Originally Posted By: chaosmagnet

These are all good points.

The only Eneloop chargers I've seen have run on house current. Is there a good way to make 120V AC without a generator or a running car? I have a couple of inverters, but I don't know how I'd go about using solar, hand crank or a bicycle to recharge them.


There is a USB-powered charger for 2 AAA or AA. If you have access to a USB power supply (either mains powered, or from your laptop or PC, or a 12V USB power adaptor for your car) then you can charge your eneloops. The model is MDU01 and it is a good quality charger.

Another option is the Eneloop mobile booster KBC-E1S. You can use it as a charger for 2 AA cells, powered from a USB supply (as above). When the cells are charged the unit itself can be used as a USB power source to charge something else, such as a cellphone for example. The unit does not accept AAA cells, probably because they would be useless for charging something else, although the current is safe (for charging) if you use an AAA to AA adaptor.

USB is becoming the de-facto power source for small electronics, so as well as standardising on your batteries, choose devices that can be charged/powered by USB.

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