duracell mini charger

[chewy78]

Has anyone know if the duracell mini charger is a smart one with peak detection? It includes 2 1700 mah batteries with hr stamp made in china.
is it a trickle charger or a peak charger? its about 10 bucks. on the package it dates 2006 if that helps.

I was thinking of picking one up at wally world for a present. I myself have a maha mh-c808m that i use.

 

[chewy78]

Well I went and got it to try it out. I only payed $7.50 with 3 dollar off coupon at walgreens. Hopefully at least the the cells will be any good. If the included charger works.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Chewy,

Before you give it away, why don't you run some tests on in and inform us on how well it works...

Tom

 

[chewy78]

Well my first test on the charger I had a pair of somewhat matched and charged energizer 2100mah hr cells that i use for my fenix l2d q5. I stuck them in and after within a half hour I went back to check them and the charger finished topping them off. Aparently the charger can charge one or two aa's and aaa's at a time. It is a little smart from what I can see.
I checked the voltage and I got 1.5 volts hot off the charger. the cells were a slightly warm but not really that hot.

The duracell 1700 mah ''hr'' china cells that came with the charger got put straight into MH- C808M for a soft charge+conditioning cycle.

I would like to see what the capacity is after but i dont have a c9000. Maybe sometime down the road i will get one. I already have a maha 401fs,and a maha 204gt too. A what the heck, I will probably get a c9000 down the road to test them on and see what the rest of my energizer 2100's and duraloop's 2000's capacity test out as.

 

[chewy78]

the specs on it

input:100-240v ac 50/60hz 2w
output:1.4v dc 280 mah(AA) ,1.4v dc 110 mah(AAA)

red led :charging
green led: completed charge.
blinking red led: adnormal battery or adnormal temperature

I put the energizers back in that were slightly warm and the charger rejected them. I let them cool down a little and the charger went to a steady red indicating they were charging like normal. It seems like the mini charger has a temperature fail safe on it. The charger would be best suited for new cells or ones that are closely matched in voltage and capacity.

Apparently the dust cover is easy to snap/take off for better cooling of the batteries.

The 1700 cells that came with it are barely above room temp while charging on the MH-C808M at 1 amp while I am typing this.

 

[chewy78]

I might try two see if my charger will finish cells with different capacities on their own circuit.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Chewy,

If you can hold the cells in your hand, your temperature shut off probably didn't cause the charger to reject your already charged cells. More likely, the charger looked at the voltage and decided that you were trying to charge Alkaline cells.

The next thing to try to determine is if the charger has a timer shut off.

You can put a discharged cell in to charge and set a kitchen timer and time how long it takes before the charger indicates that the charge is complete.

You can get a rough idea of charging time by dividing the capacity of the cell by the charging rate. Your Energizer 2100 mAh cells, depending on condition, probably have around 1900 mAh of capacity. Your charger charges at 280 mA, so the charging time should be in the 7 - 8 hour range, or maybe a little over that

Tom.

 

[Turbo DV8]

Well I went and got it to try it out. I only payed $7.50 with 3 dollar off coupon at walgreens. Hopefully at least the the cells will be any good. If the included charger works.

The charger is likely cheap junk, but those 1700 mAh Duracell NiMH are quite the over-achievers!

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=151487

 

[chewy78]

well the charger still hasnt really cooked any cells i put in it so far