I am trying to sort out my drawerful of rechargeable Ni-MH batteries. I decided to use for the first time the Test function on my La Crosse BC-1000 charger. The results of my first foray are here:
These batteries are rated 2100 mAh. After the test finished, the charger indicated as follows for the four batteries:
1. 1713 mAh
2. 2.00 Ah
3. 2.02 Ah
4. 2.00 Ah
Why is the first reading in mAh but the other three in Ah? Are are four batteries shot? Or is #1 the only bad one?
The charger may have formatting settings that change at 2000 mAh, I wouldn’t sweat that. Next, I’d say to run them all again in the same slots now that they are all discharged. Then a third time in different slots. Average the values then compare.
The display screen appears to be only able to display a “1” on the first digit (cannot display a “2”), thus when it goes higher than 1999, it will become “blank-2.xx” display —- at least that’s my guess.
As the above mentions, try rotating the batteries and re-test in another slot (maybe mark them first) — it could be each slot just has a slightly different reading, or the first battery is slightly more degraded than the other 3 batteries, but 1700mAh seems to still be OK, just slightly degraded… (which may mean its internal resistance may have gone a bit higher too; but may need a different charger / device to check resistance, which is also another important characteristic to test for batteries, in addition to capacity test readout.).