Hello,
I have been charging my Ladda batteries at a charge rate of 0.5 A using the LiitoKala Lii - 202 charger. Will this ruin these batteries? Do I need to use a charger with a lower charge rate? Thanks!
Liitokala Lii-202 is good charger but I think that it terminate charging on voltage detection which don’t charge cell to the 100% full and don’t get rise cells to high temperatures. In your case if You have fresh not worn cells I think that 0.5 A is OK current and cell wouldn’t get hot.
I usually charge AAA NiMH with 300 mA but sometimes when I haven’t much time I charge it with 500 mA and I didn’t see any negatives.
No expert here, and limited experience with NIMH, but I charge my Eneloop AA’s at 1A, and AAA’s at 500 mA on my Opus BT-C3100. I read somewhere the higher charge rate helps the unit better regulate the charging phases/termination. No issues with overheating.
I had a Xtar charger that would charge AAA Eneloops at 250mA.
FWIW, my AAA LADAs were mostly charged with a Lacrosse at 250mA IIRC. Have since replaced that charger with a MiBoxer C4. (Later model that does shut off.) I just let the MiBoxer do whatever it does as a “smart” charger. Cells don’t heat up so I don’t care and believe that it is doing a good job.
Pretty sure that at the lower rate the Lacrosse sometimes wouldn’t terminate and did more damage than the smart charger, with its faster charge rate, has ever done.
In any case all of my AAA LADAs are now into high IR territory so are no longer in regular flashlight use. I use the AAAs in my EO2 II which is very particular about having a low IR cell. Most used light and I change cells nearly daily. Last set of EBLs lasted for a bit more than a year IIRC. Still work OK in a Ti3 and have nearly full capacity. However, in the EO2 II, turbo becomes a novelty only availble fresh off the charger and even High gets dicey when cold or below maybe 75% charge. Currenly using a cheap set of Menards house brand that have low IR and a reasonable capacity of about 800 mAh. (Stated 1000 lol!) Turbo works fine and if it kicks out on High the cell is nearly depleted. The smart charger goes up to nearly an amp on these cells but they do not heat up so I don’t think any damage is being done. Time will tell but if they last a year or so $6 / year is something I can live with for something I use so much.
OTOH, currently really digging the TS10 so maybe the AAAs will start seeing less use…
I charge AAA's at 300 but I doubt it would matter much .If you ended up getting 1200 charges on a cell vs 1500 would it really matter ? the cell is only $2 Saving 30 cents over the course of 6 years isn't going to break the bank .