Hi - I read this post and its got me worried...someone said using a dumb charger ruined his batteries...https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/6393#comment-121357
Do I need a Smart Charger (never heard of that term before), and how is it different/better than basic eneloop charger I have now?
My use is to charge AA and AAA eneloops (only batteries types I own.) I use my light about 30min/day and charge the batteries whenever, I never wait for the batteries to die...(is this bad for the battery?)
If I should get a smart charger please recommend me a good budget one and a link to purchase.
With a C900 charger your eneloops should have considerably more capacity (instead of 2000mAH expect more like 2500mAH and last much longer between charges, they also will retain a higher voltage.
Lol, Kidding aside, I own two of the MAHA C9000's and they are the best charger you can buy for AA/AAA, no one can argue that fact!
No one can answer that question but you. Do a quick math calculation: I just bought the Costco Eneloop pack (Charger, 8xAA, 4xAAA ~ $21.00). Factoring in cost and electricity use over the life of the battery assuming 1500 cycles, Sanyo lists the cost per charge at $.04 per recharge. What do you think adding $70 for a charger will add?
Thought so. Unless you have lots and lots of AA/AAA rechargeables and many devices to power, stick with the Eneloop charger.
I'd love a MAHA, but for the price, the sanyo you have works well. I have used this smart charger for 4 years now and it works very well. I can mix AA & AAA and I can discharge as well. It's kept my eneloops working for a long time now and it's inexpensive. If you need the ultimate in options, then the MAHA is probably more like a Caddilac.
Escrvenge, what you have is a form of “smart” charger as opposed to a “dumb” fixed timer type of charger.
You aren’t abusing your batteries by using the charger that you have. It’s what I use as well.
The more expensive “hobby” chargers charge more different kinds of batteries (sizes) and allow for discharging the battery, monitoring what’s going on, etc. In other words they have more “bells and whistles”.
If you are into that sort of thing then you might want that kind of charger. It might marginally improve the capacity, life, etc. of your batteries.
As was pointed out for $70 you can buy a lot of batteries and the charger you currently have is designed for the type of batteries you are using.
It's the worst Sanyo charger (except if there are any dumb timed ones), it charges in pairs. It should be OK though. A C9000 is unnecessary and a hobby charger is unsuitable.
I think you should be safe with Eneloop charger since its has been "designed" to work with Eneloops only, sure you can use other batteries in it, but Sanyo warns on doing so, the same goes for charging Eneloops in other chargers, which more looks like marketing bogus and nothing more.
Long story short, Eneloop charger has been tested and designed and should offer you decent battery charging experience.
I bought set of 2xAAA eneloops with mobile charger MDR02:
Its relatively small, lightweight and its fast charger, opted for this instead of regular Eneloop 4 battery charger because of the charging speed difference.
Still Im planning to get myself pro charger where I can measure battery capacity etc and revive old cells, because I want to know how much juice my rechargeable batteries can hold when Ill be using them intensively ;)
But thats going to be after I fill up my flashaholics and EDCholics needs first with flashlights and knives :D
Eneloop will do me fine for now and so it should you as well ;)
I read the other thread and this one, thanks for all the info! I'm new to Eneloops. Even though they said pre-charged, I wanted to top them off before using, so I popped 4 in the supplied charger (#NC-MQN06). So far they have been charging for 4 hours and still blinking, so I assume that they are in "break in mode". I have two questions:
1) Ok to leave charger plugged in unattended? 10 hours is a long time to have to watch a charger.
2) What voltage should these be on my multimeter? Max off charger & Min allowed discharge?
I'm used to 18650 batteries where I'm paranoid and checking everything before and after charging.
But the same "actual battery engineers" are bringing dual-channel 4-batt chargers out on the market. (many original eneloop chargers are that way here) I am in the engineering field and designed by an engineer has absolutely nothing to say about the quality of a product. Sometimes the engineers are forced to design a bad product by the account department or the marketing research guys.
Of course the crappy chargers are made because of management decisions to maximize profits.
I'm talking about the datasheets written by engineers from Sanyo or Duracell. There they describe the best ways to charge their batteries even if their own companies will never make chargers adhering to these specifications.
Also, there is a new generation "Made for Eneloop" charger that charges one single AA battery at 0.85C. Why don't they make a charger that can charge two or four batteries at 0.85C? You know the answer...
There is no "break-in" needed with Eneloops. You are already (or very soon) overcharging your cells. I think you already proved that the charger is crap, unfortunately... You already added 1.2 Ah (minus some losses) to your quite charged batteries already.
Wow, WTF, so turns out my super Eneloop fast charger is actually POS meant just for that - travel charging once in a while and not as regular charger :D?!
