short circuited eneloops by accident

[barnefko]

Hi
Yesterday i was doing som work on my bikelight which is driven by 4 eneloops. Don`t ask how, but suddenly they got very very hot. I immediately took them out of the battery compartment and let them cool down.
I do not own a voltmeter right now so i can´t measure the V of every battery.

what shall i do now?
- try to use them and see if they survived?
- try to charge them?
- throw em away and buy new ones?

I still hope that they are not serverly damaged i don`t want to make it worse, so i decided to ask you guys.

thanx in advance to the CPF community for comments on this one.

 

[Mr Happy]

Re: shortened eneloops by accident

Here was me thinking you managed to shrink them somehow

But apparently you short circuited them

Try not to do that :shakehead

Before you put them back in the light you'd better make sure the short circuit is fixed, or it will happen again. You have probably learned from this that if you are going to do maintenance work on something, always remove the batteries first.

As for your poor Eneloops, you might have damaged them a bit, or they might be OK. It all depends on how hot they managed to get before you rescued them. If there was any sign of sizzling or melted plastic or horrible smells, then I think it is all over for those particular batteries and you had better replace them with new ones. But if you got to them before that happened, they might be alright. The only way to tell is to try them out and see how well they work.

 

[barnefko]

Thanx

Just corrected the spelling in the title, sry for that. My english is not the best any more.

Concerning the batteries, i got them out of there before i could smell molten plastic, but i think it was close.

Guess that was an expensive lesson, just glad i didn`t learn it with my other Li-ion driven light......

greetins from sweden

Barnefko

 

[Lynx_Arc]

the batteries may be ok.... just depends on how much current they were putting out and how low you took them discharged. I have shorted out nimh before and they were ok although they melted a plastic holder in the light they were in.

 

[abvidledUK]

Bin 'em Danno !

 

[yellow]

find shorting and change that,
put batts in charger and try them out
(You can check temperature and time elapsed while charging to be on the safe side)


btw: what kind of charger do You use?
With a bad charger - f.e. the one that comes with Eneloops - I would not charge any more.

 

[barnefko]

Hi
i finally found the shorting and fixed it.
I charged them and they seem to work fine, just don't know if the capacity has changed.

Seems like i got away with it this time


@yellow:
i use a GP Powerbank-Mega. Thats a not so expensive charger that can charge 8 cells.

 

[jzmtl]

With a bad charger - f.e. the one that comes with Eneloops - I would not charge any more.

The one that come with eneloop is a bad charger?

 

[rockz4532]

The one that come with eneloop is a bad charger?

well compared to some smart chargers, yes they are. they work, but some do not shut off when charging is done, and some are timed. the "good" chargers show the capacity, how long its been charging, blah blah

 

[Black Rose]

well compared to some smart chargers, yes they are. they work, but some do not shut off when charging is done, and some are timed. the "good" chargers show the capacity, how long its been charging, blah blah

Those types of chargers fall into the deluxe charger category.

Some of the chargers that are in the Eneloop packages, such as the MQN05 and the MQH03, are smart chargers and are very good.

 

[yellow]

around here the chargers that come with Eneloops are all of a kind that can only charge 2 cells in series at a time
therefore I consider them bad

good chargers charge the single cell (and all the blah blah)

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I wouldn't say the two cell chargers are bad, they are just not as good as IMO they require the two cells to be equal in capacity or one may be charged more and faster than the other and charging odd number of cells doesn't work well either. single cell smart chargers are the way to go but if cost doesn't permit, then a 2cell at a time smart charger IMO is better than a dumb timer based one.

 

[jzmtl]

around here the chargers that come with Eneloops are all of a kind that can only charge 2 cells in series at a time
therefore I consider them bad

good chargers charge the single cell (and all the blah blah)

The sanyo charger I got with eneloop pack is 4 bay independent channel charger that charges at either 1A or 2A.

 

[rockz4532]

unfortunately i have one of those "dumb timed chargers"

 

[Mr Happy]

unfortunately i have one of those "dumb timed chargers"

But on the good side that transfers more intelligence to the old wet matter between the ears. You'll learn more by understanding how to get the best out of the charger you have than by using one of the modern whizz-bang smart chargers that do everything for you automatically :thumbsup: