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3rd party battery chargers for DSLR batteries

Discussion

3 replies
Posted by stuart scott on April 11, 2007 at 10:24 AM
Has anyone used 3rd party battery chargers for their Li-ion digital Camera batteries ?
I’m after one that has a car cigarette lighter lead for my D200 En-el3e batteries and come across this:

http://www.digitalmediastore.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=108_142_178&products_id=1494

It seems very cheap considering the Nikon version with a car lead is about £200.

Are they safe to me and my batteries ?
ta
stu
Posted by Mike Smith on April 11, 2007 at 10:46 AM
I don't know about Nikon products, but the Canon clone versions sold to replace the NPE-3 charger usually do not have a safe charge cut-out or a re-cycling/refresh function, hence they are so cheap. ie the risk to check against is whether there is in-built charge cut-out circuit to prevent overcharging/heat damaging the battery unit. - it is not clear what they mean by "short circuit protection" in the link provided, that sounds like a simple fuse link to me rather than a more intelligent charge rate monitor and/or thermal cut out
Posted by stuart scott on April 11, 2007 at 12:37 PM
hmm I wondered. The Hahnel Powerstation Ultima looks a better and safer bet, and only a little more.
http://www.hahnel.ie/index.cfm?action=viewcharger&cid=46

thanks
Stu
Posted by jack chapman on April 11, 2007 at 1:43 PM
you can get adapters pretty cheap that will convert the cigarette lighter to a plug socket then use your normal charger.