Toronto Photography Meetup Group

If anyone is interested they're selling for $14.99 this weekend at Canada Computers

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_746&item_id=036102

Is there any difference between the black ones, and the regular whit eneloops, besides the Mah numbers?

the black ones can be recharged about 50% more times. I think it is 1000 versus 1500

Thanks Bart!

Which charger is recommended with these batteries?

Also at Costco, the lower capacity ones 2000mah are on sale, too. $43 for 16.

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.asp ... opnav=&s=1

I highly recommend the Powerex MH-C9000 - a bit pricey but it charges/discharges single cells and reconditions batteries too.
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=035136

Thank you for the heads up.

i have a duracell quickcharger ninh/nicd. Would it be safe to use?

No, you need a nimh charger.

I think it's a printing error on the label because i can't find anything on NiNH batteries. The instructions further on the label say use only NiMH batteries. Anyway, I bought a set of these and the guy at the store said as long as my charger can output 2500mA I should be fine. Just got home to check, it only does 1800mA so time to get a new charger. However, I have been charging my current 2000mA's on this thing for over a year without realizing what I was doing.. what does that do to the batteries?

Chargers do not charge at 1800 or 2500 mAh - that is the cell capacity. Chargers typically output 500mA or 1000mA for a period of time until the cell says I am full. Lesser chargers sometimes miss this queue and end up cooking the cell. Eneloop AA's seem to like to be charged at

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... rging-Rate

Here is a deeper look at charging rates for Eneloops:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... r-eneloops

Here is more on recommended charge and discharge rates for batteries in general (although this thread is specific to Eneloops and the Maha MH-C9000 charger.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... harge-rate

So what bit of info should I be looking at to see if my charger would be compatible or not?

What phuviano said:


I would recommend the Maha charger as it gives you the option of charging and discharging at various rates. Most other chargers charge at fixed rates which may reduce the life of the cells. Also they usually do not have a discharge cycle or a break-in phase.

what is the general rule on charging rate? if the battery capacity is 2000mah, would 2000/4 = 500mah be a good charge rate to keep the battery last as long as possible? is slower always better (i.e. 100mah)?

Hey Jamsey, is the PowerEX charger you posted a Maha charger that you speak of?

Yes, the company is Maha and the brand is Powerex:
http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/viewite ... roduct=423

i also use the Powerex MH-C9000 for my Eneloops but i can only charge 4 at a time and i wanted to get a fast charger that can somehow condition the battery, so i purchased this yesterday. it's a quick 1hr. charger but i'm testing how it cycles the battery under "condition" mode.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=035683

anyway to turn the light off when it's charging?

@Delsorbo: Why don't you slap some ND gels on it - j/k.

On a serious note, about a year ago I was reconditioning a bunch of battery sets (which takes 36+ hours to complete) and the power at the house was a tad unstable so I ended up slapping the Maha C9000 on a small UPS that does my router, NAS, Gig switch, etc... and it runs fine without worry of interruption.

What does the ma reading stand for at the end of a charge? How much charge was put in during the last run?

What batteries do you guys recommend for a an external flash? I have a 580EX.

Are you referring to a C9000 after it charges batteries?

Sanyo Eneloops - either the classic or the new XXXX ones.

Yes.

I it is MaH and it refers to the amount of 'juice' that has been delivered to the cells before they signal the charger to shutdown.

So I can technically figure out what was left on the cell before charging by subtracting that number from the total capacity? gives me an idea how of long I can run these babies for before pulling out the spares.

The only way to know exactly what is in a cell is to discharge it. The function of charging is not 100% efficient, so if you put 2000MaH in a cell, you may only have 1850Mah actually stored in it.

The break-in cycle charges the battery at 0.1C for 16 hours, which is 60% more than capacity.

"Break-In: Also known as IEC capacity measurement and "Battery Forming". Charges battery at 0.1C for 16 hours, rest for one hour, discharges battery at 0.2C, then recharges again at 0.1C for 16 hours."
http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/viewite ... roduct=423

Yea i did that to all my batteries once I got the charger. Took almost 2 weeks O_O. So I should have it discharge first everytime I want to recharge?

No need to discharge prior to recharge - that would be the refresh/analyze cycle. I would just charge them up and use them. I would keep the batteries in sets of four and don't mix and match them. Record the values at the end of each charge cycle and if you see a wide degree a variation between the cells then you likely have one that is on the way out.

If you get a good charger brand (ie... maha) they can actually rescue dead batteries.

For those who are interested in getting batteries, Shoppers Drug Mart has them on sale every so often (once or twice a month). $7.99 for a pack of 4 Duraloops.

Duraloops = eneloop rebranded as duracell batteries, you can tell by the white top instead of the normal black/brown/green/silver top.