Apple's New NIMH Battery Charger

Here is additional information on it, it seems somewhat promising.

http://www.apple.com/battery-charger/

I guess buying their own battery tech company is paying off. It is a bit pricy, but it does come with 6 batteries. If the keyboards, mouses and trackpads came with Apple rechargeable batteries everything would have a pair and a spare, but alas they do not. So I wonder if Apple sells six packs of the batteries?


Dah•veed

If the batteries really last ten years or more, it seems like a very reasonable price for quality batteries since you average rechargeable battery is not going to last nearly that long given they have a limit of about 30 recharges compared to Apple’s hundreds of recharges.

Costco sells Sanyo eneloops in a kit with eight AA, 4 AAA and a charger for $26. These have very low self-discharge and can be recharged more than 1000 times. Mine last three weeks in my Magic Mouse and about two months in the keyboard.

These batteries were also top-rated by Consumer reports.

Danny W.

Your welcome.

Here is my 2 cents on this charger. It is a nice charger, but Apple isn't selling anything new that you can buy for a bit less on Amazon. The Sanyo MDR02 charger is essentially the same charger except that it charges about 20% faster (4 hrs versus 5 hrs) and also supports AAA. The MDR02 allows for charging of 1 or 2 at a time, and also shuts off when done.

The latest Sanyo Eneloop batteries also appear to outperform the ones that Apple is offering although we're not sure yet whose Apple is rebranding. The Eneloops retain 85% charge after one year compared to 80% for the Apple ones. The latest Eneloops are supposed to last 1500 charges compared to 1000 for prior ones (as if any of us will even get close to this).

As for price, you'll probably save a little buying the Sanyo products if you shop around. Both Amazon and Costco carry them.

I got mine delivered in the past few days. First impressions: very compact unit. I used to have a Maha C204 charger that does 4x AA cells, and I thought that was compact. The apple charger is phenominally small.

The positives: it can do independent cells. My keyboard uses 3x AA cells, my handheld CB radio also. Odd numbers are bad when my main charger (aforementioned Maha C204) charges in pairs.

The bad: it seems not to like standard, high self-discharge NiMH cells. I have some Energizer 1850mAh and 2300mAh batteries that pre-dates the newer low self discharge NiMH design, and the Apple charger doesn't seem to like them. It flashes orange (to indicate battery error) when I attempt to charge them. It should be noted tho that these cells are quite old in age and use - so perhaps the new Apple charger circuitry is more fussy about older/worn out cells out of safety. I have an Energizer USB charger that would occasionally throw an error when I try to charge the old cells too - but my Maha has a rejuvenation function and I've been successfully recharging them for many years.

Some questions:

• When the Apple Battery Charger has fully charged both batteries, does some sort of light come on immediately, to indicate it's finished?

• Once it's fully charged both batteries, is it ok to leave it plugged in, switched on, with both batteries still in it? Can you leave it in that state for months?

• If the batteries discharge over time (say a month) while they're sitting in the Apple Battery Charger, will the charger re-charge them again automatically? Or do you have to take the batteries out of the Charger and put them back in again for it to work?

yes, there is a light.
yes, it's okay to leave it plugged in. for months? I guess so, don't know.
don't know about automatic recharge, but I would assume it does.

as for the charger: it's really nice, the batteries hold quite longer than my old rechargables -> worth the money. if you buy 2000 dollar machine, just get it added 😀

Thanks for the information