I have lots of AAA and AA NiMh batteries which have been through quite
a lot of discharge/recharge cycles. I have a tester which tells me if
they're charged or not but I'd really like to check their actual
capacity. Some of the AAA ones at least have very little capacity now
but it's difficult to check.

I could rig up a simple resistor discharge with some sort of computer
monitoring via an AtoD interface but surely someone out there must
produce and sell such a thing for not very much.

Has anyone come across anything like this?

--
Chris Green
·

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016 17:00:27 +0100, wrote:

I have lots of AAA and AA NiMh batteries which have been through quite
a lot of discharge/recharge cycles. I have a tester which tells me if
they're charged or not but I'd really like to check their actual
capacity. Some of the AAA ones at least have very little capacity now
but it's difficult to check.

I could rig up a simple resistor discharge with some sort of computer
monitoring via an AtoD interface but surely someone out there must
produce and sell such a thing for not very much.

Has anyone come across anything like this?


Yes, I have exactly that in the form of a x4 x AA or AAA charger,
discharger and capacity tester.

As a rule, whenever I buy new (AA/AAA) rechargeables I run them though
the 'Test' routine and see how they fare against their rated capacity.

I think mine is a 'BC 700' although they may appear under different
names.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Crosse-Te.../dp/B000RSOV50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynI28X7M_Y

Cheers, T i m

T i m wrote:
On Fri, 1 Apr 2016 17:00:27 +0100, wrote:

I have lots of AAA and AA NiMh batteries which have been through quite
a lot of discharge/recharge cycles. I have a tester which tells me if
they're charged or not but I'd really like to check their actual
capacity. Some of the AAA ones at least have very little capacity now
but it's difficult to check.

I could rig up a simple resistor discharge with some sort of computer
monitoring via an AtoD interface but surely someone out there must
produce and sell such a thing for not very much.

Has anyone come across anything like this?


Yes, I have exactly that in the form of a x4 x AA or AAA charger,
discharger and capacity tester.

As a rule, whenever I buy new (AA/AAA) rechargeables I run them though
the 'Test' routine and see how they fare against their rated capacity.

I think mine is a 'BC 700' although they may appear under different
names.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Crosse-Te.../dp/B000RSOV50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynI28X7M_Y

I think 7DayShop have the Uniross which I believe is the same
hardware. It's much cheaper there, £18.99.

--
Chris Green
·

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016 18:56:43 +0100, wrote:

snip

I think mine is a 'BC 700' although they may appear under different
names.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Crosse-Te.../dp/B000RSOV50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynI28X7M_Y

I think 7DayShop have the Uniross which I believe is the same
hardware. It's much cheaper there, £18.99.

Yes, sorry, I didn't spot the price of that one till I looked again!
Yes, the Uniross seems to do the same sort of thing but goes to higher
currents.

This is the sort of thing I've got:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/hmkmmj3

But it too could be an 'uprated' version as I got mine a while ago
now.

I bought one for a good mate who was regularly 'cooking' his batteries
on a rapid charger and he uses his every day (but really just as a
good charger).

Cheers, T i m

Its called a torch bulb I think...
There are two issues with rechargeable. Self discharge over time and
capacity. To stop one from affecting the other you need a big drain that
takes a known time on whatever battery type it is. Of course this takes no
count of internal resistance which may make the actual current limit quite
low when you use it in series with others.
Finding the duff one in a set is quite hard, and there usually is one that
dies first causing reverse charging by the others through the load and
making it worse.
In the end when I could see, I rigged up an open battery holder for four of
the type I used, ni cads in those days, and put a plug on the other end that
could run say, a cassette player via its adaptor socket. I'd then use thin
probes to measure the voltage of each cell as they went down, chucking out
the ones that went down first.


Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
wrote in message ...
I have lots of AAA and AA NiMh batteries which have been through quite
a lot of discharge/recharge cycles. I have a tester which tells me if
they're charged or not but I'd really like to check their actual
capacity. Some of the AAA ones at least have very little capacity now
but it's difficult to check.

I could rig up a simple resistor discharge with some sort of computer
monitoring via an AtoD interface but surely someone out there must
produce and sell such a thing for not very much.

Has anyone come across anything like this?

--
Chris Green
·

On 01/04/2016 17:00, wrote:
I have lots of AAA and AA NiMh batteries which have been through quite
a lot of discharge/recharge cycles. I have a tester which tells me if
they're charged or not but I'd really like to check their actual
capacity. Some of the AAA ones at least have very little capacity now
but it's difficult to check.

I could rig up a simple resistor discharge with some sort of computer
monitoring via an AtoD interface but surely someone out there must
produce and sell such a thing for not very much.

Has anyone come across anything like this?

How I wish someone would come up with a charger that had extendible
bays. By which I mean you could add on any number of very simple cell
holders. The charger would look at the first set of cells, do whatever
and go on to the next set.

That would allow you to have all your rechargeable cells nicely stored
and kept at whatever charge level, discharge cycling rate, etc. you
might want. Might need some way of indicating which cells are being
processed right now, etc., but surely nothing particularly clever.

Sure it would still only charge up to four at a time - but that is
enough for many of us!

--
Rod

On 03/04/2016 11:11, pamela wrote:
On 19:18 1 Apr 2016, T i m wrote:

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016 18:56:43 +0100, wrote:

snip

I think mine is a 'BC 700' although they may appear under
different names.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Crosse-Technology-Battery-
Charger/dp/B000RSOV50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynI28X7M_Y

I think 7DayShop have the Uniross which I believe is the same
hardware. It's much cheaper there, £18.99.

Yes, sorry, I didn't spot the price of that one till I looked
again! Yes, the Uniross seems to do the same sort of thing but
goes to higher currents.

This is the sort of thing I've got:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/hmkmmj3

But it too could be an 'uprated' version as I got mine a while
ago now.

I bought one for a good mate who was regularly 'cooking' his
batteries on a rapid charger and he uses his every day (but
really just as a good charger).

Cheers, T i m

That charger looks like a bargain at £20.

Would it be worth getting that unit if you already have the Lidl
Tronic charger?


Yes, I'd be interested to know - I've got the Tronic too.

It's based on the Ansmann Energy 8 Plus.


Didn't know that!

http://www.ansmann.de/en/products/ch...plies/battery-
chargers/energy-8-plus


Is the battery capacity readout of Tim's useful/accurate?

--
Cheers, Rob

On Sun, 3 Apr 2016 11:22:46 +0100, RJH wrote:

On 03/04/2016 11:11, pamela wrote:
On 19:18 1 Apr 2016, T i m wrote:

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016 18:56:43 +0100, wrote:

snip

I think mine is a 'BC 700' although they may appear under
different names.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Crosse-Technology-Battery-
Charger/dp/B000RSOV50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynI28X7M_Y

I think 7DayShop have the Uniross which I believe is the same
hardware. It's much cheaper there, £18.99.

Yes, sorry, I didn't spot the price of that one till I looked
again! Yes, the Uniross seems to do the same sort of thing but
goes to higher currents.

This is the sort of thing I've got:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/hmkmmj3

But it too could be an 'uprated' version as I got mine a while
ago now.

I bought one for a good mate who was regularly 'cooking' his
batteries on a rapid charger and he uses his every day (but
really just as a good charger).

Cheers, T i m

That charger looks like a bargain at £20.

Would it be worth getting that unit if you already have the Lidl
Tronic charger?


Yes, I'd be interested to know - I've got the Tronic too.

It's based on the Ansmann Energy 8 Plus.


Didn't know that!

http://www.ansmann.de/en/products/ch...plies/battery-
chargers/energy-8-plus


Is the battery capacity readout of Tim's useful/accurate?


I also have the Ansmann Energy * and 16 models and think they are
great chargers. They will also do C and D cells of course.

As for accuracy on the BC 700 type units, I would have to say 'yes',
they do seem to be pretty accurate.

By that I mean if I put a batch of 4 x AAA's that are marked as say
900mAh, if they are on spec the charger will typically report
capacities around that value (+_ maybe 2% on good quality cells).

As I tend to do the full/ refresh test it can keep cycling the cells
until it stops seeing an increase in capacity, it can take a while (a
day / days), especially if you set the rates low so as to keep the
temperatures as low as possible.

When testing both AA and AAAs I try to mark the tested capacities on
the cells themselves with a fine Sharpie, that way I can use
combinations (or the same make and model) that have similar tested
capacities.

The tester can be very revealing ... both informing you of any cells
that are being 'oversold' but also the condition of any sets of cells
you are using as one 'battery'. I have been able to discard a few duff
cells that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to isolate, giving the
remaining cells a better life.

The BC 700 I gave to my (non technical) mate was to try to get him to
understand that just taking any combination of (typically) different
(marked) capacity cells and using them together wasn't a good idea.
The idea was for him to test all his cells, mark them and then use
them in matched sets (2's and 4's typically). I think he may have
tested a couple but judging by the mix of cells I often see in the
charger, I'm guessing he isn't using them as I suggested. At least he
isn't cooking the cells like he was before in a rapid charger (as seen
by the number of cells with split or crinkled skins). ;-(

Cheers, T i m

On Sun, 3 Apr 2016 11:18:14 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

On 01/04/2016 17:00, wrote:
I have lots of AAA and AA NiMh batteries which have been through quite
a lot of discharge/recharge cycles. I have a tester which tells me if
they're charged or not but I'd really like to check their actual
capacity. Some of the AAA ones at least have very little capacity now
but it's difficult to check.

I could rig up a simple resistor discharge with some sort of computer
monitoring via an AtoD interface but surely someone out there must
produce and sell such a thing for not very much.

Has anyone come across anything like this?

How I wish someone would come up with a charger that had extendible
bays. By which I mean you could add on any number of very simple cell
holders. The charger would look at the first set of cells, do whatever
and go on to the next set.

It would have to have connections to each of the cells (as the better
fixed bay chargers generally do) and I'm not sure if that would then
bring in it's own issues (voltage drops over the leads affecting
accurate voltage detection)?

That would allow you to have all your rechargeable cells nicely stored
and kept at whatever charge level, discharge cycling rate, etc. you
might want. Might need some way of indicating which cells are being
processed right now, etc., but surely nothing particularly clever.

There is no reason you couldn't 'cycle' a basic / lower rate charger
over various sets of cell-packs, as long as they were all the same
type etc (chemicals and capacity).

Sure it would still only charge up to four at a time - but that is
enough for many of us!

I love my Ansmann Energy 16 because not only does it handle up to 16
cells / batteries at once (12 x AA/AAA (or 6 x C/D) + 4 x PP3) it
charges them slowly and individually. There is nothing more rewarding
than buying a set of 12 new AA's, putting them in the charger and
seeing them all indicate 'charged' at similar times. Take an old batch
of 12 that are supposed to be the same and you would be surprised how
much difference there can be in the finished times.

Put the quickest cells in the BC 700 and that generally confirms
under (marked) capacity.

On the subject of charging multiple targets, I built a 12V charger /
switcher designed to maintain up to 4 x 12V Lead acid batteries as
typically found on 4 motorcycles. Some of these intelligent chargers
(line the Opitmate series) ...

http://accumate.co.uk/optimate%206.htm

.... can be quite expensive and so it would be quite costly to have 4
off to cover 4 bikes. So this solution switches the charger around as
many of the 4 outlets have batteries on the end (so you don't waste a
'slot' when a bike is disconnected) and you can set what period it
stays on each (6 - 48 hours or so).

Cheers, T i m

polygonum wrote:
On 01/04/2016 17:00, wrote:
I have lots of AAA and AA NiMh batteries which have been through quite
a lot of discharge/recharge cycles. I have a tester which tells me if
they're charged or not but I'd really like to check their actual
capacity. Some of the AAA ones at least have very little capacity now
but it's difficult to check.

I could rig up a simple resistor discharge with some sort of computer
monitoring via an AtoD interface but surely someone out there must
produce and sell such a thing for not very much.

Has anyone come across anything like this?

How I wish someone would come up with a charger that had extendible
bays. By which I mean you could add on any number of very simple cell
holders. The charger would look at the first set of cells, do whatever
and go on to the next set.

That would allow you to have all your rechargeable cells nicely stored
and kept at whatever charge level, discharge cycling rate, etc. you
might want. Might need some way of indicating which cells are being
processed right now, etc., but surely nothing particularly clever.

Sure it would still only charge up to four at a time - but that is
enough for many of us!

There are 10 bay chargers around which don't cost all that much.

--
Chris Green
·

On Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:39:40 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

I also have the Ansmann Energy * and 16 models and think they
are great chargers. They will also do C and D cells of course.

I count 3 chargers, so far. Are you building a collection? :-)

Erm, yes. I probably have more like 20+ chargers here of all different
types inc the ones I've mentioned and bigger car, Electric Scooter
(24V lead acid and 26V Li-Ion) plus model car / boat / aircraft
chargers etc. But then I have spent most of my life playing with
batteries, RC models and even my road going electric car so it's not
surprising. ;-)

I can never work out quite what logic is used by the Lidl/Ansmann
charger. Sometimes it drains the cell and sometimes it tops them up.

I think it (well mine do) drain first, it's just if they are already
pretty flat that won't take very long?

Do you know what the difference is between Refresh and Pre-Charge in
the Ansmann 8 instructions below?

================
BATTERY QUICK TEST

After inserting the batteries, the state of charge is displayed:
LED green: capacity over 80% of the nominal capacity
LED orange: capacity between 25% and 80% of the nominal capacity
LED red: capacity lower 25% of the nominal capacity

Ok, seen that and it makes sense.

After 5 seconds, if the batteries are not removed, the unit switches
over to automatic refreshing/charge mode.

LED INDICATORS / CHARGE MODES

LED flashes red/green "Refreshing" - Refresh mode

Is that the discharging phase?

LED flashes green "Pre-Charging" - Pre-charge mode

Working out how to best charge that cell?

LED lights red "Charging" - Fast charge mode

Bulk charge phase.

LED lights green "Ready"“ - battery fully charged/top-off or trickle
charge mode

As it says, trickle charge mode.

LED flashes red "Error" - faulty battery or alkaline battery
detected

Duff. ;-)

snip

As I tend to do the full/ refresh test it can keep cycling the
cells until it stops seeing an increase in capacity, it can take
a while (a day / days), especially if you set the rates low so
as to keep the temperatures as low as possible.

It's smart that it can cycle until no more capacity is detected.

It is but I think it's more pertinent for NiCd than anything later.

Presumably this is for each individual cell.

Yup. I don't think I've still got any chargers that charge 'packs'
other than those found inside equipment (where the battery stays in
the device) or the very low current jobbies for slow charging RC gear.

When testing both AA and AAAs I try to mark the tested
capacities on the cells themselves with a fine Sharpie, that way
I can use combinations (or the same make and model) that have
similar tested capacities.

The tester can be very revealing ... both informing you of any
cells that are being 'oversold' but also the condition of any
sets of cells you are using as one 'battery'. I have been able
to discard a few duff cells that I wouldn't otherwise have been
able to isolate, giving the remaining cells a better life.

If you test for actual compared to advertised capacity then doesn't
that presume there's only one standardised end-voltage as a cutoff
point but I'm not sure if that's the case.

I'm not sure if it can detect the difference between NiCd and NiMh but
may just look for the drop in voltage that normally occurs around the
fully charged point (negative delta V, NiCd) or that plus other
factors for NiMh (like temperature).

The BC 700 I gave to my (non technical) mate was to try to get
him to understand that just taking any combination of
(typically) different (marked) capacity cells and using them
together wasn't a good idea. The idea was for him to test all
his cells, mark them and then use them in matched sets (2's and
4's typically). I think he may have tested a couple but judging
by the mix of cells I often see in the charger, I'm guessing he
isn't using them as I suggested. At least he isn't cooking the
cells like he was before in a rapid charger (as seen by the
number of cells with split or crinkled skins). ;-(


Your friend reminds me of a charger I had which didn't switch off
soon enough and the cells would often get very hot.

My Ansmann 'Energy' chargers can still cause a (typically 'iffy') cell
to get quite hot but any that do I put on the BC 700 and let that
determine what's going on.

I decided to cool
the finished cells by wrapping them all over in kitchen foil because
aluminium is a good heat conductor.

If you wrapped them tightly it may not have made matters much worse.
Wrapping them loosely would be like putting them in an emergency
blanket. ;-)

I wondered why they didn't seem
to cool down! I'm probably lucky the cells didn't explode.

I think once off charge they wouldn't have got much hotter ...
assuming you didn't short them out with the aluminium foil that is ...
;-(


Cheers, T i m

pamela wrote:

That charger looks like a bargain at �20.
Would it be worth getting that unit if you already have the Lidl
Tronic charger?

It's based on the Ansmann Energy 8 Plus.

Looks more like it's based on the Ansmann Powerline 4 Pro or Powerline 4
Lite.

On 03/04/2016 19:58, T i m wrote:
On Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:39:40 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

snip

LED flashes red "Error" - faulty battery or alkaline battery
detected

Duff. ;-)


I've managed to 'kick start' error reading AA/AAA batteries using a
cheap 'dumb' charger. Batteries seem to recover fine. I think they
discharge to such a point that the smart charger can't do anything with
them?

In fact I've successfully done this when the smart charger failed with a
car battery recently.


--
Cheers, Rob

On 04/04/2016 08:18, RJH wrote:
On 03/04/2016 19:58, T i m wrote:
On Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:39:40 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

snip

LED flashes red "Error" - faulty battery or alkaline battery
detected

Duff. ;-)


I've managed to 'kick start' error reading AA/AAA batteries using a
cheap 'dumb' charger. Batteries seem to recover fine. I think they
discharge to such a point that the smart charger can't do anything with
them?

In fact I've successfully done this when the smart charger failed with a
car battery recently.



You don't need a second charger, you just parallel connect the "duff"
one and a charged battery together for a second or two.

If it doesn't work after a couple of goes chuck the battery away.

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 08:18:08 +0100, RJH wrote:

On 03/04/2016 19:58, T i m wrote:
On Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:39:40 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

snip

LED flashes red "Error" - faulty battery or alkaline battery
detected

Duff. ;-)


I've managed to 'kick start' error reading AA/AAA batteries using a
cheap 'dumb' charger. Batteries seem to recover fine. I think they
discharge to such a point that the smart charger can't do anything with
them?

Had that with the Lidl one on once-used, not fully discharged, Eneloop Pros.
Used the 7-dayShop 'dumb' charger for a few minutes and then the Lidl one
was OK.
BTW, my Lidl charger packed up after 2 years and 10 months. e-mailed, sent
relevant details, got a new charger. Felt slightly guilty - until I realised
I'd just saved about 10 Wetherspoons pints worth.


--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 08:18:08 +0100, RJH wrote:

On 03/04/2016 19:58, T i m wrote:
On Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:39:40 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

snip

LED flashes red "Error" - faulty battery or alkaline battery
detected

Duff. ;-)


I've managed to 'kick start' error reading AA/AAA batteries using a
cheap 'dumb' charger.

I think in this (error) case is more the 'I don't seem to be able to
get it to full charge in the time set' more than the 'I'm not going to
start charging because I don't like the battery for some reason'.

Batteries seem to recover fine.

Whilst I have had some cells that initially appeared 'dead' recover to
the point where they seem to work again, I think in most cases they
continued to be duff in time.

Like, the previously considered 'duff' cells works ok when you are
using the pack at a reasonable rate and regularly but if you leave
them for a while, that same cell will go bad again.

I think they
discharge to such a point that the smart charger can't do anything with
them?

I think I can depend on how 'smart' the smart chargers are. Like the
later Optimate (12V) chargers first test to see if there is a voltage
there (and there may be a minimum threshold but if below that the
battery is probably a goner anyway (especially with Lead Acid) and
then will do all sorts of high voltage pulsing and other cycle - test
- cycle type processes in it's attempt to recover it. Now, whilst I
have pulled a few batteries back from the brink with chargers like
that, I'd say they would generally be either very low capacity or high
levels of self-discharge after that.

I now look upon lead acid batteries (particularly) as straight
consumables.

In fact I've successfully done this when the smart charger failed with a
car battery recently.

Yes, some of the more basic smart chargers do sometimes need a bit of
a helping hand to get started if the battery terminal voltage is below
a certain threshold. I do what others here have mentioned and either
(carefully) put a good battery in parallel for a while or use my bench
PSU on a lowish current but a high voltage (well, sub 30). ;-)

It's interesting to see the current climb and then the voltage drop as
the battery 'wakes up'. ;-)

The thing with the small individual cell charger, discharger and
calibrator is you can mark the cells with the outcome of the tests and
it's then very easy to spot the runt of the litter and discard it. If
you have say 12 identical cells and they can be used in 2's and 4's
but taken randomly from the pool, you never know where that weak one
or two cells are and they will make the whole set (they are with at
the timer) appear bad and will be being made worse themselves at the
same time (reverse charging etc).

The 'You can manage what you can measure' saying is very appropriate
here. ;-)

I would like such a charger for the C and D sized cells but I'm
guessing it would be pretty expensive (and to be fair I don't have
that many C/D's, compared with AA/AAAs anyway.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. When I designed, built and raced my electric motorbike (endurance
racing rather than speed) I was able to borrow a batch (10 or so)
identical 12V car batteries from my local car spares place. I put them
on my test jig one at a time and measured the reserve capacity,
finally picking the two batteries that had the highest capacity and
the most matched characteristics (as they were used in series on 24V).

RJH wrote:
On 03/04/2016 19:58, T i m wrote:
On Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:39:40 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

snip

LED flashes red "Error" - faulty battery or alkaline battery
detected

Duff. ;-)


I've managed to 'kick start' error reading AA/AAA batteries using a
cheap 'dumb' charger. Batteries seem to recover fine. I think they
discharge to such a point that the smart charger can't do anything with
them?

In fact I've successfully done this when the smart charger failed with a
car battery recently.

I have two (sometimes three) chargers of varying degrees of smartness,
they all use deltaV to detect full charge. I often find that some
batteries won't start charging in one charger but will start in
another, the trouble is that there's no consistency as to which
charger works.

--
Chris Green
·

In article ,
wrote:
I have two (sometimes three) chargers of varying degrees of smartness,
they all use deltaV to detect full charge. I often find that some
batteries won't start charging in one charger but will start in
another, the trouble is that there's no consistency as to which
charger works.

I have the Lidl one which takes all sizes. And sometimes it won't start
charging a cell. Just leave it 'on charge' for a while then remove and
replace that cell - it usually starts then.

--
*A nest isn't empty until all their stuff is out of the attic

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Monday, 4 April 2016 08:18:09 UTC+1, RJH wrote:

I've managed to 'kick start' error reading AA/AAA batteries using a
cheap 'dumb' charger.


How did you manage to get Rod Speed turning a dynamo in AUS to charge up your batteries.

After all DIY is cheaper than any professonal way of going about things ;-)

On Mon, 04 Apr 2016 12:03:47 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
I have two (sometimes three) chargers of varying degrees of smartness,
they all use deltaV to detect full charge. I often find that some
batteries won't start charging in one charger but will start in
another, the trouble is that there's no consistency as to which
charger works.

I have the Lidl one which takes all sizes. And sometimes it won't start
charging a cell. Just leave it 'on charge' for a while then remove and
replace that cell - it usually starts then.

I found that removing a cell that is fully charged and putting it back on
charge after a few seconds results in about 10 - 15 min. more charging.
I don't know if this is good, bad or useless.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

pamela wrote:
On 19:18 1 Apr 2016, T i m wrote:

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016 18:56:43 +0100, wrote:

snip

I think mine is a 'BC 700' although they may appear under
different names.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Crosse-Te...ery-Charger/dp
/B000RSOV50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynI28X7M_Y

I think 7DayShop have the Uniross which I believe is the same
hardware. It's much cheaper there, £18.99.

Yes, sorry, I didn't spot the price of that one till I looked
again! Yes, the Uniross seems to do the same sort of thing but
goes to higher currents.

This is the sort of thing I've got:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/hmkmmj3

But it too could be an 'uprated' version as I got mine a while
ago now.

I bought one for a good mate who was regularly 'cooking' his
batteries on a rapid charger and he uses his every day (but
really just as a good charger).

Cheers, T i m

Is this Uniross on Amazon the same charger as the La Cross BC 700?
It has the same sort of look but is promoted as a "one hour"
charger.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00T157CB0/

The back of the packet says it charges at 200, 500, 700, 1000 mA.

I've just got mine (Uniross that is) from 7dayshop. Yes, it does
charge at those currents and (in spite of the writing on the outside)
does charge all four cells independently.

I'm just running the first batch of cells through it, seems to do what
it's supposed to do. :-)

--
Chris Green
·

On Sat, 09 Apr 2016 18:08:39 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

Is this Uniross on Amazon the same charger as the La Cross BC 700?
It has the same sort of look but is promoted as a "one hour"
charger.

I think that is because if you set it to 1000mA (or possibly more if
you are only charging 2 cells) and have 1000mA cells it should charge
them in one hour. However, set the charge rate at 200 and it will
charge them in 5 hours (all 'ish' etc).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00T157CB0/

The back of the packet says it charges at 200, 500, 700, 1000 mA.

I don't think it's 'the same' as the BC 700 only goes to 700mA but it
could well be the same technically (apart from that g).

This suggests that some of the variants are as thought:
http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/techno...0-or-BC900.asp

For me 'the point' for such chargers is the slow charge / cycling /
testing and I feel that is best done at less than 'maximum' charge
rate. That's not to say that that isn't a test / use in itself, just
not one I need (or have other chargers for).

Cheers, T i m

On Sun, 10 Apr 2016 12:23:45 +0100, pamela wrote:

On 22:58 9 Apr 2016, T i m wrote:

On Sat, 09 Apr 2016 18:08:39 +0100, pamela
wrote:

snip

Is this Uniross on Amazon the same charger as the La Cross BC
700? It has the same sort of look but is promoted as a "one
hour" charger.

I think that is because if you set it to 1000mA (or possibly
more if you are only charging 2 cells) and have 1000mA cells it
should charge them in one hour. However, set the charge rate at
200 and it will charge them in 5 hours (all 'ish' etc).


http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00T157CB0/

The back of the packet says it charges at 200, 500, 700, 1000
mA.


I don't think it's 'the same' as the BC 700 only goes to 700mA
but it could well be the same technically (apart from that g).

This suggests that some of the variants are as thought:
http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/techno...line-BL700-or-
BC900.asp

For me 'the point' for such chargers is the slow charge /
cycling / testing and I feel that is best done at less than
'maximum' charge rate. That's not to say that that isn't a
test / use in itself, just not one I need (or have other
chargers for).

Cheers, T i m

I particularly like the capacity measurement with that charger.
It helps eliminate failing cells.


And that was one of the main reasons for buying one for me as there
are plenty of basic chargers out there. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

On Mon, 11 Apr 2016 09:18:05 +0100, pamela wrote:


I particularly like the capacity measurement with that charger.
It helps eliminate failing cells.


And that was one of the main reasons for buying one for me as
there are plenty of basic chargers out there. ;-)

snip


When a man who has 20-odd chargers thinks a particular charger is
useful then I'm persuaded.

Quite. ;-)

I placed an order.

Cool. ;-)

Watch out now, I might blame you loudly for ever more for any and
every difficulty with the charger no matter how trivial. Heh!

Of course, I've been helping people most of my life so am very aware
of the 'you touched it last' or 'you advised me to get it'
responsibility. ;-)

However, I only *recommended* the BC-700 or potentially one of it's
exact clones (as that is all I had used personally) and based on the
idea that you can spend anything between £4.99 and 'thousands' on a
Rolex watch ...

It was also recommended on the premise it was specifically good for
*testing* the capacity of AA and AAA cells, much better than any
charger that couldn't do those things (whilst also being a good
charger etc).

I am possibly going to buy another charger soon for testing, charging
and balancing 10 x Li-Po and Li-Ion cells, simply because I both have
and have been asked to 'check' such chemistry batteries and you need
such things to be able to do so easily and safely. [1]

Cheers, T i m

[1] An interesting facet to that is it has a PC interface and by
running some software you can also log and view (maybe even also on
Linux for a change, although it looks like it might still be the
Windows version under WINE?) the results of each cell in your battery
during all the test phases (back to the 'you can manage what you can
measure'). I wonder what you might call some software that can log
and view such data ... ;-)

http://www.logview.info/forum/index.php?pages/eng/

On Mon, 11 Apr 2016 20:50:52 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

The charger doesn't exactly put on a performance with patterns of
flashing LEDs sufficient to impress people passing on the other
side of the room.

This is true. ;-)

This La Crosse look-a-like sits quietly without
even as much as a solitary red LED to tell you it's on.

LCD's ya know.

Is the 200mA charge (100 mA discharge) the best "TEST" setting to
determine the capacity of AAA Eneloops?

It really depends on the spec of the cells themselves. That said, most
NiCd / MiMh cells are vented these days so *should* be able to
tolerate a fairly quick charge. Does it not say on them what the max
charge rate is?

Those AAA cells have a capacity of about 700 mAh, so is this test
likely to take something in the region of 10 to 12 hours?

Or more if it's doing the capacity test, rather than just a charge.

I'm tempted by the faster 500 mA charge (250 mA discharge) test
but is this too rapid to give accurate results with AAA Eneloops?

I would suggest it was and not just because they are Eneloops. The
best things in life are worth waiting for. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

T i m wrote:
On Mon, 11 Apr 2016 20:50:52 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

The charger doesn't exactly put on a performance with patterns of
flashing LEDs sufficient to impress people passing on the other
side of the room.

This is true. ;-)

This La Crosse look-a-like sits quietly without
even as much as a solitary red LED to tell you it's on.

LCD's ya know.

So far I'm not all that keen on the user interface of my UniRoss
version. I tried a random collection of two AAs and two AAAs in it on
'test' and it said one was dead (which I think is probably correct),
two had zero capacity (unlikely) and one was 2Ah (possibly). However
the display when it had finished was very confusing.

I've currently got a set of four similar AAs in it and the result
seems totally confusing. Running 'charge test' again on them just
tells me they're FULL and have 0mAH capacity.

--
Chris Green
·

On Tue, 12 Apr 2016 08:29:03 +0100, wrote:

T i m wrote:
On Mon, 11 Apr 2016 20:50:52 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

The charger doesn't exactly put on a performance with patterns of
flashing LEDs sufficient to impress people passing on the other
side of the room.

This is true. ;-)

This La Crosse look-a-like sits quietly without
even as much as a solitary red LED to tell you it's on.

LCD's ya know.

So far I'm not all that keen on the user interface of my UniRoss
version. I tried a random collection of two AAs and two AAAs in it on
'test' and it said one was dead (which I think is probably correct),
two had zero capacity (unlikely) and one was 2Ah (possibly). However
the display when it had finished was very confusing.

Hmmm. ;-(

I've currently got a set of four similar AAs in it and the result
seems totally confusing. Running 'charge test' again on them just
tells me they're FULL and have 0mAH capacity.

Then I wonder just how 'alike' the UniRoss unit is to the BC-700 as
I've only seen reasonable information from mine.

The setup does require you do make some changes within 10 seconds of
turning it on or some such but apart from that, the displays, controls
and functions are logical, to me anyway.

One minor niggle is that it doesn't display the terminal voltage on
each cell for very long (if you wanted to note them etc) but that's
only a minor issue.

Cheers, T i m

On Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:19:44 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

I hope I don't have to learn this charger's quirks by trial and
error because some of those operations can take a day or two.

You shouldn't, however, you do need to have an understanding of what
you are looking at and how it works to get the best (information and
results) from it.

If it's anything like my BC-700 then the only thing (IMHO) that isn't
completely intuitive is setting of the charging within 10s of power
on.

Loads of overviews of them in use on Youtube showing you the range of
things they can do and how typically you could use them (if you were
interested etc).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynI28X7M_Y

Cheers, T i m

On Thu, 14 Apr 2016 13:50:58 +0100, pamela wrote:

snip

There's also a lot of discussion forums. I can understand people
wanting to discuss charging secondary cells but I never knew
people would discuss a particular charger (La Crosse, Maha,
whatever) in such detail.

Hey, we (humans) can pretty well discuss anything to any level, if it
interests us enough. ;-)

By buying the charger I feel I've
nearly joined an enthusiast community!

Welcome.

I have a question for you, if you don't mind.

Of course not.

For the sake of argument, let's say a AA cell is rated at 2,000
mAh and is used regularly.

Ok.

Also let's say the "Test" feature on
my BC-700 lookalike shows it holds 1,850 mAh.

Ok.

What amount of capacity increase might you get by using "Refresh"?

Assuming it's a NiMh and given that you already stated that the cell
is 'used regularly' then you are likely to see little to no increase
in capacity, *depending* on how you normally charge the cell.

I'm asking because I don't want to run the charger for several
days, only to get a measly 80 mAh increase.

No, and I wouldn't suggest you do in that case as I wouldn't say
that's what that charger is meant to do (or any, under the said
circumstances).

If however you had a quantity of mixed (age, make, capacity, charge /
usage status) cells and you wanted to 'sort them out' (into good /
bad, equal capacity etc) then that's when the likes of the BC-700
would come into it's own.

I'd grab four of the same (make, chemistry, capacity), bung them in
the BC-700 and put them on 'Refresh' and see what comes out. Any
around the marked capacity I would keep, any well below I'd either
refresh again or recycle (battery recycling box at Sainsbury's) and
I'd mark the tested capacity on the cell itself (with a Sharpie) so I
could then use them in matched groups (making them last longer and run
better).

My new charger arrived this morning and I was just playing with it
cycling a 3000mA NiMh model RC car pack.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...9/1010B%2B.jpg

A cool feature is that when you are on the discharge cycle it can dump
the discharging current back into the source / supply battery (I'm
currently running it from a smallish 12V lead acid / gel battery).

I bought it primarily to check / balance a(n expensive) 10A x 10 cell
Li-Ion pack but knowing it could do so much more. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

pamela wrote:

That BC-700 charger is a bit unpredictable. I was using Refresh on a
single low capacity Eneloop cell and after a day or so I wanted to
Test another cell.

I put the new cell in another position and to check the charge
current was set correctly I pressed the Current button. The first
press increased the current (to 500 mA) and did it for all positions
includign the one that was running a Refresh! Not only that but it
reset the Refresh programme back to the beginning. Oh my! I thought
each channel was entirely independent of the others. I'm learning.

If you want to work with a selected cell, press and hold the
button for that cell until it is flashing, then continue with
what you want to do.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 15:02 14 Apr 2016, T i m wrote:



"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
Simon Mason wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Simon Mason wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Mine is 7''

We arent discussing your tits, stupid.

Here I am in Monaco last June.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck1f3WEWsAAddsd.jpg

Don't have any.

We have the photo of you in the sauna with
the massive beer gut and tits and bad haircut.

Not me, Guv.

We know it is.
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/lake1.jpg

Yep, that's you.
I drink out of a glass.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cu-TE3NWgAAU3VZ.jpg

Flat, warm beer.

THAT's a real beer
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ev5embkzigre1pb/
File%2028-10-16%2C%2018%2002%2007.jpeg?dl=0

Presumably that pic was taken in a garage or workshop?

Which pic. Mine wasn’t and his wasn’t either.

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...


"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 10:28 28 Oct 2016, Rod Speed wrote:



"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 15:02 14 Apr 2016, T i m wrote:



"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
Simon Mason wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Simon Mason wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Mine is 7''

We arent discussing your tits, stupid.

Here I am in Monaco last June.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck1f3WEWsAAddsd.jpg

Don't have any.

We have the photo of you in the sauna with the massive beer
gut and tits and bad haircut.

Not me, Guv.

We know it is.
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/lake1.jpg

Yep, that's you.

I drink out of a glass.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cu-TE3NWgAAU3VZ.jpg

Flat, warm beer.

THAT's a real beer
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ev5embkzigre1pb/
File%2028-10-16%2C%2018%2002%2007.jpeg?dl=0

Presumably that pic was taken in a garage or workshop?

Which pic. Mine wasn’t and his wasn’t either.


The microwave oven and worktop in your
photo looked a bit too grubby to be in a kitchen.

I'm not that anal. It is the kitchen.

I guessed it was in a garage or workshop.

It’s the kitchen.

AND after a clean-up.

On 28/10/2016 11:10, Rod Speed wrote:

I'm not that anal. It is the kitchen.

There is a world of difference between not being anal and a mucky sod .

"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 13:05 28 Oct 2016, bm wrote:

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

"pamela" wrote in message
...

On 10:28 28 Oct 2016, Rod Speed wrote:

"pamela" wrote in message
...

"Rod Speed" wrote in message


THAT's a real beer
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ev5embkzigre1pb/
File%2028-10-16%2C%2018%2002%2007.jpeg?dl=0

Presumably that pic was taken in a garage or workshop?

Which pic. Mine wasn’t and his wasn’t either.

The microwave oven and worktop in your photo looked a bit too
grubby to be in a kitchen.

I'm not that anal. It is the kitchen.

I guessed it was in a garage or workshop.

It’s the kitchen.

AND after a clean-up.

A wipe with a damp cloth is what it needs.

No point, no food is ever put on that directly.

soup wrote
Rod Speed wrote

I'm not that anal. It is the kitchen.

There is a world of difference between not being anal and a mucky sod .

No food ever goes there, I couldn’t care less what it looks like.

The car lives under the trees. Its 10 years old now and has only ever
been washed once. I don’t eat my dinner off the car body either.

You're that anal ? Your problem, not mine.