Uhteisummarrus
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2018
- Messages
- 1
(X-post from ArsTechnica forums; I got one answer that looks good to me but I'd like to get second opinions.)
I've got something like 50 rechargeable 1900mAh Eneloop AA cells, most of which are the model HR-3UTGB, and some of which are BK-3MCCE. I've used them in a Roland Cube Street EX guitar amplifier which uses 8 cells, and charged the cells with a Tensai TI-1600L 16 channel charger. Originally, I always used them in sets of eight (using together, charging together), but at some point got lazy and just ended up mixing different sets (stupid idea, I imagine!).
At some point, the amplifier started to drain the cells really quickly. I realized at this point that my Tensai has a "refresh" mode, with which I managed to identify a couple of dead cells and got rid of them. However, my problem persisted even after using the refresh mode.
A friend of mine recently lent me a Powerex MH-C9000 charger which has the "refresh/analyze" and "break-in" modes, and also gives out numerical data, which my Tensai doesn't. After doing some googling, I decided to try the thing out with a set of 4 cells, and repeated the refresh/analyze program with the default settings three times. [On the ArsTechnica forum thread, I got the opinion that there's no need to refresh more than once.]
The results I got are:
Cell 1. Round 1 1863mah 243 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 2. Round 1 1718mah 225 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 3. Round 1 1838mah 240 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 4. Round 1 1886mah 246 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 1. Round 2 1922mah 251 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 2. Round 2 1752mah 230 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 3. Round 2 1880mah 245 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 4. Round 2 1958mah 256 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 1. Round 3 1901mah 249 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 2. Round 3 1721mah 227 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 3. Round 3 1860mah 243 minutes 1.45 volt
Cell 4. Round 3 1943mah 255 minutes 1.45 volt
I'd would be grateful for help in figuring out how interpret these results and how to proceed.
Also: Would it be beneficial to run the refresh/analyze mode again? Would the break-in mode help me? If I go on refreshing the rest of my cells, how do I know if some of the cells would be better to just throw away?
I've heard that mixing cells with different capacities ends up draining them all. Am I right that mixing a 1700mAh with 1900mAh ones would drain them a lot quicker than using a full set of 1700mAh cells?
I've got something like 50 rechargeable 1900mAh Eneloop AA cells, most of which are the model HR-3UTGB, and some of which are BK-3MCCE. I've used them in a Roland Cube Street EX guitar amplifier which uses 8 cells, and charged the cells with a Tensai TI-1600L 16 channel charger. Originally, I always used them in sets of eight (using together, charging together), but at some point got lazy and just ended up mixing different sets (stupid idea, I imagine!).
At some point, the amplifier started to drain the cells really quickly. I realized at this point that my Tensai has a "refresh" mode, with which I managed to identify a couple of dead cells and got rid of them. However, my problem persisted even after using the refresh mode.
A friend of mine recently lent me a Powerex MH-C9000 charger which has the "refresh/analyze" and "break-in" modes, and also gives out numerical data, which my Tensai doesn't. After doing some googling, I decided to try the thing out with a set of 4 cells, and repeated the refresh/analyze program with the default settings three times. [On the ArsTechnica forum thread, I got the opinion that there's no need to refresh more than once.]
The results I got are:
Cell 1. Round 1 1863mah 243 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 2. Round 1 1718mah 225 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 3. Round 1 1838mah 240 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 4. Round 1 1886mah 246 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 1. Round 2 1922mah 251 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 2. Round 2 1752mah 230 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 3. Round 2 1880mah 245 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 4. Round 2 1958mah 256 minutes 1.47 volt
Cell 1. Round 3 1901mah 249 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 2. Round 3 1721mah 227 minutes 1.46 volt
Cell 3. Round 3 1860mah 243 minutes 1.45 volt
Cell 4. Round 3 1943mah 255 minutes 1.45 volt
I'd would be grateful for help in figuring out how interpret these results and how to proceed.
Also: Would it be beneficial to run the refresh/analyze mode again? Would the break-in mode help me? If I go on refreshing the rest of my cells, how do I know if some of the cells would be better to just throw away?
I've heard that mixing cells with different capacities ends up draining them all. Am I right that mixing a 1700mAh with 1900mAh ones would drain them a lot quicker than using a full set of 1700mAh cells?
