Re: Energizer NiMH Reliability


ASAAR wrote:
On 24 Apr 2006 13:20:01 -0700, clintonstreet3@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I've had some Energizer 2500 mah NiMH batteries for about a year. They
have been charged with a Maha MH C401FS charger on the slow setting.
Lately I've noticed that they appear to be loosing charge very quickly.
They have not been cycled an extraordinary number of times, certainly
nor more than 25 times.

Has anyone else noted this with the Energizer 2500s, or did I get a bad
batch. Up until very recently I've been very much satisfied with them.

You haven't considered all of the possibilities. One or more of
the Energizer cells may have been damaged due to not treating the
batteries properly. Often it's not the user's fault, the damage
being primarily caused by the design of the equipment they're used
in. You didn't provide any information about how they were used,
nor even if they were used in a camera. I'll say this though. The
fewer the number of cells used, the less likely you'll have
accidental damage. So you'd have to take greater care when using
devices using 4 cells than if they use only 2 cells. Also, leaving
rechargeable cells for extended periods in a camera or other devices
without using it (such as for a couple of months) can be very safe
if the device draws an extremely small current. But if it draws
enough to drain the batteries so that when you try to use the device
it won't work until the batteries are recharged again, there's a
good chance that one or two cells (usually not all of them) will
either lose considerable capacity or be damaged.

As an example (and I've experienced this) if when using your
camera or whatever, the batteries get to the point where they need
to be recharged, if you have a cheap battery tester you might find
that one cell is flat but all of the others still have a substantial
amount of capacity remaining. The battery tester wouldn't indicate
the amount of remaining capacity, but if you used the "good" cells
in some other device they might continue to operate it for many
hours. This would mean that one cell has gone bad, making the total
voltage of all of the cells too low to operate your device, making
it appear as if all of the cells are bad when only one actually is.
If you can provide more information about what kind of device you're
using, and how it is used, it might help to prevent damaging
batteries in the future. It's also possible that nothing was done
wrong, and you simply got one or more bad cells, but that's not
usually the case. I've used many Energizer NiMH cells and if
treated properly they should last a long time.

I'm using the batteries in a Canon Powershot A95 (4 AAs) and a Garmin
GPS (2 AAs).
Just yesterday, after writing the earlier post, I tried to use the
camera, but it would not work, so I switched to the alternate set. It
now worked. One of the batteries had become defective (flashing light
on charger). The camera was working fine earlier in the day.

Where I really notice the reduction in useful life is with the GPS.
When the batteries were new, I'd easily get about 2 full days with a
newly charged set. Now, I can seldom go more than a day; with some sets
I get the "batteries are low" warning after several hours.

When the GPS gives out, I've checked the batteries and they are low,
and of about equal voltage. Will not the higher voltage battery attempt
to boost the weaker one to equalize the voltages?

Last night I recharged a set of four overnight. An hour after removing
them from the charger the individual cells were measured. Without a
load, they all measure 1.394v. With a 0.33 ohm resistor across the
terminals they measure between 1.068 and 1.101v.

A strange occurance happened recently. For a recent vacation I packed 8
freshly charged batteries in with the checked luggage. The camera and
GPS were carried aboard the plane. When the GPS needed fresh batteries,
I found that none of the packed batteries would work. They all needed a
recharge. For what its worth, it was a series of 4 flights to get from
New Hampshire to Hawaii.

Perhaps I have abused the batteries. Maybe cargo compartment
temperature and air pressure plus abusive luggage handling damaged
them. Also, on more than one occasion I've accidentally dropped
individual cells on the floor.

All of this explanation is probably not worth the effort because I
intend to purchase new batteries anyway. I was just wondering if others
have experienced problems with Energizers.

I notice that Thomas Distributing is now carrying batteries up to 2900
mah capacity. Any comment on these?

Bob

.

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