Charge 3 AAA in adapter with Li-Ion 3.7V charger

Hi,

I have a quick existencial doubt. I am ready to travel for a few weeks, mostly camping and hiking along US national parks with some backcountry included. I am taking a Litokala Lii 100 charger for all my charging and powerbank needs, using it when I have access to a car or 5V source. My headlights and tent light use 3AAA batteries (I use Ikea or eneloops) and, although the charger can handle AAA batteries, it has a single channel which makes it a pain to recharge the AAAs. No time to shop for other solutions and limitations with weight and bulk, I have other chargers but I would like to use only this one…

Would it be too bad to use a 3xAAA adapter to simplify and speed up charging? Better in series or in parallel? From what I have read, a parallel 3AAA to D adapter should be fine if the batteries are levelled (i.e., in my case I would not mix the batteries from different lights and they would go straight from lamp to charger so to my understanding it is safe to think that they would be balanced.

Please correct/educate me, I am literally packing. Thanks,

Charging NiMH in parallel is a bad idea, you’ll blow up the batteries. Also charging 3 of them in deries with LiIon CC/CV curve won’t be good for your batteries as they need another charging process.

I have done it.

Same issue here.

I use the liitokala 100 as power bank for low power applications using 3xAAA in series using a carrier.

Also it will charge them… but batteries will not be fully charged and they will have less lifetime…

Also noticed that the setup not always stops charguing because chemistries are different

But it works…. sort of….

Ps: dont use that setup….

Understood, thanks for sharing your evil side :smiley:
So in case of emergency only, in series and remove before finish/heat builds up. Sounds reasonable?

Why does charging NiMH cells in parallel result in blowing up the NiMH cells? I’d never heard that before. How does it work?

EDIT: Just did a quick search and answered my own question… sorta.

I’ve been charging Eneloops in 4 AA to D adapters ( 3 in each in parallel) for the past couple of years. So far I haven’t had any problems. They barely get warm even wnen charged at 2 amps. I was originally charging them with my Icharger hobby charger. After I got my Xtar SV2 Rocket last year, I’ve been using that ever since.

That is interesting! It is just what i would like to do, and only for a few times. Si I asume that this charger uses standard NiHm cycle and other than maybe shortening the eneloops life on the long term It should be fine?

I take full responsibility for what I do. If I end up having a problem, it’s on me. What I’m trying to say, if you decide to do this and something does happen, it’s on you. As far as shortening the overall life charging Eneloops this way, I’ll have to check these cells in my Maha C9000 analyzing charger to see if they degraded over the course of the past two years.

A smart charger detects a peak to terminate and stops. It can do that in series as that is how they are designed. It doesn’t do as well in parallel as the batteries don’t balance in a parallel setup like Li-on.
Having said that I’ve experimented with parallel charging in 3xAA-D holders with batteries of SIMILAR DISCHARGE state and it seemed to work OK. They generally charged a bit short. BUT, this is for a very good charger designed to do D-NiMh and generally does a great job. I don’t know how the Lii would handle it.

FWIW a dumb charger never stops charging. The lower the charge rate the less potential damage you do to NiMh from over charge. 0.5A for AAA in not a low rate. 0.5A for 3xAAA is getting closer. OTOH, at low charge rates a smart charger is far more likely to miss termination.

I met someone who did that http://www.forolinternas.com/viewtopic.php?p=31976#p31976

[quote=atbglenn]

It is all clear, thank you for the input. I will not knock on your door… :smiley:

[quote=Iker]

If you ever come to Long Island, you are more than welcome to knock on my door. I love the company of decent people. Love showing all my electronics to people who can appreciate it.

I’m not so sure I’d be very comfortable, charging NiMh batteries in parallel, like that; but if it’s working for, you - cool, I suppose. Just be careful.

Generally, if I have to charge a bunch of NiMh batteries, I prefer using a pair of Nitecore D4s and a pair of XTAR VC4s. The VC4s default to 500 mAh/hour, when all four banks are used. The D4s are slow as mollasses, charging at 375 mAh/hour, but it is what it is.

; or I might go with some of my VC2 Plus units, and set them for 500 mAh:

(The other two are not pictured They’re on the other side of my computer monitor)

The SV2 chargers (which I have a pair of, as well) are superb, but I tend to use those mostly for 18650 and 26650 batteries, or my D NiMhs, and charging at 2 Amps/Hour.

If I’m just charging a few batteries (less than 4 - and usually AAA NiMHs), I’ll often use my old La Crosse BC-700, and at a 200 mAh rate.

It’s the one the far left, under the monitor. It’s been very reliable.

In any case, I tend to believe it’s better to have individual monitoring of each battery, by whatever charger you’re using, rather than bunching them together - and always use high quality smart chargers, obviously. I also feel it’s a safer practice, but to each, his own.

I totally get where you’re coming from. To each his own I guess. BTW, nice setup you have there.

Thank you, kindly. Much appreciated :slight_smile: I use a lot of lights, so it’s really handy, being able to charge multiple batteries, simultaneously.

Here’s my most of my charging setup. BTW, I just ordered a second Xtar SV2

Very cool!

For the longest time, I remember wanting to pick up one of those MAHA C9000 units; but it just never happened.

In May of 2012, when I started out with 18650 lithium ion lights and batteries, I had a pair of Nitecore i4 V2s, then I picked up my first XTAR charger (the VP2), and I was hooked on XTAR chargers, from that point, on. It didn’t help the obsession/addiction, that there was a XTAR distributor just minutes away from where I lived lol. That was a definite enabler in my XTAR purchases.

This picture was taken, when I used to be able to actually fit all of my chargers side-by-side, on a single surface. Those days are long gone…

Then I discovered the Nitecore D4s, and was impressed by those, for a while, mainly for their smoother spring pins (the old i4s kind of stuck. They had to be lubricated to run smoothly), their ability to charge LiFePO4 batteries, and their meters, which provided a ton of useful information for each battery slot. I had never had metering as elaborate as these,before. But they weren’t very bright, which made them hard to see in a brightly lit room. I had to be practically on top of the meters, to read them easily.

But, as any flashaholic knows, chargers tend to multiply like rabbits - hence, where I am, now.

The latest additions to the army of chargers (lol) was an MC6

The MC6 is my least favorite of all my lithium ion chargers),

and finally, this Dragon, which is amazing - although it’s been sent in for repair, recently.

Wow David, You’re really into this stuff. Very impressive! I noticed your name includes a 1957 Strat. I’ve been playing bass since 1969. One of my current basses is a 2006 American Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass.

Aah…small world :-). I started with piano lessons in ’71. Ten years later, I switched over to the guitar, and was addicted from that point, on.

I made up that user name, back in ’99 because it was the guitar I had been drooling over, for a lot of years. I would still love to have one, or even a reissue. But I do have a ’96 (Japanese) Standard Strat, that has gone through a lot of modifications (amazing setup, better shielding, locking tuners, new perloid pick guard, replacement jack, pick guard screws, and tremolo bar (the original was completely rusted out), over the years. A slipstone nut was fabricated and installed, too, so the guitar stays beautifully in tune, even with heavy whamny bar excursions. It never used to stay well in-tune, before that (Used to drive me nuts).

This picture (about thirteen years old, and about four cameras ago lol). was lit,entirely with old incandescent Maglites, and whatever light was coming off of the rack equipment. I think the auto white balance setting made the light seem more white than it actually was.

David, these days I keep it simple. I have 3 basses and a couple of small amps. From left to right is a 2012 Lakland Skyline DJ4, 1979 Kramer DMZ 5000, and the 2006 Fender Jazz I mentioned in my last post.

BTW, I started playing bass because my hero Jack Casady blew my mind with his playing back then. I thank him for getting me into playing.