Hahnel ProCube2 Battery Charger

I keep meaning to mention how much I like the Hähnel ProCube2 battery charger as a home-based charger (I've never traveled with it).

It's just very nice to be able to charge two batteries at once, get a visual reading (I like visuals) on where each one is in the cycle, and get them charged up lickety-split.

Some people have said that fast charging wears out the batteries faster, but time is money too, as they say, and I'd rather have to wait less time for batteries to charge. It's convenient sometimes. Frankly I don't keep cameras long enough to wear out the batteries...at least I don't think that's ever happened to me yet. I'm still using the original battery that came with my Fuji X-T1 in 2014, for instance. So I'm not sure batteries wearing out early is a problem I care about. And by the way, if I use the old X-T1 battery in the the new Fuji X-H1, there's actually a little box that pops up in the viewfinder telling me to use the newer type of battery because the older ones drain too fast in the new camera! So, as a practical matter, you're probably going to want to use the latest batteries in the future anyway. [UPDATE: Stephen S. says it's because the older batteries catch fire in the new camera...yikes. Guess I won't be mixing batteries in the future.] But even if the ProCube2 does shorten the life of batteries overall, I'm okay with that conceptually. I'll take the tradeoff, if it exists. Your mileage may vary if you're a heavy shooter and routinely run batteries down.

My ProCube2 on my charging station on the basement landing

Actually I'm not completely sure why I like this thing so much, to be honest. Maybe there's no rational reason for it. I just like it. Makes me feel in control of "charging hygiene" I guess.

The link here and at the top is to the Fuji/Panasonic version. Hähnel also makes versions of the same product for Nikon, Sony, Canon, and Olympus. I've never used those.

Oh, and by the way, there's an exchangeable top plate that allows you to charge rechargeable AAs in it, too.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Ronny A Nilsen: "I have one as well, and I love it! There is something about a charger that tells you exactly what it's doing, and how much the batteries are charged, compared to some blinking light that only gives you a slight clue at to how things are coming along."

Moose (partial comment): "Re 'I've never traveled with it': Travel has been, until this year, my primary use of chargers. For me, this one is oversize, overweight and overpriced."

Mike replies: I possibly should have acknowledged that I got this as a gift, and thus never made any calculation about its price.

Ken Bennett: "I adore the ProCube chargers. I have two of them for my Fuji system, and got one for our multimedia guy for his Sonys. I like having the charger on my desk, not stuck into a wall outlet somewhere. I can see the charger, the level of charge, and doing two at a time is great."

William Schneider: "I'm a fan of a similar device, the Watson Duo LCD Charger. It can charge two different batteries simultaneously with its interchangeable battery plates. I have plates for Nikon, Panasonic, and Fuji cameras that I mix and match. The best part is the USB 2.0 charging port on the side for phones, or even for slow-charging batteries inside some camera bodies like my D780. It comes with a 12v automobile cigarette lighter adapter too."

Comments

[Albert Smith]

As much as I love my Fuji cameras, the batteries are the weakest link, especially after using Nikon DSLRs.

I might be too compulsive, but I labeled my 8 batteries with an alpha character (A through H) and use them sequentially. If I take out a spent battery marked D, Battery E goes in.

I feel like every battery will be used and charged fairly equally this way, which should make them the same in actual use.

Of course, I could be overthinking this.

[Peter Vagt]

I ordered the Fuji / Panasonic model from B&H a couple of months ago - for my Lumix Collection. The B&H product description lists the DMW-BLC12 (for the GX8) and the DMW-BLG10 (for the GX7, GX85, GX9, etc). The ProCube2 unit arrived but did not include the all-important BLG10 plate for my beloved GX9. I contacted both B&H and Hahnel through their respective website support links. B&H suggested I return the entire unit since it did not meet my need. HOWEVER, Hahnel interacted with me through several email messages and sent me the BLG10 plate at no charge. It took a couple of weeks but I'm impressed and a happy user of the unit.

[Stephen S.]

How many contacts per battery? If it's only two, and it's not connecting to the battery's T (thermal or temperature) contact, which would report the battery's temperature as it charges, then it had sure better have a built-in temperature sensor. If not, it could easily overheat a battery during charging, which can definitely shorten its lifespan, or worse, start a fire. Those fires can be quite substantial - jets of flame several feet high.

[David Evans]

It's a handsome device, but of my 4 Lumix and one Nikon battery types there is only one (for the G9) it will charge. So I bought a dedicated G9 twin charger for about 1/3 the price.

[Stephen Scharf]

The purpose of the message for the warning about not using an "S" battery in your X-H1 is not about it "draining too fast", its about the risk of a non-S battery...catching fire.

So, please, use the battery that Fujifilm specified for your X-H1, the NP-W126S. Do NOT use non-S batteries or 3rd party batteries. I know this was a controversial topic when the X-H1 came out, but for folks that may think they know more about this risk than Fujifilm engineers...take it from someone who has led teams in a bunch of engineering FMEAs in his time...you don't.

[Brian Stewart]

Some years ago I bought a Watson Duo Charger [insert B&H link here] for my Fuji batteries, based on a Thom recommendation. Did you consider this option?

A bit like the Hahnel, you can replace the top plates for alternative types of batteries, but from your description of the Hahnel it appears that unlike it can can replace the two plates on the Watson separately, so that you can mix and match, charging say one Fuji and one Nikon, even with different voltages. I don't think you can do AA, but it does have a USB 2.0 charging port and can take 12V power input.

I do travel with the Watson, but it's not small. Two Fuji chargers would be smaller and lighter, but slower and without the LCD screen.

[Ed G.]

I used the Panasonic GF1 long enough and hard enough that I wore out four batteries. Maybe five. I always carried a set of three batteries because I could run down that many in a heavy day of shooting (birding, usually), since I liked to leave the camera on all the time.

[Al Gardner]

If you travel or just want to use it at home, you might want to investigate the Nitecore FX1. Nitecore makes flashlights. They also make a series of battery chargers.

It charges two batteries, one on the front and one on the back. It displays temps, capacities, and progress. It is the same size as a credit card and about an inch thick.

It only has a USB connection. It consists of an attached USB plug on a short thick wire that stores in one side of the unit. Buy the USB extension at the same time so you can be further from the USB port. I plug it into the extension and the extension plugs into a USB charger that can provide 2.4 amps into both ports simultaneously.

It's not a speed demon but it charges the Fuji "S" batteries at a reasonable rate.

[Kye Wood]

On Amazon, I can only buy batteries for my Lumix G85 with an included dual charging system. The fun, for me, comes from doing two things at once. I'm charging two batteries and I can not only see how they're going independently but can also see how low their charge really was when I put them in.

#I hope you don't get burned for mentioning national leadership - my aged mother is immersed in right wing political news media, and now all she speaks of is fearful things. I miss her positivity. Sigh.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

I’m happy you’re pleased with this product. But my own experiences with Hähnel’s products has not endeared their brand to me. I’ve owned three of their chargers, each as part of a Phase One kit. Aside from being ridiculously oversized and clunky each has failed to some degree. My current charger, a 2-battery unit, has lovely displays but only charges one battery. Two previous model units have both failed entirely. Frankly, I don’t know why Phase One includes this garbage in their 5-figure kits.

[Moose]

"I've never traveled with it"

Travel has been, until this year, my primary use of chargers. For me, this one is oversize, overweight and over priced.

I've been using an OAproada twin charger for Panny batteries for GX7, GX9, GX85, ZS200 and ZS80.

Travel tested in 90 nights of recharging multiple batteries on the road, it's smaller, much lighter and charges much faster than the Panny chargers. Cheaper, too. I haven't timed it, but it seems like it can charge four batteries in little more time than one in a Panny charger.

It looks from the pix/specs on Amazon as though the same basic thing is available for most contemporary batteries, under various brand names.

(Note how Panny uses the same battery for many models. They even designed the smaller battery for the GM models to fit the same charger as the larger ones!)

[Peter Croft]

I think the reason you like it is because it's just good design. I like well designed products too.

Back around 2008/9 when I had a Canon 40D I bought a Hahnel dual charger of an earlier design which also used different plates for different batteries. I think I had a Nikon too, at the time, and got a plate for that. The charger also ran off the car's battery, an idea I liked although I never needed it.

When my order arrived, it looked as if someone had used it as a hammer to drive nails. There were several prominent dents in the metal casing. It worked, but I didn't like it.

I emailed Hahnel in Ireland with a picture and got a very prompt reply asking me to wait for a fix. A few days later I got a package from Hong Kong with a brand new replacement. I emailed back to thank them and ask what they wanted me to do with the original. Just keep it, they said, so I've still got both, but no Canon or Nikon batteries needing a charge I'm afraid.

This impressed me and I've been a Hahnel fan of their good design ever since.

[scott kirkpatrick]

A while back, I went down the NiteCore path for batteries from Panasonic and Leica cameras. Simiar technology, with a voltage output and graphics. These come in one-battery and two battery models. While the information was useful, since many newer cameras only give you a four-bar charge indicator, it became clear that the charging algorithm in the NiteCores was very simple -- rush to get the job done, stop at a safe point, but not fully charged. And if you left the battery in the charger (e.g. overnight) it would discharge once the cycle had completed. So these were cheap, light, and did not do the greatest job. Sic semper...

[Peter Croft]

PS: the charger I use now for my Panasonic, Olympus, Sony and Pentax batteries is the Hahnel UniPal Plus https://www.hahnel.ie/irish-shop/unipal_plus/ It has two small steel prongs which are adjustable to fit the spacing of any battery. It doesn't care about polarity so you can insert any camera battery. It can be a bit fiddly but it works well.

It also charges two AAs and AAAs and has a USB output socket too. I use it when travelling as it doesn't matter what camera I'm using or what device. I sound like a Hahnel salesman but it's another good design, IMHO.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Interesting. I've never found a charger that was fast enough to count on in the middle of sessions; hence I've always owned enough batteries to get through without charging any during the shoot. Then I can charge them overnight, which means the speed of charging isn't too important. I do often end up with multiple chargers; when I buy third-party batteries they often come with a charger, and that's useful.