8AA charging options - pack charger or dedicated charger?

[KevinL]

My TK40 demands 8 cells at one go and I like to drive it in Turbo mode, which means recharging more often

I have a variety of decent chargers at my disposal, so was wondering whether I should pony up for a 8-bay or re-use some of the options.

1. Use the Energizer 15-minute AA charger with Eneloops. I wonder whether this method is too abusive - I like the 15 min charge, but it always leaves the cells hot, and while it has been 'ok' over the years I have always wondered in the back of my mind what are the implications.

2. Charge the 8 AA's in their carrier on my Hyperion EOS 5i pack charger. This charger/analyzer does everything I care to throw at it. Only downside I can think of is that the cells aren't individually charged and balanced. Also I can't do this with mismatched groups of cells - I sometimes need to charge 8AA's (2 sets of 4) for my camera flashguns.

3. Pay up and buy 8-bay charger:
http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=422

The thing about charging batteries is the hassle. I would rather set-and-forget something and let it go till it's done. 2 hours is an acceptable charge time, but wouldn't want longer than that.

Opinions welcome!

 

[GarageBoy]

My favorite is the Maha 801/808- less hassle to equalize all 8 cells

 

[clintb]

How about using your Hyperion for day-to-day charging, and purchase a Maha C-9000 to have a closer look at individual cells every thirty days or so? I like the 801/808, but they tell you nothing of the individual cells health. I think those would best be paired with a C-9000.

 

[mdocod]

I would swap over to a 2x18650 powered quad-die platform. You could probably sell your light, collection of eneloops, chargers, etc, and have plenty left over to get a top notch 2x18650 powered light and Pila IBC and cells. cell handling would be dramatically simplified, runtime would be about the same, body diameter would be far more graspable....

 

[thedeske]

I plan to see how it goes with a single C-9000 and 16 Eneloops dedicated to the light. The first week with the TK might require more than normal charge cycles - we'll see

 

[HarryN]

Hi Kevin,

For me, the whole point of buying a mid to upper range charger is that it can do nearly any charge job for you and reasonably well. I avoided using R cells until I could really justify a decent charger that could charge pretty much anything I had or planned to have, including tools.

I seriously considered the Hyperion when I picked up the Triton II - it was a close match, with each able to do some applications slightly better than the other. My decision ended up being made on its ability to charge a 28V SLA hedge trimmer.

I would just charge the TK 40 8 pack in the hyperion in series, but at a bit lower rate - maybe .2 - .4 C, then let it go into a trickle. It is unlikely that your cells are really full discharged each time, so it does not take that long.

I put letters on each of my cell "sets" (A, B, C) and try to keep them as 4 each sets. This is a handy size for most R uses that we have and an easy setup to charge (in series) In limited use applications, I just use the Energizer Li AAs for everything. Another option to reduce "flash" cell use is - try using available light photography. I hardly ever use a flash anymore, but perhaps your needs are more serious than mine.

Most NiMHs will tend to self balance if given some extra time on a series charge, so balancing is not as big of a deal. I did find that I had to adjust the dv/dt default setting on the Triton for slow charging NiMHs for it to terminate properly - no idea on the hyperion. I have played with parallel charging, but the Triton maxes out around 10 AH IIRC, so I had to reset it sometimes for 5 AH sub Cs.

It is not so easy to really achieve perfect balance in NiMH cells anyway, whether charged in series or parallel. I have some 6S r/c NiMH packs that run "2 in series" on the car, but are easier for me to charge one at a time. There is almost no chance that the two packs will ever have an exactly balanced charge to each other, as the first one self discharges a bit even while the second is charging anyway.

 

[KevinL]

Cool, thanks for the tip.

I've never run out of AA battery power for the flash while on location, but that's probably because I am not the gung ho blasting flash all over the place with no understanding of light behavior or power control and a $100 fancy diffuser (which only serves to rob power) stuck on the flash. If you shoot events PJ or press style, you need the flash. I find myself stuck in many a pitch dark situation too, where even the Canon 35/1.4 isn't enough..

However I do carry lots of spares and making sure the non-Eneloop cells are topped off is a hassle. Slowly phasing them out - maybe I should 'faster phase them out'

I suppose I am really trying to justify the 8-bay charger

 

[spaceconvoy]

Anyone have experience with the Targus 8 AA charger?

http://cgi.ebay.com/TARGUS-8-AA-Battery-Charger-For-8AA-FREE-S-H_W0QQitemZ36016938508

An 8 capacity, 2-hour smart charger with 8 x 2700ma batteries for $23 shipped sounds way too good to be true... Any thoughts?

 

[Foxx510]

I'd stick with the hyperion series charge. They'll stay pretty well balanced with that method.