Question about cheap NiMH batteries I bought on ebay

[aab]

Hi, I'm new here.

I bought cheap "Powercell" batteries for a total of $24 for 16 AAA and 16 AAs :green:

My energizer smart charger reports them all as "BAD" except if I empty them before putting them on the charger they will charge normally and then say "BAD" once done charging so they are still usable if I empty them considerably before each charge. None of my many Duracells have ever gotten a "BAD" message on my charger.

Is this problem with the Powercells something that will fix itself with more cycles? So far I've cycled one set of 4 about 5 times and they still give me the "BAD" error after each charge.

Should I ask for a refund or keep these for uses where I will wait until they die before each recharge anyway? They still last a very long time once charged (they power my digital camera recording video with the LCD on for at least 3 hours non stop).

Thanks

 

[march.brown]

Hi, I'm new here.

I bought cheap "Powercell" batteries for a total of $24 for 16 AAA and 16 AAs :green:

My energizer smart charger reports them all as "BAD" except if I empty them before putting them on the charger they will charge normally and then say "BAD" once done charging so they are still usable if I empty them considerably before each charge. None of my many Duracells have ever gotten a "BAD" message on my charger.

Is this problem with the Powercells something that will fix itself with more cycles? So far I've cycled one set of 4 about 5 times and they still give me the "BAD" error after each charge.

Should I ask for a refund or keep these for uses where I will wait until they die before each recharge anyway? They still last a very long time once charged (they power my digital camera recording video with the LCD on for at least 3 hours non stop).

Thanks

I assume that they are actually rechargeable batteries ... I know that this sounds silly , but it does happen that primary cells are put on charge inadvertantly.

If they are rechargeables , I would try another charger ... Your charger should be OK if your Duracells are being charged OK ... But another charger would eliminate that possibility.

If you use them in a digital still camera using flash , does the flash recycling time take the same time as with the Duracells ... If the Powercells take longer then it means that the internal resistance is possibly high ... This might be why your charger says "Bad" ... A different (maybe cheaper) charger might not give the "Bad" indication ... You could top them up OK then ... If you could borrow a couple of different chargers from friends you might find a charger that would be suited to those cells.

On the other hand , you could contact the seller and tell him the problem ... He might have had a similar problem reported ... If you don't tell him , he will think that they are all OK ... It seems strange that all of the cells are bad.

Good luck.

 

[aab]

I assume that they are actually rechargeable batteries ... I know that this sounds silly , but it does happen that primary cells are put on charge inadvertantly.

If they are rechargeables , I would try another charger ... Your charger should be OK if your Duracells are being charged OK ... But another charger would eliminate that possibility.

If you use them in a digital still camera using flash , does the flash recycling time take the same time as with the Duracells ... If the Powercells take longer then it means that the internal resistance is possibly high ... This might be why your charger says "Bad" ... A different (maybe cheaper) charger might not give the "Bad" indication ... You could top them up OK then ... If you could borrow a couple of different chargers from friends you might find a charger that would be suited to those cells.

On the other hand , you could contact the seller and tell him the problem ... He might have had a similar problem reported ... If you don't tell him , he will think that they are all OK ... It seems strange that all of the cells are bad.

Good luck.

Yes they are rechargeable NiMH cells, I had a Duracell charger before (which I recently sold since I like the Energizer charger much more even though I hate Energizer batteries) and it was worst, most times it would give the bad battery flashing led signal as soon as I put the batteries in, I found that putting only 2 instead of 4 batteries in that charger would normally let it charge them.

About getting another charger, I just bought the Energizer family charger with LCD display (why do people on this forum keep saying it has an LED display?) and I really like it since it can charge 8 at once and shows the individual charge level/status of each battery. I would rather get other batteries than another charger, plus as I said my charger charges them fine, it's just that it says "BAD" instead of "DONE" when they are done charging, other than that these batteries work very well so far.

I just compared the flash restore time on my camera using both Duracell precharged and Powercell batteries and it seems like it's the same (almost instant) in both cases but perhaps my camera has some sort of extra energy storage for consecutive flashes? I'm also not sure if the flashing LED means "Writing to card" or "Recharging flash"... I just tried without the flash and the LED still flashes so I assume it's the "Writing to card" status, I don't see how I can see the flash recharge time in my camera, it's a Canon A630, does anyone know?

I did tell the seller and was thinking of asking for a refund but since I realized I can still charge and use them even though the charger says bad I will keep them for things where I don't mind if the batteries fail such as peppermills and stuff like that.

Thanks

 

[march.brown]

I don't know that particular camera , but most have an LED in the viewfinder that lets you know that the flash is ready ... Generally the higher the internal resistance , the longer the flash takes to recharge ... But if yours shows you that the charge time is the same for both sets of batteries then it would seem that the internal resistance of the cheaper cells is OK.

Try to borrow a different charger to see if that gives better results ... If several chargers all give the same result , then there must be something peculiar about the new cells ... Your Energiser family charger might be more sensitive to battery internal impedance than other chargers.

All my AA and AAA batteries are now the low self-discharge type ... I gradually replaced them over the last year or so ... I used to top up the batteries regularly but now it's only once or twice a year ... I have Eneloops , Hybrios and GP Recykos and they are all pretty much the same.

I have three chargers for NiMh batteries and all work OK with all my cells.

There are a few chaps who post on CPF that are heavily into batteries and it might be possible that one of them would test one of your batteries for you.
.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I just checked amazon.com about your charger, and problems listed were *bad* battery detection and *cooking* batteries by charging too fast. The problems with bad detection seem somewhat related to contact problems etc. I suggest before sending the batteries back find someone with another brand/type of charger and trying them in it. I have 4 different type of chargers and usually when my rayovac detects a battery as bad so does my duracell mobile charger but my bc900 will charge it anyway usually. The batteries that are detected as bad are never new, but have hundreds of cycles on them most in a faster charger as it was the only one I had for the oldest of my cells till I got the bc900 and duracell ones.

 

[aab]

As I said my old Duracell charger also reported the cheap ebay powercell batteries as bad. None of my many Duracells were ever reported bad by either my old duracell charger or my new energizer family charger. I don't think it charges too fast either, it is a 3-6 hour charger and batteries are just warm when the charge ends.

These are the cheap batteries I bought:

 

[Lynx_Arc]

As I said my old Duracell charger also reported the cheap ebay powercell batteries as bad. None of my many Duracells were ever reported bad by either my old duracell charger or my new energizer family charger. I don't think it charges too fast either, it is a 3-6 hour charger and batteries are just warm when the charge ends.

These are the cheap batteries I bought:

if another charger says they are bad then maybe they are no good, the only other thing to try is a battery analyzer.

 

[Robin24k]

1300mAh for AAA? I just found some on Ebay that claimed 1800mAh AAA's...that just fishy. Even 1300mAh for AAA is a bit of a stretch though...

 

[Lynx_Arc]

1300mAh for AAA? I just found some on Ebay that claimed 1800mAh AAA's...that just fishy. Even 1300mAh for AAA is a bit of a stretch though...

I haven't seen anyone that has gotten even 1100mah out of a AAA nimh

 

[snakebite]

get a maha c9000.
then you can test and report how badly you got screwed on those.exaggerated claims like anything over 1000mah on a aaa are a red flag.
btw powercell is tm of meijer stores.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=217801

 

[Milan]

Just let me ask a question: How much do they weight?

 

[aab]

I decided to get the new Energizer Family Charger with LCD instead of the maha c9000 because the maha haas a bright display that can't be turned off and I use it in the bedroom, it only does 4 at once and apparently takes like 2 minutes to cycle through the info of each battery, the Energizer shows the status of each battery graphically at once for up to all 10 batteries it can charge at once.

I used to have a Triton hobby charger which I thought I'd use for testing my batteries but I can't find it anymore. I may get another hobby charger later if I don't find it.

I also don't consider I got screwed with the ebay batteries because at 75 cents each instead of up to $4 each they have about the same capacity as my Duracell 2650's from letting my camera record video non stop with both batteries.

Good question about the weight, that's the first thing I noticed:

Duracell 2650: 30.2 g
Duracell Precharged: 26.2 g
Powercell 2600: 21.1 g

BTW are you sure my Powercell is the same brand as the meijer stores one? I have a feeling this company in China just decided to invent a name without checking if someone else already uses it and printed that on their batteries. They seem to sell them under different names but all the same label design, just a different color and name printed on.

 

[Milan]

Wow, 21 grams, thats what I read at ebay and suspected wrong. Somehow I don't understand how rechargeable AA weighing less than an alkaline can have "same capacity".

btw do they get hot while charging?

 

[aab]

They didn't seem to get hot while charging but I'll pay closer attention next time I recharge some but am quite sure they never got more than warm.

 

[vali]

the Energizer shows the status of each battery graphically at once for up to all 10 batteries it can charge at once.

Then that means you dont know their capacity (mAh).

 

[aab]

I know but my use for a charger is mostly to charge, I can normally figure out the capacity is getting low when my devices don't run very long per charge anymore.

I used to have a hobby charger which I thought of using to test their capacity when I wanted to but I no longer find it, I will likely buy a new hobby charger later on for this use and to charge a wider range of batteries when needed.

 

[Ragiska]

FYI, the "charge state" of your charger is garbage. not accurate at all. the charger as a whole sucks pretty bad. you would have saved much more money in the long run getting a c9000 or bc900

 

[aab]

FYI, the "charge state" of your charger is garbage. not accurate at all. the charger as a whole sucks pretty bad. you would have saved much more money in the long run getting a c9000 or bc900

What do you mean by the "charge state" sucks? You mean the graphic representation of the battery charge? It seems pretty accurate and gives me a good general idea of if the battery is completely dead or still has some energy left and helps me estimate the charge time, I know if it appears as 0% when I insert the battery it will take about 3 hours to charge but if it appears as 75% when I insert the battery it's about 30 minutes to charge.

What sucks about the charger? It has good specs and has been recommended a few times on these forums and the wiki section of this site.

I didn't want the C9000 as it has a bright always on display, only charges 4 at a time, and only shows one information at a time for each battery individually. It also doesn't so C/D/9V.

 

[Ragiska]

1) there is no accurate method of showing instantaneous charge state for nimh cells. your charger is just fudging it by measuring voltage, and it does so poorly

2) it only charges in pairs

3) it charges at a questionable rate, and has a reputation of cooking cells

while it may have been recommended, it was never recommended by anyone who knew the first thing about rechargable battery care and maintenance.

the c9000 could charge 2-3 times the number of cells as your energizer in the same time, and at the proper charge rates, without burning them up.

if the backlight was that big of an issue, the lacrosse bc900 would still have been WAY better than your energizer.

if large bays and C, D, and 9v cells were an issue, maha, accupower, and ansmann all make excellent chargers that are still head and shoulders better than that energizer.

never buy anything rechargable related made by energizer. all their cells and chargers have a long history of doing nothing but sucking.

 

[aab]

I believe you're confusing the old Energizer Family charger which was absolute garbage with the new smart model with LCD screen.

It does not charge in pairs, it has 6 independent channels (if you count the two 9V channels), it only charges in pairs if you put 2 AA or AAA batteries in the same bay, otherwise it charges individually, it was the first Family charger that charged only in pairs.

It charges at a 3-6 hour rate which is good. Batteries are only warm at the end of charge.

In the recommended chargers list on cpfwiki it is listed and says "Energizer Family Charger (CHFC) - Like the Rayovac, has 4 independent bays. As long as you charge one battery per bay, you are charging independently."

I also know Energizer makes the crappiest rechargeable batteries and I never buy their batteries and have always avoided them, but I really like their NEW Family charger, again it is far from the absolute garbage the first Family Charger was.