AA Battery Charger and Batteries

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#23
joshmurrah said:
Don't buy 15-minute or 1-hour chargers!

As somebody has already posted, you want to charge at ~500ma or thereabouts, no faster.
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Actually, there are some fast chargers that are good. Its the cheap ones that just pour on the current and badly overheat your battery that are a problem. 10 or 20 or a few more recharges before a battery dies is not uncommon with them. Then users blame the batteries.
I'd recommend the MH-C801D charger, and it's a 1 hour charger.
 
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#24
Mt Spokane Photography said:
joshmurrah said:
Don't buy 15-minute or 1-hour chargers!

As somebody has already posted, you want to charge at ~500ma or thereabouts, no faster.
Click to expand...
Actually, there are some fast chargers that are good. Its the cheap ones that just pour on the current and badly overheat your battery that are a problem. 10 or 20 or a few more recharges before a battery dies is not uncommon with them. Then users blame the batteries.
I'd recommend the MH-C801D charger, and it's a 1 hour charger.
Click to expand...

I did some additional research, and the fastest rate recommended is 0.5-1C, which is just over a hour. So a one-hour charger might be ok, but you're working at the limit. I know for a fact 15-minute chargers kill batteries, been there done that.

I was definitely conservative in my 500ma recommendation, however, I'll give you the nod there. That's an "optimal" number and not really a limit... I'm just careful to baby the batts, as it was a pretty large investment to replace all my household with eneloops!
 
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#25
Useful thread!

I too have the Maha 801 charger and take it on location with my lightkit of speedlite-style units, all of which use AA rechargeables. I always press the "Soft" charge button when loading it unless really pressed to get a dead unit back up. I bought a lot of Thomas Distributing house-branded batteries in AA and AAA at the same time I bought the Maha charger. I have been satisfied, but did not ever do a side-by-side against Eneloop. I like the ability to recondition with this charger.

Thomas will also swap out a defective battery you recently bought from them, so they offer good customer service. This outfit also sells the Eneloop.

jonathan7007
 
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#26
Yes I agree,

This Thread and its responses have been fantastic, what I would also like to ask is Battery maintenance, In my current situation, I might not get a big job for maybe 2 months, lucky I teach to earn most of my money, and the small jobs here and there, but no need to worry over batteries and power every week, what is the best way to look after these type of batteries during the down times?

thanks again

Louis
 
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#28
I normally also carry a pack of primary (non-rechargable) lithium batteries for an emergency. They have a 10-year shelf life and 3000mAh is common so cheap insurance at $15 odd a pack. I've never had to use mine in a flash yet but with 1.5V rather than 1.2V nominal and similar or higher pulse currents I'd expect them to cycle a flash faster than anything short of the external pack, so they might also be worth a try for anyone that doesn't want to carry an external pack and don't mind blowing $15 a pop.

I had a charger years ago that went through the motions as though it was charging but really wasn't, or at least not properly. That's probably fairly unusual but is one way you could be left with all your batteries in a poor state of charge.
 
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#32
Louis said:
Hello all, I have just received my batteries and charger, do I need to drain the batteries and recharge them? the batteries are brand new in a packet? or simply recharge, or just leave alone
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No harm giving them a charge to get up to 100% so you know what state they're in. I wouldn't bother with a discharge, that was mainly recommended for Nicad batteries although I believe an occasional discharge of NiMH is sometimes recommended, but compared to Nicad the effect is much less so my advice would just be charge as necessary and enjoy :D.
 
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#37
Are you sure you've set it to just charge? If you selected 'test' or especially 'refresh' it will take much, much longer. Then, occasionally, my LaCrosse BC-700 will fail to detect a full battery. To check, I just remove and replace a cell which then will be marked as 'full'.
 
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#38
Louis said:
Hi guys a very quick question, I set my charger to 700, and put 4 batteries in for charge, they where brand new out of the packet , they have been on charge for 5 hours and they are still not full? is this normal?
Click to expand...
Google for: nimh charging deltaV

You will see that there are some times problems with automatic charging...
 
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#39
Yea 100% its on charge, says charge on the main screen for all 4 screens, its now 8hrs 30 Mins and 3 are full just 1 is still not full, I assume its going to be ready soon, but im shocked thats been on charge for 8:30 hours! and as you say they are recharged,

am I right in saying, if you make slot 1 charge at 700, the other 3 slots will default to that charge power?
 
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