Charging batteries follow-up

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jack Ricci
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Jack Ricci

Thanks to the five people who responded to my inquiry. All replies were
very helpful, particularly the answer from Sam Louis. Sam, as you
suggested, I found out the batteries are in fact NIMH, and shortly after
I sent the post the charger finally turned off, so I guess everything is
OK. I appreciate the concise and clear answer you gave, and will proceed
onward with my experience on a new digital camera (to me anyway...) and
all it entails. Thanks again.
 
Hi Jack,

Here's bit more information regarding NiMH batteries that may be helpful.

This technology is relatively new. The performance of this type of
battery has improved over the last few years. Specifically, the
capacity (the amount of "hours of use") the batteries are capable of,
has improved considerably. Early NiMH AA batteries were about 1400mAh
(milli-Ampere hours). Today, one can get AA NiMH batteries which have
up to about 2800mAh. The milli-amp hour rating of a cell indicates how
many consistent milli-amps of current the battery can provide for one
hour. One can use this rating to determine how long a battery will last
at a certain draw. So, a 2800 mAh battery can last twice as long in the
same application. Such a battery may take longer to charge or get hotter
during charging.

NiMH batteries vary in how long they take to charge up based upon a
number of factors. How much charge they have when they are placed in
the charger. A well drained battery will take longer. How many times
they have been cycled through discharge and recharge. NiMH batteries
have an advantage over some others in that they do not develop a problem
called "memory" which can prevent a battery which is rarely used from
releasing its full charge, and therefore developing a shorter and shorter
use potential. However, even NiMH batteries may become more difficult
to charge over time and take longer to do so, once they become old. The
other characteristic they have is that they will actually improve the
amount of charge they can hold with use for the first 6-12 charge cycles.

The charger itself can alter how long the battery will takes to charge.
There are now "rapid" chargers on the market which can charge some
types of NiMH batteries in as little as 15 minutes to one hour. They may
reduce the life of some NiMH batteries, however. All in all, NiMH is a
good technology, and should, with minimal care allow you to get upwards
of 1000 charges, without having to fully discharge them or make other
concessions. The one thing that they do suffer from however, as do may
rechargeable types is they will lose charge by just sitting around. If
you tend to leave you camera unused for weeks at a time, you may
suddenly pick up the camera and find a flat set of batteries in it. If
you tend to shoot in this manner, it may be advantageous to remove the
batteries from the camera and put them into the charger, plugged in to
the wall socket, and leave them that way (check your charger's
instructions, most will shut off or go to trickle charge once the
batteries are fully charged and in that way you can leave them in the
charger until you need the camera, and then just pop them in, and know
you will have fully charged batteries.

Art
 
Jack said:
Thanks to the five people who responded to my inquiry. All replies were
very helpful, particularly the answer from Sam Louis. Sam, as you
suggested, I found out the batteries are in fact NIMH, and shortly after
I sent the post the charger finally turned off, so I guess everything is
OK. I appreciate the concise and clear answer you gave, and will proceed
onward with my experience on a new digital camera (to me anyway...) and
all it entails. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

There are various sources of information on the
web, but most of the information you got is a
little off. Many if not most of the newer battery
chargers are of the fast type; mine charges 4 AA
batteries in about 2 hours. Fast charging reduces
the useful life but not appreciably for most
people, many batteries are built for fast
charging, and most people don't want to wait 12
hours or so to charge batteries.

Fact: most batteries are ruined by overcharging.
Fact: many chargers provide little control over
the charge for protection of the batteries. Some
even charge for a specific length of time.

Solution: most charges tell how much they charge
and the batteries usually state the capacity.
Just divide the capacity by the charge rate and
you will have the approximate time it takes to
charge them. Example charger says DC 1.5V 550mA
x 4. That means each of the battery spots gets
550mA. Batteries say 1800mAH. 1800mAH divided by
550mA is 3.2 hours. So the charge will charge 4
batteries in 3.2 hours. You can probably cut that
number by 2/3 to 1/2 as most batteries will have a
fair amount of energy remaining when they fail to
operate a device.

Put your finger on the batteries while they are
charging. In very fast charger, under an hour,
they could get uncomfortably hot, in a slower
charger they should become luke warm.

If you are interested, go here, to learn about
batteries. It provides pretty good information.

http://nordicgroup.us/chargers/
 
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