Duracell CEF15NC 15 minute Battery Charger Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Duracell 15 Minute Battery Charger has 4 channels (or battery slots) for charging 4 AA / AAA batteries.
Charge Time
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- The battery charger works as advertised; it fully charges NiMH rechargeable batteries in about 15 minutes. Charge times can be longer for batteries that are higher in capacity than the ones that come with the charger (2500 mAH). For example, it sometimes takes up to 20 minutes to charge my 2650 mAH AA Duracell batteries.LED Light
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- The LED light can indicate one of three charge status:
1) Off ......... Charge is complete for all channels
2) On ......... Charging is in progress on at least one channel
3) Blinking ... 1 or more batteries are bad
Unlike some battery chargers (such as the Energizer 15 Minute Charger), it doesn' have 4 independent LED lights to indicate charge status for each of the channels. There's, therefore, no way to know WHICH channel has completed its charge and WHICH channel has a bad battery.Bad Battery Woes
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If the Charger detects a bad/damaged battery (indicated by its blinking LED light), it will refuse to charge the battery.
This charger used to frequently reject batteries that I had used only a few times (money down the drain). I had to keep buying new batteries -- and that was very annoying!
At first, I thought maybe this charger was actually ruining my batteries! But I managed to finally catch on to what was happening: my camera was the culprit!
The reason: on many camera's and other high-drain devices, batteries can be over-discharged and can go through a phenomenon known as "polarity reversal." Many devices have a built-in mechanism to detect when batteries reach a "cut-off" voltage (or more properly termed, the end-of-discharge voltage), and shuts down automatically before damage can occur. Many devices, however, do not have such a mechanism.
Now, I'm careful to not over-discharge my rechargeable batteries - I have never had a bad battery in a long time.Conclusion
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The Duracell 15 Minute Battery Charger works flawlessly. My only complaint is that it doesn't have 4 independent LED lights to indicate charge status for each of the channels.


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15-Minute NiMH Charger Kit Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had this for just a couple of weeks but I use it a LOT and I'm impressed. Aside from my digital camera using AA's, I've also got my mouse, keyboard, game controller, and several other items that run on AA so I'm really putting it to the test.
PROS:
Definitely does exactly what it says - charges the batteries in 15 minutes and the charge lasts just as long as when I used my overnight charger. It has a built in fan to keep the batteries cool during this rapid charge.
The external power supply means you don't have to plug the charger itself directly into an outlet - you can just plug the power supply into an outlet and run the cord to the charger, and have the charger sitting right on your desk or wherever. That's probably not a big deal to some people, but my previous charger has to be plugged directly into an oulet and is so clunky that it tends to fall out. This one keeps my batteries sitting right on my desk near me and looks a lot nicer too.
The Energizer batteries that come with it are the best I've ever used when it comes to rechargeables. They're 2200mAh and definitely hold a charge well / long lasting, but I also purchased some 2500mAh Energizers separately which last even longer on a charge.
CONS:
The spring-loaded mechanisms that hold the batteries in place is a little cumbersome. It's really not too bad, but I have fumbled with it a few times when inserting the batteries. This is not a big problem by any means, I'm just being picky for the sake of the review. The cooling fan is a little bit noisy during the 15 minutes while charging, but only if you're in a REALLY quiet room. If you have the TV on or any other kind of ambient sound in the background you won't notice the fan at all, but I thought I'd mention it to be thorough.
I might have given this 4.5 stars if that was possible (based on cost and the two very minor "cons" above), but since that's not an option and it deserves more than a 4 I went with 5.
GENERAL COMMENTS:
I've seen one or two people on the web mention their dislike for the "bad battery" feature, and I honestly can't see the problem after I took this to task myself. I have tons of rehcargeable batteries piled up here at my desk and I've tried them all in it. The only ones it treated as "bad" and would not charge were a few that I've had for well over a year and have been recharged well over their documented lifetime of 1000 charges. Quite honestly, this charger just confirmed for me what I already knew - the lifetime of these few batteries was beyond spent and it's not a good idea to keep using them anyway, because even if I force them to charge they won't last long and it's time to dispose of them properly before they begin to leak/damage. But hey, some of that is just my opinion.
SUMMARY:
Can't believe I let the price stop me from doing this sooner. Never again will I be using my cheap charger or generic batteries. This is already paying for itself, if not monitarily, then in terms of time and (lack of) frustation.
I definitely recommend this product.

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