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.
[Update on May 11, 2012]
For general questions on La Crosse chargers, check out my "BC-700/900/1000 FAQ" under BC-700 product page.
http://www.amazon.com/review/RK62EGS3P082I/
[Update on Feb 19, 2013]
I have tested the
AccuPower IQ-328
and found it to be practically identical to the BC1000 - down to the same bugs. It is worth considering at its present price (around 60% that of the BC1000).
[Update on June 21, 2013]
I tested the
BM200 Battery Charger Analyzer
and found it better than BC1000 in many ways - except for problem with over-heating when charging 4 cells at 1000mA. Read my review on it for details. The same problem exists in IQ-328, by the way.
[Update on Jan 31, 2014]
There is a newer model of the BM200 called the
BT-C2000
. It solved the thermal problem of BM200, and offered several improvements over BC1000. It is a good deal since it is currently priced lower than the BC1000.
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