What's a good C-Size LSD NiMH battery?

Can anyone recommend a good C-Size LSD NiMH battery?

I have some Radioshack brand 3500 mAh NiMH cells whose quality I question.

I've been charging them in a RadioShack NiMH Universal charger.
Sometimes some of the cells get HOT! while charging (but not all). Not fairly warm - but almost too hot to touch.

I'm looking for a better battery (and charger as well).

Good ol' Tenergy cells, 5000 mAh. Someone else will have to recommend a charger..

I second Tenergy. They simply make the best larger factor (ie C and D) NiMH cells out there. If you must have LSD, go for the 4000mAH Centuras. But even the 5000mAH Premiums will hold a charge reasonably well (for at least a couple of months). Either way, you can't go wrong. As for the charger, I like the Maha mh-c808m. It is a quality charger, doesn't cook batteries, and can charge 8 of them at a time.

Through extensive testing the Tenergy cells appear to be the best available option on the market and one of the more reasonably priced. I've tested just about all the options out there and batteries costing twice as much or more usually perform worse and in some cases much worse.
As StorminMatt mentions the Maha mh-c808m and that seems to be the best charger on the market for these cells. Using the standard charge speed of 2Amps ensures proper termination with these batteries. Sometimes they miss termination on the "Soft" charge setting. The "Soft" setting works great for charging AA batteries though.

I use adapters in my C9000 to charge C and D cells. Do an ebay search, they originally came with the BM200 charger but will work in a C9000 or other similar AA based chargers. If I used them more I'd probably get a Maha C808M or something. Only cells I've used are Tenergy Centuras. another option is ebay adapters for AAA to C and AA to D. Less capacity but lets you steal the cells if needed in a pinch.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ot-World-Electric-Fan-quot-eBay-cell-adapters

Have had tenergy centura a couple years now. Always charged, (bad for cell) hardly used and they still have an internal resistance of 54mili ohms which is what they arrived with. (Resistance measured with icharger 106b). I recommend them.

54 mohms seems a little high for Tenergy Centuras. From what I have seen, they should be about half of that. Then again, the cell could have been higher to begin with. Or your charger could be somewhat off.

StorminMatt said:

I second Tenergy. They simply make the best larger factor (ie C and D) NiMH cells out there. If you must have LSD, go for the 4000mAH Centuras. But even the 5000mAH Premiums will hold a charge reasonably well (for at least a couple of months). Either way, you can't go wrong. As for the charger, I like the Maha mh-c808m. It is a quality charger, doesn't cook batteries, and can charge 8 of them at a time.

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I'll be using these in applications where the battery stays in the device for awhile and isn't recharged frequently.

I've heard that in such applications a lower capacity LSD may last longer than a higher capacity non-LCD, due to less self-discharge. Makes sense. Possibly true. That might make the Tenergy 4000 mAH Centuras LSD a better bet than 5000 mAH Premiums non-LSDs.

ROBERT29 said:

I've heard that in such applications a lower capacity LSD may last longer than a higher capacity non-LCD, due to less self-discharge. Makes sense. Possibly true. That might make the Tenergy 4000 mAH Centuras LSD a better bet than 5000 mAH Premiums non-LSDs.

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Depends on how long you expect the battery to last. I'm not sure about the C cells. But someone here did a self discharge test on Tenergy D cells. And the Premiums actually held more charge than the Centuras up to the three month point. So unless you plan to have the batteries on standby for over three months before charging, the Premiums will probably have greater capacity.

I agree on the Centuras or if for low drain applications the AA to C adapters should work. For a less expensive but decent charger do a search on Amazon for the Digital Treasures ChargeIt Battery Station Pro Battery Charger. For $35 you get a charger which can charge four batteries at 1 amp for the biggies and handles all sizes from AAA to D size plus one 9V slot. Ignore the Alkaline recharge "feature" as it is an excellent way to have leaking alkaline batteries.

eebowler said:

Have had tenergy centura a couple years now. Always charged, (bad for cell) hardly used and they still have an internal resistance of 54mili ohms which is what they arrived with. (Resistance measured with icharger 106b). I recommend them.

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Bad for NIMH cells to store them fully charged? What is the recommend charge state for storing NIMH?

"Depends on how long you expect the battery to last. I'm not sure about the C cells. But someone here did a self discharge test on Tenergy D cells. And the Premiums actually held more charge than the Centuras up to the three month point. So unless you plan to have the batteries on standby for over three months before charging, the Premiums will probably have greater capacity."


I'll be using the C cells in battery powered Caller ID displays with large (6-inch) displays. Alkalines last 6 months. Radioshack 3500 mAh NIMI last about 2 months. The cell will have a constant (but probably not great) drain on them.

Tenergy Centuras - still a good bet?

eebowler said:

Always charged, (bad for cell)

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Storing cells at a full charge is bad for ICR and IMR Li-Ion, but not for NiMH.

Don't forget the Maha/Powerex Imedion C-sized LSD cells, which differ from their regular nimh stuff.

IonicBond said:

Don't forget the Maha/Powerex Imedion C-sized LSD cells, which differ from their regular nimh stuff.

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From what I have read they are not worth the added cost compared to the Amazon price on the Centuras.

IonicBond said:

Don't forget the Maha/Powerex Imedion C-sized LSD cells, which differ from their regular nimh stuff.

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While they aren't bad cells they don't handle high current demands as well as the Centuras and cost about double. Hard to justify.

StorminMatt said:

Storing cells at a full charge is bad for ICR and IMR Li-Ion, but not for NiMH.

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I second this--storing a NiMH cell fully charged will actually leave the cell in the most preferred state for storage. Lead-acid is also this way with more dramatic consequences for being left partially or fully discharged. By contrast, lithium chemistries typically do best when stored at about a 40% state of charge. All three chemistries prefer being stored at cooler temperatures (ie they discharge much more slowly). LA likes maybe 0C (only if charged), lithium -20C to 0C, and NiMH 0C.

It seems that the low self discharge NiMh cells have changed a lot of the way we look at NiMh chemistry.

Keep in mind that the "old school" ideas still hold true for normal NiMh cells. Over the years it was generally accepted that to keep normal NiMh cells vibrant you stored them discharged and limited the storage to 30 days. At the end of 30 days you did a charge/discharge on the cells and then put them back into storage. Years of RC racing verified that this worked very well.

Tom