Rayovac Platinum LSD Charger with 2 AA and 2 AAA NiMH Trilingual Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I almost dismissed this Rayovac Platinum LSD Charger with 2 AA and 2 AAA NiMH package as yet another cosmetic update of the same old Rayovac Hybrid Charger package. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I gave it a try. Here is what I have found:

The charger included in this package is the Rayovac PS33. It looks exactly like the previous PS32, but actually offers several improvements inside:

- The old PS32 is a timer-based dumb charger. It simply charges each pair of AA cells at 350mA for 8 hours, regardless of their status or capacity.

- The new PS33 is semi-smart, in the sense that it monitors the combined voltage of each pair, and will stop charging when BOTH cells are fully charged. Its charging current is also higher at 450mA, which means it takes less time (about 5 hours) to fully recharge a pair of 2100mAh cells.

One remaining drawback with the PS33 is that it can only charge in pairs. This is very inconvenient if you have appliances that require odd number of cells. If you try to recharge one empty cell together with one full cell, the latter one will be badly over-charged.

The new 'Rayovac Platinum' LSD cells are physically different from the old Rayovac Hybrid (check my Customer Image for the scan for both). Electrically, they are almost identical. Both have capacity of 2100mAh. Both claim charge retention rate of 80% after 6 months, etc. One disturbing sign is that: Rayovac previously claims Hybrid can be recharged "up to 500 times", but the new Platinum is advertised on Rayovac web site as just "275 times".

As of this writing, the price of this Rayovac package (PS33 charger + 2 each of Platinum LSD AA and AAA cells) is actually cheaper than buying 4x Rayovac Platinum LSD AA cells, so it is still a good value because the charger is essentially thrown in for free. But if you need to recharge cells individually, get a better charger such as the Sanyo Eneloop 2 Pack AA w/ MDR02 Charger.

[Update on Oct 16, 2010]
Long-term self-discharge test: after 3 months sitting on the shelf, a pair of Rayovac Platinum AA cells retained 83% of original capacity. This is slightly worse than the rate for old Rayovac Hybrid, whcih typically can retain 85% after 5 months.

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Product Description:
Pre-Charged - Unlike standard rechargeables, Platinum batteries areprecharged and ready to use right out of the package!

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