SilverFox
Flashaholic
RayOVac has introduced its I-C3 system consisting of "smart" NiMh AA and AAA cells and a 15 minute charger.
Underdog was kind enough to loan me his charger and AA batteries for the "Charger Comparison" evaluation. Thanks Underdog.
I charged up my Titanium 2400 test cells for the purpose of that comparison and it did a good job. However, this is not the charger system to purchase to charge regular NiMh or NiCd batteries.
The "In Cell Charge Control" (I-C3) system has NiMh batteries with a device built in that allows for rapid charging, and a charger that detects the I-C3 cells. There is a two and a four cell charger available. The charger I used was the four cell one.
The I-C3 AA batteries are rated at 2000 mAh and seem to be a bit bigger in diameter (about 0.55") than Duracell Alkaline cells (about 0.51"), but they are slightly smaller than Energizer 2300 mAh cells (about 0.56'), and Titanium 2400 mAh cells (about 0.56"). I tried them in a variety of lights and while snug in an older Mini Mag, they still slipped right in and out. They also fit in radio's and CD players I had around the house.
The charger will accommodate AA and AAA cells of NiMh, NiCd, and I-C3 batteries. When charging non I-C3 cells, it is a timed charger that will bring depleted cells up to full charge overnight. I tested at 12 hours and got good results. It goes into a trickle charge mode when the main charge has finished. You are cautioned to remove the cells from the charger if you unplug it.
I will add a caution that it is not wise to leave the cells on the charger for an extended amount of time.
There are two green lights on the charger and four charging slots. It appears that each channel is independent, because you can charge individual batteries. There is one green light for two channels.
The system comes to life when using I-C3 batteries. I noticed that the spring holding the batteries in the charger is quite stiff. I had minor difficulty putting the batteries in the charger, and by the time I had finished putting them in, the fan kicked on and away it went. A short while later, I realized that only one side was charging. Back to the instruction manual I went and discovered this:
"1. Place battery in charging pocket.
2. Plug in the charger."
I tried it and found that it works.
I found that I could get the charger to kick in without following the instructions, but sometimes it would not work properly. When I put the cells in first and then plugged the charger in, it worked properly every time. For consistent results, I would suggest following the instructions.
When I first heard of this system, I had visions of cells only partially charged, getting hot enough to fry eggs on them, and a greatly reduced cycle life. Boy was I wrong…
RayOVac advertises 1000 cycles. That is about twice as many as normal NiMh cells. I have no way of checking this, but if it is true that is wonderful news.
I checked the temperature while charging. If you charge a single battery, the temperature gets up to 85 F. If you charge a pair of batteries, the temperature gets up to 90 F. If you charge 4 batteries, the temperature gets up to 90 F. No combination I tried saw battery temperatures above 90 F. This is not hot at all.
The final consideration was charge capacity. How much charge can they really get into the battery in 15 minutes…
Here is the set up:
Ah = Amp Hours
Wh = Watt Hours
M = Minutes
These were brand new batteries, so I cycled them 4 times for a break in. I then charged them at a 500 mA rate on the BC-900 charger. This served as my control test. I tested at 1 amp and 2 amps.
I should point out that the I-C3 cells did not allow the refresh function to work in the BC-900 charger. It would start off charging then when it got to full charge, it would stop and just register Full. I would then start over and select discharge. They would go through a discharge and charge, and then stop. I tried to refresh the I-C3 batteries several times and could not get them to do that. I would speculate that this has something to do with the circuit in the cells.
The second cycle of testing was done with the cells charged on the I-C3 charger. RayOVac advertises 15 minutes, but it actually took 15 minutes 48 seconds for one cell, 16 minutes 33 seconds for two cells, and 16 minutes 38 seconds for four cells. That's close enough to 15 minutes for me.
I noticed that the charge capacity was not as good as my control test. I thought about this and decided that I would do another round of testing. This time I charged the cells in the I-C3 charger (for 16 minutes when it signaled end of fast charge), then I let the cells trickle charge for an hour. This worked out very well. They had almost the same capacity as the control group.
I then decided to do one more round of testing. This time I charged for 16 minutes, let things cool down for 5 minutes, then charged again. The second charge went for 6 minutes. The results of this procedure was in some cases better than the control group.
Here is the graph for the 1 amp testing:
Note that the testing at 1 amp showed these 2000 mAh I-C3 batteries to have around 1700 mAh of capacity, however I did a test on the BC-900 at 0.5 amps and they showed 2070 mAh of capacity. RayOVac does not list what discharge current they used to come up with their capacity value, but it looks like 0.5 amps is pretty close.
Here is the graph for the 2 amp testing:
Note that the voltage held up pretty well and the capacity (Ah) at this load was very close to the same as that at the 1 amp load.
Conclusions:
If you need batteries fast, this is the system for you. If you have an extra 6 minutes after the initial charge, you will end up with fully charged batteries.
I believe RayOVac has, or is coming out with, a car adapter so you can use this system in your car. There is a caution about making sure the charger is not too hot or cold. I understand it will not turn on if it is outside its temperature limits. RayOVac does not state what those limits are, but does state that if the unit happens to be outside those limits you should bring it inside so it can settle in at room temperature.
This system also does a good job of charging non I-C3 batteries. It just takes "overnight."
This system may be a bit expensive at the initial purchase, but if it gets close to the advertised 1000 cycles, it will pay for itself several times over.
I think RayOVac has a real winner with the I-C3 system.
Anyone else have any comments to add?
Tom
Underdog was kind enough to loan me his charger and AA batteries for the "Charger Comparison" evaluation. Thanks Underdog.
I charged up my Titanium 2400 test cells for the purpose of that comparison and it did a good job. However, this is not the charger system to purchase to charge regular NiMh or NiCd batteries.
The "In Cell Charge Control" (I-C3) system has NiMh batteries with a device built in that allows for rapid charging, and a charger that detects the I-C3 cells. There is a two and a four cell charger available. The charger I used was the four cell one.
The I-C3 AA batteries are rated at 2000 mAh and seem to be a bit bigger in diameter (about 0.55") than Duracell Alkaline cells (about 0.51"), but they are slightly smaller than Energizer 2300 mAh cells (about 0.56'), and Titanium 2400 mAh cells (about 0.56"). I tried them in a variety of lights and while snug in an older Mini Mag, they still slipped right in and out. They also fit in radio's and CD players I had around the house.
The charger will accommodate AA and AAA cells of NiMh, NiCd, and I-C3 batteries. When charging non I-C3 cells, it is a timed charger that will bring depleted cells up to full charge overnight. I tested at 12 hours and got good results. It goes into a trickle charge mode when the main charge has finished. You are cautioned to remove the cells from the charger if you unplug it.
I will add a caution that it is not wise to leave the cells on the charger for an extended amount of time.
There are two green lights on the charger and four charging slots. It appears that each channel is independent, because you can charge individual batteries. There is one green light for two channels.
The system comes to life when using I-C3 batteries. I noticed that the spring holding the batteries in the charger is quite stiff. I had minor difficulty putting the batteries in the charger, and by the time I had finished putting them in, the fan kicked on and away it went. A short while later, I realized that only one side was charging. Back to the instruction manual I went and discovered this:
"1. Place battery in charging pocket.
2. Plug in the charger."
I tried it and found that it works.
I found that I could get the charger to kick in without following the instructions, but sometimes it would not work properly. When I put the cells in first and then plugged the charger in, it worked properly every time. For consistent results, I would suggest following the instructions.
When I first heard of this system, I had visions of cells only partially charged, getting hot enough to fry eggs on them, and a greatly reduced cycle life. Boy was I wrong…
RayOVac advertises 1000 cycles. That is about twice as many as normal NiMh cells. I have no way of checking this, but if it is true that is wonderful news.
I checked the temperature while charging. If you charge a single battery, the temperature gets up to 85 F. If you charge a pair of batteries, the temperature gets up to 90 F. If you charge 4 batteries, the temperature gets up to 90 F. No combination I tried saw battery temperatures above 90 F. This is not hot at all.
The final consideration was charge capacity. How much charge can they really get into the battery in 15 minutes…
Here is the set up:
Ah = Amp Hours
Wh = Watt Hours
M = Minutes
These were brand new batteries, so I cycled them 4 times for a break in. I then charged them at a 500 mA rate on the BC-900 charger. This served as my control test. I tested at 1 amp and 2 amps.
I should point out that the I-C3 cells did not allow the refresh function to work in the BC-900 charger. It would start off charging then when it got to full charge, it would stop and just register Full. I would then start over and select discharge. They would go through a discharge and charge, and then stop. I tried to refresh the I-C3 batteries several times and could not get them to do that. I would speculate that this has something to do with the circuit in the cells.
The second cycle of testing was done with the cells charged on the I-C3 charger. RayOVac advertises 15 minutes, but it actually took 15 minutes 48 seconds for one cell, 16 minutes 33 seconds for two cells, and 16 minutes 38 seconds for four cells. That's close enough to 15 minutes for me.
I noticed that the charge capacity was not as good as my control test. I thought about this and decided that I would do another round of testing. This time I charged the cells in the I-C3 charger (for 16 minutes when it signaled end of fast charge), then I let the cells trickle charge for an hour. This worked out very well. They had almost the same capacity as the control group.
I then decided to do one more round of testing. This time I charged for 16 minutes, let things cool down for 5 minutes, then charged again. The second charge went for 6 minutes. The results of this procedure was in some cases better than the control group.
Here is the graph for the 1 amp testing:
Note that the testing at 1 amp showed these 2000 mAh I-C3 batteries to have around 1700 mAh of capacity, however I did a test on the BC-900 at 0.5 amps and they showed 2070 mAh of capacity. RayOVac does not list what discharge current they used to come up with their capacity value, but it looks like 0.5 amps is pretty close.
Here is the graph for the 2 amp testing:
Note that the voltage held up pretty well and the capacity (Ah) at this load was very close to the same as that at the 1 amp load.
Conclusions:
If you need batteries fast, this is the system for you. If you have an extra 6 minutes after the initial charge, you will end up with fully charged batteries.
I believe RayOVac has, or is coming out with, a car adapter so you can use this system in your car. There is a caution about making sure the charger is not too hot or cold. I understand it will not turn on if it is outside its temperature limits. RayOVac does not state what those limits are, but does state that if the unit happens to be outside those limits you should bring it inside so it can settle in at room temperature.
This system also does a good job of charging non I-C3 batteries. It just takes "overnight."
This system may be a bit expensive at the initial purchase, but if it gets close to the advertised 1000 cycles, it will pay for itself several times over.
I think RayOVac has a real winner with the I-C3 system.
Anyone else have any comments to add?
Tom
