hahnel Professional Charger PROCUBE2 for Select Canon Batteries

Perfect way to charge batteries. So far I'm only using it for my Canon R6, but I love all the adapters it comes with because I can then use it for my Canon RP and other batteries. Amazing.

Great status display indicating percentage and charging current of each of two batteries in the same time charging one battery with other chargers (1 Hr). Using a battery grip for the Canon Rebel T6s, the operational time is about 3 hours allowing for another set of two batteries fully charged ready to be used. Powered with AC/DC adapters or USB port and battery plates to accommodate other Canon battery configurations. Great Charger for Canon Battery EP-E17

The hahnel PROCUBE2 for Canon includes (3) interchangeable charge plates for charging LP-E6/L9-E6n/LP-E6NH batteries, LP-E8 batteries and LP-E17 batteries. It also includes an additional adapter that provides the ability to charge AA NiMh cells. Charge time is significantly faster than the time required if you use the Canon OEM charger supplied with your camera. Charge time for a single battery varies from 1 hr. for the lower-powered E8 and E17 batteries to as much as 2hrs-15 min, for the newer E6NH batteries. Charging two batteries simultaneously increases the charge time by approximately 50% to a maximum of 3 hrs. The charger includes a back-lit digital display that shows the amount of charge each battery contains has received and the total mAh of charge that each has received. It seems to work well for the Canon Li-Ion batteries. The 2-1/2 hours to re-charge (2) LP-E6N batteries is a dramatic improvement on the 8 hours it would take using a Canon OEM charger. The charger is powered by 12 Volts DC, either from the included 110 VAC to 230 VAC wall adapter or a supplied automotive 12 VDC power cord. The PROCUBE2 also includes an adapter plate that allows charging 4 AA cells. The minimal instructions simply show how to attach the AA cell adapter and insert the AA cells, but provide no other info about its use. Using this adapter will only allow charging of 4 AA cells at the same time. If only one or two cells are installed, no charging will happen. Examination of the charger connections to the AA adapter and the wiring of the adapter confirms that the 4 cells are simply wired in series during charging. Voltage sensing is for the group of 4 cells together and no attempt is made to monitor the individual cells. That means that for proper charging to occur, all four AA cells should have exactly the same mAh capacity rating, the same lifetime usage (number of re-charge cycles), and should have the same amount of remaining charge (starting point) when inserted in this charger. The simplistic all in series method of charging 4 cells cannot correctly accommodate charging cells of different mAh capacity or cells starting at different initial remaining charge levels together. If 2 cell that are discharged to 50% and 2 cells discharged to 10% are all inserted at the same time, the cells starting at 10% will not be fully charged and/or the cells starting at 50% will likely be severely overcharged. Overcharging will drastically shorten the life of NiMh cells and should always be avoided. Unless you know that all 4 cells are the same capacity, have the same number of re-charge cycles and are starting from the same residual charge point, I would not recommend using this charger for AA cells. This information should be included in the operating instructions, but it is not! If you have (4) identical AA cells that have been removed for a Canon Flash unit and have been fully discharged, then using this device to re-charge them is probably OK in a pinch. Otherwise I would just ignore the AA charge adapter and never use it. There are many less expansive, much safer ways to re-charge AA cells.

I have one of the original Hahnel Cube chargers, and I love it! So I did not hesitate to purchase the Cube2. It was a mistake. The unit appears to be in excellent condition, and to have been well made of good materials. And it does charge batteries. However, after a battery reaches 100% charge the charger goes crazy and starts displaying a rapidly changing nonsense display. I dont know what it does to the battery connected to it. As such, it only has some very minimal value as a charger. This is a bad product.

This review of the hahnel Pro Cube 2 Model 1000 750 will reference the features of the Pro Cube 2 in comparison to the features of the Canon LC-E6 Battery Charger Model DS510101 Each of these devices uses a single AC outlet plug. The sizes are not identical with the hahnel being about twice as large. The hahnel has an adapter that plugs into an AC outlet and then a cord stretches 60" so that the hahnel might be more suitable for a desk top setup whereas the Canon can mount and operate on a wall socket. Out of the box, the hahnel comes supplied with greater versatility in terms of power connections since there is a cigarette lighter 12 volt plug as well as plug adapters for Europe, UK and the USA. The Canon out of the box has no plug adapters or 12 volt connectivity. Also as a single device the hahnel can not only charge two Canon batteries but 4 AA rechargeables or supply USB power. Note however that only one of these functions can be used at a time and 4 AA batteries need to be inserted even if only one needs charging. One potential advantage of the hahnel, which I found not realized in practice, is the digital percent of charge and the digital mAh readout supplied by the hahnel. As I understand, the digital mAh indicates the amount of charge that enters each battery and the percent of charge, the amount to which the battery has been charged. The problems I encountered are the following three: First, what I found very confusing is when the percent of charge reaches 100%, the digital mAh continues to rise. In one instance the mAh at 100% read 168 mAh but leaving the battery in the charger the mAh rose further, after a time, to 262 mAh. I would not have expected at an indicated 100% of charge that the battery would accept an additional 94mAh or more of charging. Second, although knowing the amount of charge applied to the battery can be useful, after some time with the same 100% battery in place and the mAh continuing to increase, there comes a point when the charger erases all the previous charging data (and thus prevents the user from knowing what the full mAh for the battery was) and initiates a new cycle with the charge indicator starting at 1% and then increasing to just 16%. And this is with the same newly and completely charged battery in place. Third, if I take that same battery out and then place it back in the charger --- and I did not know that this was a fully charged battery --- I would be very puzzled why the charging display read from 1% to 16% and the mAh showed zero. I would have interpreted this hahnel reading to mean that the battery is faulty and cannot be recharged. If that same freshly charged battery is placed in the Canon charger there is a period of steady one second interval individual flashes and then the expected three quick flashes followed quickly by the green light. I may be misunderstanding how to interpret the digital display of the hahnel, but at least with the Canon, I get a green light which means good to go (although there is no indication of the potential mAh capacity of the battery). If you are not bothered by the --- to me --- confusing digital display you can certainly get "more bang for your buck" with the hahnel. On the other hand the hahnel is rather expensive compared to other Canon compatible battery chargers, but I have no testing knowledge of any of these others. I noticed that there is a Top-Max LP-E6N Quick Dual Battery Charger, with a digital charge level display, the ability to simultaneously use the USB charging interface, and a cigarette lighter 12 volt cable for only .24.79.