Long term re-cycle experiment

[bbb74]

Tomorrow I'm going to kick off a long term experiment. With most of my nimh rechargeables, I put them through a cycle (Maha R&A cycle or whatever) at least once every three months as per common recommendations. But I've never really seen real test evidence to say what happens if you leave it longer :) Longer means less effort.

So what I'm going to do is treat 6 cells differently:
2 x 2400mah Imedion LSD - recycle every 3 months (control)
2 x 2400mah Imedion LSD - recycle every 6 months
2 x 2400mah Imedion LSD - recycle every 12 months

And then follow their capacities over the next couple of years. I did say this was long term :) I have their initial Refresh&Analyse and Breakin capacities. All cells were purchased at the same time and have pretty much the same history (only been used about twice!).

They will all be put into a couple of devices that are infrequently used and have very low current draw (the batteries will not come close to being flattened), probably along the lines of 2 simple toys and a remote control. Every time I recycle the 3 month (control) cells, I'll rotate the sets around the devices so they all get equal time in each one.

Maybe I'm a freak for wanting to see what happens? :) Any advice re the experiment method? Or any advice am I wasting my time I should just be able to recycle them every 6-12 months and it won't make a difference?

Anybody want to do the same but for other LSD battery types, ie Eneloop?

ps. I know using rechargeables in low drain devices might not be warranted cost-wise, but I've had 2 things wrecked by leaking alkalines lately, and I have enough rechargeables to do it as I bought in bulk and got a discount :)

 

[VidPro]

sounds good, if they get USED , then they will be "cycled" be it in the device or not. the only differance between a device discharging it and the tester discharging it, would be the speed, control , and it dealing with the cell items individually, depth of discharge, and especially any reverse charge, in a device that can cause that.
so when you put a device into the scenario, which is completly realistic, it could offset the results by so much, that you might have to TRACK the voltage/capacity left on removal from the device everytime you remove it, or the results might reflect more how it was used/abused by the device, than how it was cycled.

 

[arjay]

I would love to see the results of these but I think that there is a flaw in your method. I get it that you would still be putting the cells into service ie. simple toys,remote. With that, you would be treating the the cells differently as those devices would have different power drain as well as use which might alter the results making the test inconclusive.

 

[bbb74]

I would love to see the results of these but I think that there is a flaw in your method. I get it that you would still be putting the cells into service ie. simple toys,remote. With that, you would be treating the the cells differently as those devices would have different power drain as well as use which might alter the results making the test inconclusive.

Yes I agree, so that is why I will rotate the 3 sets between the 3 devices on a regular basis, so they will all get an equal dose. I admit that is still not going to be exactly scientific but if after doing this the result is going to be that close that the result will be inconclusive, then I'd say fine, I'll just recycle batteries every 12 months and safe myself some effort :)