I have a Ray-o-Vac PS3 charger. Seems like a good charger...popped it open tonight and each pair of batteries has a set of transistors associated with it. I measured voltage across each pair of cells and it was different...which is probably good since each pair had been in there a different length of time. The thing has quite a circuit board in it. Not a simple circuit.
ANYway...the ISSUE is when I leave batteries in there for a long period of time (days/weeks) they continue to trickle charge up to about 1.450 to 1.480 volts. My camera does not seem to like that. It shuts off shortly after turning it on. If the cells are closer to 1.3 V then it's happier.
I pulled some cells out tonight that were good and cooked for a number of days.
I'll have to see how they work after sitting out a day or two and see how the voltage looks.
The batteries are cool, but I hope this higher voltage trickle is not harmful.
I also hope the way this thing is charging is not negatively affecting the useful capacity after charging.
Doesn't make too much sense since the camera works with 1.5V alkaline cells. Apparently they sag low enough under the load and maybe the NiMH are staying closer to 1.5V.
My charger looks like exacly like the one above, but different.... in that it's black with a clear cover.
:P
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2 comments:
I've been thinking about getting a rechargable deal like that. Do you, or anyone else for that matter, think that it matters what brand you get? Do you get what you pay for? Or is one like the next, just a different price tag?
K.(i)M.
There are a lot of different chargers around. All I can say is try to get one that can charge hi capacity NiMH batteries to FULL charge. I have a few that don't.
See THIS:
http://www.valleycomm.net/maha.txt
But yeah..you DO get what you pay for. And no more.
Some chargers can "cycle" batteries through charge/discharge to refresh capacity. Some montitor temperature, etc.
Look at http://www.mahaenergy.com/
for some options.
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