Uniross Ultra fast - Battery charger 4xAA/AAA - included batteries: 4 x AA type NiMH 2000 mAh

I bought one of these about 10 months ago, as I own a power hungry digital camera.

I paid about £27 for this from PC world, I have seen them on-line since, i.e. Amazon for £24.99.

What do you get?
Upon struggling to open the blister pack (a Stanley knife had to be used), there was the charger its self, a car lighter socket adapter, a 12v mains adapter and 4 off 1700mA Ni-NH batteries.

What is the ...
...a smoked plastic cover, this has a tendency to ‘ping’ off, since it opens from the left not the right. Battery clips are a bit stiff but robust. A slide switch is provided to select 2 or 4 battery charge. The car adapter and 12V supply (700mA, Class2, 15W 230V) seem pretty standard commercial grade. The 12V supply does not have a universal input, so it can only be used in the UK with standard UK plug, but if you are using abroad the 12V car adapter ... more

I bought one of these about 10 months ago, as I own a power hungry digital camera.

I paid about £27 for this from PC world, I have seen them on-line since, i.e. Amazon for £24.99.

What do you get?
Upon struggling to open the blister pack (a Stanley knife had to be used), there was the charger its self, a car lighter socket adapter, a 12v mains adapter and 4 off 1700mA Ni-NH batteries.

What is the quality like?
The charger is approx 110x70x15mm, and has a smoked plastic cover, this has a tendency to ‘ping’ off, since it opens from the left not the right. Battery clips are a bit stiff but robust. A slide switch is provided to select 2 or 4 battery charge. The car adapter and 12V supply (700mA, Class2, 15W 230V) seem pretty standard commercial grade. The 12V supply does not have a universal input, so it can only be used in the UK with standard UK plug, but if you are using abroad the 12V car adapter will come into play.

Does it work well?
In general, yes – charging takes about 30-60 minutes, a ‘semi’ intelligent charge management circuit is built into the charger. Two or four cells may be charged at once by setting the appropriate option on the slider switch. A green LED shows the unit is powered up, a red ‘charge’ LED is lit while the cells are rapidly charging. After about 30 minutes the red LED will go out – the cells fully charged. The unit will default to ‘trickle’ charge. The unit runs a little warm during operation, about 40-45 degrees c. in a normally heated room, but this won’t burn the house down!
One problem I have witnessed is the failure of one of the cells after a couple of months, it has the classic Nicad/Ni-MH problem of shorting out internally, this is an inherent problem with fast charged cells. Higher capacity cells can be bought, I have used 2100maH cells with no problems, a longer charging time is required though.

I have seen a Sanyo charger at the same price, that has 2100maH cells, you may like to check this one out before buying one of these.

IN GENERAL: Quite satisfactory, ok if you need to charge in a hurry.
 

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