Today, as I stood in the isle with my new digital camera in hand, I pondered which “AA” battery charger to get. I ended up getting the “15 minute energizer charger” for both “AA” and “AAA” batteries amond the others which were overnight chargers or hour chargers.
So, the quality and life of the battery… does it decrease after numerous charges? How long can I expect to abuse these batteries for (I know digital cams are a battery hog) before they become incredibly useless?
Any tips on how to keep their life steady and maximized through their life?
and the 15 minute charger… is it better or worse in terms of the batteries instead of the longer charging ones?
Ok, then. Firstly, be sure your charger is specifically designed to handle NiMH cells. Using a charger for NiCds will degrade the performance, since the charging voltage will not be within tolerances. In general, NiMH cells have a longer lifespan than NiCd cells in the same application, and are more tolerant of overcharging and don’t develop the capacity problems (wrongly called NiCd “memory”–a real effect, but one that is very rare and different from loss of capacity due to overcharging) that NiCds are so prone to. You should also avoid so-called rapid chargers–the sort that charge your batteries quickly–and instead use a trickle charger, if you wish to get the most use out of your batteries. If you need the rapid turnover that a fast charger offers, be prepared to sacrifice some longevity. Spending more on a charger will also help out here since cheaper chargers don’t monitor the charging conditions as well as better units.
I can second the serious downside of the ‘rapid’ chargers. I bought a 1-hour NiMH charger from Radio Shack because it was only $5 more than the 8-hour one. Within about 2 months of use it had killed my NiMH batteries dead.
:eek:
Ouch! I am now very glad that the charger that I bought with my 2500 NiMHs is an overnight model.
As a side-question, I have noticed that they get very hot - is this a concern?