Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
There is a modification described by MrAl whereby you can trick the Energizer 15 minute charger into thinking it is charging AAA cells instead of AA cells. It is indicated that this will cause the charger to use the lower AAA charging current on AA cells and charge them in about 40 minutes rather than about 15 minutes while keeping them cooler in the process.
This seemed like a nice mod to make, so I tried it out on some 1700 mAh cells I have to hand. Unfortunately it did not have the desired result. With the first two cells I charged the red light stayed on for about 15 minutes [edit: second measurement 20 minutes] before going green. The fan ran for about 5 minutes after that before stopping. So far just like AA cells. The maximum cell temperature reached during the charge was about 36°C, which is much less than normally expected. I left the cells sitting on the charger until about 30 minutes from the start and then removed them for a discharge test on the C9000. I measured charges of 891 and 935 mAh. Hmmm, thought I :thinking: Maybe they need a bit more time for topping off?
For the second two cells I left them on the charger for 70 minutes from the start of charging. Then I discharged these and measured 936 and 953 mAh. Much the same as before.
So I conclude that the charger has a maximum charge limit for AAA cells of about 1000 mAh. If you try to charge AA cells on the AAA setting, you just get a fast partial charge instead of a fast full charge.
I suppose however, you could try to charge them twice in succession to get the full charge? I did not attempt this, but perhaps I will. Is that a hidden instruction for this modification perhaps?
This seemed like a nice mod to make, so I tried it out on some 1700 mAh cells I have to hand. Unfortunately it did not have the desired result. With the first two cells I charged the red light stayed on for about 15 minutes [edit: second measurement 20 minutes] before going green. The fan ran for about 5 minutes after that before stopping. So far just like AA cells. The maximum cell temperature reached during the charge was about 36°C, which is much less than normally expected. I left the cells sitting on the charger until about 30 minutes from the start and then removed them for a discharge test on the C9000. I measured charges of 891 and 935 mAh. Hmmm, thought I :thinking: Maybe they need a bit more time for topping off?
For the second two cells I left them on the charger for 70 minutes from the start of charging. Then I discharged these and measured 936 and 953 mAh. Much the same as before.
So I conclude that the charger has a maximum charge limit for AAA cells of about 1000 mAh. If you try to charge AA cells on the AAA setting, you just get a fast partial charge instead of a fast full charge.
I suppose however, you could try to charge them twice in succession to get the full charge? I did not attempt this, but perhaps I will. Is that a hidden instruction for this modification perhaps?
Last edited:
