Aftermarket Battery Chargers

[Bax]

There seems to be a fair bit of talk about aftermarket batteries.

But what about aftermarket chargers? I had some gear stolen, and the battery charger was one of those items.

Now I'm faced with the option of buying an aftermarket item for 50-80 dollars.
Or a genuine Canon item for 100-130 (actual Canon endorsed spares site is the dearest)

I can also get a charger that looks real, but is from Hong Kong, for around 50.

My dilemma is that I don't want to pick up a charger that's going to burn through on the charge and do fast charges or something that will kill my battery. Or am I simply worrying too much?

Thanks

[Tannin]

Short answer: I don't know. Good question!

Alternative answer: can you pick up a cheap genuine one second-hand?

[K10D]

Buy an aftermarket charger from Adorama in the USA. I have used their stuff for years without issue. You may also find that the unit has a 12v car charge lead included which is a bonus. Mains voltage is 110-240v on my units.

Best regards

[Bennymiata]

Most chargers today are what they call "switch-mode" chargers, which means it doesn't really matter what the input volatage is (which may be anywhere from 100V AC to 260V ac), so buying from overseas is no problem as long as you have an adaptor to fit our local 240V plug (which is exactly the same as the Chinese plug, by the way).

One thing you should never do however, is to leave the battery on the charger for any longer than you have to.
As soon as the charger says it's fully charged, leave it on for 10 -15 minutes to let the cells equalise, then take it off.
Leaving the battery on all night will shorten the life of the battery pack, unless you are 100% sure that the charger will revert to a real trickle charging state after it has finished quick charging the pack, but even then, I wouldn't leave them on for too long.

Avoid chargers that will charge the pack in under 1 hour too, as these very fast chargers do shorten the life of the pack, but look for a charger that takes 2-4 hours to charge as these will give the batteries their longest life.

[Speedway]

I have 2 aftermarket chargers that came with batteries for my 7D, they both have 12/240v capabilty the cost including batteries was from memory under $20 each. I have been using these for nearly 2 years on both the aftermarket and genuine batteries with no problems, I regulary leave the batteries on charge overnight and my 400D batteries which are over 4 years old they are still going strong. These chargers are available on ebay from around $8.00 delivered.
Keith.

[Bax]

Thanks guys.

I could easily buy myself any of the ebay chargers, but I had no real way of knowing how they charged, fast charging or trickling until I got it. The ebay charger for that looked like a genuine item for example, said that when the battery was fully charged, the Blinking LED would go to Green. Where as the genuine item goes to a constant Red light.

That was all that threw me. It was different, so who knew what other differences there were.

Thanks though, I'll more than likely order a cheap replacement so I can start taking photos again, they stole everything but the camera and a few lenses. So even though I've had the camera there ready to go- I haven't been able to take photos - And waiting for insurance money is a pain.

[Bennymiata]

That's funny, because my Canon charger gives a steady green light when it's charged and blinking red leds as it's charging.

[Bax]

What camera did that come with Benny? Maybe it's not so crazy afterall.

[Mark L]

I think Benny's got a Canon. I got a 60D this week and it's charger does the same.

[Bennymiata]

I also have a Canon 60D, and also an old Canon D60 (what a coincidence) and it's charger does the same as the 60D's charger.
A red flashing light that changes its flashing according to the charge state, then turns to green when fully charged.

[Bax]

Interesting, my 40D charger stayed a solid Red.

I'll order off ebay later today and stop my fussing.

Thanks again