Guide: Rechargeable AA batteries / 14500 batteries / Chargers

But for power hungry lights rechargeables are def the way to go. You will be happy.

I LOVE ENELOOPS! Kiss

I've been using rechargeables since the mid 80's but there were always hassles. For he first time I'm now able to just take a battery out, stick it in a device and expect it to work - and go on working for a reasonable time. It means I don't have to drag around a charger (Though I usually do) because the batteries will have enough charge in them that they'll do what I want them to. I need fewer chargers and a lot less messing around.

Yup, Eneloops are great.

Hello all, another question: Can NiMH cells be run to 0 without damaging them? Is the "cell protection" feature of some lights only for Li-Ion cells? Thanks a lot!

From memory, NiMH cells really don't like being run to 0 volts. Of course, it happens sometimes, but it is best not to run them much below 1V - there's nothing useful left by then anyway.

Some useful info here, though it dates from before LSD cells.

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

There might be a light out there with cell protection for NiMH, but I don't know of it. This is mainly because Bad Things can happen when you try to recharge over-discharged lithium cells - it is possible to make NiMH cells go bang, but you do have to work at it. The RC modelling crowd are downright vicious to their batteries and have documented every possible nasty thing that it is possible to make all sorts of cells do - but then they will do things like try to ram 50A into small cells to charge them faster. On the whole, nickel based cells are far safer.

With NiMH the discharge curve is pretty flat till it falls off a cliff so the usual advice is to recharge them when they start to dim. Once the light starts to dim its output will drop like a stone anyway so it will be obvious in all but the lowest power consumption lights that they are close to the end of their charge anyway.

This is a typical NiMH output/voltage chart.

As you can see, it is very obvious when the cell is running out of power.

And here's a typical alkaline discharge graph at a reasonable current.

Ah I see. Interesting. That is a nice flat runtime. And if I run it to the ground, could it possibly not take another charge? Or blow up? Keep in mind I will be using a 80 - 200 mah charger.

I have never managed to make an NiMH cell go pop. I did manage to make an NiCd cell leak but that took charging it for a year. (I forgot about the charger in the loft) - I was flooring the loft and had modded an electric screwdriver to take AAs as I had a lot of screws to put in and the screwdriver kept going flat. Got the job finished, moved a pile of junk up there and wasn't up there again for a year.

Even if discharged to 0 volts, they'll take another charge but the capacity of the cell drops when you are cruel to them like that.

And service life of the cells have been decreased......i know what you mean about rc'ers.....im from that crowd and i have made cells vent from overcharging them just to get more amps from the pack. I run a couple of cells til the light doesnt work anymore and stick them on the charger, with nimh your more worried about heat, the hotter the cell the shorter the service life or life span of the cell. You should be fine with the eneloops since there of higher quality then some of the cells that are out on the market.

SB how did that charger go? It seems like you're the only person to ever buy it from the sale history! Anyone else have any other recommendations for a cheap NiMH charger? I do want one which is smart (i.e. deltaV) but not too fast so it doesn't kill my cells, preferably with trickle charge too. And single cell channels (at least 1) since I may use 3xAA or 1xAA sometimes. I'm finding a lot of cheaper stuff on eBay but there's little info on them. Quite often they're 2 cells per channel.

I was thinking I wouldn't bother with a NiMH charger as I'm going 18650 for my torch but I've been flirting with the idea of building my own tail light with some of those cheap Chinese red array LEDs (or perhaps a Cree) and I don't really trust my ability to make it waterproof so I'm thinking I may stick with rechargable AA initially at least so I don't have a nasty experience with shorted li-ions. I currently use a Maha 401 but it's not mine so I want to have my own for regular use. I do actually have some of those very slow dumb charger (well they technically aren't mine but no one wants them) but want something a bit better then that.

I'd look around for a Vanson BC1-HU or one of its rebadged variants - they are quite ubiquitous and distinctive in appearance so it is easy to spot rebadged ones. And they don't cost a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/110-240V-Universal-Charger-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B000UB7WD2

I really can't complain too much. The seller is great, he sent me a free replacement with free batteries when the first one didn't perform according to the description, although I now realize that it was performing normally. It's a simple, slow, cheap, 4-channel charger with automatic shutoff. Couldn't hurt to give it a try for the price.

What do you guys think of the Eneloop XX packaged with a charger? There's a rapid charger included, and when charging 1x at 1680mA seems dangerous, even for a AA rated at 2500mAh.
http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-Battery-Powered-Capacity-Pre-Charged/dp/B004N042XO/ref=sr_1_15?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1338003560&sr=1-15

Also, what do you guys think of the costco pack - seems like it charges in pairs instead of independently =/
http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-Eneloop-Charger-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B003VLAEPQ

Great info…thanks!

I’ve only used 14500 from the ones that you are asking and judging from my experience the best 14500 battery is the NL147 by Nitecore. You can find them for $6 a piece from FastTech.
If you are on a tight budget, get Trustfire Flames from Manafont. 2 pieces for $6.12. Difference vs. the Nitecore is minimum, probably 10%.

If you use too low of a charging level for NiMH it is very hard to terminate the charge accurately. It is far better to use a decent smart charger and a decent charge rate, I’d say 500mA was minimum for a AA Eneloop but anywhere upto 1c.

If you really want to only trickle then use a timer to ensure shut-off after an absolute maximum 24hrs, usually around 16hrs.

I found some new Soshine 14500 and I’m thinking of buying. I’ve read some good reviews on 18650 Soshine, so I guess there’s no reason to doubt the little ones:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Soshine-3-7V-14500-800mAh-Protected-Rechargeable-Battery-x4-With-battery-box-/330855181039?pt=US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item4d08816aef

There is a little bit of information here, but it is only on a few 14500s from Fasttech.

ozarktrail | This is my new Ozark Trail which I'm going to m… | Flickr This has been done here before but it needs to be udated. Just bought the Ozark Trail 500L which has the same battery compartment as the Coleman and the Dorcy with 4 new Rayovac batteries which won’t fit. The photo shows Kodak which fit very tight poloroid which are tight and Radioshack with the label removed which are slightly tight. The Vivitar’s fit fine as well as the Duracell alkalines which came with the light. I would happly buy 4 more Vivatars which came with a 200 millamp charger. The light end does not unscrew on the Ozark or the Coleman which means the batteries can’t be poked through. I could just jam the batteries and take them back for a refund but I’m going to work through the problem.

Thank you for sharing. Learned a lot. :+1: