Sanyo NiMH Quick Charger NC-MDR02NU is it "Smart"?

[kay188]

I just recently got my hands on a pack of Sanyo 2x AA Eneloop batteries with the NiMH Quick Charger NC-MDR02NU charger, then another pack of 4x AA Eneloop batteries.

I'm not sure if it's intelligent or not.
From observations it does look smart.
I've charged the Eneloops in them and they charge quite well, and for a short amount of time when they still have a lot of charge.

I also charge my BTY 2500Mah batteries in them and they charge way faster than the eneloops with a lot of charge left in them.
The BTY cells were used in a Logitech MM-28 portable speaker, and at full blast volume from my phone the LED on the pwr button started dimming as the BTY cells couldnt provide enough power, hence i would believe their charge was going down.
Yet after the charger saying they were full as the LED turning off, they dont seem to provide much power in my camera.
The cells come out from the charger just a tad warm.
I also do Energizer 2300Mah in them and they perform well after the LED turns off. The cells come out really warm after a nice charge.


I did my research across the internet and came across this forum and thread.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=176305 and the chargers look the same.
Except the power rating and model numbers.

So i'm just wondering would there be any difference between the 2 besides the power it outputs to the batteries?

Also how "smart" is this charger?
Does it detect current charge and will stop charging when the batteries are full?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Bones]

Re: Sanyo NiMH Quick Charger NC-MDR02NU Smart?

According to Sanyo in Singapore, it has a full suite of smarts kay188:

Here are the specifics for the NC-MDR02NU:

http://www.energy.sanyo.com.sg ... asp

Here are additional details respecting the specifics for the NC-MDR02NU:

http://www.energy.sanyo.com.sg ... chargerproduct.asp

Just scroll down to the Safety Control section of the Charger Product page.

 

[kay188]

Re: Sanyo NiMH Quick Charger NC-MDR02NU Smart?

Yep. I found those too. I'm just wondering if anyone would have a personal opinion about this charger.

I'm currently charging my Energizer 2300Mah's and when the charger light turns off i take the batteries out and pop them right back in.

The thing is, as soon as i popped them back in the charger LED comes on and it's currently recharging them.

If it were "smart" wouldn't freshly charged batteries popped right back into the charger, the charger would detect that it's fully "charged" and would turn off?

I did this with my BTY 2500Mah batteries, and once the LED turned off i took them out and put them right back in. The LED turned on for about 5 seconds and turned right off.

That's the only thing i'm wondering though my observations.

 

[Black Rose]

Any charger will start to charge a fully charged battery when it is inserted. It will continue to charge until it detects the battery is full.

Older batteries or batteries that are of questionable quality may cause what's called a missed termination.
That sounds like what might be happening with your Energizer cells.

I have the NC-MDR02NU as well, but haven't used it yet.

 

[kay188]

Any charger will start to charge a fully charged battery when it is inserted. It will continue to charge until it detects the battery is full.

Older batteries or batteries that are of questionable quality may cause what's called a missed termination.
That sounds like what might be happening with your Energizer cells.

I have the NC-MDR02NU as well, but haven't used it yet.

What would be a "missed termination"?
I'm also starting to question my Energizer cells.
I bought these back in the day, probably 2002? and didnt use until a year later. They dont seem to perform as well as they did when i opened the package. Yet i've taken care of charging them?

The BTY 2500 cells that i mentioned in post 1, they dont seem to hold the charge to power my power hungry Samsung S850, even right out of the charger.
They've only been used in the portable speaker and not any high drain devices.
Yet the charger shuts off when fresh out of the charger BTY cells are popped back in.
Would these cells be questionable as well?

 

[Mr Happy]

NiMH cells need to be "exercised" to perform strongly. If they are put on light duty running low power devices or stored for periods with infrequent charging, they will tend to develop high internal resistance. That in turn means that when asked to supply a high power device like a digital camera their voltage will drop and they will seem to be low on power even though fully charged.

The cure for this malaise is to put them through some charge/discharge or "refresh" cycles. This gives them a good work out and often gets them back to peak performance. Chargers like the LaCrosse BC900 or Maha C9000 are especially suited for this. The C9000 especially has a break-in mode that can sometimes rescue far gone cells.

Contrary to intuition, high drain devices (to a point) and fast charge cycles (to a degree) are "good" for NiMH cells.

 

[kay188]

As of now, i'm charging my Eneloops.

As soon as i notice the LED turned off, i took them out, and popped them right back into the charger.
The LED then turns on and stays on as like it's charging normally.
The cells are currently warm, and the LED has not yet turned off.

This however isnt the same for my BTY cells as i mentioned.
I pop them right back in, and the LED turns off after 5 seconds.

Would anyone have any insights on this?

 

[Mr Happy]

As of now, i'm charging my Eneloops.

As soon as i notice the LED turned off, i took them out, and popped them right back into the charger.
The LED then turns on and stays on as like it's charging normally.
The cells are currently warm, and the LED has not yet turned off.

This however isnt the same for my BTY cells as i mentioned.
I pop them right back in, and the LED turns off after 5 seconds.

Would anyone have any insights on this?

Many good quality chargers test cells before charging to see if they are rechargeable cells and suitable for charging. This test is performed by passing a high current through the cell for a short period and measuring the peak voltage reached. Alkaline cells and "poor" NiMH cells will fail this test and the charger will refuse to charge them.

My best guess is that the charged BTY cells are failing this test. The combination of their higher resistance and fully charged voltage is just pushing them over the threshold.

 

[Black Rose]

To see what's happening with this particular charger, I just put a pair of Titanium Enduro LSD AA cells in this charger.

These particular cells came off of my C9000 this morning after going through the cycle mode 3 times.

Within 20 minutes, the red LED went out.

I just took the cells out of the charger; they are warm but not hot.

 

[kay188]

Many good quality chargers test cells before charging to see if they are rechargeable cells and suitable for charging. This test is performed by passing a high current through the cell for a short period and measuring the peak voltage reached. Alkaline cells and "poor" NiMH cells will fail this test and the charger will refuse to charge them.

My best guess is that the charged BTY cells are failing this test. The combination of their higher resistance and fully charged voltage is just pushing them over the threshold.

Thanks for the info. So it looks like my Energizer cells aren't that "questionable" after all. They seem to have the same behavior as my eneloops, except they're kind of dying i believe. I think i roasted them one too many times in a USB charger over night

To see what's happening with this particular charger, I just put a pair of Titanium Enduro LSD AA cells in this charger.

These particular cells came off of my C9000 this morning after going through the cycle mode 3 times.

Within 20 minutes, the red LED went out.

I just took the cells out of the charger; they are warm but not hot.

Looks like the same as my Eneloops that come off freshly charged from the charger and back into it.

I guess Sanyo would be the only ones to know what this charger does when we insert batteries..