Without batteries AA and AAA batteries will not work TV remote controls, toy cars and helicopters, cameras and flashlights, metal detectors, wireless equipment, radios and even a regular wall clock.
But smart people prefer to buy rechargeable batteries, which, depending on where they are used, can last from a few hours to a couple of months, rather than simple batteries.
Simply recharge the batteries and they are ready to use again and again. Naturally, the main actor in this case is the charger, which allows you to fill
batteries
power from the wall outlet.
That is a universal intelligent charger Kweller X-1800 we gave for testing to the independent expert Andrey SAMKOV.
EXTERIOR
Compact enough for absolutely most people: space on your desk is one of the most valuable resources.
Layout of the case separately transformer and separately battery box is chosen rather successfully: batteries while charging are heated up, and if in the same case is built in a step-down transformer, the whole structure will be heated up more in cheap models – significantly more .
On the front panel of the device there is a big enough indicator display and three control keys.
FUNCTIONS
Kweller X-1800 is designed for charging, discharging, recovery and testing of AA and AAA size NiCd and NiMH batteries.
As soon as you plug in the charger it indicates “null” on each of the free slots for batteries.
Our measurements showed that voltages and currents are measured quite accurately by Kweller X-1800, the error of measurement does not exceed +/- 2 in the last discharge. For practical purposes it is quite sufficient.
CONTROL
When inserting the battery the device immediately displays the current value of voltage on the battery terminals, and then the current charging current by default it is 200 mA .
If MODE or CURRENT button is not pressed within 8 seconds, the charging process will proceed with the default settings. The operating mode can be changed in the process, but the selected current cannot, t.k. is an important parameter and requires protection against accidental pressings. If you do need to do this, you must remove the battery from the slot and put it back in.
While the device is working the current value of current, voltage, capacity accumulated by the battery and the time of operation are displayed on the screen independently for each battery, which is undoubtedly convenient.
BUTTONS AND MODES
The Mode button controls the choice of the charger modes. There are four of them in all, and to change the mode, you have to hold down the MODE button for about two seconds.
The Refresh mode is a combination of charging and discharging, performed in a certain sequence. As we know, NiMH batteries have so called “memory effect” and NiCd batteries all the more. With the accumulation of “memory” in the active substance of the battery the formation of “granules” occurs, which reduces the efficiency of charge accumulation, which in turn means a decrease in the capacity.
However, by successive full charge and equally full discharge it is possible to achieve at least partial destruction of these harmful “clumps” and thus restore the lost capacity of the battery. This is exactly what the Kweller X-1800 charger does in Refresh mode.
! The first mode in which the charger actually goes to immediately after the battery is inserted in the battery slot is Charge, the second mode is Discharge. There are also Refresh and Test modes.
The charger discharges the battery and charges it again, and then it does it all over again. At each charge cycle the actual capacity of the battery is measured. When the capacity during the next charge does not increase in comparison with the previous measurement, the process of “refresh” is finished.
In Test mode, the battery is fully charged, then discharged the discharging process determines the capacity “sucked out” of the battery , then the battery is charged again automatically to the maximum. This mode allows you to determine the capacity and voltage more accurately than the other modes. The test is very useful for grouping batteries by the same capacity. Everyone knows that one weak battery in a set reduces the total run time.
Current button. is responsible for setting the charging and discharging current.
Different types and capacities of batteries can be charged simultaneously. When charging, 200, 500, 700 and 1000 mA values are available. And when charging two batteries inserted in the extreme slots, the charging current can reach 1500 and 1800 mA. But using two internal slots is excluded.
Obviously this limitation is not only due to the capabilities of the charger power supply, but also due to the fact that at higher currents better cooling is required. The charging process is monitored by -dU method. When the charger detects that the battery is fully charged, it switches to a weak compensation current, so that the battery remains fully charged.
When discharging the batteries, you can also select the desired current: 100, 250, 350 or 500 mA. Since discharging does not load the charger power circuit, all the batteries can be discharged simultaneously and there is no limit to the current selection.
Finally, the third button on the front panel of the device Display allows you to change the modes of information display.
A total of four modes are available: battery terminal voltage in volts, charge/discharge current in milliamps, accumulated capacity in mA*h and the duration of the mode.
There is a small nuance with time: the maximum time interval displayed is 20 hours, after this the clock is reset and resumes counting from the beginning…
A BATTERY IS NOT A BATTERY
One of the problems that occasionally occur with batteries, especially older batteries, is the sharp rise in electrolyte temperature during charging. This process becomes particularly dramatic when charging with high currents: overheating can be so rapid and significant that it can destroy the battery with a fire or even an explosion.
To avoid this the charger Kweller X-1800 is equipped with safety switch system which is based on two temperature sensors which are regularly measuring the temperature of charged batteries and in case of overheat they cut off current supply.
So, the main differences of the charger Kweller X-1800:
1. Allows to find “weakest link” in a set of accumulators Test mode .
Very often more than one battery is used in a device e.g. a flashlight . In this case the capacity of the kit is limited to the worst. It is therefore very important that the entire set is balanced.
The Kweller X-1800 has a digital screen that shows the actual capacity and voltage after charging. In addition, you can see how the battery voltage holds under load. This parameter is very important in power-consuming devices.
2. Recovery cycle Refresh mode .
It is recommended to run a recovery cycle every 1-2 months to eliminate the “memory effect” decrease in capacity of the batteries. Batteries that have lost their capacity during improper use can be “refreshed” quite well.
3. No overcharging.
Conventional chargers do not control the end of charge time, so they continue to charge the battery even when it is already charged. This degrades the electrolyte and reduces the capacity of the battery
4. Possibility to specify the charging current.
You can choose fast charging if you need to charge the batteries in a hurry, or a more gentle, slower charging.
5. Capable of charging in full cycles Discharge mode .
First the device discharges and then fully charges the battery – thus eliminating the “memory effect”.
6. Independent charging of each battery.
Kweller X-1800 works with each battery separately, stops charging/recharging process, recovers, tests each battery individually.
How long does it take for the Kweller X-1800 charger to fully charge a device?
The Kweller X-1800 charger typically takes around 2-3 hours to fully charge a device. This can vary depending on the battery capacity of the device being charged and the remaining charge level. The X-1800 charger has a fast charging capability which helps to reduce the charging time compared to standard chargers. It is recommended to use the original charging cable and adapter that came with the device for optimal charging performance.
How long does it take for the Kweller X-1800 charger to fully charge a device?
How efficient is the Kweller X-1800 charger when it comes to charging various devices? Can it charge multiple devices simultaneously without compromising the charging speed?