Nitecore D4 charger with eneloops?

I'm not sure why, but I've noticed that if I charge some eneloop AAs (pro and regular) then check them a few days later, they don't show as fully charged on the charger. This makes no sense? I turn on the low function when charging them and don't take them off until the charger shows 5 bars fully charged. Yet several days later I put them back on, and they show 3-4 bars, and I have to leave them charge again until full. They just sat in a drawer so idk how a few days after showing as fully charged on the D4, they lose charge. The charger is lightly used and 6 months old. Same with the batteries. They definitely aren't close to the end of their life cycle. So what is going on here?

You should probably check the voltage with a multimeter immediately after the charge and then again several days later.

Yeah, I guess I should invest in one. Do you have any recommendations for a good multimeter?

More likely it is charger behavior and not your batteries.

The charger probably takes a few minutes to reach a stable state and get the true voltage reading.

It seems to only have issues with the eneloops. I had one that I had fully charged a few days ago on it for 1.5 hours and now it's telling me it's fully charged. I tested an 18650 from months ago that I had charged with the D4, and its still reading at 4.18 v.

Eneloop cells generally charge 1.48 - 1.50 volts hot off the charger and after a couple of days the voltage will settle to around 1.35 - 1.37 volts but not lose any real capacity.

They are not like li ion where voltage is directly related to capacity.

Your d4 is just reading the lower voltage and trying to top it up but it wont really add gas to the tank.

Ok, that helps to know that, thanks for the info. I'll check them in a few days.

TA_ls1 said:

It seems to only have issues with the eneloops. I had one that I had fully charged a few days ago on it for 1.5 hours and now it's telling me it's fully charged. I tested an 18650 from months ago that I had charged with the D4, and its still reading at 4.18 v.

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I see the same behavior with my eneloops (black wrap) whether I charge them on my D4 or the specific nimh charger I got with the eneloops. As Swan said the actual performance of the battery seems unaffected in the device I run it in.

Bob

At all the NiMH Multichargers are mostly more or less crap. The only exception may the the high end chargers like the SkyRC MC3000.

For LiIon cells I use Xtar chargers, and for NiMH cells I use the Sanyo MQR-06 / Panasonic BQ-CC16 charger or since a few month the Panasonic BQ-BC55E. The Sanyo and Panasonic charger will be sold with eneloop cells. The MQR-06/BQ-CC16 is an older model but very good. It may be possible it is not available anymore in stores.

That stinks. Back when I first got the D4, I had been looking into the Xtar chargers as well and was going to get the eneloop charger that came with the eneloops. I read enough good things about the D4 that made me think I could just get the D4 to cover everything instead of multiple chargers. Now I'm wishing I hadn't done that.

TA_ls1 said:

That stinks. Back when I first got the D4, I had been looking into the Xtar chargers as well and was going to get the eneloop charger that came with the eneloops. I read enough good things about the D4 that made me think I could just get the D4 to cover everything instead of multiple chargers. Now I'm wishing I hadn't done that.

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The D4 is a capable charger, on 3.7v li-ions, NiMH and 3.2v LiFePO4 cells.

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Nitecore Digicharger D4 UK.html

If you want an analyzing NiMH 'only' charger, the LaCrosse and Maha chargers are well regarded--I have a LC BC-700 and a Maha C9000. I prefer the latter for various reasons.

If you want an analyzing multi-chem charger, the Liitokala Lii 500 Engineer, the Opus BT-3100/3400 chargers (basically the same) and the SkyRC MC3000 are at the top of the heap and can yield more data on the health of your NiMH batteries, or li-ion cells.

Chris

Never noticed a problem with the D4 or the VC4 either come to that both provide accurate charging for Ni-MH and Li-ion cells. As mentioned Ni-MH charge voltage is around 1.48-1.50 cells drop after this that's normal just the charge peak voltage. Unless there is an issue with the cells not holding charge perfectly normal. D4 is quite quick to pick up the charge condition on cells faster than most chargers. There are battery analyser unit/chargers around some for Ni-MH some for both types. Probably worth having one around you'll usually pick up a poorly performing cell as the capacity will be way down

This would be a good thread to link into a rechargeble batteries 101 thread.
Good info here.