I've had this little guy for some time, but didn't think of it possibly applying to those that use battery cells and/or solar panels.

44g/1.5oz, Charges 2 AA or AAA batteries, self-contained, ...10g less than the FreeLoader battery charger.

Went to look what I paid for it, and it appears kinda hard to be found these days. Perhaps Sanyo is stopping selling them because of low sales. Personally I haven't found anything lighter and it's a nice piece of kit, backpacking (charge headlamp bats.) or just general travel (camera bats.).

Link

...I think I actually paid $15 for it.

KJ

Edited by f8less on 01/05/2013 22:08:51 MST.

Can you charge 1 batt at a time ?
(my AA/AAA can only do them in pairs)

You have to do them in pairs. I don't believe I've found a charger that will do one at a time yet. I think that would require some kind of fancier electronics to switch between charging one or two.

KJ

Ok, thanks for that.

ccrane has a charger that can do one at a time http://www.ccrane.com/more-categories/batteries-chargers/cc-quick-charger-2-batteries-and-car-adapter.aspx#prodDetails

It has no weight listed. $40

Maybe you could remove the electronics and rig something up that was lighter

Got mine last year on Amazon, was about ~$18 with two AA Eneloop cells.

Charging via USB, even from a desktop PC, takes a looonnnggg time. Can't imagine how long it'd take hooked up to even a quality, portable, solar panel. Although I love the idea, I gave up on solar panels for lightweight backpacking a long time ago. Spare cells are still lighter, even rechargeables. That said, placing a dummy cell in one slot will force twice the current into the remaining cell which is normally a no-no. But if using a solar panel, and if it can provide enough current, then that one cell will charge faster. YMMV...