Inside the box you will find an AC/DC converter, a Power Cable (that includes the charging chip and the color changing LED to tell you if it’s charged or not), an ICE colored battery cover, two standard AAA 600-mAh batteries, and a carrying case. Also included is a postcard size piece of paper giving minimal documentation.

Not only does the ICU charger use 600-mAh batteries which are 50-mAh more than the Fullcharge, it uses standard rechargeable AAA batteries. This, I think, is the best and biggest feature of the ICU charger. When the batteries start failing to hold a charge, (as all rechargeable batteries do) you can go and get some more for $6.00!

The ICU charger connects to the batteries by two tabs that are mounted on the battery cover. These tabs go between the Visor and the tips of the batteries. Because of the normal batteries, installation should be really easy, right? Wrong. As much as I tried, I couldn't get it to work! The documentation failed to have a certain troubleshooting tip, that I later found on their website. The problem is that the tabs need to be bent a slight bit so that the they come into contact with the battery. Unluckily, the tabs come out of the factory at a 90 degree angle. After figuring out I needed to bend the tabs, it was as easy as putting on a normal battery cover. Hopefully, since you now know this, you won’t have any problems installing the ICU charger.

I want to take a moment to say that the provided documentation is insufficient. The card that comes with it is meager, and it doesn’t even tell you the troubleshooting, or the .7 shortcut. As cool and as wonderful this product is, if you are a newbie the Fullcharge is probably is a better choice.

The next step in your installation is to charge your batteries. The kit comes with a cable that clips securely onto your Visor (I can play bounce the visor by holding the cable safely!) On the other end of the cable is a car adapter plug. In this is the circuitry needed to run the charger. Also the LED that tells you if it’s charged or not is on this part. Green is charged, and Orange-Red is charging. You then have the option to plug the unit into your car, or into the AC-DC converter that lets you charge from a standard wall socket.

The last step is one they forget to mention in the documentation, and that is to do a shortcut .7, until the battery type is NiMH (in Visors OS 3.5 up) or NiCAD (in Visor Solos and Deluxe’s). This makes your battery meter correct, so that you don’t get flawed readings.

Battery life is very good with the ICU charger. Because it uses 600-mAh NiMH batteries, they last longer then normal NiMH or NiCAD rechargeable batteries. Also, the Charger will power the Visor when it’s on - making it great for long sessions on the Stowaway (Like I‘m doing now, using the Stowaway and Wordsmith!) , or wirelessly browsing the net. What the ICU charger will NOT do, is charge Springboards like the VisorPhone and others that use the HotSync charging port.

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