When to pitch NiMH's?

[RA40]

I've 2 sets of Energizer 2500 mAh AA's. The past weeks, they barley hang so I ordered the MAHA C9000 and had it take a go at one set. After cycling them through a refresh-analyise , they come back at 1895mAh. An improvement since they initially read at about 1320 mAh. They are about 2 years old now and I would guess have had about 90-110 charge cycles.
Would further cycling in the C9000 bring much improvement or would you use them in a lesser demanding environment?

 

[chewy78]

try another cycle or 2. if they don't improve much above 2100 mah, i'd toss them and get some lsd nimh's.

 

[Igor Porto]

How do you measure the mAh of a battery? I want to do it too. :shrug:

 

[Black Rose]

How do you measure the mAh of a battery? I want to do it too. :shrug:

You need a deluxe charger like the Maha MH-C9000 or the LaCrosse BC-900.

They have functions that can exercise cells and determine the cells capacity.

 

[Igor Porto]

Mmm, thanks. Can it be done with a multimeter?

 

[Black Rose]

Mmm, thanks. Can it be done with a multimeter?

Not that I'm aware of.

Basically what the charger does is charge the battery, let it rest for a period of time (C9000), and then discharge it until it hits a minimum voltage (0.9 V for the C9000) while keeping track of how much energy has been drained from the cell.

 

[Igor Porto]

Good to know how the charger measures them. Since I can't find these chargers around here, I'll just have to keep discharging them once in a while to keep in good condition.

Thank you.

 

[VidPro]

I've 2 sets of Energizer 2500 mAh AA's. The past weeks, they barley hang so I ordered the MAHA C9000 and had it take a go at one set. After cycling them through a refresh-analyise , they come back at 1895mAh. An improvement since they initially read at about 1320 mAh. They are about 2 years old now and I would guess have had about 90-110 charge cycles.
Would further cycling in the C9000 bring much improvement or would you use them in a lesser demanding environment?

if they are that bad, wouldnt they be super self-dischargers too?
AKA test it for if its HOLDING that power long enough also.
by the time mine are working that poorly, they were already trash becuse of self-discharge.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

get an LED light with known runtime off that type of cell and see how long it will run on a known good battery and compare. If it runs 2.5 hours off a 2500 it should run approx 1.5 hour off a 1500mah and if it runs 30 mins you have only 500mah capacity approx. As far as pitching nimh I pitch them when the capacity is no longer useful in anything I have. I have a bunch of 1200mah generic AA nimh I put in modded taplights and other lights that run 5mm leds for 8-12 hours off a charge just for power outages. I have some of them in my workshop so in case I forget and leave something running or overdischarge them through a short I don't damage my nice LSD cells. If they leak and ruin the wrappers I toss them and if the capacity drops below 600mah on AAs the runtime is no longer useful to me while AAAs dropping to 300mah is about the same.
Give the "1300s" to a kid for his toys so that he doesn't ruin your nice batteries when he overdischarges them.

 

[RA40]

Ok...I'll let let it do a few cycles and see how the cells respond. I wonder how efficient it would be to just pick up some new cells and move past the so-so charger experience. Thoughts?

The Duracell 2300 mAh which are now 3+ years old still are doing quite well. I saw some comments in other threads about Energizer 2500's...these seem to have some variables as they age a bit. I'm sure charging is a main factor. I read with interest how the Eneloops are doing now that they have been out about 2 years in the wild.

 

[VidPro]

I read with interest how the Eneloops are doing now that they have been out about 2 years in the wild.

and its really the TIME and CYCLES that are really the problems, every NEW thing is great . . . for a WHILE my enloops i have are still alive and kicking lots better than their hi-cap counterparts.
and the cool thing is i quit having to trash (find other use for) the rechargables so often.

the other cool thing is the capacity being the SAME mostly, i have MUCH less problems with one going dead early (reverse charge) so the pack of wolves is keeping itself in check much better, which beats them eating thier siblings

 

[Yucca Patrol]

The Energizer 2500mAH batteries are the worst ones I've ever had. I'd say that yesterday is the day to throw them away (but you should recycle them)

 

[Ziemas]

The Energizer 2500mAH batteries are the worst ones I've ever had. I'd say that yesterday is the day to throw them away (but you should recycle them)

+1

They're horrible. I contacted Energizer about mine and they sent me a coupon for $10 in batteries.

 

[cave dave]

Charge em up and wait a week then do the discharge test. The real test of bad Nimh isn't how much charge you can put into them or how much you get out right away but what happens to them a few days after the charge.

 

[RA40]

These Energizers would last 2 days at best to 1.3V. A week, I think they measured out at 1.1V. That's when the the Maha C9000 was ordered. These cells don't sit long stretches but it's not in a high drain use either. Going to Costco on Monday...maybe time to get some white batteries.

 

[Burgess]

Re: When to pitch NiMH's?



Answer:

As soon as they step into the Batter's Box.




(sorry, couldn't resist) :tinfoil:



Oh, and to Igor Porto --


Welcome to CandlePowerForums !

:welcome:
_

 

[RA40]

Another 2 cycles passed...they won't break beyond what the first refresh cycle did...maybe a 50 mAh improvement. I was using these in a camera and they didn't last long. Oh well. At least now I have a nice charger for future batteries. Thanks guys! This was a good learning experience.

 

[Igor Porto]

Oh, and to Igor Porto --


Welcome to CandlePowerForums !

:welcome:
_

Thank you Burgess! :twothumbs

 

[mpk]

try another cycle or 2. if they don't improve much above 2100 mah, i'd toss them and get some lsd nimh's.

Of course, by "toss them" everyone means toss them into the battery recycling bin at Circuit City, Home Depot, Beast Buy, etc

 

[RA40]

Of course, by "toss them" everyone means toss them into the battery recycling bin at Circuit City, Home Depot, Beast Buy, etc

Yes. Bad slang when we want to be environmentally conscious.