How are YOUR enloopies?

VidPro

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ok it has been years now since the inital manufacture date , and date we aquired these things, if it was energyser 2500s they would be toast by now (although i do have some that have slow charged for 3000days, and still function)

We have heard from a few people that indicate that thier former ~2000ma testing out cells, read ~18??ma and needed a bit of cycling.
but what about YOURS?

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1) Have you tossed any of them OUT as unusable yet?

2) How did you Use/charge them? extreeme loads, fast charges? how about hotwires?

3) How are they rating in runtime, or capacity in Ma or whatever you use to have a idea of thier capacity?

4) Are they still very low self discharge ?

5) did you have any that were loosing holding capacity, that you cycled back to good?
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If you have had them for more years, or ones manufactured early would you be so kind as to tell me how things are going with them, even loosly.
why?
because when i use batteries , my job thing is on the line, they can make or break my job at every job, and i use and have lots and lots of them, and want to know where they generally stand today. more data is better data.

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1) have you tossed any of them OUT as unusable yet?
I fried 4 completly, they still worked fine but a charger BBQed them, so i cant afford to keep them, the rest are still going 50+ items .

2) how did you Use them? extreeme loads, fast charges?
Most of my uses are medium to slow discharge rates, most of my chargers are slow to medium, although i fast charge rarely when needed.

3) how are they rating in runtime, or capacity in Ma or whatever you use to have a idea of thier capacity?
Some of mine are ~100ma lower in capacity, even after cycling them a few times, havent had time to cycle them more.
some are from the very first batch , most were bought about 2007.

4) are they still very low self discharge ?
Yes, they still have a very good charge after 2-3 months of parked, i dont park them longer than that, because they ALL get used.

my AAA enloops&duraloops are also all "usable" although the capacity in them varies more widely, they have been series reverse charged more often due to thier limited initial capacity
they vary from 650- ~800, they are not doing as well, just better than other ni-mhs have done before.
 
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bob_ninja

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May 23, 2006
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372
1) Have you tossed any of them OUT as unusable yet?

None

2) How did you Use/charge them? extreeme loads, fast charges? how about hotwires?

Generally C9000 or BC900 around 500-800 mA rate.
I have couple of different sets/uses:
a) high current draw, used in toy cars, flashlights (2AAs@3W), etc.
b) others are used in irregular use things, so may be idle for months, generally lower current

3) How are they rating in runtime, or capacity in Ma or whatever you use to have a idea of thier capacity?

Generally recharge before empty, so never had any of them actually cause a device to stop working. Perfectly happy with run times.

4) Are they still very low self discharge ?

Haven't detected any yet that lost LSD.

5) did you have any that were loosing holding capacity, that you cycled back to good?

I had a few go down to 0V (forgot to switch off toy). They came back to life and seem to be working fine.


In summary, I find them all performing as new. They range from about 3-2 years old only. By far they are the most reliable. Although Powerex 2700s are also working very well.
 

Black Rose

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Ottawa, ON, Canada
1) Have you tossed any of them OUT as unusable yet?
No, all cells are still good.

2) How did you Use/charge them? extreeme loads, fast charges? how about hotwires?
Charged in Maha C9000 or C800S @ 1000 mA.
Used mostly in low/medium draw lights, lanterns, and portable radios.

3) How are they rating in runtime, or capacity in Ma or whatever you use to have a idea of thier capacity?
Most of mine show in the mid to high 1800s with a normal charge and in the 1900s when doing a break-in on the C9000. A couple are over 2000 mAh on a break-in.

4) Are they still very low self discharge ?
Yes.

5) did you have any that were loosing holding capacity, that you cycled back to good?
I haven't had any cells go bad. I will do a Refresh & Analyze on them if they have gone unused for an extended amount of time.
 

travelinman

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Feb 15, 2009
Messages
298
Location
Western Canada
1) Have you tossed any of them OUT as unusable yet?

Nope however the oldest is only just over 2 years old

2) How did you Use/charge them? extreeme loads, fast charges? how about hotwires?

I use a BC 900/700 (identical machines except for capacity), mostly before they are down to 1.0v, and rarely over 200ma charge current. I always use the discharge/charge cycle to bring them down to 1.0v and then recharge.

3) How are they rating in runtime, or capacity in Ma or whatever you use to have a idea of thier capacity?

Runtimes are good, the lowest capacity is around 1950ma/hrs in the oldest cells.

4) Are they still very low self discharge ?

Most are used regularily but a couple are in backup lights and yes they are holding their voltage/capacity very well.

5) did you have any that were loosing holding capacity, that you cycled back to good?

Nope, not needed to yet other than the discharge/charge cycle that I always use (see above).
 

swiftwing

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Mar 13, 2009
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Location
Singapore
1) Have you tossed any of them OUT as unusable yet?

My oldest eneloops are a pack of 4AAs with japanese wording and the 06-02 AA datecode. A shop imported some direct from japan when they first launched and i grabbed a pack to check them out. They're still working fine although i don't know what's their capacity now. Still seems pretty good though.

2) How did you Use/charge them? extreeme loads, fast charges? how about hotwires?

The pack mentioned above has only been used in my dSLR flashguns, so i'd say transient high loads would be a good description of its use.

3) How are they rating in runtime, or capacity in Ma or whatever you use to have a idea of their capacity?

No idea.

4) Are they still very low self discharge ?

As far as i can tell, yes.

5) did you have any that were loosing holding capacity, that you cycled back to good?

Never really noticed any losing capacity. I think i may have cycled them once a few months ago using the refresh function of my Sanyo MQR-03RN charger, but that's it.

I love my eneloops and have only bought eneloops ever since my first pack. Damn, i sound like some druggie :grin2:.
 

LuxLuthor

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Nov 5, 2005
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MS
That's way too many questionoonies about my eneloopies. I tuck them in every night and they are all sleeping tight.
 

VidPro

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Apr 7, 2004
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Lost In Space
That's way too many questionoonies about my eneloopies. I tuck them in every night and they are all sleeping tight.

come on lux we know what you been doing with them torturing them in those massive hotwires, and all that test equiptment you got, give it up, pick your enloopies out of your brain.
 

TomBrown

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Jun 18, 2005
Messages
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Location
Regina, SK
1) Have you tossed any of them OUT as unusable yet?

No.

2) How did you Use/charge them? extreeme loads, fast charges? how about hotwires?

BC900@1A
I use 9 of them in a Mag85. It still comes on strong.

I have about 40 eneloops. Most of them are sprinkled around in devices like remote controls, clocks, wireless keyboard/mouse, dSLR, camera flash, etc.

I happen to know the dSLR hasn't been used in about a year. It's on vacation with me right now. I've taken a couple of hundred pictures with it in the last week. It's been about 18 months since it was last recharged.

I've got two spare sets of eneloops in my camera bag. I have no idea if they are working properly, or not, but I trust them totally.



3) How are they rating in runtime, or capacity in Ma or whatever you use to have a idea of thier capacity?

With a couple of exceptions, all of my eneloops achieved over 2Ah after break in. The two that didn't were within 30mA of 2Ah. Several were once close to 2.1Ah on break in. I have no idea of their status now.


4) Are they still very low self discharge ?

The ones I am using are. I'm not sure about my spare cells.


5) did you have any that were loosing holding capacity, that you cycled back to good?

None.


Some of my Eneloops were early purchased on when they were difficult to find and no one was selling them in Canada. All of my Eneloops work great.

Eneloops are one of the gems that I have learned about from this group.
 
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