Nitecore USB charger will keep you away from the home socket. My favorite photo genres keep me away for days, even weeks. In time, I looked for different alternatives. Of course, I purchased spare camera batteries, but they are not that cheap. Then I found out about USB chargers that opened a series of options to me. After mobile phone manufacturers finally reached a standard and chose the 5V voltage of the USB port, the accessories market exploded. Car, solar, dynamo, battery power, etc. have been produced, all on USB.
My camera is a Canon 6D and uses the LP-E6 battery. I purchased an USB charger made in China for this type of battery with the idea of using it together with a power bank and a solar panel. I can not complain, it was doing its job with only one disadvantage: charging the battery very slowly. More precisely the double the time required for the original charger from the socket, in my case.
I found out about Nitecore chargers. I knew this manufacturer was producing lanterns, Li-Ion batteries, and standard battery chargers. I was glad when they launched a series of USB chargers for camcorder batteries. They were generous and produced chargers for Sony, Nikon, Canon, Leica, even for GoPro and I hope they will include others soon.
So I purchased a Nitecore UCN1 charger compatible with Canon LP-E6 / LP-E6N and LP-E8 accumulators. Yes, there is a 2-in-1 charger. The LP-E6 slot is on the front and has the LP-E8 slot on the back.
It’s made of a plastic that looks pretty strong, but it’s also very light at the same time, weighing only 56g.
The front panel has a well-readable display that provides information about the battery status, voltage, charging current, temperature and most importantly the capacity with which the battery has been charged. The USB male plug cable is side-by-side, it can be an advantage but also a disadvantage at the same time.
Specifications:
- Input voltage: 5V 2A
- Output voltage: slot B1 for LP-E6 / LP-E6N: 8.4 V, 1 A (Max) B2 slot for LP-E8: 8.4 V, 1 A (Max)
- Certifications: CE, ROHS, FCC, CEC, REACH, KC, C-TICK
- Dimensions: 85 x 50 x 25 mm
- Weight: 55.7 g
In tests:
Works according to the specifications. The charging current is 1000 mA, very close to that of the original charger. Thus, the charging time for LP-E6 is less than 2 hours. I could not test it with LP-E8, unfortunately I do not have such a battery. It doesn’t gets very hot and the information on the display is useful. Note that it only displays the correct temperature for original batteries. For the aftermarket ones, it displays a constant 21°C, which tells us that the battery manufacturer had a low budget strategy and instead of a temperature sensor they mounted a simple resistor.
It is smart enough and adapts to the maximum current that the power supply can provide. If we connect it to a charger that is not capable of feeding it with the 2A current, Nitecore will adapt and charge the battery with a lower current. This makes it ideal for use with a solar panel as the supplied power will depend on the panel illumination. Personally I have a solar panel with a 16W USB output and I was able to successfully charge my battery directly from it.
Strengths:
- compact and lightweight design
- durable
- fast loading without damaging the batteries
- adapts depending on the power supply used
Weaknesses:
- I noticed that it does not charge up to 100% for some used batteries
- the built-in cable is too short
Conclusions:
It replaced the original charger, which is now hidden through the closet. Of course, this review is about the Canon UCN1, but I am convinced that the other models meet the same quality standard, so I recommend it to anyone who needs an alternative for the classical charger or who wants a charger for a parallel backup battery.
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