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Add to SafariWhen comparing La Crosse Technology BC1000 vs Tenergy TN438, the Slant community recommends La Crosse Technology BC1000 for most people. In the question“What are the best rechargeable AAA battery chargers?” La Crosse Technology BC1000 is ranked 2nd while Tenergy TN438 is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose La Crosse Technology BC1000 is:
Once the battery is full, the charging process automatically stops to prevent overcharging or undercharging.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Prevents over or under charging
Once the battery is full, the charging process automatically stops to prevent overcharging or undercharging.
Pro You can select any charging current according to your needs
There are multiple current options available on this unit: 200, 500, 700, and 1000 mA. By adjusting the charging current, you can vary the charging speed. For example, by using the 200 mA current option, you would need 3 hours to charge a standard 600 Ah AAA battery fully. The 700mA option, on the other hand, reduces the charging time of the same battery to approximately 51 minutes. However, charging too quickly can be detrimental to batteries as it may reduce its cycle life. The usual adequate charging current for AAA (NiCD and NiMH) batteries is 200-250mA (unless otherwise stated by a manufacturer).
Pro Great for battery monitoring
Apart from simply charging a battery, this unit can provide some useful information regarding the condition of the battery. Once the charge-up procedure is complete, the unit will display the exact capacity and output voltage of each battery. With the given data a user can assess the wear level of a battery and take the adequate measures when a battery is about to fail.
Pro It can refresh batteries
In order to increase the lifespan of a rechargeable battery, the user must fully discharge it from time to time. Not doing so can noticeably reduce the number of life cycles of the battery. This mostly affects those who recharge the batteries after short uses (photographers, for example). The BC1000 charger has an option that's convenient for those users, allowing to fully discharge the battery before charging it again. This function is called “Refresh” and it is recommended every 5 or 10 battery charge/discharge cycles.
Pro It can charge a lot of batteries at once
This battery has 16 independent AAA/AA-sized charging bays that allows it to charge up to 16 batteries at the same time in any possible arrangement.
Pro Simple and informative interface
The interface consists of two large LCD screens and a refresh button. The LCD screens show the current status of each individual battery, whether they're charging/discharging or if the battery is already fully charged. The 'Refresh' button activates the refresh charging cycle (the batteries are fully discharged, before charging begins).
Pro Easy to use
The charging process is dead simple. Simply connect the adapter to the charger, plug the charger into a household electric outlet and insert the batteries into the battery compartment. Charging will start automatically.
Pro It knows when to stop charging
This charger automatically detects the end of the charging process by measuring battery temperature. Once the battery hits the ‘perfect spot’, when it’s already fully charged, yet not overcharged, the temperature of the battery increases. This temperature increase signals the charger that the charging process is complete.
Pro Can be used inside vehicles
Besides the regular 100 - 240 VAC adapter, you will also receive a free 12 V car adapter. It makes this unit a decent choice for those who needs a battery charger while driving.
Cons
Con Limited to NiCD and NiMH batteries only
This unit is not compatible with Lithium-Ion batteries.
Con Current can only be changed immediately after inserting a battery
Once the battery is inserted, the user can change the charging current only for a very brief time period. After it passes, you will need to remove and reinsert the battery before being able to change the current settings.
Con Non-intuitive user interface
While this product has a lot of useful features, you will not be able to use them without reading the entire user manual. The setup process is complicated, especially for new users. Be ready to invest some time and effort if you want to push this charger to its limits.
Con The capacities displayed are inconsistent
This charger, like other smart chargers, displays inconsistent values for the electric current. This is easily verifiable by testing the same batteries multiple times and observe that the displayed capacities vary by at least 10%.
Con Buttons lose accuracy with time
After a while, the charger will start to wear out and the buttons will become noticeably less responsive.
Con It cannot charge Lithium-Ion batteries
You'll need to consider buying a separate charger for your lithium-ion batteries, since this unit can only charge NiCd and NiMH batteries.
Con It cannot do fast charging
There's no way to change the charging current of this unit, therefore it's not good for situations where you need to charge a battery in 1 or 2 hours, which could be done by applying a high charging current. The charging currents for AA and AAA batteries are set to 500 mA and 250 mA correspondingly. Even though these currents are adequate, it will take approximately 4 hours to charge approximately 4 hours to charge a standard 2000 mAh AA battery or a standard 1000 mAh AAA battery.
