What are the best cheap UK battery chargers for charging rechargeable AA batteries. At the moment I've been trying to get a camera to work that suffers from an annoying problem. The problem can be down to a number of things, and what fixes the issue for some people does not work for others. The camera in question is the Canon Powershot S2 IS, and the fault is known as the "Canon S2 IS change the batteries problem". This is where the camera gives a "change the batteries" message, and won't power up in shoot mode, even though the batteries may be fully charged or just slightly used.
There's definitely a common fault here, as its not normal for batteries to run out so fast or not be compatible with the camera, even though they are known to be compatible. Some say its a problem with the camera, while others claim its the rechargeable batteries that are the issue because they are old and worn out. Either that or the camera is just extremely fussy about what type of batteries it will accept. Truth is, this problem has been talked about exhaustively on the Internet, and nobody so far has been able to provide a 100% fix for everyone.
A few things that have worked for some S2 owners is replacing the CMOS battery (for the time and date settings), resetting the camera, or using non-rechargeable alkaline battery's. I've tried all these things and nothing has worked for me. But some users have reported that changing their brand and or mAh capacity of rechargeable battery's used has fixed the problem for them. So this is where I find myself right now.
Beings as my Canon S2 came complete with Energizer rechargeable batteries and a charger, I am completely unaware of their history / usage. They could be just as old as the camera itself for all I know. And if that is the case, they need replacing. So for me the next step is to buy a new charger + AA batteries (a cheap bundle for around £10) and see if that fixes the issue.
I hope it does because I haven't really used this camera much because the batteries only last for a few shots before the camera gives me the annoying "change the battery pack" error, and this makes me have no confidence in taking it out with me on the road. I did write a mini review on the Canon S2 IS, and the battery's lasted long enough to take some shots, but I noticed the problem on that day all the same.
Shame really because I like this camera, it takes great pictures considering how old it is. The lens, and camera overall, appears to be very good for an older bridge camera. That's why I would rather spend some money trying a possible fix than buying another new / used camera. I think I have enough cameras in my collection already! Funny thing is, the amount I paid for the Canon S2 is less than the charger bundle I have my eye on buying.
I'm most probably getting a UNiROSS charger which comes complete with 4 x 2100 mAh batteries. I could buy Duracell, but the UNiROSS bundle seems to be the best deal, and UNiROSS products have always been pretty good for me over the years. It's like one of those non-mainstream hidden brands that are cheap to buy but usually surprisingly reliable.
Actually I got it wrong! It's ROSS that I'm thinking of, not UNiROSS. Unless they are the same company. The name is similar. And after reading some UNiROSS reviews on Amazon, which are quite a mix of good and bad (more good than bad though), I may still go with UNiROSS to see if they're any good. I will update this post when I buy the battery's + charger to report whether or not it fixed my Canon S2's battery drain issue.
And here is that update. I ended up buying all Duracell branded products in the end. A Duracell charger and Duracell batteries. The charger came with two 1300mAh AA's, and I bought another 2 that were identical to make up the set. Has this fixed the issue? After using the Canon S2 IS numerous times on these new 1300mAh batteries I can say yes, this has fixed the issue for me. I've took the camera out quite a few times now on fully charged batteries and it has lasted for a full day of taking pictures. That includes turning the camera on and off many times, zooming in and out a lot, and recording video.
It has been working without fault, and the "change the batteries" message has only shown up when the batteries were genuinely close to empty. This was confirmed by me removing the batteries and putting them in an old Walkman (cassette player) and leaving it play until the batteries were totally dead. They didn't last long. So that confirms they were very low when they were taken out of the camera.
The Canon Powershot S2, in my case at least, seems to be very fussy when it comes to batteries. My 2450mAh Energizer's just would not work in this camera for very long, even when fully charged. Put those same batteries in a different device and they generally last a few weeks. A different brand, with a much lower mAh has done the trick for me with the Powershot S2.
The exact charger I bought was the Duracell CEF14. This model usually comes with 2 AA and 2 AAA batteries, but mine only came with 2 AA. It's very cheap for such a good, reliable charger. If you want to try what fixed the problem for me to see if it works in your case, you can find this charger for sale here in the UK - Canada, and here in the USA. I would recommend this charger overall as it has worked really well so far.
And my S2 is now fully functional and shows no "change the batteries" message until its the right time to do so. Fair enough, 1300mAh batteries won't last as long, but for me, as long as I can take the camera out and have a full day (or a good few hours of constant use) of shooting without any silly error messages showing up, that's good enough for me. I can pretty much say this error for me is now marked as - Solved!
There's definitely a common fault here, as its not normal for batteries to run out so fast or not be compatible with the camera, even though they are known to be compatible. Some say its a problem with the camera, while others claim its the rechargeable batteries that are the issue because they are old and worn out. Either that or the camera is just extremely fussy about what type of batteries it will accept. Truth is, this problem has been talked about exhaustively on the Internet, and nobody so far has been able to provide a 100% fix for everyone.
A few things that have worked for some S2 owners is replacing the CMOS battery (for the time and date settings), resetting the camera, or using non-rechargeable alkaline battery's. I've tried all these things and nothing has worked for me. But some users have reported that changing their brand and or mAh capacity of rechargeable battery's used has fixed the problem for them. So this is where I find myself right now.
Beings as my Canon S2 came complete with Energizer rechargeable batteries and a charger, I am completely unaware of their history / usage. They could be just as old as the camera itself for all I know. And if that is the case, they need replacing. So for me the next step is to buy a new charger + AA batteries (a cheap bundle for around £10) and see if that fixes the issue.
I hope it does because I haven't really used this camera much because the batteries only last for a few shots before the camera gives me the annoying "change the battery pack" error, and this makes me have no confidence in taking it out with me on the road. I did write a mini review on the Canon S2 IS, and the battery's lasted long enough to take some shots, but I noticed the problem on that day all the same.
Shame really because I like this camera, it takes great pictures considering how old it is. The lens, and camera overall, appears to be very good for an older bridge camera. That's why I would rather spend some money trying a possible fix than buying another new / used camera. I think I have enough cameras in my collection already! Funny thing is, the amount I paid for the Canon S2 is less than the charger bundle I have my eye on buying.
I'm most probably getting a UNiROSS charger which comes complete with 4 x 2100 mAh batteries. I could buy Duracell, but the UNiROSS bundle seems to be the best deal, and UNiROSS products have always been pretty good for me over the years. It's like one of those non-mainstream hidden brands that are cheap to buy but usually surprisingly reliable.
Actually I got it wrong! It's ROSS that I'm thinking of, not UNiROSS. Unless they are the same company. The name is similar. And after reading some UNiROSS reviews on Amazon, which are quite a mix of good and bad (more good than bad though), I may still go with UNiROSS to see if they're any good. I will update this post when I buy the battery's + charger to report whether or not it fixed my Canon S2's battery drain issue.
And here is that update. I ended up buying all Duracell branded products in the end. A Duracell charger and Duracell batteries. The charger came with two 1300mAh AA's, and I bought another 2 that were identical to make up the set. Has this fixed the issue? After using the Canon S2 IS numerous times on these new 1300mAh batteries I can say yes, this has fixed the issue for me. I've took the camera out quite a few times now on fully charged batteries and it has lasted for a full day of taking pictures. That includes turning the camera on and off many times, zooming in and out a lot, and recording video.
It has been working without fault, and the "change the batteries" message has only shown up when the batteries were genuinely close to empty. This was confirmed by me removing the batteries and putting them in an old Walkman (cassette player) and leaving it play until the batteries were totally dead. They didn't last long. So that confirms they were very low when they were taken out of the camera.
The Canon Powershot S2, in my case at least, seems to be very fussy when it comes to batteries. My 2450mAh Energizer's just would not work in this camera for very long, even when fully charged. Put those same batteries in a different device and they generally last a few weeks. A different brand, with a much lower mAh has done the trick for me with the Powershot S2.
The exact charger I bought was the Duracell CEF14. This model usually comes with 2 AA and 2 AAA batteries, but mine only came with 2 AA. It's very cheap for such a good, reliable charger. If you want to try what fixed the problem for me to see if it works in your case, you can find this charger for sale here in the UK - Canada, and here in the USA. I would recommend this charger overall as it has worked really well so far.
And my S2 is now fully functional and shows no "change the batteries" message until its the right time to do so. Fair enough, 1300mAh batteries won't last as long, but for me, as long as I can take the camera out and have a full day (or a good few hours of constant use) of shooting without any silly error messages showing up, that's good enough for me. I can pretty much say this error for me is now marked as - Solved!
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