Anyone still use their 15 minute Charger?

[GarageBoy]

Should I just retire this thing? It's pretty bad for batteries and I'm thinking would it be better to partially charge batteries in a rush? Thanks

 

[SilverFox]

Hello GarageBoy,

I use both of mine regularly...

Tom

 

[onthebeam]

Tom's the man! I use mine, too. Recently bought some Eneloops though but am a little gunshy about charging in the 15 minute Energizer charger. Tom, do you use the 15 min. charger for the Eneloops, too?

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Onthebeam,

Yep... 🙂

Mind you I don't do every charge with the 15 minute charger, but when I am in a hurry, I just throw them in, have a cup of coffee, and walk out with charged cells.

My guess is that if you 15 minute charge once every 10 cycles, you should still be able to get very good cycle life.

Tom

 

[GarageBoy]

Sorry about the many threads, I'm just paranoid as I've just chucked a dozen Energizer 2100- 2500s which have started to not hold a charge for more than a week

 

[dlrflyer]

Call me crazy, but I have no qualms using my Energizer 15 min charger. While rechargeables aren't cheap, still if you get say 6 charges out of a set, you break even compared to alkalines. I know I can get alot more than that from a set of hybrids. By using the 15 min charger, it's almost as convenient as ripping open a pack of alkalines. That convenience is worth the lost cycles to me. Besides, has anybody done any definitive testing to show you really lose that many cycles? Plus, to be honest, I thought that heat was the real enemy, my cells come off the charger only slightly warm, alot cooler than a 15hr timed charger than came with the hybrids. Actually, now I'm thinking I like it even more.

 

[Robstorch]

I use mine a lot with my remaining Energizers that are still in good shape.
I usually use my slower/gentler chargers if I am not in a hurry on my better Panasonic and eneloop batteries.

 

[bob_ninja]

If you are experiencing a short lifespan then you should probably both change battery brand and avoid 15min chargers. Otherwise as others said use them when in a hurry.

 

[swxb12]

If using the 15-minute charger will drop my NiMH's life to say 150 cycles instead of 500, I have a feeling that it could still take me a few years to get to that point so I'm not worried.

The Energizer 15-min charger seems to do a nice job will cooling my cells so far. Not even that warm, if at all.

 

[oldvultureface]

...has anybody done any definitive testing to show you really lose that many cycles?

SilverFox has.

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=114943

 

[MrAl]

Hi there,

I still use mine too, but i favor what Tom had said about using it
every 5 to 10 times rather than for every single charge.

I am however moving over to using my Battery Analyzer/Charger (a product which
i am making available to the public very soon) to charge and discharge
cells because i can keep a record of how they behave while charging
and while discharging. I havent settled on what current i want to use
for most charges, but im thinking about 3 amps. This would finish the
cells in about 45 minutes.

No doubt when im in a hurry though i will certainly still use my Energizer
15 minute charger.