La Crosse Technology Alpha Power Battery Charger, BC1000

by La Crosse Technology

Product Features

• Works with all nicd and nimh "AA" and "AAA" rechargeable batteries; charges AA and AAA rechargeable batteries simultaneously
• LCD shows capacity for each battery when charging is complete
• Select different charging current for each channel: charge, discharge, refresh, and test.
• Automatically switches to trickle charge when charging is complete to ensure maximum battery capacity
• Overheat detection to protect over-charging
• Charges aa and aaa rechargeable batteries simultaneously
• Select different charging current for each channel: charge, discharge, refresh, test; automatically switches to trickle charge when charging is complete to ensure maximum battery capacity
• Works with all nicd and nimh "aa" and "aaa" rechargeable batteries

Product Details

View the Product Manual [PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 1.5 x 5.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004J6DLD4
• Item model number: BC1000
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357 in Home & Kitchen (See Top 100 in Home & Kitchen)
  • #1 in Home & Kitchen > Home Décor > Clocks > Specialty Clocks > Weather Monitoring Clocks

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Recharge your batteries! Quickly and easily charge AA and AAA batters with La Crosse Technology’s quintessential battery charger.

The BC1000 Alpha Power Battery Charger can be used to fill all NiMH or NiCd rechargeable batteries, AA & AAA.

Simultaneously charges multiple AA or AAA batteries, and can be set to different charging currents: charge, discharge, refresh, and test.

Defaults to 200mA and automatically switches to a trickle charge after completion to ensure maximum battery capacity. Overheat detection so not to overcharge and the charger will detect a dead battery.

Great gift idea for photographers, toy operators, and constant battery users. Completely portable and great for on the go or just keep it in your home for daily use!

What’s In the Bag?

• Sturdy Adjustable Nylon Carrying Tote Bag with detachable metal clips

• Spacious inside double pockets

• Webbed side sleeve for additional storage

• Includes 4 AA & 4 AAA NiMH rechargeable (shrink-wrapped) batteries

• AC power adapter

• Front Zippered kangaroo pouch includes individual pockets to carry included 4 C size 1.2v battery adapters which are included inside 4 D size adapters

Special Features:

• LCD display capacity level after completion

• Simultaneously charges AA & AAA, both NiMH or NiCd rechargeables

• Select different currents: charge, discharge, refresh, test

• Automatic trickle charge for maximum battery life

• Detects dead batteries & overheat protection

Simple Operation:

1. Plug AC power adapter into charger & wall outlet. Insert batteries
2. Select Mode: Charge, Discharge/Charge, Refresh/Charge, Test/Charge
3. Select Charging Current (Rate): 200mA up to 1800mA

Specifications:

• Charges Battery Types: AA/AAA NiCd and NiMH

• Input voltage: 100-240 VAC but MUST have the proper adapter.
(Twisting prongs on A/C cord will damage unit)

• Charging Current: Selectable charging current : 200, 500, 700 or 1000mA. When only channel 1 and/or channel 4 are used, can select up 1500 or 1800 mA.

• Max Charging Capacity: 3000 mAh

Product Description

Introducing La Crosse Technology's BC1000 quintessential battery charger. Charging AA and AAA batteries simultaneously with separate cell displays the charger automatically defaults to 200ma charge giving you the most out of your battery's life. Charger has an overheat detection, so not to overcharge the battery power. LCD displays 4 different charging modes for each separate cell and detects a dead battery. Works for all NiCd and NiMH AA and AAA rechargeable batteries.Includes a sturdy nylon carrying tote with spacious inside double pockets and webbed sided sleeve with 4 AA and 4 AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries (shrink-wrapped) and AC power adapter. Located inside front zippered kangaroo pouch are individual pockets to carry the included 4 C size 1.2v battery adapters hidden inside 4 D size adapters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

262 of 265 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The REAL difference between BC-900 and BC-1000, September 5, 2011

By 

NLee the Engineer (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 10 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: La Crosse Technology Alpha Power Battery Charger, BC1000 (Kitchen)

I purchased the La Crosse Technology BC1000 Alpha Power Battery Charger, not because I needed another advanced battery charger/analyzer (I already own the La Crosse BC-900, BC-700, BC-500 and the Maha MH-C9000), but because people kept asking me: "Is there any difference between BC-900/9009 and BC-1000?" So here it is, to put the issue to rest...

[Exterior]

Except for the color, the BC-1000 looks and feels EXACTLY the same as my old (circa 2006) BC-900. Even the boxes they came in have identical illustrations on them. Check out the customer images I uploaded to 'Customer Images' section and you'll see what I mean.

[Electrical Spec]

The specifications are EXACTLY the same for both chargers, namely:

- Operations: Charge, Discharge, Charge/Test, Discharge/Refresh

- Charging Current steps for 4 cells: 200mA (default), 500mA, 700mA, 1000mA

- Extra Current steps for 1-2 cells: 1500mA, 1800mA

- Acceptable battery capacity: 300-3000mAh (my previous testing showed the BC-900 can actually charge up to 3700mAh)

[AC Adapter]

Again, the two AC adapters looked identical except for the colors. Both are rated for 100-240V AC input, and 3V 4A output. There is, however, a small difference in their open-circuit output voltages. The BC-900's adapter measures 3.0V, while the one for BC-1000 measures 3.17V

Date code on the back of BC-1000 adapter says '4710', which means 47th week, or November of 2010,

[Firmware Version]

My old BC-900 has firmware version '33'. The new BC-1000 shows '37', which is the same version for BC-9009 sold since middle of 2010.

Note: firmware version is the number briefly displayed in the rightmost column, after you plug in your BC-900 or BC-1000.

[Quirks]

Sadly, the same limitations for BC-900/9009 are carried over to the BC-1000:

- If you put in a completely depleted cell (battery terminal voltage under 0.5V), the charger cannot recognize it and the display says 'null'

- If you were previously charging at 500mA, for example, you cannot subsequently increase the charging current for a new cell to higher than 500mA. You need to remove all cells in order to reset the maximum limit.

If I stopped my comparison right here, I would have concluded that the BC-1000 is nothing more than the BC-900/9009 with a cosmetic update. But wait, there's more to the story...

[Interior]

After I removed the base from my BC-1000 (by the way, don't do this unless you know what you're doing), I was surprised to find a very different printed circuit board inside. There are significantly more components on the BC-1000 board compared to that on the BC-900 (refer to my uploaded picture in 'Customer Images' section):

- The BC-900 has just one 'glop' covering the controller IC

- The BC-1000 has two 'glops' on its PCB, suggesting that there is an extra controller. Given the past history of 'meltdown' problem with BC-9009, the most likely function for this controller is to monitor temperature during charging.

- The BC-1000 also added four bulky thru-hole diodes ('B220' 2A 20V Schottky diode) on the PCB. Again, the most logical explanation is to burn off excessive power during charging, to prevent other surface mount components from over-heating and suffer a thermal runaway.

[Conclusion]

The BC-1000 may look exactly like the older BC-900 and BC-9009 from outside, but there is significant design overhaul that took place inside. Note that I cannot testify that BC-1000 has solved all thermal-related problems, because I have never witnessed any over-heating problem before. But as an engineer, I know that no company will accept a design change that ADDS cost to an existing product - unless it is absolutely required to fix a problem.

Assuming the alleged 'meltdown' problem is really solved, one question still remains: is the BC-1000 a better value than the Maha MH-C9000 (currently available in the same price range)? Personally, I think the user interface of BC-1000 is much better, but other people may disagree. So it comes down to whether you can make use of the bonus items (4xAA + 4xAAA cells, 4xC + 4xD-cell spacers) in this package. If you can use some of them and feel that they are worth paying $10 for, then go for the BC-1000. Otherwise, you may want to consider the BC-700 at half the cost.

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So far, so good, September 2, 2011

By 

Chris in SC (Columbia, SC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: La Crosse Technology Alpha Power Battery Charger, BC1000 (Kitchen)

I received this BC1000 a couple of days ago. I purchased it along with the 16 AA and 8 AAA eneloop batteries, so I guess this review can be used for both the charger and the batteries. The BC1000 arrived with all advertised accessories present. I purchased the BC1000 instead of the predecessor because of the new auto shutoff mechanism when the batteries get too hot while charging. I think I saw pictures on Amazon of a "fried" 9000 model. Being new to rechargeable batteries, I decided to charge the first 4 AA eneloops on the lowest setting (200ma). BC1000 showed a total charge input of 707 mah, 734 mah, 909 mah and 790 mah. I then decided to test each of these four batteries for total capacity. In test mode, the BC1000 charges the batteries to full capacity, discharges them and then fully charges them to get a total charge reading. These four batteries showed a total charge of 1841, 1867, 1932 and 1918 mah. This process of charging to full capacity and then running the test took about 24 hours. The batteries never got hot.

I decided to just run the test cycle of the BC1000 for the next four batteries, since this would fully charge them. I used the setting of 1000ma to charge and the BC1000 automatically defaults to 500ma to discharge the batteries before charging them again. These for batteries showed a charge capacity of 1986, 1977, 1993 and 1998 mah. Slightly higher than when using the lower setting. It should be noted the BC1000 did what it was supposed to do during this test cycle. Right before these 4 batteries reached total capacity, the charger shut off because the temperature was above 127.4 degrees F. My temp gun read 128, so this was verified. I left the batteries in the charger, and it automatically resumed charging once the batteries had cooled.

Charging and testing at 200 ma took forever. Something like 24 hours. A big chunk of time was spent discharging at the default 100 ma. That alone was over 10 hours. Using just the test cycle at 1000/500 ma, it took less than 10 hours. I wish the BC1000 gave a total test time, but it doesn't. It only shows the total time for each function (charge, discharge, charge). As of right now, I'm using a the setting of 700/350 hoping that is a good compromise between time and heat. When I go to just charging and not testing all of these batteries I might even go to 500 ma or 200 ma overnight.

The BC1000 also displays volts. The eneloops came pre-charged with at least 1.30 volts. They are labeled 1.2 volts. I was able to charge them up to between 1.47 and 1.51 volts. I have not used the eneloops in any device other than the charger as of yet.

Note: I'm on my third set of testing 4 AA eneloops. Right out of the package it took 53-60 minutes to charge each one to full capacity. They got hot as well at 700ma. My temp gun read 126 degrees. The charger did not shut off as the limit is 127.4. I'll try the 500ma setting on the next 4 AA's.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most advanced charger in the world, October 17, 2011

By 

Tony J (California, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: La Crosse Technology Alpha Power Battery Charger, BC1000 (Kitchen)

I just got this a few months ago, and it's been serving me quite well. It's main advantages are the amount of manual control it gives you and of course its ability to report data on the status of the batteries being charged. It also comes in a travel bag and is paired with plenty of accessories like 4 2600 mAh AA batteries, 4 1000 mAh AAA batteries, and 4 C/D-size spacers to allow you to use AA batteries in places that take C or D-size batteries. The manual that comes with it is very brief and uninformative; you can get a better one at www [dot] lacrossetechnology [dot] com [slash] bc1000 [slash] manual [dot] pdf.

An overview of the modes:

Charge Mode: Charges 1-4 AA or AAA batteries individually at user-selectable currents: 200 mAh, 500 mAh, 700 mAh, and 1000 mAh. If you are only charging 1 or 2 batteries (for 2, they must be placed in slots 1 and 4), you can also do 1500 mAh and 1800 mAh. For some reason, it lets you charge AAA batteries at 1000, 1500, and even 1800 mAh. My advice: just don't. Let's keep it safe at 700 mAh. Display can be configured to report mAh accumulated, time spent charging, and current.

Discharge Mode: Discharges the batteries until empty, and then charges until full. During discharging phase, reports mAh discharged, time spent discharging, and discharging current. Once a battery begins charging, the display resets into charging mode. Otherwise the same as Charge Mode. Use this option if you have NiCd batteries and need to deep cycle them to remove the "memory effect," or just want to find out the current mAh capacity of a battery.

Refresh Mode: Performs multiple charge/discharge cycles. Good for old batteries that need to be reprimed. I haven't used this mode before.

Test Mode: Charges to full capacity, then discharges fully, and then recharges back to full. Reports capacity of battery based on discharged mAh at the end. I've had some troubles with this mode on new batteries. AA Eneloops, which are supposed to give 1800 mAh on their first charge out of the pack, only showed up as values ranging from 200-500 mAh when I did Test Mode. After a charge/discharge cycle, the reported capacity went up to 2050 as expected.

There are four buttons, one in front of each battery compartment, allowing you to individually configure each battery. At the bottom are the three important buttons: Current, Display, and Mode. Current cycles between 200, 500, 700, 1000, 1500, and 1800. Display cycles between (dis-)charging current (mA), time elapsed (HH:MM), and capacity (mAh). Note that capacity switches to Ah with 3 significant figures at values of 2.00 Ah and above due to lack of space for digits. Mode cycles between Charge, Discharge, Refresh, and Test. A potential con is that the bottom three buttons feel rather cheap and loose. I have a friend with a BC-9009 whose buttons have fallen off, and must be manually pressed with a pencil.

Here are my ratings:

Performance 5

Features 5

Reliability 3

Usefulness 5

Ease of use 4

Value 4

Overall 4.5

I'll round it up to a 5 for the actual Amazon star rating because I really, really like this product.