Do I need to keep my batteries grouped together?

[kcinnick]

Well, first of all I just want to thank everybody, this is a great forum. I have gathered a ton of information the past couple of days.

I came over from Bayoushooter.com to research the Fenix TK40, and have come away with so much more information, now I have questions about batteries.

I hit up the local Rite Aides and purchased 24 "Duraloops", most have 09 or 08 manufacture codes, I think one might be 07 but all are the new style battery. All in all they cost me about $2 a battery before the $5 rebate from Duracell and the $10 rebate from Rite Aide. (A couple of cycles and they will be so much cheaper than the Rayovacs I have been getting from Wal-Mart)

I also went online and ordered a Maha C9000, I wanted an 8 bay charger, but what the heck, the 4 cell has so many more features to play with!

My question is do I need to keep these batteries together in groups? The #1 reason to get them was for the TK40, but they will also see time in other single battery lights. I also am currently using Duracell rechargeable for things like Remote controls, Wii Remotes, kids toys and other electronic doodads. (I think they are the ones referred too as "Durabirds"). I know with older technologies I was crazy about making sure the same batteries charged the same amount of time and came from the same device etc etc. etc. to get 20-25 charges out of them, is this necessary with these seemingly amazing batteries?

I am most interested in longest run time and max recharge cycles more than how fast I can charge my batteries.

Thanks

 

[AlexLED]

Hi kcinnick, yes, please ! :)

The problem (and why I'm not a big fan of multiple cells lights) is that the cells are used in series so when the first cell gets depleted not only the overall voltage will decrease significantly but also that cell will get over-discharged. Each time this happens, that cell will loose capacity and will deplete even sooner.

So it is still a good idea to keep the cells the most equal as possible. Some guys really get a kick at this and measure the exact capacity of each cell and then group the accordingly.
(Others just use 1 cell lights. :whistle: )

As to the charging time, the LSD cells just as usual NiMH cells don't like slow charge, so look for a fast charger, the Maha is a very good example of such. :)

But longest run time and max recharge cycles is a bit conflicting: to maximise cycles, you should limit discharge to about 80%.

 

[tylernt]

For the short term, an individual channel charger should balance the cells quite well, especially Ene/Duraloops which are already very consistent. I wouldn't worry about it for now.

However as the cells age with dozens of recharge cycles, more differences will start to show up so at some point in the future you may want to consider testing the cells and then using the ones closest to each other in the TK40.

 

[kcinnick]

So basically: yes and no?

I could see maximum performance by matching batteries, but the batteries should be good enough to be reasonably close anyway.

I think I am just going to date the batteries and not worry about getting them in special groups, as they age I might have to pay more attention.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[45/70]

My question is do I need to keep these batteries together in groups?

Yes, it is much better to check your cells once in a while, and group them by capacity. This, and proper usage techniques, are how 300-500 (or more) charge cycles from your NiMH cells can be obtained.

Do most people do this? No, and I'm sure that includes a lot of people on these forums. It is also in large part, the reason why there exist "problem" threads on this particular Forum. And most of the folks in this group, get far less than the potential 300-500 cycles from their cells.

Personally, I do both. I have first tier cells (mostly newer, or exceptionally well performing cells) that are kept in groups. My second, and third tier cells, I don't worry about as much. These are the only ones that ever get used "randomly" so to speak, and when the conditions are known ahead of time, to be hard on cells, the third tier usually get the job. This has worked out well for me, but ideally, you would sort out all of your cells, for maximum cell performance and life.

Dave

 

[kcinnick]

I guess it doesn't matter that all my cells are grouped together in specific groups, since some will degrade faster than others, the important part is when I put 8 batteries in my TK40 that they are "Matched" but it should not matter as much say in and LD10 where on one cell is used.

I think I have a good foundation to start on with Duraloops and a C9000, this might turn out to be as addictive as weighing bullets and brass.... for best performance that is.