It's not a DiodeGoneWild video unless it includes a "Bloody hell" moment.

Sad memories for me. I tried to avoid watching. In 2017 Kaufland came to Australia, employing 500 of the best and brightest to setup a massive new $500 Million superstore chain. We were deep into designing the many stores across the country, buying property, creating products, everything from scratch, it was a dream job for so many, our whole career could be based here. I even got a 1 month trip to Germany for training. It was just after Christmas, January 2019, just weeks before Covid really took off that suddenly we're all called into a compulsory meeting. Our CEO lady to told us through tears, backed by the board (many of whom visibly upset) told us all that HQ had pulled the plug, it was over. Nobody could believe it. We'd just finished building a new HQ, signed contracts and new staff that morning. We were all in shock for the 2 months it took to tear down everything we'd spent years creating. I still wonder now what might have been...

I told you 3 times you should flip those clips for AAAs, and then you noticed 😅 I like how you don't cut those parts out of the video 👌🏻

Yes, the security screws are there to protect the highly classified circuit design. They don't want anyone copying it and making a fortune. It cost more for those screws, so they could only afford three instead of four.

Simple and just does the job. The triple 'A' connection is simple, i like that 😀.

Used to be quite common that the smaller chargers charged batteries in pairs although with smart charging that is probably not a good idea. All my fast chargers have been from Lidl and seem to be OK, one can even charge single cell lithium camera/mobile phone batteries and USB devices.

All credit for leaving the out take in.! RE AA / AAA switching.!

Thanks for the video. This is a very old design. I have had this charger (but sold under another brand) for approximately 15 years, possibly 20. It might have been branded Lenmar - can't be 100% certain as so much time has passed and I no longer use it much. At the time it was an inexpensive charger with good features for the price, meaning that it has Delta -V charge termination. However it does not then continue to supply sufficient current to top off the charge, once the charge indicator LED turns green, they are not fully charged yet. You can use this to charge 1 or 3 batteries if you put a dummy cell in the 2nd or 4th cell position. For example take a piece of bolt and cut/grind it down to the size of the cell, or take an old discharged cell and solder a thin jumper wire between anode and cathode. I did take the casing apart and drill some vent holes in it, many years ago. It still works today, though I hardly ever use it since I had switched to primarily using chargers with LCD displays and capable of more battery chemistries such as Li-Ion. It is more convenient to only have desk space taken up by a single charger that handles all my small cell charging needs.

I recommend the BC-700 type chargers. For example from Technoline. But there are rebrands (and clones). They operate at 3 Volts and are very intelligent, have voltage display, can measure capacity, can refurbish cells, etc.

(idk if you will say it in the video afterwards, but) Please have a closer look at the 12 V connectors. It seems that the input socket on the charger is a smaller 2.1 mm one 0:45 (diameter of the inner positive pin) while the car adapter is designed for larger 2.5 mm sockets 0:40 Obviously a the smaller fits into the larger, because the outer Gnd contacts are both 5.5 mm, but the connection of the terminals can be unsteady (or don't connect at all in the best case. In the worst case this place gets hot due to the high contact resistance)

This is probably a very old design. I have one that looks the same but came with an old school transformer to power it.

I have a charger, that looks externally identic but mine is brand "HAMA" and I bought it in 2005. On the inside it has a different circuit with another processor, and the wall wart adapter is a classic iron core transformer of 12V 500mA.

Simply excellent!!! Thank you.

8:46 - ajdiot 😆

I've had a charger like this, but that is probably 20+ years ago (maybe even 25+ years ago). Don't know if it had the same chip, but it had the strange 2-4 switch (and that dodgy battery door). So I think it's a very very old design. Don't know if it could do AAA and cant see anymore as I think I threw it away about 15 years ago...

I have the same charger but it is much older, maybe from 2014 or so. It is labeled with Cellcon, Microprocessor Controlled Ultra-Fast-Charger, Model C-100. The power supply is a standard, non switching, one. The circuit of the charger is same like you device. Thanks for the video :)

Got one, for 2 or 4, it has a discharge button a cover going to the side and its from Gamma... not opening it up. Think its 2007 and wowks like a beauty

I use similar charger for 4xAAA in PMR walkie-talkie (Sencor SMR 601) on roadtrips in 12V socket in campervan. I use 3 sets of 4xAAA. The one is charging during ride, then I change it after ride in one radio and the discharged batteries goes in the charger during night. In the morning, there are two fully charged radios ready for whole day. The cover is there good for me (I know not good for the cells) because it holds the batteries in tle place during ride vibrations.

I have the same charger, works just well

I bought one charger as this, about 12 years ago. It still works/uses (sold at that time) a linear power supply, a heavier “brick” wall power adapter, with those low frequency ferromagnetic transformers, rectifier and capacitive filtering - that is it. Voltage was manually selected, “of course” ;-)) As mine still works, I didn’t open mine (because of that crazy safety bolt head), but it said that it had a termination method also based on temperature - that possibly was the reason to “bake” the batteries with the “oven” door closed. I missed in this review your feedback about the possible termination method, the final voltage and trickle current values. If you have these numbers, please let us know. Thanks for sharing!

Can you please do a high voltage test please

I got similar charger 15 years ago from SOLID manufacturer and it was shipped with classic linear power supply. It still runs also from any >= 1A 12 V SMPS. And while it is not good for 3 cells, I often use this one for jump starting too deeply discharged cells, that are being rejected by my smart Voltcraft charger

Danyk : "But I Wanna Charge Three Batteries" Charger : "WELL YA BLOODY CAN'T, AND YOU CAN FORGET TRIPLE AAA CELLS TOO !!"_

yaaay another DGW video!!!

It doesn’t claim the charging current on the cover. As you said previously, it’s the minimum capacity of the batteries, or else they might overheat. *mA* ≠ *mAh.* The numbers for the charging current in the manual are very close (700/350 mA), though.

@13:39 - the smart charger that I use measure the internal resistance of the cell when determining the charge current. If the battery has a higher resistance value, the current starts lower. Lower resistance bring max current charging. It's certainly not a direct comparison, but maybe that chip does something similar.

Hey, can you review one of those power strips/extension boards with built in usb chargers?

Good video 👍

I'm surprised that you had the notched screw driver in your kit. I had to saw a groove in mine and file it a little wider. Of course using the non hardened type of cheap driver. I don't think I could have sawed hardened steel without a tiny disk cutter.

Sir its great honour to watch your video....thinks

I really liked your video, because I have the same type of charger. I have been using it since I bought it in July 2003. My charger does not use chip or smd resistors, it is another design with many transistors. To protect the batteries, I always charge and discharge the same batteries in packs of 2. Another disadvantage is that the batteries get quite hot. Maybe it would be time to buy another charger. Would you recommend one? Do you have published somewhere, which are the devices that are good. Like for example the best USB phone charger. Best regards

I wonder how the current regulation feedback loop is realized in the FW of that slow MCU. Does it undersample the voltage on the current sense resistor? Calculates the average value. And regulates PWM d.c. with some very slow frequency?

“Now I like like an aidiot”, LOL.

The little red spot on the upper right side of the LCD on your scope is triggering my OCD. Is that the protective film still on the screen?

It's quite common for so-called 'dumb' chargers to only charge in pairs. I even have an Eneloop branded charger (genuine) that operates the same, and it only trickle charges with an overnight timer too. So very poor really, but it works fine for people like my elderly father who only ever used Ni-MH in his wireless headphones for his TV. They only took 2xAA so I gave him 4x Eneloops, showed him how to swap them out and recharge overnight. He was well chuffed. Not everyone needs a fast smart charger. I however couldn't live without one - have used the BL-700 for over a decade :-)

if you obtained and soldered in the thermistors, would it work properly?

Is your cat trying to take the piss out of you mate ;-) she's a lovely cat, probably a lot more sense than me, but guess she had a good teacher. I'm not sure what I like the best, your instruction and explanations of electronics or the sarcastic comments your cat makes ;-)

Thumps up for the cute cat. :D

Very nice sar is good job

you need a total of 6 batteries for your headlamp so you can charge 4 and then 2, and you can use the first 3 straight after charging.

That's a terrible charger! Charging batteries in series without balancing will lead to damage of one or more cells as the charger tries to bring all the cells to a combined voltage, one cell could already be at it's fully charged state but it will be over charged due to other cells not being at the same voltage... Whenever cells are used in series, they always discharge differently to each other... I have a two cell torch and a three cell torch and the cells are in series, when charging, all cells take different amounts of charge.... Always use a charger that will individually charge cells... Always!

I found a 12V 5W solar panel in my garage, and want to use it to run my new ESP8266 radiation monitor with 24/7 data logger web server project. I want to use 4x 5000mAh NiMH C cells in series. Load tested them to be 4400mA @ 0.2A Don't want to use Li-ion because the temperature drops to -20C on regular basis here in Ottawa Canada. Question: Would it be better to connect the solar panel directly to the batteries without any additional circuit, besides an anti-back-feed diode? OR, would it be better to use a cheap buck converter to lower the solar panel voltage to say +5V, then feed the batteries? I won't worry about over charging them for now. If it becomes a problem, I'll deal with it later.

Odd that the left and right flips for AAAs move independently even though the manual forbids them from being in different positions. It would be trivial to create a design that prevents this so it is likely an oversight.

👍

Dear DGW, can you make a video of a typical e-scooter controller? Many have one, but there is no video where someone explains it as well as you can. Maybe someone can send you 1 piece. I hope :)

it was a tricky one

Ghd can you do a video about it...❤

the first warning hurt my feelings

What a strange battery cooker you bought!

Heh, I was never impressed by ANY of the electronics gadgets they sold in Kaufland and this one kinda explains why. I mean sure, this charging scheme might be "good enough" for most NiMH cells, but I just don't like this concept, because there's no way it can ensure two cells with completely different levels of discharge will charge properly this way.

Good

See more exciting videos like this in my channel!

you forgot ziner diode for 5 v protect for high volt

wtf? Oh it's in the manual. wtf? Oh it's in the manual... haha

They should provide a dummy battery with two diodes in series, so youncan charge the 3 AAA for your headlamp

voicebox diodes gone bad? ; )

is it normal to find a 250v fuse in a car plug? i thought that won't do anything in a 12v circuit.

Make a review of your new oscilloscope...

Dájoud.. Dajdou :D

first order of buissness when i buy anything is to trow away the manuel, i make sure i shread it first so that if i f up i wont be weak and look at it. lol

I'm trying not to scream at the AA AAA issue...... And no I didn't read the manual.... That looks almost identical to a energizer one I picked up except for the power brick and car cord were gray. Assuming it's the same internal design it was a decent charger but only charged in sets of 2 which drove me nuts because I would always need to charge either a single or three why do manufacturers do that? For the longest time I only ever saw chargers that charged in pairs, the first time I saw one that did individuals I said I had to have it and practically threw out all my other ones.

Is that power supply normal transformer or SMPS?

I like those rainbow 🌈 AA's!

You put batteries from Lidl in charger from Kaufland!? I think it will explode. 😃

Please reverse engineer the chines 1200W tl494 based boost converter and explain it. Thanks in advance.

I dunno if I’m spamming but The cat is right again

In Germany they actually read manuals

Isnt it like 10 years old? :D

Interesting design, never seen one that specifically charges multiple cells in series. I don't like this idea though: what if the cells have different capacities or different internal resistances? What if the cells are at different levels of charge? There are definitely possibilities of the cells not being charged enough, or being overcharged, etc. I'd rather use a charger that monitors each cell individually and makes sure that no single cell can be overcharged. Also, I don't like those stupid screws. It means that people have to go out and buy complicated screwdriver bit sets (at additional cost) to disassemble their products.

Kaufland velmi kvalitní. Kaufland very high quality. XD

How is your health is doing? Are your free from the corora?

why they would choose charging in series is beyond me. its a stupid way to do it.. i would of never of seen those flip switches for the AAA's unless it was in the Manuel ..

Please do a FAKE nitecore d4 from aliexpress! !

Kaufland :D

Horrible design. Series charging will reduce cell life because there is no accurate way to sense when each cell has been fully charged. This may just be doing total voltage termination, which is certainly going to cook one or more cells of each series set. Theoretically NiCD will kind of self-balance at very low charge currents, but that won't happen at 700mA. Anyway, NiMH need to be treated more carefully and the charge terminated accurately or they will overheat. The charger won't know, since there aren't any Thermistors. Just throw this away and buy a proper charger!

+++++

For people who don't read the manual ...

)))

Kannst du eigentlich Deutsch sprechen?

PLEASE TURKISH SUBLITIES

Don't use this charger.. I got one of theese 10 years ago, and one day it became so hot on the coil of buck reg that all the surrounding plastic started melting off the device.. luckily i noticed it and turned it off... Theese products must be banned from the stores..

eww this guys voice 🤮🤮🤮