matrixshaman
Flashlight Enthusiast
Update in Post #15
After trying to switch on a Midland weather radio that had been sitting for some time I remembered it doesn't really have an off switch - it stays on all the time. Unfortunately I had put two AA Eneloops in it and it apparently ran them down. I was concerned how low they went and got out the voltmeter. One tested about 0.5 volts and the other one tested 2.4 millivolts! I retested that one a half dozen times to make sure I had that right and that it wasn't just a loose connection or something but it was clearly reading barely over 2 millivolts or .0024 volts! If I recall correctly from some of our battery experts here that's not a real good thing for Eneloops although probably not as bad as it would be for Li-Ion chemistry. BUT I got out the Maha C9000 to see what I could do to save this battery. I put it on the Maha and saw it pop up first at 0.04 volts. Normally the first reading I see when putting any NiMH in the Maha is around 1.62 volts as I believe the Maha tries to make sure you are not putting in an Alkaline or other type that it does not want to charge. But this time it popped up at 0.04 volts so that on one hand confirmed my voltmeter reading that this had almost no power left in it and on the other hand it told me the Maha does something different with an almost dead battery. I watched for a few more seconds and the second reading to come around was 1.37 volts. That was after only about 5 seconds of being on the charger. I then removed the battery and checked it on the voltmeter. It now read 1.34 volts after only being on the Maha for about 5 seconds!
Does this mean the Eneloops have some sort of built in protection circuit like some of the Lithium Ion rechargeables? Or could it have popped up that fast in those few seconds - in voltage at least? From my experience I don't think a battery could come back that fast in that short of time even in the voltage reading. I've put Nicads and similar small batteries across a 10 Amp battery charger to shock them back to life and none came back that fast that I recall even at 10 amps and 12 volts (yes I used protective gear when doing this - welders helmet, gloves etc.).
I had the charge rate set to 1000ma on the Maha. Any ideas as to what I have observed here? Magic Maha Mojo?
After trying to switch on a Midland weather radio that had been sitting for some time I remembered it doesn't really have an off switch - it stays on all the time. Unfortunately I had put two AA Eneloops in it and it apparently ran them down. I was concerned how low they went and got out the voltmeter. One tested about 0.5 volts and the other one tested 2.4 millivolts! I retested that one a half dozen times to make sure I had that right and that it wasn't just a loose connection or something but it was clearly reading barely over 2 millivolts or .0024 volts! If I recall correctly from some of our battery experts here that's not a real good thing for Eneloops although probably not as bad as it would be for Li-Ion chemistry. BUT I got out the Maha C9000 to see what I could do to save this battery. I put it on the Maha and saw it pop up first at 0.04 volts. Normally the first reading I see when putting any NiMH in the Maha is around 1.62 volts as I believe the Maha tries to make sure you are not putting in an Alkaline or other type that it does not want to charge. But this time it popped up at 0.04 volts so that on one hand confirmed my voltmeter reading that this had almost no power left in it and on the other hand it told me the Maha does something different with an almost dead battery. I watched for a few more seconds and the second reading to come around was 1.37 volts. That was after only about 5 seconds of being on the charger. I then removed the battery and checked it on the voltmeter. It now read 1.34 volts after only being on the Maha for about 5 seconds!
Does this mean the Eneloops have some sort of built in protection circuit like some of the Lithium Ion rechargeables? Or could it have popped up that fast in those few seconds - in voltage at least? From my experience I don't think a battery could come back that fast in that short of time even in the voltage reading. I've put Nicads and similar small batteries across a 10 Amp battery charger to shock them back to life and none came back that fast that I recall even at 10 amps and 12 volts (yes I used protective gear when doing this - welders helmet, gloves etc.).
I had the charge rate set to 1000ma on the Maha. Any ideas as to what I have observed here? Magic Maha Mojo?
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I had some Eneloops in a transceiver I use often but after using it one day the radio was conspicuously missing. We've got backups so I didn't look too hard at the time. A couple weeks later it turned up in a chair under a cushion and was still turned on but quite dead. I pulled the Eneloops and found a couple reading only 4 to 5 millivolts while one still had about 0.8 volts on it. I put them in the Maha C9000 and started a refresh and analyze cycle on each of them. It got interrupted by power going down about 80-90% of the way through so I started it again. When all were done the stated capacity of at least 2 were over 2000 Mah - one was 2032 Mah, one 2043 Mah and about 1.44 to 1.45 volts - the third I forgot to check and pulled it when I saw 'Done' - it was the first done so I'd expect it had a good capacity too. Thanks again to Maha for providing a great charger like this. I know that as SilverFox has said they may lose some of their LSD due to this abuse but at least they are still useable batteries for most purposes and it seems they actually now have better capacity than they did before IIRC.
