i don't know if this is the right forum to post this question...
but how do you know the amount of time needed to charge rechargeable batteries?
kasi my kid have all these battery-operated toys/gadgets (ewan ko ha, may pinagmanahan yata , hehehe) and we have these bunches of AAs, AAAs and the 9-volt rectangle rechargeable batteries.
i've read and heard that undercharging or overcharging them runs the risk of shortening their operation/effective lives. sayang naman kasi they are a little pricey.
are there any rules to follow, even remember, in estimating the time needed to charge them?
or bara-bara lang, kasi the batteries wouldn't know any better?
pasensiya na sa puros tanong lang ako. bait kasi mga tao dito, very helpful eh
🙂
I am the COO of my house,
My wife is the CEO.
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
Depende sa mAh ng batts at kung quick charger or hinde ang gamit mo eh - atchaka kung NiCd, NiMh or Li-On ang battery mo.
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
sir, depende sa charger na gamit mo ang charging time, may mga fast charger na it will take only 1 hr., meron naman na slow charger around 9hrs. to charge but mostly ave. of 15hrs. kapag slowcharger. usually may indicator naman ang mga charger red for charging and green for full charge. ang isang importante ay kailangan na totally drain ang battery before you charge para hindi kaagad ma shorten ang life ng battery.
take note also of handling any lithium-ion battery if you have any, handle it with care, avoid dropping as it might explode. just my 2cents.
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
For this you will need a digital VOM or DC voltage tester and also an ordinary battery tester (I found one in Japan Home last year).
Some general tips first:
1. When you buy any rechargeable battery, using a VOM meter digi or analog, see if there is a residual charge in the batt which is done in the factory usually 1.2VDC or lower for type AAA, AA, C, D sizes. If there is a minimal charge (less than .9VDC) lower/or none, then don't get that one, look for another. Take note that all batteries drain slowly when in stock/storage. You want to get the freshest one always.
2. When charging a battery, monitor the heat of the batt, use your finger tip or better the opposite nail and fleshy end of your forefinger tip, that area is more sensitive to temperature. If it is warm then you might be done.
3. It is better to re-use/charge/recharge all these batts then not to use them. They should have a thousand or so cycles in its life.
4. If you have to store a rechargeable batt for a long period of time, do this when they are fully re-charged.
5. Use a Ni-Cad charger for Ni-Cads, Ni-mh for Ni-mh etc., don't mix in any way !! You might shorten their cycle lives if not destroy them outright.
Ni-Cad -
It is called 'Memory Effect' - for Ni-Cads in regular use, if you do not discharge them completely and just re-charge a Ni-Cad that is half-used (charged) all the time, then it will 'discharge' (weaken) when it is half full.
To do away with this you discharge it completely (near 0 VDC) and then charge then fully re-charge (1.4-1.5 VDC), then use to when it is 'flat', a few times and then you 'condition' again the Ni-Cad batt again. Charging times depend on your charger type and the amount of milliamps in your batt. THAT IS THE THEORY !! Your actual experience/use might vary.
RC type toys tend to use Ni-Cads because their hi-amp output flow is better than the Ni-mhs. Got this from an experienced photographer who preferred using Ni-Cads in his cams motordrives then Ni-mhs.
Ni-mh -
Ni-mh type batts have no memory effect the charging times also depend on charger type and milliamps of your batts. Read your charger's paperwork. Try and stick to the same brands and if you cannot, use the same type & milliamp rating.
Theoretically , you can leave your Ni-mh batts in the charger until you use them, but I would not do this for reasons of electricity expense/wastage and/or fire hazard (recharging batts esp. in cellphones have exploded !!)
Li-on -
the best and most expensive of them all, no memory effect and more recharging cycles, lasts the longest etc., Just do not leave them discharged for a long period of time, it degrades the battery real fast.
General tip: Monthly or so, always drain your batts of whatever type and then re-condition by recharging to full and then draining again and do the cycle over again, then continue to use as usual !!
Cheers !! *8)
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
dont buy SONY Ni-MH 2500 mAh rechargeable battery, suck!!!, I bought 4sets from sony philippines mismo, lahat ganun ang bilis ng self discharge niya 3-4 day unused wala ng laman >:(
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
I'm no battery expert but what I've read is that once the battery starts to get hot (warn) that's enough.
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
For this you will need a digital VOM or DC voltage tester and also an ordinary battery tester (I found one in Japan Home last year).
Some general tips first:
1. When you buy any rechargeable battery, using a VOM meter digi or analog, see if there is a residual charge in the batt which is done in the factory usually 1.2VDC or lower for type AAA, AA, C, D sizes. If there is a minimal charge (less than .9VDC) lower/or none, then don't get that one, look for another. Take note that all batteries drain slowly when in stock/storage. You want to get the freshest one always.
2. When charging a battery, monitor the heat of the batt, use your finger tip or better the opposite nail and fleshy end of your forefinger tip, that area is more sensitive to temperature. If it is warm then you might be done.
3. It is better to re-use/charge/recharge all these batts then not to use them. They should have a thousand or so cycles in its life.
4. If you have to store a rechargeable batt for a long period of time, do this when they are fully re-charged.
5. Use a Ni-Cad charger for Ni-Cads, Ni-mh for Ni-mh etc., don't mix in any way !! You might shorten their cycle lives if not destroy them outright.
Ni-Cad -
It is called 'Memory Effect' - for Ni-Cads in regular use, if you do not discharge them completely and just re-charge a Ni-Cad that is half-used (charged) all the time, then it will 'discharge' (weaken) when it is half full.
To do away with this you discharge it completely (near 0 VDC) and then charge then fully re-charge (1.4-1.5 VDC), then use to when it is 'flat', a few times and then you 'condition' again the Ni-Cad batt again. Charging times depend on your charger type and the amount of milliamps in your batt. THAT IS THE THEORY !! Your actual experience/use might vary.RC type toys tend to use Ni-Cads because their hi-amp output flow is better than the Ni-mhs. Got this from an experienced photographer who preferred using Ni-Cads in his cams motordrives then Ni-mhs.
Ni-mh -
Ni-mh type batts have no memory effect the charging times also depend on charger type and milliamps of your batts. Read your charger's paperwork. Try and stick to the same brands and if you cannot, use the same type & milliamp rating.
Theoretically , you can leave your Ni-mh batts in the charger until you use them, but I would not do this for reasons of electricity expense/wastage and/or fire hazard (recharging batts esp. in cellphones have exploded !!)
Li-on -
the best and most expensive of them all, no memory effect and more recharging cycles, lasts the longest etc., Just do not leave them discharged for a long period of time, it degrades the battery real fast.
General tip: Monthly or so, always drain your batts of whatever type and then re-condition by recharging to full and then draining again and do the cycle over again, then continue to use as usual !!
Cheers !! *8)
Nice one! 🙂
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
this might help as well. just got this info from my charger;
battery type size charging time
NI-MH 2700mAh AA 11-14.5hrs
2550mAh AA 10.5-14hrs
2400mAh AA 10-13hrs
2000mAh AA 8-11hrs
1800mAh AA 7.5-10hrs
1100mAh AAA 4.5-6hrs
950mAh AAA 4-5hrs
750mAh AAA 3-4hrs
Ni-CD 800mAh AA 3.3-4.3hrs
700mAh AA 2.8-3.8hrs
300mAh AAA 1.2-1.6hrs
270mAh AAA 1-1.5hrs
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
Read the capacity of the battery. If it says 500 milliamper hours or mah and your charger's output is 50 mah then theoretically you need 500/50 hrs or 10 hours but your charger manual will say about 14 to 16 hours. Just always divide the capacity with the rate then you'll get charging time. Give a little allowance and hopefully you'll fully charge the batt. For quick chargers monitor the temperature of the batteries especially if the charger does not have a shut-off feature (automatic). Ni-Cd and Ni-MH are charged best using peak detection chargers. The voltage of this batteries upon reaching fully charged status will drop a tiny bit signalling the charger to stop the charging process. Then if your charger is high end, this will revert to a trickle charge.
RC people are now using Li-Poly. Very high capacity, very light but quite complicated. Can be dangerous too. Can easily explode or burn quite violently when pricked or shorted. More on this later....
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
how about those batteries with sealed lead acid, being used in rechareable fan/light and power tools? anyone please...
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
Sealed Lead Acid (SLA), are the same as any car battery. The best type of charging a battery is a trickle charge but this takes long (overnight).
Car batteries last a maximum of 2 years, so the effective life of the SLA battery should probably last as long.
'Sulphation' is the enemy of this type of wet-cell battery. Once that happens, for a car battery trade it in and get a lead por kilo credit (50 bucks ?), but the SLA just give it to these dealers or donate it to your friendly mambubulok/junk people. Don't throw it in the garbage, the gels inside these SLAs are corrosive and will pollute and leach into the environment.
Best of luck,
🙂
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
how about those batteries with sealed lead acid, being used in rechareable fan/light and power tools? anyone please...
you can use this link below to compute on how long for a battery take its full charge just indicate your battery and charger specs.
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
It depends on ampere rating and miliampere rating of both your charger and your battery.
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
You might want to get an intelligent battery charger that takes care of the charging automatically.
Though I have made a 4-cell charger using a Maxim chip that monitors any change in the battery's dv/dt, it is sometimes a lot cheaper to get those intelli-chargers.
My 2 cents worth
Re: estimating charging time for rechargeable batteries?
It's hard to estimate the recharging time to protect the batteries from overcharging because it varies per cell. So Im using a good smart charger, the La crosse BC1000.
http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-Battery-Charger-BC1000/dp/B004J6DLD4/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1327639439&sr=1-1-catcorr
HTH:)
