Good C size nimh batteries?

[JSWrightOC]

That's interesting....the RS charger that I have does charge them in parallel. It's the one thing that (initially) I didn't like about it...but never had any problems with. What P/N is yours? (I don't have mine handy, I'll have to check it and get back to you.)

I know for a fact that Saitek makes my RS charger, because the Saitek logo is silkscreened on all of the PCBs inside.

Not getting defensive here, I just think we might be talking about two different chargers.

 

[FalconFX]

JSWright, this is the model I have:

Features:
• Two charging bays—bay 1 holds two or four nickel-cadmium/nickel-metal hydride D/C/AA/AAA batteries, bay 2 holds one or two nickel-cadmium/nickel-metal hydride 9V batteries
• Advanced discharge circuitry completely discharges your batteries to ensure a top-capacity charge every time! Color-coded charge and discharge lights (for each charging bay) show you the status of the charging process
• Reverse polarity protection
• Short-circuit protection
• Alkaline battery detection
• Safety timer protection

 

[Bullzeyebill]

FalconFX, what voltage does your charger discharge the batteries to. Not too far? Does Maha make a charger taking all rechargable batteries, or C and D's that would individually charge them like their AA chargers?

 

[JSWrightOC]

Mine is a Radio Shack Cat. No. 23-410. It looks just like the Saitek Smart Charger posted by FalconFX.

 

[batterystation]

We have about 10 different C cells. One metal hydride 4500mah for $4.95 each. Button tops.

 

[batterystation]

The Energizer 4 slot charger at Wal Mart is $20 and works GREAT for nicads and metal hydrides. Hard to beat.

 

[FalconFX]

Bill, my CCrane brings down voltages to anywhere from 1.1V to 1.05V. There are a few times I see my Mahas go down below 1.0v very briefly. For the most part, most of my batts see just over 1.0V before the IDS (intelligent discharge system) pops off... It brings it way down for AAs and AAAs as opposed to Cs and Ds, and it does it within 5 minutes for Ds and 2 minutes for AAs, quite quick...

 

[FalconFX]

JSWrightOC, I guess we're both talking about two totally different chargers then... I do know for a fact that the one model I have does not charge in parellel; it's a series charger.

 

[batterystation]

Hey guys-If you have a charger that discharges the batteries to aprox. 1v per cell, that is great UNLESS you are using metal hydrides. They hate this process. They have no memory effect to speak of and therefor hate being ran down that low. If that discharge feature is manually controlled, don't do it to the NiMH cells.

 

[FalconFX]

Obviously, for NiMHs, the discharge system on the CCrane isn't needed. It's a feature meant for NiCads only. I'd think most people know that NiMHs don't have the memory problem of their more toxic cousins.

 

[JSWrightOC]

[ QUOTE ]
FalconFX said:
JSWrightOC, I guess we're both talking about two totally different chargers then... I do know for a fact that the one model I have does not charge in parellel; it's a series charger.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought we were, since I have actually disassembled this one and verified that it is a parallel charger. Unfortuniately you can't get it anymore through RS--looks like I'll be going elsewhere to find a charger then. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Empath]

[ QUOTE ]
batterystation said:
Hey guys-If you have a charger that discharges the batteries to aprox. 1v per cell, that is great UNLESS you are using metal hydrides. They hate this process. They have no memory effect to speak of and therefor hate being ran down that low. If that discharge feature is manually controlled, don't do it to the NiMH cells.

[/ QUOTE ]

While the need to discharge NiMH cells the way you would NiCD is overcome, the belief that damage occurs to the NiMH cells when discharged to just under 1.0 volt is a misinterpretation of NiMH recommendations. NiMH and NiCD alike shouldn't be discharged too deeply in a battery pack or collection of cells in series simply because one of the cells will drop low enough to receive a reversed polarity charge from the other cells. It's the reverse charging from neighboring cells that can damage it.

One volt per cell in a series is safe for NiMH. Unless the cell is already damaged beyond reason a one volt cell in a series isn't low enough to be receive a reverse charge from the others. A cell that different from the others in the series, or in a pack is useless and needs discarded anyway.

In a single cell charger, or a parallel charger such as the C. Crane unit, a cell could safely be discharged to near zero without damage. I wouldn't recommend taking any kind of chemical cell, whether NiMH, NiCD, alkaline or carbon zink to absolute zero.

NiMH was developed to remove the limited use problems resulting from the NiCD's so called "memory" effect. If you limit a NiMH deliberately to avoid "damage" from discharging you've invalidated the advantage of NiMH.

Let your NiMH flex it's muscle and exercise. It'll live longer. Frequent charging is worse than reasonably full use.

 

[batterystation]

A deep cycle on the metal hydrides is actually recommended. My point was just that we have been so brainwashed for years hearing everyone say to run the battery dead. Well "dead" is a very loose word. You are correct in your analysis. The world of generic terms creates problems at times. In everyday use of a NiMH cell, you will in fact discharge it enough to overcome any hint of a memory problem. Cordless phones are the battery killers. They NEVER get excercise.