The New Sanyo Eneloop Batteries From Costco

I just purchased a set of Sanyo Eneloop batteries (the latest ones that you can recharge 1500 times) at Costco. The package contains 8 of the latest Sanyo AA Eneloops (coded as 10-040Y), 4 Sanyo AAA Eneloops (coded 10-05-08) both made in Japan and 1 "four position" charger (Model NC-MQN06U Made in China). The whole package cost $25.99 here in the Northwest.

My question for the battery experts is this: What exactly is a "four position" charger. My original Sanyo charger would charge 1, 2, 3 or 4 AA Eneloop batteries at a time and charge the AAA Eneloops in pairs. I recently read here at CPF that the newer Sanyo chargers have a different charging configuration and will only charge the AA batteries in pairs.

Can someone tell me what the charging parameters are for this model charger?? The Costco package contained NO printed instructions for the charger. Also, can I use my original charger to charge only 1 of the newer batteries at a time??

Thanks for all your help
laur (CPF member)

does it work in freezing temperature? i heard the second generation can take low temperature

After almost 180 CPFers viewed my thread and no one provided an answer to my question, I did a internet search on Google. I found an old thread where a fellow member was selling the Sanyo charger (Model NC-MQN06U Made in China). You can read his entire thread here:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=207783

Look at post #7. It seems this newer charger will only charge batteries in pairs and you cannot use it to recharge one battery at a time. This is a real bummer for me as I have several lights that use 1 or 3 batteries as their power source. It looks like Sanyo sold us an much improved Eneloop battery and a inexpensive charger made in China to go with it.

For loser -- I don't have an answer for you about the Eneloops working at freezing temperatures. I think this is based on the battery chemistry which in the same as the older generation Sanyo's

laur said:

Look at post #7. It seems this newer charger will only charge batteries in pairs and you cannot use it to recharge one battery at a time. This is a real bummer for me as I have several lights that use 1 or 3 batteries as their power source. It looks like Sanyo sold us an much improved Eneloop battery and a inexpensive charger made in China to go with it.

Click to expand...

It's a bummer. I had to find out myself from SilverFox's thread: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/218747

I have several lights that use 1 batts myself, and currently informally track which cells are low and need to be charged with a similar partner. By informal I mean I have a pile on the table of "low" and a pile of "full" :green:, lol.

Time to get a C9000.

I have two of those chargers and have used them but I stop using them for fear of damaging one of more of my Eneloops by overcharging them. I have a C9000 which you cannot go wrong with, great charger. But I recently purchased a Titanium Smart Bay 8800, 8 bay charger for $27.00 and I find myself using this one the most. It is a smart charger so I can charge 1 or up to 8 batteries at one time and it is AC/DC so I can take it with me on some of my trips.
I have more then a few one or two cell AA or AAA flashlights or other devices like my Apple Magic Mouse (2AA) running all the time. Plus I have a TK45, so the ability to charge 1, 2 or even 8 AA/AAA at one time is nice.

I would use the charger that came with your Eneloops if you are not charging all the time and you are aware when selecting the batteries to be charged, try to select the batteries that are the near same level of discharge. The down side is you have to charge two at a time either 2 AA's or 2AAA's. If you are charging all the time and you frequently have only 1 cell to charge. Then I would buy a smart charger, they are worth owning and there are some cheap good models out there.

I hope I answered your question, but I fear I didn't. Good Luck.

FOR BRO

Thanks for your reply. I was unaware of the differences in the old and new chargers until yesterday when I did some "Googleing". I purchaed my last set of Sanyo's at Costco when they came in a blue carrying case and included the "C" and "D" adapters. This charger was a model #NC-MQN05U which would charge 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 batteries at a time. I guess the original one is now the Gold Standard and I hope it never fails.

Can you direct me to a website that sells the chargers you talked about in your post??

"I have a C9000 which you cannot go wrong with, great charger. But I recently purchased a Titanium Smart Bay 8800, 8 bay charger for $27.00"

Thanks to everyone for your help in solving the mysterious disappearing features of the new Sanyo charger.

laur

Aloha laur! :wave: I bought both my Maha C9000's and all of my white eneloops at Thomas Distributing. They have the C9000 on sale right now for $48.97 which is an excellent price because the first C9000 I bought cost me around $60 last December. They are THE best smart chargers for nimh batteries out there imo. Good luck.

@laur,

The Titanium brand charger is sold by BatteryJunction. The 5% coupon code at checkout is cpf2009 should you buy from them. (cpf coupon thread)

-SW

LAUR, swxb12 shared the same info I was going to share with you. I purchased mine from Battery Junction and used their CPF coupon. I suspect you will like this charger. BRO

loser said:

does it work in freezing temperature? i heard the second generation can take low temperature

Click to expand...

Hello Loser! Sanyo gives lower limit of discharge tempeture as low as - 20 C which is -4 F . No experience though- its been around +30 C here for weeks here in Finland ..

FOR loser

As kxenl has stated, the new Sanyo Eneloops that you can charge 1500x have been "tweaked" to work at -20C (which is -4F).

I have found a great website that explains the technical innovations made to the new Eneloops. Here is the website:

http://www.eneloop.info/home/the-new-improved-eneloop.html

As you click each hyperlink on the left side of the page different pages show you by charts and graphs the innovations for the new batteries. The only downside to these Sanyo's is that the Costco package (eight AA, four AAA and one charger for about $26) contains a low end charger that will only charge a pair or four batteries at one time. The charger cannot charge a single battery or three batteries.

I will keep looking for info about these new Sanyo's and post anything I find that will be useful here in the thread.

laur

I just finished breaking-in my Costco Tones and my regular Tones. It took forever and a half but here are the numbers:

Costco Tones AA: 1979, 2007, 1964, 1999, 1999, 1988, 1981, 1980, 1955, 1966, 1937, 1946, 1958, 1959, 1946, 1964.

Costco Tones AAA: 813, 805, 806, 800, 799, 798, 801, 797.


Now here are my regular AA Tones:

1946, 1960, 1935, 1945, 1984, 1975, 1968, 1973, 1966, 1952, 1935, 1943, 1969, 1974, 1965, 1974.


I put 4 of each of these AA and AAA tones aside and added them to my other nimh rechargeable batteries that I am doing my own self-discharge test on. I have about 15 weeks on all the other ones so these tones have a lot of catching up to do.

fishinfool said:

I just finished breaking-in my Costco Tones and my regular Tones. It took forever and a half but here are the numbers:

Costco Tones AA: 1979, 2007, 1964, 1999, 1999, 1988, 1981, 1980, 1955, 1966, 1937, 1946, 1958, 1959, 1946, 1964.

Costco Tones AAA: 813, 805, 806, 800, 799, 798, 801, 797.


Now here are my regular AA Tones:

1946, 1960, 1935, 1945, 1984, 1975, 1968, 1973, 1966, 1952, 1935, 1943, 1969, 1974, 1965, 1974.


I put 4 of each of these AA and AAA tones aside and added them to my other nimh rechargeable batteries that I am doing my own self-discharge test on. I have about 15 weeks on all the other ones so these tones have a lot of catching up to do.

Click to expand...

great work by the way

fishnfool:
Some really consistant numbers. One more number you could add to the mix is the internal impedance check done by the C9000. I keep track of that number for both when discharged (not very consistant) and when charged. (much more consistant but higher)

For Tones would be nice to keep a loose track of number of charge cycles and type of discharges.

For my AAA Duraloops It has been 9 months and there has been some change in the internal impedance check since new. Discharge ~25ma @32 hours in a FRS radio set, recharge weekly all sets. So I am seeing deterioration in only 40 cycles. Its still too early to predict when they will reach the "HIGH" failure levels. Now typically at 1.65-1.75.

I have some AAA NexCells for 12 months now discharge at ~17ma@43 hours. Recharge weekly and they are reaching the "HIGH" now. One at 2.60+, two more at 2.15 and last 9 1.90-2.05.

Both started out under 1.60. For 1st 4 months I charged all AAAs at 500, now doing at 400. Both brands seem to be 'wearing' out awfully fast for adv. 1000 cycles. AND with only 17-25ma discharge loads.

InHisName said:

fishnfool:
Some really consistant numbers. One more number you could add to the mix is the internal impedance check done by the C9000. I keep track of that number for both when discharged (not very consistant) and when charged. (much more consistant but higher)

For Tones would be nice to keep a loose track of number of charge cycles and type of discharges.

For my AAA Duraloops It has been 9 months and there has been some change in the internal impedance check since new. Discharge ~25ma @32 hours in a FRS radio set, recharge weekly all sets. So I am seeing deterioration in only 40 cycles. Its still too early to predict when they will reach the "HIGH" failure levels. Now typically at 1.65-1.75.

I have some AAA NexCells for 12 months now discharge at ~17ma@43 hours. Recharge weekly and they are reaching the "HIGH" now. One at 2.60+, two more at 2.15 and last 9 1.90-2.05.

Both started out under 1.60. For 1st 4 months I charged all AAAs at 500, now doing at 400. Both brands seem to be 'wearing' out awfully fast for adv. 1000 cycles. AND with only 17-25ma discharge loads.

Click to expand...

Those are some very interesting battery stats. I've only been into this battery hobby since Dec. 2009 so it's going to be a while before I get to where my batteries are showing high ICV levels. Plus I have 10x more batteries than I need so they don't get used as much as I'd like.

I do keep track of the 'before charge Impedance Check Voltage' but never thought of keeping track of the 'after charge ICV'. Isn't the 'before charge ICV' more important than the 'after charge ICV'?

My 'before charge ICV' numbers for the AA tones are between 1.52v-1.54v and the AAA's are between 1.59v-1.61v. Aren't these numbers supposed to be the same since they are both brand new?

fishinfool said:

Isn't the 'before charge ICV' more important than the 'after charge ICV'?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure exactly, but I think the before charge reading probably gives more useful information.

My 'before charge ICV' numbers for the AA tones are between 1.52v-1.54v and the AAA's are between 1.59v-1.61v. Aren't these numbers supposed to be the same since they are both brand new?

Click to expand...

No; AAA cells are smaller and therefore have a higher internal impedance.

Thanks Mr Happy! About the 'before charge ICV', I just re-read TTA's Measuring Maha MH-C9000 Impedance Check Voltage and it doesn't mention doing an 'after charge ICV' but I just might start keeping track of it just for my own personal information.

I have a C-9000 but find the Powerex MH-C401FS more convenient to use if you don't want or need the extra features of the C-9000.

Li-ions are generally my preferred power source when they can be used, but for those applications where Eneloops are a better choice (or li-ions won't work) , I've been using Eneloops and the C9000 for a year or so and I have to say that this is one superb charger! The reconditioning features are awesome. If you intend to do much use with NiMh cells/Eneloops, AA or AAA size, I strongly believe this charger is so very well worth the money. The features and ease of use are simply fantastic. It may seem like a lot to spend just to charge batteries, but if you like to use Eneloops (and they are an AWESOME power source) then this charger will serve you very well for many years. I wouldn't dream of using primaries in any of my lights or other powered goodies with Eneloops and the C9000 around. Great set-up.

I picked some of these up today. It seems like a good deal. The timing is right for them to be released here in the USA. My older Rayovac Hybrids were starting to go bad. I had one of my AA's only holding around 800mah. I have had those around 3 years. Hopefully these last at least another 3.