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Otis Memorial Pentaxian Registered: March, 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Posts: 42,007 | | Review Date: July 1, 2021 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Does a safe slow charge to maximize battery life | | Cons: | Backward status light logic | |
This charger came with my K-3 camera (spec'd for use in North America).
Pros:- It and its companion power supply are very well-built
- While limited to slow charge (apparently trickle towards the end), time to charge is not excessively long, even while traveling.
- Safe
Cons:- Bulky when combined with power supply and cord.
- Single status light is lit while charging and not lit when done. I would have preferred a lamp that glows yellow while charging and green when done and no light when a battery is not mounted.
While not a related to this unit, per se, the fact that until very recently (spring 2021) there were no Pentax options for a safe travel charger and/or car kit is a shame.
In use:
What can we say? Put the battery in the cradle and note the green light comes on. Check back later to see if it is off and if it is, put the battery back in the camera or whatever holder one uses. I have never actually timed it, but with with partial discharge (yellow zone on rear display), it usually takes less than four hours. This has worked pretty well for me since I usually have three batteries in rotation, one in the camera and two as backup in the bag. Extremely rare is the session when I go through all three. I will add that I have the AC adapter for use when that is an option.
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Site Supporter Registered: April, 2015 Posts: 3,520
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 29, 2021 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Slow charging for long battery-live. Temperature-control! | | Cons: | None | |
Negative reviews based on lack of understanding and impatience should be deleted here!
They mislead others and can lead to dangerous adventures:
All fast-charging clone-chargers and clone-dual-chargers are quickchargers!
Quickcharging will lead not only less battery-life but it can lead to a swelling of the battery.
Because they warm up the batteries.
The original Pentax-charger has 3 contacts (later ones even 4), this third contact is for the 10kOhm@20°C NTC temperature sensor inside the original Pentax D-LI90 (and 109) battery!
But clone batteries have no temperature sensor. It would not be possible to charge them in the D-BC90 charger but those clones trick it by using a 10kohm resistor instead, so they cheap the original charger!
Quick-charging warms up the battery and it can swell, here a photo of a swollen Wasabi D-LI109-clone:
It jams in the batterycompartment and can damage the batteryhook which is expensive to get replaced.
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Veteran Member Registered: September, 2017 Location: Medellín Posts: 1,322 | | Review Date: January 2, 2020 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Simple to use, reliable. | | Cons: | | |
I've had mine for almost eight years now and it's still going. Never had a problem with it, it's light and lends itself for travel since it's specified for a wide range of voltages. It just needs the appropriate cable or plug adapter.
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Veteran Member Registered: July, 2010 Location: New York Posts: 1,071 | | Review Date: August 10, 2016 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Reliable operation. | | Cons: | Very slow charging. | |
I've been using the one supplied with my K-5 for years now with absolutely no trouble and have never had to pull out the one that came with my K-3 II. Batteries typically reach 8.35V fresh off the charger as measured by my multimeter, which is pretty much a full charge (the maximum charging voltage for most Li-ion cells is 4.2V a cell, or 8.4V for the two-cell batteries Pentax uses).
However, charging is very slow. Whereas chargers for similar C&N batteries like the LP-E6 and EN-EL15 take 2.5 hours to fully charge a depleted battery (they both charge at up to 1.2 A), it takes as much as 6.5 hours to bring a discharged D-LI90 to full charge (the D-BC90 charges at a mere 400 mA). This is long enough for me to have to deduct multiple points off the rating. Pentax needs to update this charger to fully recharge batteries in three hours or less.
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Veteran Member Registered: September, 2013 Posts: 306 | | Review Date: September 22, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Works fine | | Cons: | None | |
About 4 hours and light offwhen battery is full. Perfect item
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Pentaxian Registered: January, 2011 Location: Skĺne, Sweden Posts: 482
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 18, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Simple to use | | Cons: | A bit slow to charge | |
I write this review mostly to inform of some compatibility issues that I found after purchasing the K-01. There are two versions of this charger, the original called D-BC90 and a newer version called D-BC90P. The batteries are also updated with a "P" on the end, e.g. D-LI90P. The compatibility is as follows:
Old charger D-LI90 will only charge D-LI90
New charger D-LI90P will charge both D-LI90 and D-LI90P
There are plastic grooves on the D-LI90P battery which makes it impossible to even fit in in the older D-LI90 charger. My K-01 was supplied with the new charger and battery, my original K-5 came with the old charger and battery.
Apparently the new design has to do with Japanese safety regulations, discussed here
For the chargers themselves, all I can say is that they are simple to use, just plug in and attach battery. When the green light is on it is charging, when it turns off your battery is charged. Takes maybe 5-6 hours for a fully discharged battery, but the capacity is high so I usually only need 1-2 hours even after plenty of use. Li-Ion batteries can be, in fact should be, charged before completely empty.
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Inactive Account Registered: January, 2013 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: January 23, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | solid bulid | | Cons: | none | |
I am happy about this item, it seems well constructed. I would like to buy a second one so I can charge two batteries at once.
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Pentaxian Registered: November, 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 4,002 | | Review Date: January 20, 2012 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Charge battery fully, Cheap, Simple to use | | Cons: | Slow charge | |
The battery charger comes with the K-7 camera. It is relatively slow to charge the battery, but a slow charge is good to maintain the battery life. Further the charger charges the battery fully and the green LED light comes off when fully-charged. Off course a bonus is that it comes free with the camera.
In my opinion the battery charger is as good quality if not better than most battery chargers provided with digital cameras.
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Forum Member Registered: October, 2010 Location: Klaipeda Posts: 78 | | Review Date: January 17, 2012 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | charge time, clear indicator | | Cons: | no 12v charging acapter | |
long charging time is good for battery long-life, but possible charge only home.
for fast charging outside needed other charger
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Veteran Member Registered: February, 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 2,576
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 4, 2011 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | charges batteries | | Cons: | | |
I'm not sure why other users feel there is a problem with this charger.
It does it's job just fine, charging does takes a while if the battery is fully discharged but if you have a spare battery then this is a non issue.
I'm satisfied with the performance of this charger.
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Veteran Member Registered: September, 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 2,653
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 3, 2011 | Not Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 1 |
| Pros: | Charges battery | | Cons: | Bad design | |
This must be the only charger in the world which indicates that it had finished charging by turning the green LED off - the same state as if it is not plugged in. Cost cutting in the extreme or just plain idiotic design.
Really slow to charge a fully discharged battery.
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Administrator Registered: September, 2006 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 4,408 | | Review Date: July 13, 2010 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | Works | | Cons: | Charging time | |
It takes a painfully long about six hours to charge a completely discharged battery.
It seems disproportionally longer than charging a battery for the K10D/K20D with the K-BC50 charger.
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