Sony NiMh won't charge.

Ichisuke

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Sep 12, 2019
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Hi there. I've found this forum looking to understand what's happening to a pair of batteries I have.
The batteries are 2 Sony cyclenergy rated 2300-2500mAh.
The issue is this: both batteries cannot be charged in 3 different NiMh charger. One is the Sony BCG 34HRE that came with the batteries.
I can charge both inside a Logitech mouse(it charges its own 1200mAh GP NiMh battery). One of the Sony can charge for a lot of time. The other one just charge for something like 15 minutes. I can use the charged batteries after that but the "15minutes one" just die very soon.
BTW I'm having the same issue with 2 GP batteries there were inside an xbox360battery pack that wasn't charging anymore.... Can only charge those with the mouse too...
Do I have to use one of those old NiMh charger for "reviving them"? Those Sony batteries were barely used but always left discharge for long periods of time.
Thank you.
 

Lynx_Arc

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One of your batteries is suffering from low capacity, if you have a charger that can do multiple refresh cycles you may be able to improve it as I've done that before, the other may either be discharged too low in voltage or have a high enough internal resistance that smarter chargers are rejecting it. A dumb charger will charge it and it probably gets rather warm, warmer than usual taking longer than expected to charge.
I've found old high capacity nimh (non LSD) tend to have both of these problems and even with a charger to refresh them the "fix" is only temporary. If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage on batteries and if they are below 0.9v and days after charging they drop below 1.3v then the batteries are bad. A lot of us have gone to Eneloops because of these nagging problems that too often occur using normal nimh cells. Eneloops are a lot more robust and the 1900mah regular Japanese made cells tend to last and last cycle after cycle even though they have lower capacity than the 2300-2500 cells they don't suffer high self discharge and losing capacity badly in use.
 

Ichisuke

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Messages
2
One of your batteries is suffering from low capacity, if you have a charger that can do multiple refresh cycles you may be able to improve it as I've done that before, the other may either be discharged too low in voltage or have a high enough internal resistance that smarter chargers are rejecting it. A dumb charger will charge it and it probably gets rather warm, warmer than usual taking longer than expected to charge.
I've found old high capacity nimh (non LSD) tend to have both of these problems and even with a charger to refresh them the "fix" is only temporary. If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage on batteries and if they are below 0.9v and days after charging they drop below 1.3v then the batteries are bad. A lot of us have gone to Eneloops because of these nagging problems that too often occur using normal nimh cells. Eneloops are a lot more robust and the 1900mah regular Japanese made cells tend to last and last cycle after cycle even though they have lower capacity than the 2300-2500 cells they don't suffer high self discharge and losing capacity badly in use.

Understood. Actually if I use a multimeter after their charge it says 1.31v but I never tried to test them after leaving them alone for some time.... I have a lot of energizer too.
I'll toss them away if I cannot use them anymore, I was just curious about being able to "revive them" somehow.
Two of the 3 chargers have a refresh option but it doesn't work since they don't "recognize" the batteries.
Yes about Eneloops I discovered them some time ago reading Amazon reviews but I was already full with Energizer ones so.... they're still working x'D
Thanks.
 

Lynx_Arc

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Understood. Actually if I use a multimeter after their charge it says 1.31v but I never tried to test them after leaving them alone for some time.... I have a lot of energizer too.
I'll toss them away if I cannot use them anymore, I was just curious about being able to "revive them" somehow.
Two of the 3 chargers have a refresh option but it doesn't work since they don't "recognize" the batteries.
Yes about Eneloops I discovered them some time ago reading Amazon reviews but I was already full with Energizer ones so.... they're still working x'D
Thanks.

One reason batteries aren't "recognized" is that the voltage is too low. Check the voltage on the batteries not recognized and charge it up some if it is near to 0 or 0, charge it up to about 1v or so then see if it will be recognized. If you don't have a charger that will charge batteries with low or no voltage you can do the paper clip method of shorting a good battery with one that is too low together and both ends in parallel for a short time to charge the dead one with the good one.
 
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alpg88

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Apr 19, 2005
Messages
5,283
when my smart charger terminates charge too early with nimh, i use simple dump timer charger.
however, nimh that were left for too long and discharged too deep may not come back in any charger,
 

Lynx_Arc

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Oct 1, 2004
Messages
11,212
Location
Tulsa,OK
when my smart charger terminates charge too early with nimh, i use simple dump timer charger.
however, nimh that were left for too long and discharged too deep may not come back in any charger,

I agree. I've had all sorts of batteries with problems and damage that required them to be jump started to get chargers to recognize them and then put on a refresh cycle for a few days to recover lost capacity. More often than not damaged batteries don't completely recover you end up losing some capacity often at least 1/3 typically around 1/2 is common and cells that have been charged and used a lot can end up losing 2/3 or more capacity when damaged and develop high self discharge which can be somewhat repaired but often the high self discharge problem persists even when you regain considerable capacity and the batteries end up damaged again in use.
It is because of damaged nimh batteries and high self discharge issues even using LSD batteries that I've gone to mostly 18650s now as having 3X the voltage of nimh per cell you can get away from the multiple cell issues.
 

MidnightDistortions

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If they are older high self discharge NiMH cells then they probably have high internal resistance along with if they are just sitting they may not run as good. In the early days Nimh cells were a hit or miss and generally if they dont work well they wont work at all. If cycling them doesnt do anything and they end up dead in a week or so then I'd just recycle them and get some 1900mAh Eneloops or even Amazon basics. I suggest at the very least to get the Eneloop charger that comes with a set of batteries. That way you can test those other cells and if the lights are blinking that means your Sony cells are no good (internal resistance is at 90% or higher).
 
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