Best way to maintenence Eneloops?

[HunkaBurninLove]

Unfortunately the expense of feeding the teenagers negates any cost savings to be had from going to Eneloop rechargeables.

Good one, tandem :nana:

 

[Anzycpethian]

I subscribed to this thread because it was very important to me and now just by chance I see that gmail treats the update-on-the-thread-mail as spam, argh...

Anyway, thank you for your answers!

 

[WDG]

...I see that gmail treats the update-on-the-thread-mail as spam, argh...

<rant> In my experience, so-called "spam filters" are the cure that is worse than the disease. The part I hate most is when they refuse me the option of turning the damned things OFF. </rant>

 

[TakeTheActive]

Make Candlepower Forums a Contact...

I subscribed to this thread because it was very important to me and now just by chance I see that gmail treats the update-on-the-thread-mail as spam, argh...

Try adding the Candlepower 'Sender' address to your Contacts List / Address Book and see what happens.

 

[bbb74]

I subscribed to this thread because it was very important to me and now just by chance I see that gmail treats the update-on-the-thread-mail as spam, argh...

That is easy to fix. In the spam folder, select the mails that aren't spam ... and hit the "Not spam" button. Gmail will stop treating them as spam.

 

[MidnightDistortions]

What is the point of buying lsd batteries if you cant store them? I thougt charging them every 3-4 month made them vital. Sanyo says it holds 85 procent after one year. They should have put a warning that storing a eneloop this long could harm the batteries. Is there any evidence that storing a eneloop for a couple of months is not good for them? I mean they havent been on the market long enough for this to be tested.

It doesn't harm them, but you're only going to get 90% performance out of them instead of 100% after a couple years. It's fine if you just do the discharge-breakin every few years, they'll pick right back up. Some folks just like to keep things in top condition.

It sounds like people are collecting cells and have waay too many. Our use of NiMH cells shows exactly what has been discussed here. Have just enough that you can use them regularily. Any "extras" that you have, give them away to people that can use them regularily.

Like taketheactive says "use em or lose em".

Hot light, the refresh cycle on the BC 900/700 actually tests each cell by charging it up, then discharging and noting the capacity, then it does it again and compares the capacity with the last cycle. It continues these cycles until it see no further gain in capacity. It's a great way to refresh your cells.

I use it all the time and rarely use more than 200 ma charge (the default). I have the time, its a perfectly safe machine, just set it up and let it run. Go have fun while it's taking care of business.

I thought i'd highlight a few posts in here. Over the past few days i have been refreshing a set of 2300mAh Energizer Power Plus LSD batteries and noticed 2 of them were showing 95% capacity (still refreshing) while the other 2 are showing 98%. Since the first set was currently being used in my EDC light and had to be initially charged i'm pretty sure i didn't leave them trickle charging for long. The other set was being recharged when they were already substantially full so i kinda wonder if i had overcharged the second set or if putting an additional charge after it was left sitting for about a month was actually better. Since those Energizers are nearly 2 years old (dated Jan 2 2013) they were not 'vibrant' but they did show a few discharges increased performance.

I only discharged near full when i bought them (August 19 2014) but never ran them through a discharge/charge cycle. At least i know Eneloops do not need to be cycled, but since they have plenty of cycles on the standard 2 amp batteries it doesn't hurt to do a break in cycle during initial purchasing. From testing my Energizers i am trying to determine whether 'topping' off the batteries after they have been sitting for about a month is better than recharging them from a 40-60% charge to cycle them. They do seem to handle themselves pretty well in storage and 98% isn't bad. I plan on doing another refresh on these batteries by July of 2015 to see whether they maintain the 98% or will increase or decrease by adding a trickle charge to them. Won't do more than a couple of hours of a top off charge, the 95% set was on trickle charging mode for 40 minutes while the 2nd set was only on trickle mode for about 10-15 minutes. All batteries were cycled at 250/500mA in the BC1000 La Crosse charger.

As for keeping extra cells, i'd say long as you cycle them every 2 or 3 years they should be fine to keep in storage. The entire point of having LSD rechargeables is to replace the alkaleaking batteries. I wonder if anyone has tried refreshing 5 year old Eneloops that have been sitting in storage to see their capacity and see how they hold up in long term storage.

I run them down in the device (flashlight,radio etc) as low as they can go, then charge them up fully and put them in storage rotation in a drawer. They seem to like being run right down then to receive a full charge. Half discharges or charges they dont seem to hold charge as long. In rotation they get used and charged about once or twice a month.

Cheers

I haven't noticed too much of a difference, the voltage might be a bit lower. I did this every so often with my 2006 AAA Energizers that still hold 70% charge. Realizing though it might be more beneficial to run them all the way down in the La Crosse charger as they will only be run down to a safe level avoiding overdischarging the batteries. Other than that though running them half way hasn't bothered any of my LSD batteries just take them out after they finish charging . In fact taking them out when they reach 1.46 volts might not be a bad idea either. I use a rule of thumb of the more use the battery gets the more often you should fully discharge them but they don't require it every cycle. I'd say for every 10 or 15 cycles, run them down fully.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I wonder if anyone has tried refreshing 5 year old Eneloops that have been sitting in storage to see their capacity and see how they hold up in long term storage.

Funny you mention that. I just cracked open a pack of Gen 1 Eneloops about 2 weeks ago. Their date stamp says they were manufactured in 2009, though I forget when I actually bought them. But dammit, I forgot to measure their voltage level to see what kind of charge they had on them. Anyway, I just charged them up and they work fine. I haven't checked to see if there's any decrease in capacity... maybe I'll check that out. I know my 2006 Eneloops still have close to their full capacity, although they're still used in stuff and so haven't sat idle for years.

 

[MidnightDistortions]

Funny you mention that. I just cracked open a pack of Gen 1 Eneloops about 2 weeks ago. Their date stamp says they were manufactured in 2009, though I forget when I actually bought them. But dammit, I forgot to measure their voltage level to see what kind of charge they had on them. Anyway, I just charged them up and they work fine. I haven't checked to see if there's any decrease in capacity... maybe I'll check that out. I know my 2006 Eneloops still have close to their full capacity, although they're still used in stuff and so haven't sat idle for years.

Lol, darn! If only i refreshed my Energizer cells 2 weeks ago.. well at least after 5 years those 2009 Eneloops still work fine and you can still see what their max capacities are. Yeah usually NiMH cells are pretty vibrant when they are used, still these Energizers are proving to be good LSD cells. I'm keeping track of how many recharges the 2300mAh Energizer cells have but mostly because i couldn't find any info on the general cycle life they have. I should have left the only set of April 2014 Eneloops i got with the 16 pack in the package but i'm FIFO (first in, first out/using the oldest first) obsessive.

 

[Phlogiston]

I found 4 new Sanyo MDU-01 USB travel chargers in a little shop in October, and bought the lot. Each charger came with two Gen1 AAA Eneloops (HR-4UTG) with a manufacturing date of September 2006. They've presumably been sitting undisturbed in that shop since they were made.

They all had a voltage of about 1.28V and roughly 2/3rds of their charge. When I did a test cycle on them with my BL-700 charger, every cell showed at least 770mAh of capacity. Six of them have been delivering that capacity in my lights while I was doing runtime tests last week.

I'm impressed. Eneloops really are quality cells.