La Crosse charger highly recommended.
I read the La Crosse delivers a more reliable charge at 500-700ma as it can
do a better job of detecting the cut off point. I was having some flaky
battery problems at 200ma which vanished when I upped the charge rate.
700ma is still well below the safe charge limit.
Agreed. Charging at the low rate (200mAh) makes it difficult for
the La Crosse to detect the cut off voltage when charging high capacity
batteries. For a good modern cell, 200mAh is only C/10. I generally
charge 500mA as a minimum, and the cells don't even start to get warm
until 700mA. If I am refreshing a set at 1000mA, I'll put a computer fan
nearby to keep them cool.
One bad battery in a set can ruin your day and you need a charger with
individual circuits and a readout to spot the bad one. I have also found
some NiMH can self discharge much faster than the advertised rate.
Absolutely. I've been keeping track of individual cells in my La
Crosse charger for a year or so now. Cell capacities change and are
rarely matched in a set... even out of the box. Unless you've got the
information, it's easy to dismiss "NiMH batteries as not worth the
trouble." If you match sets by *capacity*, they last a long time.
-Cory
Powell
At 12:16 AM 30/04/2006 , Don wrote:
If you get a La Crosse charger you'll be able to keep your NiMH cells
healthy.
I think a good way to shorten the life of NiMH cells is to fast charge
them. I charge mine at 200 ma.
--
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* Cory Papenfuss, Ph.D., PPSEL-IA *
* Electrical Engineering *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
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