<<I also have a LaCrosse very smart charger, BC-700, which has detailed display
of what it's doing, can recondition, etc.
I don't know all it can do.>>
The BC-700 is in many ways an excellent charger (and you can choose different
charge rates up to 700mA, immediately after putting the cells into the unit.)
Reading the delivered mAHours during charging,is handy for tracking how well
the cells are matched, without having to invoke the more accurate self test or
cycle (rejuvenate) modes.
There are however some fairly serious problems with the BC-700 too:
There is a software bug that once in a blue moon causes it stop working and the
charge continues until the cells get very hot and are usually damaged.
One online website discussion suggests you should always use it in a metal box,
to prevent burning your house down or at least charring your desk!The plastic
frame of my unit has become quite distorted from a couple of overheating
occurences.
Using all the different modes of the unit is not intuitive ,and there are
limits if you want to set each cell up differently even though each cell is
charge separately.
Despite the problems I have used it a lot and have only cooked a couple of
sets of cells. The cooked Eneloops have reduced capacity but still work.
My first BC-700 failed in a few weeks and after telling them , they sent me a
new a wallwart immediately.
There are some excellent charger/discharger/cyclers from Taiwan aimed at radio
model hobbyists, that can charge almost any chemistry and individually charge
and balance long strings on cells in wired batteries. They auto detects the
number of cells and you confirm to start charging. They can be had for as
little as $25 without a built in supply and used off a carbattery.
Alternatively they come with a supply and cost $40+ but the maximum power
available to charge is more limited. Runnig off a car battery allows very high
charge rates for large Li batteries. For use with individual cells they usually
need an adapter with spring contacts and the balancing may not work with all
chemistries etc. So not so convenient for loose Eneloops.
Tim Hughes
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Olympus Camera Discussion <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 1:45 PM
Subject: Re: [OM] Eneloops R Us
On 8/28/2015 10:46 AM, Bill Pearce wrote:
> Dr NiMH,
>
> I checked my eneloops and they are labeled 1900 mAH, which make them
> substantially weaker than the 5-8 year old
> Duracells I have that are well above 2500 mAH. Don't know what that means,
> but perhaps it's like automotive HP
> ratings, that are often not fact based.
The big breakthrough with eneloops is not capacity, but holding a charge.
Earlier NiMh designs, and many still being
made, are about capacity, but self discharge rapidly, half power in a few days,
dead in a couple of weeks. For a photo
shoot with flash, where all the batteries are fully charged the night before,
conventional NiMhs will give more shots.
For a household flashlight, as spares sitting on the shelf, etc. batteries that
hold 80% of their charge after a year
are WAY better. The new, higher capacity eneloop model is somewhere in between.
> The charger that came with the Eneloops is labeled to charge AA's at 300mA.
> The Duracell charger that is, like me,
> much older charges at 360mA as the label indicates.
The original eneloop charger, NC-MQN04 is pretty poor. It only charges in
pairs, not so useful for the many flashlights
and other gadgets that use one or three batteries. Charging unmatched pairs can
screw them up. Doesn't actually sense
state of charge at all. It looks like this.
<http://battery-charger-review.toptenreviews.com/sanyo-4-position-charger-set-review.html>
If you have one, throw it
away and get a newer one.
The next one I got, NC-MQN05, has four separate channels, so can charge
singles, threes, etc. Only one light, which
doesn't go off 'til all batteries are charged. Not sure how smart the charge
state sensing is. I used this one a lot
with no obvious problems.
The latest, BQ-CC17 is labeled 'Advanced' and is reportedly quite smart.
Individual charge lights for all four
positions, so one could charge a pair from one use and a single from another at
the same time and see when each is done,
for example. This is the day-to-day charger always plugged in at my house.
Available from Amazon and in kits with
batteries at Costco.
> There are adjustable chargers? Guess it's time for me to come out from under
> my rock and get with the times.
I also have a LaCrosse very smart charger, BC-700, which has detailed display
of what it's doing, can recondition, etc.
I don't know all it can do. I used it a lot before the new Panny/eneloop came
out. Overkill for my simple use.
> Where do I find these rechargeable battery equivalent of unicorns?
The Costco kits are a good deal, but the wrong mix of sizes for me, with more
AAs than AAAs. I've bought mostly from
Amazon, both eneloops and the Amazon branded ones. As far as I can tell, the
Amazons are the same as eneloops.
Local Power Moose
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