Hunter Douglas battery charger: does your wand take one?
For most people, no — and that is the useful answer. The wand in the overwhelming majority of Hunter Douglas motorized shades takes loose AA batteries. It has no cell to charge, no charging port and no charger. When it stops working you replace the batteries, or you replace the wand.
There is a separate, rechargeable wand that Hunter Douglas sells, and that one does have a charger. But it is a different part — not an accessory that turns your existing wand into a rechargeable one. If you buy a charger for an AA wand, there is nothing for it to plug into.
If you do have the rechargeable wand, the chargers are catalogued as 1027686 (plug-in wall charger, about two hours) and 1013759 (dual charging station, about three hours). The rechargeable battery wand page sets out both, along with the extension cable part numbers and what each costs. How to connect the charging cable, and which Hunter Douglas cables do not charge anything, is on the Hunter Douglas charging cable page.
How do I tell which kind I have?
Slide the wand out of the headrail and look at it. You do not need tools.
| What you see | What you have |
|---|---|
| A row of loose AA batteries, or empty bays with springs and contacts | An AA wand. No charger exists for it |
| A sealed tube with a small round socket at one end and no removable cells | A rechargeable wand. It has a charger |
The AA wand is by far the more common of the two. If you can count individual batteries, you have one, and a charger is not what you need. Satellite packs, old PowerTilt packs and built-in batteries are covered on which Hunter Douglas battery pack you have.
My shade is dead — do I need a charger or a new wand?
Neither, possibly. Work through it in this order:
- Fresh batteries first. All twelve or all eight, same brand, all new. A single weak cell drags the whole string down, and this costs a few dollars to rule out.
- If fresh batteries change nothing, the wand itself has almost certainly failed — corroded contacts from a leaked cell, or a blown fuse in the end cap. That is a replacement wand, not a charger.
- If the shade still will not respond with a known-good wand, the fault is elsewhere and a charger would not have helped either way.
The six-symptom check takes two minutes and will tell you whether the wand is actually your problem before you spend anything.
Can I put rechargeable AA batteries in an AA wand instead?
You can, and we would not. Standard NiMH rechargeables sit at 1.2V rather than 1.5V, so twelve of them give you roughly 14.4V instead of 18V. The shade runs slowly, struggles on heavier fabrics and needs recharging often. There is more on this in lithium or alkaline.
If you genuinely want rechargeable operation, the right answer is Hunter Douglas's own rechargeable wand, which is designed for it — not loose rechargeable cells in a wand built for alkaline.
Do you sell chargers?
No. We stock replacement AA battery wands, the conversion kit and the motor-to-wand power cable. We do not stock chargers, rechargeable wands or transformers, and we would rather say so than sell you something that will not fit.
If you have an AA wand and it has failed, that we can help with:
- 18V battery wand — twelve AA, part 7520068000
- 12V battery wand — eight AA, part 7520069000
Not sure which? Count the batteries in your old wand — twelve means the 18V, eight means the 12V. If you would rather just ask, send a photo of the sticker inside your headrail to support@batterywands.com and we will tell you which one you need.
Replacement parts. Complete your repair.
Common parts for Hunter Douglas motorized shades.
