Careful with AAA eneloops - exposed (-) terminal

[EngrPaul]

I have a laser pointer that had 2 AAA's that were nearly expired.

I thought I'd try recently charged eneloops.

The (+) terminal goes to the bottom of the battery tube.

Didn't work. Removed batteries. BATTERIES VERY HOT.

It turns out the side of eneloop AAA cells are not covered with insulating material. Instant short.

Bad design, Sanyo. :scowl:

 

[Mr Happy]

This is typical of many AAA NiMH cells. The shrink wrap does not wrap around the negative end but stops at the side.

It turns out that if cells are not constructed this way it is very difficult to charge them in the MH-C9000. It leads me to wonder if it is not in fact some kind of conventional design for AAA rechargeable cells...?

 

[qwertyydude]

I'd say more than likely bad design in the laser pointer as normally there is an insulating lacquer on the inside to prevent dead shorts.

 

[45/70]

My solution to this problem is to take some thin paper and make a tube out of it then slide it in the light/laser before you put the batteries in. Works for me anyway. I suppose if the tolerance is really tight, you may run into a problem, but you can find really thin paper too.

Hr. H is correct, most AAA NiMh's are like this. It does seem they could do better.

Edit to add, the C9000 seems to be purposely designed to shred wrappers off of your batteries. That's one "feature" I really don't like about it. I did find that if you put AA's in incorrectly as in backwards from the way they tell you to do it, the shredding stops!

Dave

 

[EngrPaul]

Hmm.... I've checked my other NiMH AAA rechargeables laying around, and they are just like you say. The shrink wrap does not go around the bottom. :duh2:

I guess this cheapie laser pointer is destined to use alkalines...

This is typical of many AAA NiMH cells. The shrink wrap does not wrap around the negative end but stops at the side.

It turns out that if cells are not constructed this way it is very difficult to charge them in the MH-C9000. It leads me to wonder if it is not in fact some kind of conventional design for AAA rechargeable cells...?