What is a safe voltage to stop using ni mh batteries?

[Frijid]

i bought a new battery tester that shows the voltage of batteries you put in them. it shows from 1.8, 1.5, 1.3,1.1,1.0,0.8,then 0.5.

i was thinking about stopping when it gets around 1.1 or between it and 1.0, does this sound feasible?

 

[Frijid]

also, it's not a LED light up tester, it has a movable needle that slides up and down to show the level. i still have 2 LED ones, but i don't like them, sure they work, but i like to see the accurate level as to where it's at.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I'm generally not running my keyboard, mouse or LCD TV remote down too far, maybe 1.15v-1.20v before I grab another set and chuck them in. I'm needing to rotate through more of my stash, just to keep things flowing inside.

Why don't you just get a dedicated, but decent, digital multi-meter and call it a day? Test your batteries on that.

Chris

 

[HotWire]

When the light is getting dim I recharge the batteries. My mouse tells me with a red light when the batteries are low. I also charge the batteries if I know I'm going to use them for awhile. It's best to recharge before they go flat.

 

[FILIPPO]

Same here.. whan the light gets dim i try to stop using the light and replace the battery pack with a fresh one.. nimhs doesn't have memory effect such as nicds so you do not need to run them flat.

 

[Slazmo]

I got one of those cheap voltage testers off eBay - seems to work ok and gives you a relative / general indication if batteries are going flat. I like everyone else in reality just go on the fact that if the light starts getting dim I change the eneloops out for a new set. After getting a good indication not to run them down too far - so far I am just cycling them through.

With other batteries like Alkalines and Lithiums - I check their voltage and then put them into a box and use these for low voltage items eg: wall clocks (thats all)...

With my EA4 - I get to about 4.2V and I drop them out.

 

[mattheww50]

I think a different question is being answered here than is being asked. You can safely discharge an NiMh cell down to ZERO as long as you don't 'reverse charge' the cell. This is definitely not true of various Lithium chemistry batteries however. The point at which you change or recharge NiMh cells is the point where they aren't providing enough power to operate the device/equipment. That is likely to be well before zero volts, but that has nothing to do with the safe voltage to stop using NiMH cells.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I recommend stopping at 1.0v but you can go lower it is just around 1.1v there isn't much power left in nimh to begin with so going much lower isn't going to give you much more output anyway.