Charging Eneloops

I just purchased and received a package of eneloop batteries. I thought a charger came with, but did not. (purchased the wrong package). Can any charger be used or do I need a Sanyo charger for best results? I have a charger already which charges nimh batteries.

I guess you can use your charger. Cheap quick-chargers tend to fry your batterier though

I use two different AA battery chargers to charge my eneloops, neither of which are very expensive, nor are they Sanyo branded. I find them to do the job perfectly well.

Thanks guys.

Any charger will work. There is no charger made specific for a certain battery

Mike wrote in post #13138155
I use two different AA battery chargers to charge my eneloops, neither of which are very expensive, nor are they Sanyo branded. I find them to do the job perfectly well.

Me too. I use the same charger that came with my Enegizer recharbables I purchased from Target. Has worked fine.

I think if you spend the extra money on Eneloops, you might as well invest in a good charger for them. I went with the Maha Powerex C9000. I tried charging some batteries with a regular charger. Then I broke them in with the C9000 and it gave a bit more usable juice. The rapid chargers are said to decrease the life of rechargeables. I have one for emergencies, but don't use it.

I use the maha c801d it works well for me...

I use and highly recommend getting a smart charger to help ensure a healthier and lengthier life on your Eneloops. I went with the Maha C-9000.

I went with an Ansmann Energy 16, NiMh & NiCad Battery Charger, for up to 12 AA/AAA or 6 C or D Cells, or any Combination of C, D, AA, AAA, Plus 4 9 volt Cells. Works quite well for me.

Ok.. Ive gone a little overboard with my charger. However, I can also agree with the Maha C-9000 charger. Ive tested that charger while reading cell voltages and battery temp and can say that it does a very good job on detecting the peak of the battery.
Granted the NIMH batteries are not as picky as nicads so the risk of overcharging destroying your battery is not as high. However, its still something you always need to keep an eye on. Contantly overcharging batteries will eventually cause the battery to fail and degrade the performance of the battery. So having a decent battery charger is ideal on keeping the batteries performance..
My other hobby is Radio Controll planes and cars which require real high-end high performance batteries. If you are going to keep those batteries in top shape you really need to pay attention to the charging methods and proper care of batteries.. Anyway, Im pretty versed in battery technology feel free and ask if you have any questions..

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Maybe not that related to this thread.. But I keep wondering, what am I really missing out from the C9000? I use a Maha-C800S, it has the "Soft"mode, which I allways use and the "Recycle"mode which I use from time to time.

I know about the C9000 having 10k settings and all that, but would I benefit from them? Would the C9000 really increase my batteries life by that much, that it is worth the extra cash + not being able to charge 8xcells at a time?

For a short answer no, that charger is not going to increase the life of the batteries that much as these batteries really not taking a beating like some applications. Plus the cost of batteries today really makes it easier for someone to just throw out old batteries and buy new ones if they fail or get old. If you were to buy real expensive batteries for an certain application yes, id look into a very nice charger to make sure that battery is in top condition all the time.
Having a charger that offers the extra features like the c-9000 allows you to monitor the health of the batteries and possibly save batteries that have been poorly treated. What i do every couple of months is do a complete discharge and monitor how much is put back in the battery. Say for example the eneloops are a 2000mah battery after a complete discharge the charger takes out 1800 mah to reach min voltage. So after you charge that battery back up you can check how much amp hours the charger puts back in. If the charger takes out 1800 mah and puts back that much you know your battery is still in good shape. Over time you will see the battery take less and less capacity.
Also the ability charge your batteries low and slow allows all the cells to balance themselves and sometimes recover from damage by removing the deposits that occur overtime and misuse.

Yeah, so the monitor-stuff is what I'm missing out on.. The C800S in soft mode seems to have a really low amp. when charging, so I guess it won't be a problem then.