NiMH Batteries and Chargers--A Primer

Wow- even after all this time- this post rocks! Thanks BG!
Got tired of my batteries not doing what they should so read up on this sticky and BAM! decided to get some better stuff. Looked around and finaly decided on the Maha MH-C800S. Picked up an 8 pack of the Powerex 2700mh batteries to go with it.
Found the charger for $47 here Maha MH-800s charger

Batteried ran $13 a 4 pack here 2700mh batteries

Thanks for the ton a good info! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
+1 on Energizer NiMH rechargeable batteries being junk. Have a pile of them (bought all at once) with their 15 min charger. Have only been recharged 6-8 times. Won't even power my cordless mouse for more than 3-5 days after fully charging. Maybe some are good & some are bad? I know a few guys said they have had good luck with them. I believe them to be a very small minority. Just bought a MAHA MH-C801D, a MAHA MHC9000, 20 AA Sanyo Eneloops, and 4 AAA Sanyo Eneloops. Tired of fooling around with batteries when I should be concentrating on coyote hunting. When the MAHA MH-C801D arrives, I'll use it to analyze the Energizers. Should prove interesting.
 
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Stay away from the engergizers. Junk batteries. I read a bunch of reviews over on the candlepower forums before buying my batteries. They do some pretty in-depth reviews. The Sanyo Enelopes are suppose to be really good. Maha chargers and powerex batteries are suppose to be some of the best. Not cheap though. I bought (2) T2299 chargers and 16 of the Tenergy R2U slow discharge AA NIMH batteries for servicing my Fox Pro Fury over the weekend for 68.00 delivered from All Battery.com I'll post a review after I get a chance to use them. The charger I bought is computer controlled and charges AAA, AA, C,D, and 9 volt. If money wasn't a little tight I'd have bought the Maha charger and Powerex batteries from Thomas Distributing.
 
I saw where Walmart is carrying the Precharged Duracell AA NiMh batteries. They claim to hold a charge longer.

They were more expensive than the Energizer AA NiMh batteries at the same Walmart Store.

I have 3 sets of 8 AA batteries but they are all the Energizers. only 16 of them are 2500 mAh types while the others are 1850 mAh types.

I am using a PM4 and a Fox Pro FX3 so I need at least 20 good fully charged AA NiMh batteries for a hunt.

After reading all the posts in this tread I guess I need a better battery charger. I am thinking about buying some of the newer Duracell Precharged AA NiMh batteries but wanted to check in here first to get some other opinions on these new Duracell AA's
 
Any suggestions for aa batteries for cold climate like Alaska. Most of my calling is in temps from 0-15 below. The cold really zaps them. Is there a Lithium aa rechargable out there?
 
Just picked up the Maha MH-808D Charger and a dozen of the Powerex 2700mAh batteries. The batteries will be in addition to the dozen or so Energizers and 8 of the FoxPro AA's that I have already been using for a bit in the charger.

So far, the charger is fast and seems to be working well but the Energizers still seem inconsistant on their charge.

Full review after I get the new batteries and run them through a couple cycles.
 
I did a google search on a Duracell Mobile Battery Charger and found some thing on the net. It was a review where this engineer type guy had tested the Duracell Precharged Batteries.

He suggested that the Duracells were just like the Sanyo eneloops. These Duracells Precharged are 2000 mAh and are suppose to retain their charge for one year.

I got two Duracell Battery Chargers at the Boonville, IN Walmart but I can't find those models on the Duracell Web Site now. Perhaps they have updated their web site and those were older models? I don't know. Model CEF 23 is what I got. They charge at 500 milliamps. So they are not FAST chargers and will not overheat the batteries. And they will stop charging each cell individually when the battery is fully charged. He said that they will trickle charge the batteries also. Not a bad deal for $20. I picked up two of them so that I can charge 8 batteries at one time in these two chargers.

$40 for two chargers and 4 AA and 4 AAA batteries.

These chargers can be used in a wall outlet or with a cigarette lighter plug. And they can also be used to charge up a USB device. There is a button that lets you switch from charging the batteries to charging a usb device. You can't do both at the same time.

Put in 4 fully charged batteries and then use the charger to power your usb device while on the go.

On the www.duracell.com web site they sell a mobile charger but it's a one hour charger and not the one that I have now. They have put a new mobile charger on their web site.

NOTE: A few weeks after I posted this I went out and found two of the newer type Duracell Mobile Chargers. These are model CEF26NA. There are the new Duracell GoMobile 1 hour chargers.

So now I have two of the CEF26NA's and two of the Model CEF23.

I still have two of the Energizer Portable Chargers that work on a cigarette lighter or household current. Model CH15MN. There will charge up 4 AA/AAA NiMH batteries in 15 minutes.

I have one other Energizer Battery Charger that I have had for many years now. It's the Eveready Model CH1HR unit. Along with these Energizer I must have about 36 Energizers AA'a and 8 Foxpro 2500 mAh AA and about 16 of the New Duracell Precharged 2000 mAh AA's. I don't really need all the Energizers anymore. There work as designed and they are in good working order. I just charge them up before I use them for hunting.

 
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I am going to be buying new rechargeable aa's for my e-caller. The highest mAh rated Sanyo Eneloop aa batteries I can find are 2000 mAh. Are these to be preferred in an e-caller over Sanyo 2500 or 2700 mAh batteries?
 
The 2500/2700 amp are good for longer use per charge, where as the great thing about the Eneloop battery is, they will hold a charge longer while sitting idle in the drawer or on the shelf.

I have both types and they have been working just fine for the last 2 1/2 yrs now.
 
Hi Everyone,

Great post and appreciate all the great information. I have been looking for more products that we can offer our customers and will try some of them listed here, thanks.

We have found the Tenergy battery to work extremely well. Tenergy has a charger and 8 AA batteries that we are selling for $39.99.

Check it out http://www.paysonoutfitters.com/servlet/the-664/tenergy-rechargable-battery-AA/Detail

Thanks, Eric
 
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I've been using powerex with maha charger for a year now in Fury and just started with 2700 mah sanyos and they will call all weekend without recharging. That is good enough for me. The callers are still going strong at the end of the weekend I just recharge them when I am done andi am ready for the next couple of days of calling.
 
Here is some information for those of you trying to figure out the "time" to charge rate.

Charging time depends on battery pack capacity.
Estimate time as follows:
Charger time (Hours) = 1.2 x (mAh of battery pack/mA rating of your DC power supply)

For example, if a battery pack is 1800 mAh, then the charging time will be 7.2 hours with a 300mA power supply which is really no more than a wall wart.

It is best to be 11% higher voltage (at a minimum) of your battery. so if you have a 10VDC battery charge it with a minimum of 11.1VDC. You can charge a 9Volt Battery Pack with a 12Volt battery, but other precautions have to be taken for overcharging, which can be done either electronically or by just buying a plug-in timer for your outlet you charge your battery in. By doing the math above you can set your charger to a few minutes past your optimum charge and it will shut down your charger, which can be a simple wall-wart.

I use a 1300mA 12Volt "universal" power supply from walmart and I charge batteries in the range of 6volt, 7.2Volt, 8.4 Volt and 9Volt and 9.6Volts. You cannot however charge a 12Volt battery with this set-up you would need a 15Volt supply to do this.

Currently I am repairing several of the venerable Wester Rivers PREDATION callers and have seen the major problem with these callers was the battery pack and the charging circuit. Currently I am bypassing the on-board charging circuit, and using such a charger for charging the battery, I am afraid the standard 8.4Volt NIMH batteries are toast, as I know they drained themselves to 0 which is a definite no-no when it comes to these types of batteries as they can reverse polarity if they fall below .06volts.

My current test is to charge the 2300mah 8.4Volt battery for 2.3hours and see what the capacity of the battery will be. if this does not work, then most likely the battery will have to be replaced.


Note: This 12V adaptor can not charger 12V battery packs which must be charged by 15V DC adaptor
 
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Quote: Note: This 12V adaptor can not charger 12V battery packs which must be charged by 15V DC adaptor


If this is true then why is the output of the foxpro charger 12v at 300ma
 
I know this thread started in 2007 so I was wondering if I could get a current consensus on which rechargeable batteries everyone is using. These are my choices so I was hoping for some help in deciding which ones to purchase.
Do you prefer a higher mah battery or a hybrid battery that seems to last longer? I very seldom if ever will not be able to charge my batteries after one day of hunting. I will be using them in a Foxpro CS-24 caller.

Powerx batteries 2700 mAH

Tenergy batteries 2600 mAH but so so reviews on Amazon.com

Eneloop 2000 mAH hybrid with 1000 recharges

"New" Eneloop 1900 mAH hybrid with 1500 recharges

Any other brand someone has excellent experience using.
 
Here's what I've found for batteries:
Powerx 2700 work pretty good.
Sanyo 2500 seem to hold a charge a little longer while setting (some of them that have been setting for 3 mo's are still at 100%)


I also have Imedion 2000 "low discharge" and Imedion 2400 "low discharge" These are also very good for holding a charge.

I have some 2 yr old Powerx that are down to 2300 mAh, this is from the 2700 mAh rating. But, it may be a lot of other batteries may act this way also.

Soooo, which do I like? Well I am more in favor of the Sanyo 2500 as of now.
For the "low discharge" types, the Imedion 2400's gets my vote.

These are the only ones that I have been using and I think my last count was around 60 that I have.
 
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