NiMH 15 Minute Charger Question

[asdf]

considering buying this one by energizer:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...56843-0585719?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846
to recharge my 2500 Mah rechargeable batteries.

One question that i cant find the answer to is: will this charger be able to
charge these batteries to their full
capacity just in a shorter period of time, or if it will charge them but
only partially in the first 15 minutes.
Is this charger just as good as the others but just have some advanced
technology to charge faster or is there
a tradeoff to its ability to charge quickly?

So would you recommend i get one of the 8-11 hour chargers or is this one
will be able to charge my batteries
to their full capacity.

Thank You

 

[Paul Rubin]

One question that i cant find the answer to is: will this charger be able to
charge these batteries to their full
capacity just in a shorter period of time, or if it will charge them but
only partially in the first 15 minutes.

The 15 minute charge is to about 85% according to measurements.
Getting the last 15% needs a slower charge. This is inherent in how
NiMH cells work and not much can be done about it in the charger.

Is this charger just as good as the others but just have some advanced
technology to charge faster or is there
a tradeoff to its ability to charge quickly?

Ultra-fast charging is probably harder on the cells. Also, the 15 min
charger has a cooling fan which means the charger makes noise and is
vulnerable to dust getting sucked in, etc.

So would you recommend i get one of the 8-11 hour chargers or is
this one will be able to charge my batteries to their full capacity.

An 8-11 hour charger is probably not a great choice since they tend to
be timer controlled and therefore can't tell when your cells are fully
charged. My favorite AA charger is the LaCrosse BC-900 which has an
LCD display that shows the cells' measured capacity etc. For your
2500 mAh cells the charge time would be around 3 hours, which isn't
too bad in most situations. I have this charger and the Energizer 15
min charger. I like the Energizer but I figure I'll reserve it for
when I'm in a hurry, which does happen sometimes.

 

[Ken Tough]

So would you recommend i get one of the 8-11 hour chargers or is this one
will be able to charge my batteries
to their full capacity.

I agree with the comments on a few hours' charger. One thing to
keep in mind is that if you travel, a charger that takes 120-240V
input is a good idea.

 

[Ron Hunter]

considering buying this one by energizer:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...56843-0585719?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846
to recharge my 2500 Mah rechargeable batteries.

One question that i cant find the answer to is: will this charger be able to
charge these batteries to their full
capacity just in a shorter period of time, or if it will charge them but
only partially in the first 15 minutes.
Is this charger just as good as the others but just have some advanced
technology to charge faster or is there
a tradeoff to its ability to charge quickly?

So would you recommend i get one of the 8-11 hour chargers or is this one
will be able to charge my batteries
to their full capacity.

Thank You

The 15 minute value is for the batteries specified in the device
literature. Batteries with larger capacities will take a bit longer to
charge. Those with less capacity, a bit less time.
As for whether this is good for the batteries, it can't be, but then
they don't cost a lot anyway so if it reduces the use life by 75%, some
people would still consider it a good deal for the time savings.

Best chargers are those that limit the temperature, and monitor charge
rate of each battery, and reduce the charge rate to a trickle when the
battery is about 90% charged. They will take from 1 to 3 hours to
recharge a battery, depending on the charge state when they begin charging.

 

[CWatters]

considering buying this one by energizer:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...56843-0585719?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846
to recharge my 2500 Mah rechargeable batteries.

One question that i cant find the answer to is: will this charger be able to
charge these batteries to their full
capacity just in a shorter period of time,

One review says...

"I even use them to charge the 2300mAH rechargable AA batteries (Energizers
of course) n it still takes only 30 minutes tops!"

Note that to charge a 2300mAH cell in 30 mins the charger must supply 4.6A
per cell roughly.

 

[Ken Weitzel]

One review says...

"I even use them to charge the 2300mAH rechargable AA batteries (Energizers
of course) n it still takes only 30 minutes tops!"

Note that to charge a 2300mAH cell in 30 mins the charger must supply 4.6A
per cell roughly.

Hi...

Not nearly enough... about 6.5 amps.

Ken

 

[David Chien]

As for the Energizer charger, unknown right now if they use the regular
charging method or the Rayovac pressure cell trigger (unique vs. other
regular charge methods - the stop of cycle is triggered by the cell, not
by external monitors on heat, etc). All chargers will partially charge
cells if not kept in there the entire required charge time.

7.5Amp push, so it's pretty powerful:
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/ch15mn.pdf

"The new and improved high capacity, longer lasting AA NiMH battery
is 2500 mAh. What does this mean?

NiMH batteries have varying mAh or milliamps ratings. These ratings
indicate the power capacity of the battery. The higher the capacity, the
longer the battery will last between charges. AA 2500mAh batteries will
be charged in approx. 20 min. in the 15 Minute Charger, 1 hour in the 1
Hour Charger, 5 hours 30 minutes in the Universal Charger, and 12 hours
in the Compact Charger. Lower mAh will be charged in less time."

=--

http://www.crypto.com/chargers/

Here, the older 2300mA Energizer tested to be the best of the range of
cells out there, so the 2500mA should be better (ie. longest lasting):
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM

 

[H. Dziardziel]

snip

Hi...

Not nearly enough... about 6.5 amps.

Ken

NiMh have very good charge acceptance at high rates so just over
4.6A would be about right.. 6.5A will overcharge, overheat and
ruin the cells in short order..

 

[Moon Shooter]

You can get it from Walmart too. It has good return policy, if you change your
mind later.


=>considering buying this one by energizer:
=>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...56843-0585719?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846
=>to recharge my 2500 Mah rechargeable batteries.
=>
=>One question that i cant find the answer to is: will this charger be able to
=>charge these batteries to their full
=>capacity just in a shorter period of time, or if it will charge them but
=>only partially in the first 15 minutes.
=>Is this charger just as good as the others but just have some advanced
=>technology to charge faster or is there
=>a tradeoff to its ability to charge quickly?
=>
=>So would you recommend i get one of the 8-11 hour chargers or is this one
=>will be able to charge my batteries
=>to their full capacity.
=>
=>Thank You
=>

 

[Mike S.]

My favorite AA charger is the LaCrosse BC-900 which has an
LCD display that shows the cells' measured capacity etc. For your
2500 mAh cells the charge time would be around 3 hours, which isn't
too bad in most situations. I have this charger and the Energizer 15
min charger. I like the Energizer but I figure I'll reserve it for
when I'm in a hurry, which does happen sometimes.

Thanks for the "heads up" on this new product. LaCrosse is a company that
sells radio-controlled watches, weather vanes, and the like ... not the
sort of house you'd expect to be marketing a leading-edge battery charger!
But, yet it is. From the styling it clearly looks European (German ...
like Accupower or Ansmann) in design.

After drooling over the specs I quickly ordered one from Thomas
Distributing and have been playing with it for a couple of days now. What
an amazing "thinking person's" product. Too bad it uses a weird power
supply spec (3VDC at 4A) or it'd be nice to run it in the car too.

Seemed to be "obsolete proof" too ... until I noticed that the firmware is
only set up to keep track of cells of 3000 mAH capacity and lower. I don't
suppose that advances in NiMH chemistry will result in 3100 mAH penlite
cells any time soon ...??

 

[Mike S.]

My first NiMH cells were IIRC only 900mah (possibly less), but
that was quite a long time ago. As they're now up to 2,500mah
that's been an increase of 178%. To reach 3,100mah would only
require an increase of another 24%. If the trend continues at the
same rate you should see 3,100mah batteries in 1 1/2 years, 2 at the
most. Is the firmware upgradeable?

The unit displays a firmware rev on power-up, but the manual makes no
mention about upgradeability. Maybe time to take a look inside to see if
there is a data connector or pads.

 

[Mike S.]

Well, at least you have it in writing, not that it'll help. I
wonder if their competition (Accupower/Ansmann) agrees or has
similar limitations?

Ansmann learned their lesson, I think. My version of the Powerline-4 has
a brick wall timer limit (the HP Marketing rep that visits here every now
and then hedged back and forth but finally admitted it). This makes it
impossible to fully charge cells much over 2100 mAH in one run. They fixed
that on later designs - but that didn't help me, of course.

I don't know if their tech. rep. cares to
discuss it further, but it would be interesting to know how old the
BC-900 design is and if it (or a predecessor) had the 3,000 mah
limit from the beginning. I assume that the BC-900 will still be
able to charge higher capacity cells but might not be able to
perform some of its other functions properly.

I'm not so sure. Everything is controlled by the microprocessor, even a
"straight" charge run. It keeps track of (and displays) the amount of
energy delivered to each individual cell ... so if there is some high
limit to the charge capacity it might be reached on higher capacity cells,
too.

Care to try jury
rigging a NiMH C or D cell to it? If you don't, two AA's in
parallel might suffice.

I'll put that on my "to do" list. At this point I'm still getting familiar
on how it handles old, new, and "damaged" cells of much lower capacity
than 3000 mAH.

I was considering getting a BC-900 to add
to my growing collection, but I think now I'll either wait or look
elsewhere.

If you're into this sort of thing, I think it's still worth investigating.

 

[Paul Rubin]

After drooling over the specs I quickly ordered one from Thomas
Distributing and have been playing with it for a couple of days now. What
an amazing "thinking person's" product. Too bad it uses a weird power
supply spec (3VDC at 4A) or it'd be nice to run it in the car too.

Yeah, the Energizer 15 minute charger can run on 12 volts and I figure
it's better than the LaCrosse for use in the car, since it's so much
faster. You don't need to be on a long trip to get enough charge time.

Seemed to be "obsolete proof" too ... until I noticed that the firmware is
only set up to keep track of cells of 3000 mAH capacity and lower. I don't
suppose that advances in NiMH chemistry will result in 3100 mAH penlite
cells any time soon ...??

I dunno. NiMH capacity increases may be slowing down? I'm using
Sanyo 2500 mAH cells now, and most of of mine measure slightly below
2500 mAH on the LaCrosse, as opposed to the Energizer 2200 mAH cells
(believed to actually be Sanyo) mostly measuring slightly above 2200.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

LaCrosse is a company that

sells radio-controlled watches, weather vanes, and the like ... not the
sort of house you'd expect to be marketing a leading-edge battery charger!

FWIW, they absolutely support their products. They sent me a new weather
sensor to replace one that hit concrete hard as a result of a failed mount.
No arguments.

 

[Bob Salomon]

My version of the Powerline-4 has
a brick wall timer limit (the HP Marketing rep that visits here every now
and then hedged back and forth but finally admitted it). This makes it
impossible to fully charge cells much over 2100 mAH in one run. They fixed
that on later designs - but that didn't help me, of course.

My 3 year old Ansmann Powerline Traveller right now is charging Ansmann
and PRO 2500 cells. Your will also.

My Energy 16 also does these cells with no problems. I fully expect both
chargers to handle the 2600 Ansmann cells as well when they are
available.

 

[Mike S.]

My 3 year old Ansmann Powerline Traveller right now is charging Ansmann
and PRO 2500 cells. Your will also.

Nope. It has a 3-hour cutoff timer. At 700 mA charge rate ... you can do
the math :-(

 

[Mike S.]

LaCrosse is a company that

FWIW, they absolutely support their products. They sent me a new weather
sensor to replace one that hit concrete hard as a result of a failed mount.
No arguments.

I should have mentioned that I had experience with this company prior to
getting the BC-900 charger. I have a discontinued-model radio-controlled
watch that would not set itself automatically quite some time after the
warranty had expired. They simply sent me a new one.

 

[Bob Salomon]

Nope. It has a 3-hour cutoff timer. At 700 mA charge rate ... you can do
the math :-(

The advantages of modern technology. Electronics progress but the
printing in the instructions and on the back of chargers don't change as
fast.

The Ansmann Powerline 4, 6 and the Energy 16 and 8 all charge 2500 mAh.
Of course they don't do it as fast as the latest Ansmann DigiPower Ultra
which outputs 4.3A for AA cells.

 

[[email protected]]

What is the voltage/current output of the AC/DC adapter that comes with
the BC-900?

I'm wondering why it doesn't have an option for in-vehicle charging. I
know that on one Ansmann charger, they are concerned about the heat
that is exhausted, so they don't offer a car cord option, even though
it would work other than the danger of setting your car on fire!

Steve
http://nordicgroup.us/chargers

 

[Paul Rubin]

What is the voltage/current output of the AC/DC adapter that comes with
the BC-900?

4 volts, I forget the amperage.

I'm wondering why it doesn't have an option for in-vehicle charging.

You could use a 12vdc to 120 vac inverter.

I know that on one Ansmann charger, they are concerned about the
heat that is exhausted, so they don't offer a car cord option, even
though it would work other than the danger of setting your car on fire!

I wonder if there's an issue like that for the Energizer 15 min
charger, which does run on 12 volts but for some reason doesn't
include or offer a car cord. I'd feel ok using it in a car as long as
it wasn't buried under anything and its fan could get plenty of air.