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nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 24th 06, 04:59 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Jack Murphy
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Posts: 11
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?

Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.

jm


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  #2  
Old October 24th 06, 08:54 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Dane Buson
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Posts: 1,340
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?

Jack Murphy wrote:
Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.


No, that's not a very good idea. Just charge it up after use.

"Cells are never absolutely identical, and inevitably one will be
completely discharged before the others. When this happens, the "good"
cells will start to "drive" the discharged cell in reverse, which can
cause permanent damage to that cell. Some cameras, GPS receivers and
PDAs detect the safe end-of-discharge voltage of the series cells and
shut themselves down, but devices like flashlights and some toys do not.
Once noticeable dimming or slowing of the device is noticed, it should
be turned off immediately to avoid polarity reversal."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_...ydride_battery

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  #3  
Old October 24th 06, 09:16 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Daryl Hunt
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Posts: 169
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?


"Jack Murphy" wrote in message
...
Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.


There is no reason to drain and recharge. Your Charger is specially made
for NIMH batteries and will handle it with a no brainer to you. Of course,
if you are using charger meant for a lead acid, DON'T.



  #4  
Old October 24th 06, 11:49 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
bill
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Posts: 128
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?

Daryl Hunt wrote:
"Jack Murphy" wrote in message
...
Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.


There is no reason to drain and recharge. Your Charger is specially made
for NIMH batteries and will handle it with a no brainer to you. Of course,
if you are using charger meant for a lead acid, DON'T.



Ditto that. Also don't expect a NiCad charger to work, even though they
both charge to 1.2 volts, because they have different charge profiles.
NiCad had the memory effect as so famously discovered by NASA at all the
wrong time (in orbit) but the NiMH don't have the same thing, or at
least I haven't heard any complaints just yet.

--
Bill (Sleepless biker) Baka
  #5  
Old October 25th 06, 04:25 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Daryl Hunt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 169
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?


"bill" wrote in message
. net...
Daryl Hunt wrote:
"Jack Murphy" wrote in message
...
Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.


There is no reason to drain and recharge. Your Charger is specially made
for NIMH batteries and will handle it with a no brainer to you. Of
course, if you are using charger meant for a lead acid, DON'T.



Ditto that. Also don't expect a NiCad charger to work, even though they
both charge to 1.2 volts, because they have different charge profiles.
NiCad had the memory effect as so famously discovered by NASA at all the
wrong time (in orbit) but the NiMH don't have the same thing, or at least
I haven't heard any complaints just yet.


They have all but beaten the Nicad memory problem these days but they are
expensive. Moreso than the MH. MH is just a bit big in comparison to the
Nicad and the Lions. The LIons are the best. Smallest with the best output
to weight factor but the cost prohibits most of us from bying them. 300 and
up is more than a bit pricey.

Someday, we just might be able to use the Mercurys when we all have the
money that NASA has (grin)



  #6  
Old October 25th 06, 04:57 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Pat Lamb
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Posts: 167
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?

Daryl Hunt wrote:
"bill" wrote in message
. net...
Daryl Hunt wrote:
"Jack Murphy" wrote in message
...
Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.
There is no reason to drain and recharge. Your Charger is specially made
for NIMH batteries and will handle it with a no brainer to you. Of
course, if you are using charger meant for a lead acid, DON'T.



Ditto that. Also don't expect a NiCad charger to work, even though they
both charge to 1.2 volts, because they have different charge profiles.
NiCad had the memory effect as so famously discovered by NASA at all the
wrong time (in orbit) but the NiMH don't have the same thing, or at least
I haven't heard any complaints just yet.


They have all but beaten the Nicad memory problem these days but they are
expensive. Moreso than the MH. MH is just a bit big in comparison to the
Nicad and the Lions. The LIons are the best. Smallest with the best output
to weight factor but the cost prohibits most of us from bying them. 300 and
up is more than a bit pricey.


Do the NMH and Li batteries still drop to 50% of their original capacity
after the first year?

Pat
  #7  
Old October 25th 06, 05:43 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
bill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 128
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?

Pat Lamb wrote:
Daryl Hunt wrote:
"bill" wrote in message
. net...
Daryl Hunt wrote:
"Jack Murphy" wrote in message
...
Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.
There is no reason to drain and recharge. Your Charger is specially made
for NIMH batteries and will handle it with a no brainer to you. Of
course, if you are using charger meant for a lead acid, DON'T.



Ditto that. Also don't expect a NiCad charger to work, even though they
both charge to 1.2 volts, because they have different charge profiles.
NiCad had the memory effect as so famously discovered by NASA at all the
wrong time (in orbit) but the NiMH don't have the same thing, or at least
I haven't heard any complaints just yet.

They have all but beaten the Nicad memory problem these days but they are
expensive. Moreso than the MH. MH is just a bit big in comparison to the
Nicad and the Lions. The LIons are the best. Smallest with the best output
to weight factor but the cost prohibits most of us from bying them. 300 and
up is more than a bit pricey.


Do the NMH and Li batteries still drop to 50% of their original capacity
after the first year?

Pat


The reason I don't even try to use Li-Ion batteries is that they have a
natural single cell voltage of about 3.6 volts so they tend to be used
in proprietary battery packs. I just stock up on high capacity NiMH
(2500maHrs) and use them in my Cateye headlight, digital camera, and
just about everything else. You can't do that with Lithiums.

--
Bill (Sleepless biker) Baka
  #8  
Old October 25th 06, 09:01 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Daryl Hunt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 169
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?


"Pat Lamb" wrote in message
...
Daryl Hunt wrote:
"bill" wrote in message
. net...
Daryl Hunt wrote:
"Jack Murphy" wrote in message
...
Should I drain and recharge a couple of times my new Blackburn X3 nimh
battery? I want to get the longest life out of it.
There is no reason to drain and recharge. Your Charger is specially
made
for NIMH batteries and will handle it with a no brainer to you. Of
course, if you are using charger meant for a lead acid, DON'T.



Ditto that. Also don't expect a NiCad charger to work, even though they
both charge to 1.2 volts, because they have different charge profiles.
NiCad had the memory effect as so famously discovered by NASA at all the
wrong time (in orbit) but the NiMH don't have the same thing, or at
least
I haven't heard any complaints just yet.


They have all but beaten the Nicad memory problem these days but they are
expensive. Moreso than the MH. MH is just a bit big in comparison to
the
Nicad and the Lions. The LIons are the best. Smallest with the best
output
to weight factor but the cost prohibits most of us from bying them. 300
and
up is more than a bit pricey.


Do the NMH and Li batteries still drop to 50% of their original capacity
after the first year?


Not that I am aware of. We keep getting Chinese offers for us to handle
these batteries but the SLA seems to win out most of the time due to initial
cost being a fraction. Yes, the NiMH batteries do have twice the life span
but they cost 3 to 4 times as much. And I don't really see that big a
weight savings, maybe half as much weight versus the SLA. Now, the Lithiums
and Nicads show about 5 to 7 lbs and a life of about 1000 hours for a 36V
12a versus the same 21 to 24 lb SLA with a life of 250 hours.

The initial cost is the prohibitor at first. But replace your SLA a couple
or three times and you just paid for either the LIons or Nicads.


  #9  
Old October 25th 06, 09:17 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
bill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 128
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?

Daryl Hunt wrote:
Not that I am aware of. We keep getting Chinese offers for us to handle
these batteries but the SLA seems to win out most of the time due to initial
cost being a fraction. Yes, the NiMH batteries do have twice the life span
but they cost 3 to 4 times as much. And I don't really see that big a
weight savings, maybe half as much weight versus the SLA. Now, the Lithiums
and Nicads show about 5 to 7 lbs and a life of about 1000 hours for a 36V
12a versus the same 21 to 24 lb SLA with a life of 250 hours.

The initial cost is the prohibitor at first. But replace your SLA a couple
or three times and you just paid for either the LIons or Nicads.


Don't let that SLA sit discharged or you will be very unhappy to learn
of the phenomena of 'Sulphating', as in permanent loss of charge. I just
lost a car battery to that last month due to a flakey alternator.


--
Bill (Sleepless biker) Baka
  #10  
Old October 25th 06, 11:00 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Daryl Hunt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 169
Default nimh rechargable battery packs - drain and charge when new?


"bill" wrote in message
om...
Daryl Hunt wrote:
Not that I am aware of. We keep getting Chinese offers for us to handle
these batteries but the SLA seems to win out most of the time due to
initial cost being a fraction. Yes, the NiMH batteries do have twice the
life span but they cost 3 to 4 times as much. And I don't really see
that big a weight savings, maybe half as much weight versus the SLA.
Now, the Lithiums and Nicads show about 5 to 7 lbs and a life of about
1000 hours for a 36V 12a versus the same 21 to 24 lb SLA with a life of
250 hours.

The initial cost is the prohibitor at first. But replace your SLA a
couple or three times and you just paid for either the LIons or Nicads.

Don't let that SLA sit discharged or you will be very unhappy to learn of
the phenomena of 'Sulphating', as in permanent loss of charge. I just lost
a car battery to that last month due to a flakey alternator.


And another reason. Winter is upon many of us and a discharged battery will
freeze and crack the case.



 




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