Hello. I need to discharge eneloops that have been sitting for years with no use. Then I will charge them fully using Panasonic BQ-CC17 charger.
I only have small MAG Light that uses 1 AAA and massage gadget that uses 2 AAA. Are there other ways to recharge and do it faster than leaving devices working?
Thanks
Not really, invest in a cheap 2-3 cell flashlight that uses an old fashion filament wire bulb. If not than that flashlight you do have cycle a battery every few hours. How many cells are you talking about?
By cycling the battery you mean doing full discharge and giving the flashlight a break of a few hours? I have 8 more cells to go. I also have a cheap LED headlight that uses 3 AAA batteries…
why do you think you need to discharge first?
I would just charge them.
Connect the Eneloops with a resister. That’s what I do when I’m totally draining batteries before recycling them. For example the other day I discharged a 21700 battery to 3v on my hobby charger and then connected it to a 10 watt resister to get it down to close to 0v.
You should periodically check the voltage after connecting it to the resister to make sure you don’t drain it below 1v or so.
Because they are half empty probably. I thought charging them in that state would not be good and refreshing them once after years of being unused is the right step. I also want to test my new Panasonic charger.
I dont know why you think that…
btw, have you measured the Voltage?
see if this helps
Just charge ’em. Not necessary to cycle eneloop LSD cells.
Plus, without proper equipment and/or CONSTANT vigilance, you risk taking them to zero volts, which is not good for long term health. I have been test discharging batteries, sitting on my desk hooked up to a light, doing work on the PC only to realize the light had gone out……completely. It’s way too easy to do that.
I use Opus BT-C2400 chargers ($29 on amazon), I use them to grade and label all cells (i.e. label 2.06ah) when I get them so I can match them to help prevent damaging cells.
They have a discharge function, among others for testing capacity and refreshing, etc.
If I’m trying to dispose of batteries I destroy them with fire.
DISCHARGE Mode:In the DISCHARGE mode the rechargeable battery isdischarged to a preset battery voltage (0.9V) then discharged is terminated. At discharge termination 0 mA current is displayed in that channel display. Press the DISPLAY button to view discharged capacity.Example: Insert battery into a slot. Press MODE button until DISCHARGE is displayed in that channel. Press CURRENT button to select 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500,(600 or 700) mA discharge rate. If CURRENT button is not pressed the discharge current will automatically default to 200 mA
Thank you for destroying our environment and wasting resources. :person_facepalming:
You’re welcome. I feed them into my BFS MK IV Fusion reactor.
For Eneloops, you want the C9000 charger. It has multiple modes for maintaining LSD batteries.
Full discharge is usually done in a few hours. The flashlight doesn’t need a break. LED electronics may shut off before full discharge. Older filament lights will discharge to zero.
I gave inaccurate information about batteries. 8 batteries are AmazonBasics bought in different periods. Reviews mentioned they were from eneloop factory however packaging mentions “Made in China”. Or was it rebranded Recycos? I don’t remember.
There are 2 Duracells I bought in EU when I was visiting and there are 4 GP Recycos that I ordered on Chinese website because comments claimed “genuine”…
I measured the voltage of first 4 AmazonBasics. It was 1.16-1.17v
I thought disposing in fire is a hazard so I assumed it means you must discharge fully first fir a second.
Where I live we have recycling points where container is stationed to collect used batteries for recycling.
well done checking voltage. I would just recharge them, no need to discharge further.
you are correct
disposing in the fire is wrong
Bought Panasonic BQ-CC17 and tried to recharge 10-year old, barely used Sanyos XX 2,450mAh. It refused to charge 2 of them even after using Camelion generic charger. I thought it would “boost” them but nope. When I use multimeter the reading is 1,30v however when I use chinese battery tester the reading drops to 1,15v. Don’t know what to do with these 2 weak batteries. Does it mean their capacity also diminished? Charger LEDs flashing with Ni-MH batteries - #13 by killswitch
Just put them in any device that takes AA cells and run them down. Another thing if your eneloops been sitting for years, they are pretty much empty. measuring voltage, load or no load will not tell you SOC with nimh cells
Short answer: Yes, they are mostly dead.
The Chinese tester has a resistor in the circuit. The drop from 1.30v > 1.15v shows the internal resistance is high, and they can’t do much anymore.
You are kind of flogging some dead batteries with the multiple posts you have about these. It’s not obsolescence, it’s 12 going on 13 year old NiMh that have deteriorated. Maybe you didn’t use them. which is actually part of the problem. NiXX do better if they are cycled fairly regularly. If you want to be super fussy you treat them like Lion and keep them between 20>80%, which is nearly impossible. So, just use them and charge ’em. They do NOT get better being aged in a drawer like fine wine.
If you can’t charge them, probably most effective to discharge and recycle. Your ‘tools’ are adequate for basic charging, but marginal for giving you much information. Hopefully you are starting to understand that you simply have a some poor batteries and there isn’t anything you can do to fix that. Once they get that way, there’s no bringing them back. Doesn’t matter what charger you have.