[OT] What extra charge in Eneloops after several cycles?

[david]

Approx how much _additional_ charge would an Eneloop AA cell hold after it
has been through a few charge/discharge cycles?

I'm wondering how worthwhile it would be to charge/discharge new Eneloops
before using them in my MP3 player.

BTW how does that Eneloop improvement compare to the improvement of
conventional NiMH by doing a few power cycles? Is the improvement similar?

 

[Paul]

Approx how much _additional_ charge would an Eneloop AA cell hold after it
has been through a few charge/discharge cycles?

I'm wondering how worthwhile it would be to charge/discharge new Eneloops
before using them in my MP3 player.

BTW how does that Eneloop improvement compare to the improvement of
conventional NiMH by doing a few power cycles? Is the improvement similar?

There are 1500+ reviews on Amazon. This reviewer did some testing for you.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3TU586FEKG57A/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R3TU586FEKG57A

Paul

 

[david]

There are 1500+ reviews on Amazon.

That's where I get confused. There's so many junk postings about Eneloops
so thank you for finding a good one for me ....

This reviewer did some testing for you.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3TU586FEKG57A/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R3TU58
6FEKG57A

Paul

However he doesn't actually mention the amount of increased capacity from
doing a few conditioning cycles.

 

[Paul]

That's where I get confused. There's so many junk postings about Eneloops
so thank you for finding a good one for me ....


However he doesn't actually mention the amount of increased capacity from
doing a few conditioning cycles.

According to this, Sanyo fills them to 75% at the factory. Minus the
discharge until you buy them. There would be too many assumptions there,
to be able to compare the discharge curve after you charge them, versus
how they behave out of the package.

http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/sanyo_eneloop.html

About all you can get from them, is the stated capacity (at some discharge
rate - a higher discharge rate reduces the amount of usable energy).

The batteryuniversity site claims that NiMH can benefit from maintenance
once in a while, but perhaps not as frequently as NiCD. You can probably find
a bit more info over there.

Paul

 

[John Doe]

The batteryuniversity site claims that NiMH can benefit from
maintenance once in a while, but perhaps not as frequently as
NiCD. You can probably find a bit more info over there.

I have a Maha C9000 for that. It is cumbersome to use, but I won't
buy something else until it fails or maybe when I find a decent
slow charger made in a country that does not use slave labor.

I would avoid cheapo 15 or 30 minute chargers.
--

 

[Flasherly]

That's where I get confused. There's so many junk postings about Eneloops
so thank you for finding a good one for me ....


However he doesn't actually mention the amount of increased capacity from
doing a few conditioning cycles.

I exploded my oldest nicads on a high charge. Mess to clean up,
taking apart a LaCrosse charger with q-tips and a cap of alcohol. Not
much in there, either, past the LED-backed control circuitry. Hong
Kong cheapo battery specials are lasting longer in a LaCrosse atomic
wallclock station (indoor and outdoor remote weather transmitter --
plus the graphic moonphases) -- three times longer than a friend, who
also bought the same clock, who's buying inexpensive batteries and
replacing three sets to my one. The Eneloops I do have, just 4 are in
a camera, which I'd condition at the LaCrosse's lowest charge current
rating, 200ma. Don't use the cam much. and I don't have a particular
reason other than it's a nice camera to have splurged on Eneloop for
it, so I'd go easy on it. For everything else, including a Cree
130watt 1-AA LED flashlight, I go hard on charging those Singapore
batteries. (Takes a second charger momentarily to condition a battery
that's sat and reads totally dead with a token charge before the
LaCrosse will pick it up past displaying it for a fault). Sure is
nice compared early nicads. Says it'll do a charge in 15min (2 slots
only). More like an hour the way I do them - all four slots filled,
max current setting.