DI- Rictron Industrial CO.,Ltd Universal Battery Charger

What caught my eye with this charger is the ability to recharge alkaline batteries. I am sure that everyone has heard that this type of battery should not be recharged for fear of explosion. I called Sharper Image about this and the CS rep said no, with this charger it was possible to safely recharge alkaline battery. There are some caveats to this. It does not recharge them to 100% but rather to 75-80%. I have also found that really old batteries or ones that have been completely drained may not recharge or will not hold a charge for very long. But, for new batteries they charge right up and perform nicely which, in the long run, should save me money on alkaline batteries. For your regular NiCd and NiMh rechargeable batteries it works great for these as well. Over the years I have purchased several battery chargers and this is by far the best one I have bought to date.

The lid was broken when arrived but it works good

One of the four charging bays will not work when I put an AAA battery, I needed to put it in on a angle to make the light turn on. I tried using Rayovac rechargeable batteries (1350 mAh), the charger will not give the batteries a full charge; one of the batteries was completely discharged, the charger registered it as bad and would not charge it; I had to put it in a different battery charger for one minute and then back into the smart charger to get it to charge it. It did work good with the non-rechargeable alkaline batteries; they would be fully charged when the green light turned on.

For sometime I have been using rechargeable batteries with a charger specifically for rechargeable batteries. Now with the Universal Battery Charger I will be able to recharge regular alkaline batteries. My only concern, according to the manual you must discharge the alkaline battery prior to recharge. Any suggestion, on how to accomplish this? How do I know when the battery is discharged? I look forward to recharging all batteries this Holiday season. No more throwing away alkaline batteries. Thank you Sharper Image. Update: Jan 10 2019, So far so good, I was surprised to find a charger that indicated it would charge alkaline batteries, plus rechargeable batteries. First I tried it on rechargeable and it worked well. For Christmas I use battery powered wreaths. I just finished recharging 25 Duracell alkaline D batteries for next Christmas. So far no leaks, as soon as the battery indicator light turned green I removed the batteries from the charger.

I was having trouble finding a charger that charged regular alkaline batteries (don't believe the hype that you cannot charge them). The one that I had for over 30 years finally gave out. I tried a few others and sent them all back. This one from Sharper Image works great and charges all 3 types of batteries including alkaline, A+.

Love how easy it is to useCan even recharge regular batteries

Open box and the top was brokenFollowed directions to discharge 2 AA batteries.Left it on for hours but did not seem to totally discharge.Than heard a loud pop..The battery started leaking it stuff..THIS IS NOT SAFE.... BEWARE and be safe and stay away from this product.

First, the lid makes it. Battery chargers to have lids to protect from dust and possible fire hazard from flammables touching battery and contacts. I’ve gone through many chargers. The saying, you get what you pay for indeed applies here. You shouldn’t buy cheap chargers.This has been my favorite charger through the years, though I thought was a bit pricey and more than others you can find. Buy for quality, it is indeed worth the expense. This is SI sold at their store for 30 more. Tevrn their name on packaging, but then they are ones selling it here. It’s there discount. A confusing statement. Buy direct from us pay more, but from our store front on this site, save.It’s a shame it can only hold 4 batteries. I use to have one that could charge 8 D-cells. 4 stars-because fee things are THAT good.