Bones
Enlightened
Considering the sheer number of these chargers in circulation, I've been contemplating whether to try and quantify its behavior, especially with respect to whether it can bring cells that remain imbalanced following its primary charge back into balance with its trickle charge.
I made a tentative start by utilizing it to charge a set of four fully depleted Eneloop AA cells that have been in storage since March. Before being placed in storage, they were subjected to a break-in cycle and a discharge to 0.1 volts at 0.2C with an original edition MH-C9000. The same discharge criteria will used throughout this endeavor.
It was a pleasant surprise to determine that the initial charge by the MQNÖ6U resulted in a capacity differential of a mere 27mAh. This indicates that its primary charge will at least keep in balance cells that start the charge in similar states of discharge. In fact, I suspect its primary charge will even bring somewhat imbalanced cells back into balance.
Following another primary charge on the MQNÖ6U, the cells were then left in the charger with the charger powered on. Firstly, to verify whether the charger does have a trickle charge function and, if so, to also monitor its effect over time on the cells' voltage. Twenty four hours after the primary charge terminated, all four cells had settled at 1.48 volts, and the voltage has basically remained static at 1.48 volts for over a week now.
The fact that the voltage hasn't diminished in over a week confirms that the MQNÖ6U does indeed have a trickle charge function. But what has me intrigued is the fact that the trickle charge has maintained such a stable voltage across all four cells, and a relatively benign voltage at that.
This, in turn, has me wondering what the effects of this charger's trickle charge would be if perpetuated. So please chime in with your thoughts, especially with respect to the effects over a given period of time, ie: a week, a month, a year?
Oh, the actual capacity measurements of those Eneloops I pulled from storage and subjected to the initial charge by the MQNÖ6U:
Incidentally, they're all June 2006 vintage and, as near as I can tell, as strong now as they were when new...
I made a tentative start by utilizing it to charge a set of four fully depleted Eneloop AA cells that have been in storage since March. Before being placed in storage, they were subjected to a break-in cycle and a discharge to 0.1 volts at 0.2C with an original edition MH-C9000. The same discharge criteria will used throughout this endeavor.
It was a pleasant surprise to determine that the initial charge by the MQNÖ6U resulted in a capacity differential of a mere 27mAh. This indicates that its primary charge will at least keep in balance cells that start the charge in similar states of discharge. In fact, I suspect its primary charge will even bring somewhat imbalanced cells back into balance.
Following another primary charge on the MQNÖ6U, the cells were then left in the charger with the charger powered on. Firstly, to verify whether the charger does have a trickle charge function and, if so, to also monitor its effect over time on the cells' voltage. Twenty four hours after the primary charge terminated, all four cells had settled at 1.48 volts, and the voltage has basically remained static at 1.48 volts for over a week now.
The fact that the voltage hasn't diminished in over a week confirms that the MQNÖ6U does indeed have a trickle charge function. But what has me intrigued is the fact that the trickle charge has maintained such a stable voltage across all four cells, and a relatively benign voltage at that.
This, in turn, has me wondering what the effects of this charger's trickle charge would be if perpetuated. So please chime in with your thoughts, especially with respect to the effects over a given period of time, ie: a week, a month, a year?
Oh, the actual capacity measurements of those Eneloops I pulled from storage and subjected to the initial charge by the MQNÖ6U:
Code:
Cell 1: 1932mAh | Cell 2: 1945mAh | Cell 3: 1959mAh | Cell 4: 1959mAh
Code:
Combined Capacity: 7795mAh | Capacity Spread: 27mAh (1959mAh - 1932mAh)
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