Eneloop 'Costco' Power Pack now at Amazon

I just noticed that the Eneloop Power Pack, which is supposed to be exclusive to Costco, is now available at Amazon as well:

http://www.amazon.com ... power.pack ...

Pricing starts at 32.50 plus 5.49 shipping, as opposed to the 26.49 pickup price at Costco, but still not a bad deal if you don't have ready access to a Costco or someone with a Costco membership.

I also noticed the rather neat Eneloop USB charger, which was supposed to have been in North America almost six months ago, is finally available at Amazon as well:

http://www.amazon.com ... usb.charger ...

Pricing for it starts at 24.95, and free shipping is available providing you order at least 25.00 worth of eligable products, which is made a little easier with the Filler Item Finder:

http://www.filleritem.com ....

Bones said:

I just noticed that the Eneloop Power Pack, which is supposed to be exclusive to Costco, is now available at Amazon as well:

http://www.amazon.com ... power.pack ...

Pricing starts at 32.50 plus 5.49 shipping, as opposed to the 26.49 pickup price at Costco, but still not a bad deal if you don't have ready access to a Costco or someone with a Costco membership.

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That's not Amazon that is actually selling them - I'd say that it's just Costco members buying them and then selling them on - the same as a couple of sellers on Ebay...

Power Me Up said:

That's not Amazon that is actually selling them - I'd say that it's just Costco members buying them and then selling them on - the same as a couple of sellers on Ebay...

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Thanks Power Me Up, probably worth mentioning for those not familiar with the Amazon business model.

Also worth mentioning I suppose is that the charger actually is being sold by Amazon, and one power pack seller's orders are being fulfilled by Amazon.

As well, the top three seller's are rated between 98 and 100 percent, and all sales purchased on their site are covered by the Amazon guarantee.

Bones said:

Also worth mentioning I suppose is that the charger actually is being sold by Amazon, and one power pack seller's orders are being fulfilled by Amazon.

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Sorry - I missed the one that says that it's being fulfilled by Amazon...

Hopefully it's a sign that the Power Pack is going to become more widely available!

Power Me Up said:

Sorry - I missed the one that says that it's being fulfilled by Amazon...

Hopefully it's a sign that the Power Pack is going to become more widely available!

Click to expand...

Hardly a problem Power Me Up, it will serve as a reminder to assess risk factors before submitting this type of post in the future.

Does anyone know if the charger can charge individual (not pairs) cells?

Do Eneloops require a special charger?

Can you use a regular NiMH charger for Eneloops, or do they require a special charger made for them?

Yes, CM, it will charge individual cells.

Charge rate is only 300/150mAh for AA/AAA cells.

Approximate charge time is 7 hours for AA and 6 hours for AAA.

Re: Do Eneloops require a special charger?

mountainwalker said:

Can you use a regular NiMH charger for Eneloops, or do they require a special charger made for them?

Click to expand...

You can use a regular NiMH charger for Eneloops.

CM said:

Does anyone know if the charger can charge individual (not pairs) cells?

Click to expand...

I have this model (MQN05U), and have also verifed it to be a fully independent channel charger CM.

In fact, I believe it to be the best charger available for my Eneloops as long as they are fully discharged periodically to negate voltage depression.

It is capable of charging AA cells at a very gentle 300mAh, and most importantly, it seems to be able to terminate the charge reliably at this rate.

To really test this, I fully charged four AA Eneloops, pulled the charger from the wall and let it sit for a few hours and plugged it back in. I checked back about 3/4 of an hour later, and the charger had again terminated charging on all four cells.

I have also charged from one to four AA and/or AAA cells in various combinations, and with various amounts of charge remaining, and it always seems to finish charging about when I would expect.

It also charges to about the same level as my MH-C9000 does at it's lowest recommended charge rate of .5C, and the cells are noticably cooler coming out of the Eneloop charger.

I find this especially impressive considering Maha MH-C9000 is an open compartment charger, whereas the Eneloop charger utilizes a closed compartment.

Thus far, I have been unable to find any documentation to verify whether this model has the same set of controls as almost every other Sanyo charger, but all anecdotal evidence indicates that it certainly could.

It is also notable to me that this appears to be the only charger that Sanyo has developed specifically for the Eneloop, and remains the only charger that bears the Eneloop logo.

It's also as simple as it gets, just plug it in when you leave for work in the morning and your cells are fully charged when you get home. As kitelights has noted, it's not a quick charger, but more importantly, it's not a cell cooker either.

kitelights said:

Yes, CM, it will charge individual cells.

Click to expand...

The question that remains to be answered is why the the Eneloop web site states the charger should only be used to charge in pairs.
http://www.eneloopusa.com/eneloop.html

The product packaging (the outside) also states the charger is a 2-4 position charger, though the specs in the manual list it as 1-4.

Is there any situation in which a charger would be physically capable of charging a single cell, but some engineering design makes doing that a bad idea?

Bones said:

I have this model (MQN05U), and have also verifed it to be a fully independent channel charger CM.

In fact, I believe it to be the best charger available for my Eneloops as long as they are fully discharged periodically to negate voltage depression.

It is capable of charging AA cells at a very gentle 300mAh, and most importantly, it seems to be able to terminate the charge reliably at this rate.

To really test this, I fully charged four AA Eneloops, pulled the charger from the wall and let it sit for a few hours and plugged it back in. I checked back about 3/4 of an hour later, and the charger had again terminated charging on all four cells.

I have also charged from one to four AA and/or AAA cells in various combinations, and with various amounts of charge remaining, and it always seems to finish charging about when I would expect.

It also charges to about the same level as my MH-C9000 does at it's lowest recommended charge rate of .5C, and the cells are noticably cooler coming out of the Eneloop charger.

I find this especially impressive considering Maha MH-C9000 is an open compartment charger, whereas the Eneloop charger utilizes a closed compartment.

Thus far, I have been unable to find any documentation to verify whether this model has the same set of controls as almost every other Sanyo charger, but all anecdotal evidence indicates that it certainly could.

It is also notable to me that this appears to be the only charger that Sanyo has developed specifically for the Eneloop, and remains the only charger that bears the Eneloop logo.

It's also as simple as it gets, just plug it in when you leave for work in the morning and your cells are fully charged when you get home. As kitelights has noted, it's not a quick charger, but more importantly, it's not a cell cooker either.

Click to expand...

I haven't had such experiences with my Eneloop charger. I would charge 4 cells over night, then a day later, another 4+ hours would be put into the cells before the charging stopped. Then if I tried charging them only a few hours later, the charger would put another 4+ hours into the batteries. :shrug:

Jackson said:

The question that remains to be answered is why the the Eneloop web site states the charger should only be used to charge in pairs.

http://www.eneloopusa.com/eneloop.html

The product packaging (the outside) also states the charger is a 2-4 position charger, though the specs in the manual list it as 1-4.

Click to expand...

This question has been asked before Jackson, and no satisfactory answer has ever been found that I know of.

I can only note there has been a number of posts indicating that the MQN05 will charge a single cell and none that I'm aware of indicating that it won't.

As well, I choose to rely on the manual on the assumption it is the document most likely to have been reviewed by the engineers, but I have no other basis for doing so.

Jackson said:

Is there any situation in which a charger would be physically capable of charging a single cell, but some engineering design makes doing that a bad idea?

Click to expand...

I'm sure Murphy's Law would insist on it, but whether it applies in this case, I simply don't know.

h2xblive said:

Bones said:

To really test this, I fully charged four AA Eneloops, pulled the charger from the wall and let it sit for a few hours and plugged it back in. I checked back about 3/4 of an hour later, and the charger had again terminated charging on all four cells.

Click to expand...

I haven't had such experiences with my Eneloop charger. I would charge 4 cells over night, then a day later, another 4+ hours would be put into the cells before the charging stopped. Then if I tried charging them only a few hours later, the charger would put another 4+ hours into the batteries. :shrug:

Click to expand...

That's disappointing to hear h2xblive. I have been hoping to recommend the Eneloop and this charger to my friends and family, but not if your experience rather than mine is more typical.

It's been a while, so I am going to give it another go, and maybe others can do the same and post their observations.

Perhaps we can then get a better handle on whether this charger is good as my experiences have indicated or as bad as your experiences have contraindicated.

Bones said:

That's disappointing to hear h2xblive. I have been hoping to recommend the Eneloop and this charger to my friends and family, but not if your experience rather than mine is more typical.

It's been a while, so I am going to give it another go, and maybe others can do the same and post their observations.

Perhaps we can then get a better handle on whether this charger is good as my experiences have indicated or as bad as your experiences have contraindicated.

Click to expand...

I don't know if the original charge is false peaking, or the subsequent charges are over charging the cell. I have been using the Eneloop charger for my Mag85 cells, and I have a strong feeling I am not charging the cells to their peak capacity.

Without spending too much money, I am trying to find a way to charge my 9 cells, but have them all charged at once or charge them seperately, but still maintain cell balance among all 9 cells.

Bump-diddly-oo. Am watching this thread closely for brains wiser than mine, to sort out whether the Eneloop 4-position charger is a good 'un or not...

Bolster said:

Bump-diddly-oo. Am watching this thread closely for brains wiser than mine, to sort out whether the Eneloop 4-position charger is a good 'un or not...

Click to expand...

I'm not an expert on batteries or charging - but I have been reading a lot recently on charging and LSDs.

For more experienced to expert commentary please take a look at this CPF thread -

A look at slow charging

Plus points -

- the eneloop 4-position charger can charge one battery at a time - it seems that way on my sample and also reports I've read.

- from reports it also appears to be "intelligent" in that it does detect end of charge.

Minus point -

- relatively slow charging at 300mA - which is only 0.15C or just under C/7 - according to BatteryUniversity and SilverFox - NiMH chemistry prefers faster charge rates - as slow charge rate can form crystalline structures which robs NiMH life/cycles -

From the BatteryUniversity.com page -
Charging nickel-based batteries
the third point under Simple Guidelines:
"nickel-based batteries prefer fast-charge. Lingering slow charges cause crystalline formation (memory)."

and about 2/3 down the page -under
Charging nickel-metal-hydride -
"Nickel-metal-hydride should be rapid charged rather than slow charged. Because of poor overcharge absorption, the trickle charge must be lower than that of nickel-cadmium and is usually around 0.05C. This explains why the original nickel-cadmium charger cannot be used nickel-metal-hydride.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to slow-charge a nickel-metal-hydride. At a C?rate of 0.1-0.3C, the voltage and temperature profiles fail to exhibit defined characteristics to measure the full charge state accurately and the charger must rely on a timer. Harmful overcharge can occur if a partially or fully charged battery is charged with a fixed timer. The same occurs if the battery has aged and can only hold 50 instead of 100% charge. Overcharge could occur even though the battery feels cool to the touch."

All this makes the charge rate kind of dubious for me....

SilverFox probably felt the same way as he asked this :
"The questions remains, Why does Sanyo in the Eneloop site seem to contradict the recommendations in their main site? Perhaps the Eneloop chargers have changed from –dV termination to peak voltage termination. I think some testing may be in order…"

However all the reports I have read about the eneloop 4-position charger seems to have been positive and it definitely works/does the job
- perhaps not great, but better than expected?

It looked pretty confusing with these quotes boxed one inside the other, so I have instead listed them in the order posted.

Bones said:

To really test this, I fully charged four AA Eneloops, pulled the charger from the wall and let it sit for a few hours and plugged it back in. I checked back about 3/4 of an hour later, and the charger had again terminated charging on all four cells.

Click to expand...

h2xblive said:

I haven't had such experiences with my Eneloop charger. I would charge 4 cells over night, then a day later, another 4+ hours would be put into the cells before the charging stopped. Then if I tried charging them only a few hours later, the charger would put another 4+ hours into the batteries.

Click to expand...

Bones said:

That's disappointing to hear h2xblive. I have been hoping to recommend the Eneloop and this charger to my friends and family, but not if your experience rather than mine is more typical.

It's been a while, so I am going to give it another go, and maybe others can do the same and post their observations.

Perhaps we can then get a better handle on whether this charger is good as my experiences have indicated or as bad as your experiences have contraindicated.

Click to expand...

h2xblive said:

I don't know if the original charge is false peaking, or the subsequent charges are over charging the cell. I have been using the Eneloop charger for my Mag85 cells, and I have a strong feeling I am not charging the cells to their peak capacity.

Without spending too much money, I am trying to find a way to charge my 9 cells, but have them all charged at once or charge them seperately, but still maintain cell balance among all 9 cells.

Click to expand...

Since I'm going to be putting the MQN05 through it's paces over a period of time, I thought I would post my observations in somewhat logical chunks.

The four Eneloops that I am using were dated 2006/06 and put into service on 2007/01.

Except for 3 forming charges in an MH-C9000, they have always been charged in the MQN05. The MH-C9000 is an original 0FAB02 release.

Because my reminder is set to sound at 15 minute intervals, each observation will have a minus 15 minute margin of error.

To start, the cells were discharged at .2C in the MH-C9000 and allowed to rest for 2 hours.

They were then placed in the MQN05 and the charging started.

The charger terminated charging on all four cells 6 and 3/4 hours later.

The compartment was immediately opened to check the cell temperature, which I would describe as quite warm.

The charger was then removed from the outlet and set aside with the cells still inserted and the compartment closed.

After a one hour rest, the charger was plugged back into the outlet and the charging started once again.

The charger terminated charging on all four cells between 1/2 and 3/4 of an hour later.

The compartment was again opened to check the cell temperature, which I would describe as warmer than the first instance, but not by a significant amount.

The charger was then removed from the outlet and the cells removed from the charger.

After a 12 hour rest the cells were placed back in the MQN05 and charging started once again.

The charger again terminated charging on all four cells between 1/2 and 3/4 of an hour later.

I would again describe the cells temperature as quite warm, but still comfortable to hold when removed from the charger's compartment.

After a 2 hour rest, the cells will now be discharged at .2C in the MH-C9000 for both a capacity check and in preparation for a forming charge for a capacity comparison.