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AmazonBasics Ni-MH Battery Charger with USB Port Review

AmazonBasics-Ni-MH-Battery-Charger-with-USB-Port-Review---Plugged-In-AAIn this review I will be taking a look at the AmazonBasics Ni-MH Battery Charger with USB Port. Typically, I review Bluetooth hearing protection devices on this site, but since so many of them can make use of Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, I want to spend some time on this charger.

The initial investment will pay off tremendously over time for those of you who use your hearing protection devices regularly! It sucks having to constantly buy new batteries.

Why would you do that when you could spend a few bucks to get your hands on this battery charger and some rechargeable batteries that will last you way longer!

Now, let’s look at this battery charger from Amazon and see what it’s all about.

 

Charging

In terms of charging, the AmazonBasics Battery Charger can plug into any standard AC outlet and will start charging as soon as the batteries are properly inserted.

It can also be used internationally as it has built-in power switching technology to work within ranges of 100-240 V AC.

Keep Your Batteries Charged

 

AA and AAA Batteries

You are able to use this charger to charge both AA and AAA batteries. You must charge them in a pair of 2 or a set of 4. That means you can do 2 or 4 AA batteries, 2 or 4 AAA batteries, or 2 AA and 2 AAA batteries at once. Again, due to how this device was designed, they must be charged in pairs.

 

Charging Times

The charging times you can expect vary greatly by battery type and mAh. The charging times for AA batteries are as follows:

1800-2000 mAh = 3 to 3.5 hours
2100-2300 mAh = 3.5 to 4 hours
2300-2500 mAh = 4 to 4.5 hours

And charging times for AAA batteries are:

700-800 mAh 2 to 2.5 hours
900-1200 mAh 3 to 3.5 hours

 

Smart Charging

This battery charger also has “smart” charging capabilities to ensure you are protected against overcharging and incorrect polarity while charging your batteries. It has a cut-off function to ensure your batteries stop charging when they are full.

This device also has built-in LED lights to let you know the current state of the batteries in the charger. If the light is ON your batteries are in the process of charging. If the light is flashing it is indicating it has detected a problem either with bad cells or the batteries are alkaline. If the lights are off, your batteries are fully charged and ready to go.

 

USB Port

There is also a USB port to allow you to charge pretty much any device at a rate of 500 mA (which isn’t that great).

Keep Your Batteries Charged

Design

The AmazonBasics Ni-MH Battery Charger has a very slick and modern design that both looks good and is extremely convenient. Its slim profile allows it to be easily packed into luggage or plugged into a tight space on the wall, not to mention it comes in at a mere 4 ounces so it won’t be weighing down your luggage either.

 

 

Drawbacks

Overall, this is a great little charging device, however, it does have a couple drawbacks.

Firstly, it cannot charge USB and batteries at the same time. Whatever is being charged in the USB port takes priority and once it is finished charging the device will go back to recharging the batteries.

Secondly, the USB port output current is only 500mA which is inadequate for many devices that eat up a lot of power.

 

Conclusion

Given all of that, I think the AmazonBasics Ni-MH Battery Charger is a great way to not only keep your battery powered devices going but to save you a heck of a lot of money in the long run!

If you’re here because you’re looking into a Bluetooth hearing protection device and the one you are interested in can use rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, you should definitely add this charger to your cart on Amazon.

Keep Your Batteries Charged

If you have any questions or comments regarding this battery charger from Amazon, please drop them in the comment section below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

Peace,
Dustin

About The Author

Dustin G.

8 Comments

  1. Shirley November 18, 2017

    I am trying to charge 4 rechargeable Ni-Mh AA batteries 1.2v 350 mAh. The light starts green then flashes red. I’m not sure what wrong.

    Reply
    • Dustin G. December 4, 2017

      Hello Shirly,

      From what I can tell based on a bit of research I’ve just done, blinking red lights indicate that there is some sort of problem. It seems that blinking red lights usually means the batteries are old and have lost their quality. Perhaps you’ve used your batteries to their limit and need to purchase some new rechargeables?

      I hope this helps!

      Dustin

      Reply
  2. Tony Spagnolia March 15, 2018

    I wonder why the USB port is so weak. You can barely charge your phone with 500 mA as that is the same amount of current you get from any USB port out of a computer. Looks like the battery charging piece works well and for the price you can’t beat it.

    Reply
    • Dustin G. March 17, 2018

      I agree, it’s a relatively cheap solution to an expensive problem (buying new batteries on a regular basis). 

      I guess the fact that the USB charger is so weak is either a design flaw, or it just wasn’t a priority when they were designing this specific product. It’s almost like they just tagged it on at the end as another selling point, but didn’t really make it super useful since it’s so low. 

      That being said, it is branded as a battery charger, not a phone charger and it does a great job at that. 

      Dustin

      Reply
  3. jCamden March 17, 2018

    This is really cool Batteries cost an arm and a leg these days and it seems that every new pack runs out quicker than the one before did. Especially when you have kids with toys that need batteries. I was surprised at how cheap this is. I’ve never bought charger because I figured they’d cost way more than the batteries. But it actually costs less to buy this then to buy a decent sized pack of batteries.
    Can you recharge the batteries as many times as you want or is there a limit?

    Reply
    • Dustin G. March 17, 2018

      You’re right, the charger is super cheap! You’ll just want to make sure you’re using the right kind of batteries as some traditional batteries aren’t able to be recharged. So, it would probably be worth investing in a pack or two of AA and AAA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries as well. They’re about as much as traditional batteries, but can be used over and over. 

      I don’t know exactly how many times the batteries can be recharged. I know they’ll slowly lose storage over time, but you’ll still get your money’s worth when compared to traditional non-rechargeable batteries.

      Let me know if you have any more questions!

      Dustin

      Reply
  4. Steve & Kris March 22, 2018

    I go back and forth on whether or not I should buy a battery charger. It just makes so much sense. I assume you can keep some spare batteries charged so when you need them you have them ready to go. It’s kind of a bummer that you can’t charge USB devices and batteries at the same time. But I guess the USB is just an added bonus and the main function is to charge batteries. I do like the fact that you can charge different sizes at the same time as well. Thanks for this review, I need to just take the plunge and buy one.

    Reply
    • Dustin G. March 26, 2018

      If you go through a lot of batteries, I think an investment in rechargeable batteries and a charger is a great idea and makes a lot of sense.

      If you don’t use batteries often then it may not be as necessary, but still wouldn’t hurt!

      Dustin 

      Reply

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