Eneloop Battery Charger Comparison

[Paperdesk]

I realize that the Eneloop chargers are becoming very common, and I'd like to help however I can to see it compared with the other leading chargers. Unfortunately I don't have the skill to come up with the info myself. I'd be happy to send my charger to Silverfox to add to the charger comparison or help however I can. Hopefully this can help get the ball rolling . . . I know you guys have lots going on and regularly make use of the info posted here and just wanted to offer my charger if that will help.

Thank you!

Ted

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Ted,

I was just thinking the same thing.

Great minds think alike...

I have the white 4 slot charger and a 2 slot charger. How many Eneloop chargers are there?

I will move Eneloop charger testing to the top of the testing pile and see what I can come up with.

Tom

 

[Paperdesk]

Hi Tom, That's great! I have the 4 cell charger, NC-MON05U. I've heard that there are other Eneloop chargers, even some that are not independent circuits. To be honest, I haven't even used mine yet, since I know and trust my TG-2800. However, I'd love to hear how this one performs.

I'll be tuned in on the outcome.

Ted

 

[UnknownVT]

Hi Tom, That's great! I have the 4 cell charger, NC-MON05U. I've heard that there are other Eneloop chargers, even some that are not independent circuits. To be honest, I haven't even used mine yet, since I know and trust my TG-2800.

There are 2 chargers that GE/Sanyo associate with eneloops in the USA (eneloop USA products page)-

Compact Quick Charger Set (For AA & AAA eneloop batteries) GES-MDR02TG-3U, Two AA eneloop batteries included
- a 2 position charger - (pdf Download Instruction Manual)

eneloop Re-Charger (For AA & AAA eneloop batteries) GES-MQN05-4, Four AA eneloop batteries included
the 4-position charger (pdf Download Instruction Manual)

These are the specs from the respective pdf manuals -

2 position charger -

4 position charger -

The 2-position charger has a charge current of 550mA for AA's which is 0.275C or about C/3.6 - hence the charge time of about 4 hours.

The 4-position charger has a charge current of 300mA for AA's which is 0.15C or about C/6.7 - hence the (rather optimistic) 7 hours charge time.

From what I've read both chargers seem to be able to charge one battery at a time and the specs seem to show that.

However eneloops (and other LSD batteries) are basically NiMH - see Wikipedia 5.1.1 Low Self Discharge Batteries -
"Besides the longer shelf life, they are otherwise similar to normal NiMH batteries of equivalent capacity, and can be charged in typical NiMH chargers"

From our battery experts 0.5C to 1C seems to be the optimum charge rate - so for eneloops that's around 950mA to 2000mA (2Amps).

But probably any charger that's proven reliable/safe with regular NiMH will be OK.