AccuPower AP12243 Car Adapter for IQ328 Battery Charger Analyzer Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $17.95
Sale Price: $12.95
Today's Bonus: 28% Off

This charger works great with the La Crosse Technology BC1000 battery charger. It is nice to have a way to charge from a 12 volt power supply.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

The AccuPower AP12243 Car Adapter is designed to power the AccuPower IQ-328 Battery Charger Analyzer from your vehicle's 12V/24V cigarette lighter outlet. There seems to be some doubts on whether it can also be used to power the La Crosse BC-700 or BC1000 chargers. Here is to put all the doubts to rest...

I have tested the IQ-328 and compared it against the BC1000. The input power requirements for both charger units are exactly the same. Each charger unit is powered by a wall unit (AC-DC adapter) that is rated for input of 100-240V AC, and output of 3V 4A max. I have even swapped their power adapters, and found absolutely no problems.

The IQ-328, just like BC1000, uses pulsed charging current at 25% duty cycle. That means when charging one cell at 1000mA (1A) setting, the charger outputs 4A for 0.25 second, then zero for the next 0.75 second. That's why the peak-current requirement of the power supply is 4A, even though the average current is 1A for each cell.

In the case of BC-700, its maximum charging current is 0.7A. So the required peak input current is just 2.8A. There is no problem in using an adapter rated for higher current capacity.

Bottom line is: The charger unit cannot tell the brand of the power supply used. At long as it receives the correct voltage and current required, it will operate correctly. That's why you can use this same adapter to power either the IQ-328 or the BC1000.

Important Note:

This adapter should NOT be used with the La Crosse BC500. The charger unit of BC500 accepts 12V DC input. Therefore all you need is a pass-through cigarette lighter adapter with the same 2.1/5.5mm barrel plug.

Best Deals for AccuPower AP12243 Car Adapter for IQ328 Battery Charger Analyzer

This charger works great with the La Crosse Technology BC1000 battery charger. It is nice to have a way to charge from a 12 volt power supply.

Honest reviews on AccuPower AP12243 Car Adapter for IQ328 Battery Charger Analyzer

I should qualify my 1-star by stating that my irritation isn't aimed at the product itself the adapter looks like it is well made and most likely delivers the voltage and current that it claims to. I haven't hooked it up to an oscilloscope to look at the output YET.

My problem here is that the adapter was marketed either by Amazon or by the seller as being for the LaCrosse BC1000 charger/analyzer. It *might* even work for that purpose, but checking with LaCrosse, I got an email back from their Customer Service that says:

"With regard to the following from your email: "If you could look further into the AccuPower Car adapter or please refer me to a car adapter of your own for the BC1000"

Unfortunately, there are no car adapaters that can be advised for use with the BC1000 as it is intended for home/standard outlet use. Our BC500 model is designed with car use in mind, and can also work at home. Again, with regard to "AccuPower", we have no information on that brand. You noted a BC800 and information attained from an Austrailian source. There are variant models of our product that are produced for areas outside of North America. The BC800 would be one of these. Thank you."

Obviously, somebody somehow somewhere made a connection between this adapter and the LaCrosse equipment *apparently* without bothering to ask LaCrosse. That's a bad idea without some coordination there could be issues with the adapter causing damage to the charger and from a warranty perspective, such use probably voids the warranty.

A side note: The AccuPower charger/analyzer that was listed, IQ328, sure looks a lot and by its Owners Manual, operates a lot like the LaCrosse BC1000. Considering the way that so much consumer electronics 'comes from the same factory with different names on it' who knows, they could come off virtually the same assembly line. I have run into cases where this is literally true with some Amateur Radio equipment.

If anyone has any verifiable knowledge of this being the case with the LaCrosse and AccuPower equipment, please follow up to my review and we can check back with both LaCrosse and AccuPower customer service and try and nail this down with regard to using the car adapter.