Reviews for Apple Battery Charger

I love the Apple Battery Charger! I bought it with my new Magic Trackpad (which is also five stars) and they Charge fast and seem to hold a charge! And it's so nice to have nice rechargeable batteries on hand!

552 of 660 people found this useful

First, the charger itself is awesome. It's small, simple, and easy to use. That's about all I need to say about it.

Otherwise, be careful about how you read into battery charge percentages. I have not had any flashing amber lights yet, but I did notice that even after a "full" charge, the batteries only registered around 85% as seen in the bluetooth menu. At first I thought they might actually not be charging correctly, but I have a different theory now. As it is impossible to instantaneously measure the actual capacity of a battery, I think this phenomenon is simply caused by the fact that rechargeable NiMH batteries generally have lower capacity and run at slightly lower voltages than single-use alkaline cells (due to their chemistry and some other factors). Apple's NiMH cells say they are rated at 1900 mAh, while standard Energizer or Duracell alkaline cells are typically at least 2300 mAh. Thus, if Apple decided that 1.8V is 100% charge and 1.3V is empty, and at full capacity their NiMH cells only reach 1.7V, that would easily explain the lower percentage readings. So... I would say don't worry if you see these percentages, but don't expect these batteries to last quite as long as normal alkaline cells per charge either. I am not complaining, because I'll hopefully still be saving money over time.

90 of 101 people found this useful

Love this product. I use them for the wireless keyboard, trackpad. I bought another set to use for my Nikon SB-900 camera flash unit. They're amazing for that application.

Labeling batteries in pairs will make them last longer, as they will have the same amount and relative number of charges and use cycles.

72 of 78 people found this useful

Several people said they only got them to 80-85% charge before placing in the trackpad. I saw the same thing, but I let them charge past green, until the light fully shut off. Placed them back in Magic TrackPad and they were 100%. They are evidently still trickle-charging with the green light. Hey people, don't be too quick to criticize. Investigate and give things a chance to work.

66 of 70 people found this useful

I go way back with rechargeable batteries and have had mixed results with them. One thing i have learned is that they "remember everything" and you only get one chance to abuse them. With that i mean don't discharge them fully or they may reverse polarity, don't short circuit put them in some device which draws more current than they are designed for and under no circumstances leave them on charge forever because while the manufacturers intend this practice to "maintain" charge, what it in the ends up doing is shortening the lifespan. A rechargeable NMH or Li will show aslight "peak" in voltage just prior to (under a given discharge rate) it's beginning to fall off, for the most part this occurs around 30% or .8VDC (assuming a 1.25V cell) if you plot the terminal voltage verses remaining charge current. What this means is that if you recharge these little things whenever convenient, somewhere between 25 and 35% ond only until the indicator has chaged from amber to green (don't wait for it to turn off) these should last for many, many, many cycles. I hope this helps.

61 of 65 people found this useful

I have read all of the reviews to date and after using the charger and batteries felt that I should write this review. I did have a little difficulty with the charger at first until I realized that the ports on the positive contacts of the charger had a very close tolerance and the batteries were a little bit of a tight fit. So when I inserted the batteries and applied a little pressure to seat the positive end of the battery into the charger the batteries charged fine. I think that the ports on the positive terminals of the charger will loosen up after some use. As far as the fully charged batteries registering approximately 80% on the wireless mouse or keyboard... The voltage of a fresh AA alkaline battery is approximately 1.5V. A fully charged AA NiMH battery has a voltage of approximately 1.2V. The wireless mouse and keyboard are probably configured to register 1.5V as 100%. If you do the math the AA NiMH battery should register approximately 80% when fully charged and inserted into the wireless mouse or wirless keyboard. I hope this helps!

62 of 75 people found this useful

Just received mine. I was immediately struck by how beautiful and elegant the packaging is. It was almost as much fun as unboxing a new iPhone 5. Kudos to the packaging design team.

Delighted that it is dual voltage and, like most Apple products, has a removable plug adapter. It will go in my back for China trips.

55 of 69 people found this useful

Let me preface this with the fact I've been using rechargeable batteries in my gadgets for a while now. I've exclusively used Sanyo Eneloops for about 6 months and have noticed similarities to the Apple batteries. Even when fully charged both report about 80-90% charge to the computer. This normal as rechargeables (especially low self-dicharge one like the eneloops and apple) have a lower mAh rating and voltage than alkalines.

As for the Apple Charger itself, I like the design. It will charge single batteries, something my model of the eneloop charger does not do. The folding plug can be replaced with the international travel kit plugs or a macbook charger extension cable.

The batteries look nice and give about the same performance as the eneloops.

Overall, I recommend buying this set, it's a good starter set. Otherwise, eneloops make a great choice for a kit or additional batteries.

52 of 64 people found this useful

I was skeptical about trying these batteries after reading some of the reviews posted on here but after receiving them i must say i am quite happy with the results.

A few reviewers had posted that they would not fully charge in the charger and the batteries would only show a level of 85% on the battery indicator for the magic mouse after charging for several hours. I have a feeling that the reason the battery life indicator is reading less then 100% is a result of NiMH batteries running at 1.2V vs 1.5V for alkaline batteries.

When i received the batteries i topped up a set in the charger for about an hour, until the green light came on indicating a full charge. I placed them in my Magic Mouse and used them for a solid 8 hr work day and only witnessed a drop from 87% to 86% which is great! The charger is small and fits easily in a packed power bar which is a big plus for me too.

53 of 68 people found this useful