programming LaCrosse BC-700

[sam0set]

I've had my charger about a week now. I was programming each slot as soon as I inserted the cell, starting with #1. Inserting a cell was likely to change the programming of a slot already programmed. Then I'd have to remove the affected cell and reprogram it, which could change another slot.

Today I discovered that if I insert 4 cells, programming the first slot will program them all that way. What if I want to program them differently? Is there a way to insert a cell and program its slot without sometimes affecting another slot?

 

[markr6]

You can set your first cell and wait a few seconds for it to start charging. After that, insert the next cell and hit the button right below it to select only that slot. Choose the function/charge rate for that slot then wait for it to start charging. One thing to note is that slots 2, 3 and 4 will only go as high as slot 1 is set. So if you chose 500ma for slot 1, every other slot will max out at 500ma as well.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

After you set mode and current, you've gotta wait about 8 seconds until the display for that bay, turns off and then on again. Then you can move to the next bay.

If you don't wait for that display to blink off/on, you'll start mucking with IT, rather than the bay that you're presently setting.

I think that they say 8 seconds in the manual.

Chris

 

[sam0set]

I see I've been confused between flashing and blinking. According to the manual, it flashes for 8 seconds after the bay is selected. It blinks 8 seconds after the last key press. I'll ignore the flashing and watch for the blink. Thanks, Mark and Chris.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I see I've been confused between flashing and blinking. According to the manual, it flashes for 8 seconds after the bay is selected. It blinks 8 seconds after the last key press. I'll ignore the flashing and watch for the blink. Thanks, Mark and Chris.

Next time you charge something up, watch the display. I don't have my charger out right now, but you place a cell in the bay, the display blinks/flashes/turns on and off, as you're setting the parameters.

Once you do that, watch the solid display for a few seconds and you will see it turn off and then on, once. At that point, you can move to the next cell.

Going too fast will just slow you down!

It's one of a couple of nits that bugs me about my BC-700, the other being the cramped spacing and the main nit is the fact that once you have discharged a battery, the charger automatically moves into charge and unless you're standing there watching it happen, you'll miss that capacity number.

I like my BC-700, don't get me wrong, but it ain't perfect.

Chris

 

[sam0set]

Yep, I waited a few seconds after it stopped flashing, and I saw the blink.

The Test function is of secondary importance to me. I'm more interested in measuring the charge after a cell has been on the shelf a week or a month. In the past, self-discharge has been a bigger concern than capacity.

I was starting a timer when I started Discharge. When I saw that the cell had started to charge, I'd note how long the display said it had been charging and subtract that from the time on the timer to get the discharge time.

For example, if it had been charging 10 minutes and the timer said 3:10, I'd know the discharge had taken 3 hours. At 250ma, that would mean the charge in the cell had been 750mah.

In this forum, I read a better way. Instead of Discharge, hit Refresh. Refresh will hold the discharge mah on display as it recharges. After I read that, I can switch from Refresh to Charge.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Remember, what you think that you're putting into the battery, is probably a bit less, due to heat loss and charger inefficiency.

If I'm charging at 700mAh on the BC-700 and I go three hours exactly, I'm thinking 1800mA-1950mA for actual 'electron input' and not 2100mA.

Chris

 

[sam0set]

I don't know why on Charge, the BC-700 registers input mah. The input charge doesn't tell you what the cell has stored. On a fast charge below 30C (86F), efficiency can be 91%. If the temperature is higher or the charge rate is lower, the efficiency is less. Efficiency is bound to drop at the end of charging because there's less chemical available to charge.

It seems to me that any current that doesn't charge the battery will produce heat.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I don't know why on Charge, the BC-700 registers input mah. The input charge doesn't tell you what the cell has stored. On a fast charge below 30C (86F), efficiency can be 91%. If the temperature is higher or the charge rate is lower, the efficiency is less. Efficiency is bound to drop at the end of charging because there's less chemical available to charge.

It seems to me that any current that doesn't charge the battery will produce heat.

I don't know where you're getting that "91%" figure and honestly, I'm not an EE, but I was just pointing out that unless you do a discharge, you don't really know. I have both a BC-700 and a Maha C-9000 and in my limited experience, the LaCrosse charger tends to read a bit high, in the neighborhood of 5-8%, relative to the Maha.

Anyhow, they're just batteries and I've got better things to do that anal-lyze over the details to the Nth degree.

Good luck, buddy.

Chris

 

[sam0set]

On Charge, the BC-700 seems to show 95% of the input mah. The Maha probably uses a more realistic percentage. They're both estimates, as you say.