosPap (Mar 8, 2014)

it is a good time visiting nkon.nl
http://eu.nkon.nl/charger/nimh.html

there are many versions of the flavor on sale at the moment

Technoline BC1000 charger
La Crosse BC-1000 charger
La Crosse BC-10*20 *charger
La Crosse RS-7*20* charger
La Crosse RS-700 charger (Also known as the Voltcraft IPC-1L & technoline BC700)
technoline BC700

i think austinios is right on how the lineage evolves


----------



## Verndog (Mar 18, 2014)

tripplec said:


> Well I am back regarding the IQ-328 charger overheating Eneloop batteries. I've been in contact with AccuPower who don't believe anything is wrong with it. It was strange that the subsequent tests of charging the 2000mah eneloops did not cause the heat issue even with a pair in the outer location at 1000mA.
> 
> However my new X series 2450maH cells which I used for a while an decided to charge up for my camera (uses 4 AA cells). I checked them several times charging a 1000mA and when the had reached 1.46VDC basic on the charger display. They were very very warm and too hot by 1.48 - 1.49VDC. I then pulled them to cool down. I am finishing them off now in the I4 Nitecore charge which never overheat any cells put in it. *The IQ-328 has temperature sensors but what do they actually do*? I did not see a reduction in charge current. *All 4 cells were hot, far too hot and something has to be wrong with this design*.



What is too hot? You have to temp the cells to know this for sure. The thermal protection kicks off at 131F, so unless you know the cells were hotter then that the unit prob. is within specs. To save your cells (increase amount of cycles) and reduce the heat, drop to .7 amps AA and .5 amps AAA and heat issues will disappear.

I'm running 2 of these chargers better then a year now, have a few over 100 cells (Eneloops, GP, and Tenergy cells), and zero heat issues, zero false peak issues using the above settings.


----------



## tripplec (Mar 18, 2014)

Verndog said:


> What is too hot? You have to temp the cells to know this for sure. The thermal protection kicks off at 131F, so unless you know the cells were hotter then that the unit prob. is within specs. To save your cells (increase amount of cycles) and reduce the heat, drop to .7 amps AA and .5 amps AAA and heat issues will disappear.
> 
> I'm running 2 of these chargers better then a year now, have a few over 100 cells (Eneloops, GP, and Tenergy cells), and zero heat issues, zero false peak issues using the above settings.



Almost too hot to hold. Never have even close to or remotely warm in my I4 charger. 1st time 2 Eneloops @ 500mA, others as well. Got some new Eneloop XX series high capacity AA and after using them for a while I put them in to top them up. Given their higher capacity I went with 1000mA and pulled them out at 1.48V (too hot). Finished them I my I4 charger. IMO this charger is defective but no warranty available in Canada. 

DO NOT BUY an IQ-328 charger. There are others available newer and better with backlit screens as well. This I hard to read without a light.


----------



## ChrisGarrett (Mar 18, 2014)

I've got a BC-700, which has a similar form factor and on 700mA and with new, healthy cells, it can get hot enough to trip the thermal protection circuits on one pair, or both pairs of tied in channels, at certain times.

Not always, but it's happened. I would imagine the IQ-328, with it's higher charging rates, would be similar. Batteries are cramped inside it and there's not a lot of air flow, like my C-9000 has. 

I did some 2 year old Eneloop AAs (I.R.: 1.50ish volts) at 700mA two nights back and while they got warm, they didn't get hot and didn't trip the breakers, but I've tripped them a lot especially in the beginning, with older and even new cells.

I just chalk it up to the 'nature of the beast.' 

If you're going to run lithium ion cells in a little AA, or AAA keychain light, you're going to get rapid heat build up and you'll have to turn the light off sooner, than if you were running a NiMH in that particular light.

Chris


----------



## tripplec (Mar 19, 2014)

CHRISGARRET

I have a AAA Fenex keychain light as well a 4Sevens AA light both my son got me. I never had trouble with the I4 charging any of these nor has he with his larger collection of Eneloops. This isn't the 1st time I charged the AA for the 4Sevens.They got very warm on their 1st time in th IQ-328 and I was 700mA or lower (don't remember now) they were new cells I was given with the light for Xmas. Only two In the charger. Testing them back and forth running them down and in both charges back up. Evenually the 328 did not over heat them even at 700mA. No reason why not or why it stopped. AAA was ok at 200mA in it an also in the I4 Nitecore, being a single cell the nitecore runs 750mA through it. My son also does odd cells in it without incident. I ordered two sets of the new black Eneloop XX series and they got very hot at 1.46V and at 1.48V I got scared at the heat and pulled them. Let them cool and put them in the Nitecore charger and finished with no heat at all. With the Nitecore doing so well and I went and visited in NY after and saw B&H Photo selling NiteCore chargers for $19 so I picked another one along with some white Eneloops and gave it to my son so he'd he his own charger. He likes it as well. Its 200% trust worthy. Heat will kill the cells. I found out the hard way years ago with a dozen or more NiMH in a fast charger which also got the so hot they would not hold a charge after that happened few times.

AccuPower does not support or warranty it either being in another country. Just say they believe there is nothing wrong with it. I believe there I something wrong its happened a few times. Speed in not required as long as it can be done overnight that is good enough and we have spare cells as well. Burning up expensive cells is NOT acceptable and exploding them even less!!!


----------



## bongos (Oct 16, 2014)

I've bought this charger.
Now, I'll probably read the previous 9 pages, but I'll leave this question in case it hasn't been addressed and maybe even to save myself from reading through it all.

So my scenario is this.

I bought this charger with 8 rechargeable duracell aaa 1000mah, a year and a half ago.
I've only used these batteries on the charger. And 97% of the time I use them on a mouse.

Lately I've been noticing that the batteries run out after just one day of mouse activity.
Not sure how long this has been going, but I could have sworn they had better life before.

The charger has a very perplexing issue that may have led to the batteries losing life-length. I always put four duracells in it each charge, and always there's one or two batteries that won't stop at Full, they'll just keep charging. These batteries that keep on charging get hot, while the ones that stop at full don't.

I have only ever recharged when the batteries died in the mouse. But even if I hadn't, I wouldn't know whether to say if this charger is even detecting the current charge the batteries have or if it's always assuming the batteries are at 0 charge when it starts.

So what do you think is to blame,the charger or the batteries. Did the charger ruin the batteries because it can't detect a full charge often, or are rechargeable batteries supposed to last only one day? Are these duracells not low self discharge, and so this is to be expected, or have you all had similar issues with the charger slowly ruining your batteries due to a fault of its own?
Either way, what you think I should do buy another charger or buy other batteries? thanks


----------



## greeny1 (Oct 18, 2014)

I've had mine for a couple of years, I've used eneloops and 7dayshop 'good to go' AAA and aa and had zero overheating or dead battery issues. I always charge aa at 700 and AAA at 500

I would start by checking how much charge you are actually putting into the aaa's, when finished charging press the mode button to show the amount of charge. You would expect it to be somewhere near 1000ma, if it's much more then no termination is being received, if it's much less then the capacities of the batteries is screwed.

you could have a faulty charger but I would start with the assumption that the batteries have caused this issue, buy some eneloops or other good rechargeable and take note of what is happening with them on the first few charge cycles.


----------



## bongos (Nov 5, 2014)

greeny1 said:


> I've had mine for a couple of years, I've used eneloops and 7dayshop 'good to go' AAA and aa and had zero overheating or dead battery issues. I always charge aa at 700 and AAA at 500
> 
> I would start by checking how much charge you are actually putting into the aaa's, when finished charging press the mode button to show the amount of charge. You would expect it to be somewhere near 1000ma, if it's much more then no termination is being received, if it's much less then the capacities of the batteries is screwed.
> 
> you could have a faulty charger but I would start with the assumption that the batteries have caused this issue, buy some eneloops or other good rechargeable and take note of what is happening with them on the first few charge cycles.



Just bought new rechargeable batteries and we'll soon find out which is the culprit. thanks


----------



## ELO (Dec 28, 2015)

Since Amazon now sells La Crosse BC-700 at only $5 more than AccuPower IQ-328 does anyone have thoughts on that? Also, here's Opus BT-C700 for cheapest of all. 

Accupower IQ-328 ($30)

La Crosse BC-700 ($35)

Opus BT-C700 ($26)


----------



## hammerjoe (Dec 29, 2015)

Ello.

If you are willing to pay $35 also look for the opus bt-c3400 on amazon or ebay. That's another good charger that future proofs you if you ever need to charge other chemistries besides nimh.


----------



## ELO (Dec 29, 2015)

Just ordered AccuPower IQ-328 and my first 12 pack of Eneloops. Will report back


----------



## hammerjoe (Dec 29, 2015)

ELO said:


> Just ordered AccuPower IQ-328 and my first 12 pack of Eneloops. Will report back


Did you read the reviews of the accupower on Amazon? Its probably the worst charger of the ones mentioned.

Read the first review from Nlee: "My initial impression on the IQ-328 was most positive (hence the original 5-star rating). However, I have now determined that the design has a serious thermal limitation. When charging 4 cells at 1000mA, it may trip over-temperature protection and shutdown. So I have to reduce the rating to 3-star, meaning 'It's Okay'. But I can no longer recommend it over the BC1000 or BC-700."

It should raise red flags to you right there. If you can cancell that order and order the OPUS BT-C700. It looks identical to the accupower but its much much better.
And it has a backlit display too.


----------



## MarioJP (Dec 29, 2015)

This is the exact charger i am currentlu using. It is a good charger over all. My only complaint with this charger is. Good luck trying to charge cells at 1A on all 4 slots without the thermal sensor being tripped. I usually charge my cells at 500-700mAh.


----------



## MarioJP (Dec 29, 2015)

hammerjoe said:


> Did you read the reviews of the accupower on Amazon? Its probably the worst charger of the ones mentioned.
> 
> Read the first review from Nlee: "My initial impression on the IQ-328 was most positive (hence the original 5-star rating). However, I have now determined that the design has a serious thermal limitation. When charging 4 cells at 1000mA, it may trip over-temperature protection and shutdown. So I have to reduce the rating to 3-star, meaning 'It's Okay'. But I can no longer recommend it over the BC1000 or BC-700."
> 
> ...


Hey! Now its not that bad lol. Just avoid high currents and it's all good. Have i would of realized there were other better chargers, especially with a backlit display. I would have avoided this one. The sale price at that time was too good to pass up, and whats worst. I bought 2 of them on the same order lol.


----------



## ELO (Dec 29, 2015)

MarioJP said:


> Hey! Now its not that bad lol. Just avoid high currents and it's all good.




Yeah, I'll be charging AA's @ 700 mA and AAA's @ 500 mA


----------



## Verndog (Feb 20, 2016)

hammerjoe said:


> Did you read the reviews of the accupower on Amazon? Its probably the worst charger of the ones mentioned.
> 
> Read the first review from Nlee: "My initial impression on the IQ-328 was most positive (hence the original 5-star rating). However, I have now determined that the design has a serious thermal limitation. When charging 4 cells at 1000mA, it may trip over-temperature protection and shutdown. So I have to reduce the rating to 3-star, meaning 'It's Okay'. But I can no longer recommend it over the BC1000 or BC-700."
> 
> ...



Both my Accupowers are running flawless for 3 years now and I would still recommend them myself. That Opus looks like a very good option, if you don't mind seeing backlit glowing 24/7 (as most will do). But not so fast on the "better" part. They stripped out the high 1amp charge and turned it into a max .7 charger. At least with the Accupower you can run slots 1-4 on 1A reliably as an option if you like.


----------



## hammerjoe (Feb 20, 2016)

Verndog said:


> Both my Accupowers are running flawless for 3 years now and I would still recommend them myself. That Opus looks like a very good option, if you don't mind seeing backlit glowing 24/7 (as most will do). But not so fast on the "better" part. They stripped out the high 1amp charge and turned it into a max .7 charger. At least with the Accupower you can run slots 1-4 on 1A reliably as an option if you like.



I dont know what charger you are thinking but the Bt-700 backlight goes off after 10seconds and it does 1A on 2 channels or 700 with 4 channels.


----------



## tripplec (Feb 21, 2016)

Over many charge runs on the IQ-328 at 1000mA on Eneloop cells the get hot (to hot for comfort) and thats bad for longevity. Even at 750mA which is the max I'd recommend I would not leave them unattended (overnight or not around). 500mA rate is fine even though both Eneloop AA types (white and high capacity Black Japanese cells) are suppose to handle 1000mA charging voice by many.

I have charged my eneloops on a newer SH4 Soshine charger (no reviews here on it) but it doesn't overheat any batteries even at 1000mA. I would seriously suggest you look at the recommended alternative chargers mentioned above. I don't use mine anymore having two others which are goof proof. The SH4 w/backlighting and Nitecore I4. IQ-328 doesn't have backlighting which makes it hard to read at times for my eyes anyway.


----------



## Verndog (Feb 21, 2016)

hammerjoe said:


> I dont know what charger you are thinking but the Bt-700 backlight goes off after 10seconds and it does 1A on 2 channels or 700 with 4 channels.



That was just a quick observation knowing many on the backlits stay on and reading max .7A x 4. My point.... I think your assessment of *much much better* is a bit over the top for a charger that has little known about longevity and is the same basic "looking" charger with the potential problem modes stripped off and backlit added. It may well be the better choice, but only time and use will tell for sure.


----------



## mccririck (Jun 28, 2022)

Why one of these failed recently. Anyone else had this happen?


----------

