End of Charge action?

What do you do with your NiMH batteries/cells when your smart charger informs you that the cells have reached full charge? Assume that you have no other cells to charge.

Do you remove the cells from the charger and the charger from AC power? Do you leave the cells in the charger and still connected to AC power? Do you remove the charger from AC power, but still leave the cells in the charger?

Some chargers cut off the current totally. Some chargers switch to a trickle charge current. If removed from AC power, some chargers draw current from any cell still in the charger - meaning that the cell is being discharged.

Some data points: The LaCrosse BC700/900 switch to a trickle current at some percentage of the charge current. The Maha C9000 uses a trickle current. The Sony BCGxxx cuts off the current totally. The Titanium TG2800 switches to a trickle current if still plugged in, but begins discharging the cells at about 2ma if AC power is pulled.

Edit: Furthermore, if in the course of many charge/discharge cycles with multiple cell insertions/removals, the smart charger may become "confused" and give you unexpected responses. Before disposing of any product, remove AC power and any cells from the charger and leave the charger sit for a few hours, maybe even overnight. Amazing what that fixes. IOW, this is probably the price of using CMOS chips, or maybe poor/fast programming that became confused. ie: the TG2800.can indicate a bad battery on one channel even if there is no cell in that slot, yet nothing is wrong after removing AC power for several hours.

It depends on the charger.

I primarily use a couple C9000 chargers. I leave them plugged in pretty much all the time. I've been charging AA Eneloops at 1000mA and the AAAs at 400mA. I leave them on the charger for a total of about five hours for a full charge to give them time to balance at a more fully charged state after the primary charging phase is done which ends fairly conservatively.

I store the Eneloops charged individually or in series cell sets that only get used by themselves and I rotate through them as I need them.

agreed, it depends on the charger. For any charger that trickle-charges after end-of-charge termination, I leave the cells in the charger until they have cooled to room temp, more or less. That tops off the cell, which is required on the C9000 (which I no longer own). Because the Sony BCGxxx cuts off all current, I pull those cells immediately. I normally leave all chargers unplugged from AC power. BTW, I am amazed at the quiescent current in some of these chargers - real current vampires!

Hello Moldyoldy,

I tell people that chargers are for charging. After the charge is completed, remove the cells.

I use my TG2800 as a travel charger. As such it is usually unplugged. I haven't experienced the same issue with it that you have, but I tend to travel with "vibrant" cells and have never had that charger reject a cell.

Tom