fujitsu eneloops on sale at Newegg.com

Wilt, I understand your logic, and believe it makes sense. However, my 'new' charger (300mA) was designed by Panasonic specifically for the AA Eneloops it was sold with. Package deal: 8 AA Eneloops and the 300mA charger, together as a unit. What sense does it make for Panasonic to sell a charger that can't adequately charge the batteries they sell it with. BTW, I've been using my Eneloops, mostly with the new charger, for over two years. No problems, yet....

Bassat, for lack of ability to include a cheap smart charger in a kit (because of inherenty higher cost of circuitry and logic for temperature sensors), Panasonic had to come up with a design that was

• suitable for the charging profile needs of NiMH
  
• suitable for the average no-thinking no-understanding layman
  
• least likely to induce harm to the batteries inserted for charge and then forgotten for days/weeks/months
  

• a Tenergy TN190 charger/conditioner with neg-DeltaV sensing and 1300ma rate (AA) that can handle all battery configurations AAA/AA/C/D/9v
  
• a Maha MHC401 with neg-DeltaV sensing and 1000ma fast rate (0.5C)/300ma slow rate (0.25C)/50ma trickle for AA/AAA individual charge (not forcing pairs)
  
• a Powerex MHC204W charger/conditioner with neg-DeltaV sensing and 2000ma fast rate (1C) or 1000ma quick rate (0.5C)/50ma trickle for AA/AAA (which forces AA paired charge)
  

Wilt, the new charger was billed as 'smart'. It (supposedly) charges each battery individually, then cuts current to each battery as it reaches full capacity. Are you stating (suggesting?) that I'd be better off to preferentially use my older 500mA charger?

Bassat wrote in post #18319282
Wilt, the new charger was billed as 'smart'. It (supposedly) charges each battery individually, then cuts current to each battery as it reaches full capacity. Are you stating (suggesting?) that I'd be better off to preferentially use my older 500mA charger?

Is there a charger model number that you can reference, so I can look up the PDF for it? The amazon.com Panasonic kits have the BQCC17 which is a dumb, slow (7hr AA) charger
The BQCC55 is also dumb, and not-so-slow (2-4 hr AA, depending upon 2 batteries/4 batteries being charged).


So far, neither Fujitsu nor Panasonic 'kit chargers' seem to be worth their weight in aluminum can recycling fee.

Faster is better when SUPERVISED (as long as <1C rate) by the charger and/or watchful human monitoring.

Wilt, first off, thanks for doing this. I am one of those 'no-thinking, no-understanding layman'. If you have surgery at my hospital, I promise not to think or understand while you are in my care.

Old charger: Panasonic BQ-390A. It is 550mA. My eyes aren't as good as they never were.
New charger: Panasonic BQ-CC17. Confirmed output is 300mA.

EDIT:
Just noticed my Wasabi LP-E6 charger is 500mA.
My Canon LP-E6/E6N chargers are 210mA.
Any thoughts?

This discussion about battery chargers confuses me. I picked up a Maha charger off of Craigslist a few years back that has two charging modes, normal and reconditioning. It also came with 16 new Eneloops and I got the whole thing for $20. I've never reconditioned the batteries... because I don't understand when I need to.

Nathan wrote in post #18319371
This discussion about battery chargers confuses me. I picked up a Maha charger off of Craigslist a few years back that has two charging modes, normal and reconditioning. It also came with 16 new Eneloops and I got the whole thing for $20. I've never reconditioned the batteries... because I don't understand when I need to.

Reconditioning is more of a mode needed periodically for NiCad batteries, to resolve the 'memory' of legend. NiMH batteries generally don't need that mode, so ignore it. The only use of the recondition mode for NiMH is perhaps when you first buy a set of batteries, the batteries are not able to function at 'full capacity' until they have been discharged and charged for maybe 3 cycles...so the reconditioning mode can perform that intial cycling to get the batteries at full capacity.

Bassat wrote in post #18319347
Wilt, first off, thanks for doing this. I am one of those 'no-thinking, no-understanding layman'. If you have surgery at my hospital, I promise not to think or understand while you are in my care.

Old charger: Panasonic BQ-390A. It is 550mA. My eyes aren't as good as they never were.
New charger: Panasonic BQ-CC17. Confirmed output is 300mA.

EDIT:
Just noticed my Wasabi LP-E6 charger is 500mA.
My Canon LP-E6/E6N chargers are 210mA.
Any thoughts?

The Canon charger...is it real Canon, or a substitute? My real Canon LC-E6 output is 1.2A or 1200ma; the input is .21A or 210ma. Besides, with the Canon battery it is LITHIUM ion, which is very different from NiMH AA!

As I stated earlier, the Panasonics BQCC17 is a dumb charger with a TIME cutoff, regardless of whether the battery is 90% discharged or 10% discharged. In either case the battery gets 300ma for 7 hours and then charger shuts itself off. The 2000mA battery that is 90% depleted gets 7*300mA or 2100mA or about 1 hour more than capacity; the battery that is 10% depleted gets 7*300mA or 2100mA or about 6.3 hours more charge than its capacity. The fact that only 300mA are going into each battery means that the heat generation is a small amount, so the battery is not harmed by high heat. That is what I mean by being meant for 'no-thinking, no-understanding layman'.

If you buy a smart charger (instead of the minimally useful Panasonic charger) you can let it charge at a faster rate (<1C) and the -DeltaVoltage sense measures when it should drop the charge rate to trickle (which might actually be a briefly pulsed input which does not generate heat), so the 10% discharged battery goes to trickle mode much sooner than the 90$ discharge battery. This smart charger is also is good for a 'no-thinking, no-understanding layman', simply slightly more expensive to buy than the dumb charger.

Wilt wrote in post #18319160
But then if you only want to buy 12 AA batteries, your $24 purchase still does not qualify you for free shipping!

The question is more for Jake than you. A majority of people placing an order are already over $25 anyways, I would daresay. The sale is pretty good to not pick up several items, which makes it easy to go over $25. In that regard, the 12pack is overpriced by charging you for 13 batteries and giving you 12. Not a big issue, but still. I see that trend alot, especially at the grocery store. That big 4 lb breakfast sausage package is 28c an ounce, but the 1 lb packages are 17c an ounce... Bulk doesn't always mean deal.

As to all this talk about chargers, just get a good rated charger for these batteries and call it a day. Charge the batteries as often as you can until you find they are not having the life you want them too. Try to recondition them to get a bit more out of them, then just recycle them and buy new batteries. There really isn't too much thought that has to go into these, especially since you are only paying $2 a battery and can charge it several hundred times before noticing they are degrading. I use a Lacrosse, but there are several other good ones out there. I also ONLY use Eneloops, no other NiMh rechargeable. I have had the same ones for about 5 years now, and still use them in my flashes, remote triggers, electronics remotes, and Xbox controllers. I need more only because some have disappeared over the past year or so, my kids have no idea where they have gone.

I have picked up 48 packs of alkaline AAs from time to time for the kids, and have used a charger that can recharge these about 3-4 times to extend the lives of those batteries. It is hit or miss, some recharge, some do not.

I thought I would provide a Newegg search link to help others.

https://www.newegg.com …batteries&N=-1&isNodeId=1

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18319442
The question is more for Jake than you.....

Keep in mind as the thread starter, I did not have anyone else's experience to guide me. All i saw was that the 12 pack was no shipping, and the 4 pack was. My intention was to buy just the 12 pack at that point. It was a fluke that I decided to add in and try 4 of the pros, and found the shipping was gone. I did not understand until much later from people in this thread, that $25.oo was all I needed to get free shipping. I though I was getting it because the "deal" on the 12 pack included free shipping.

Makes sense, I just wanted to make sure, originally, that the 4 pack and 12 pack had the same batteries, due to this strange pricing arrangement.

I ended up doing what a few others did, 2 4 packs of the lower capacity and 2 4 packs of the higher. I plan on running the higher capacities in the 2 580EXII flashes, and the others in the Yongnuo triggers, and other items.

I think the 4 pack is just on a deeper discount. They sell for a lot more than $8.00 usually.

I remember these being more expensive back in the day. This forum swore by eneloops

Not really, over the years, these same types of deals have been found on Eneloops. I only ever buy them when they are $2 a battery. They list at higher prices, but again dealnews and slickdeals, etc all have advertised Eneloop sales at this current price point over the years.

Since this thread is about bargains, with 12 AA for $25 for Fujitsu thru newegg.com

at Amazon, the price for AmazonBasics batteries which have initially tested quite well by SYS in another thread (the LSD characteristics of all test sets are still in progress)

• $18.99 for 8 pack, gray and green case, 2400 mAh 'made in Japan' top bullets description;
  Product Information below description ASIN: B00HZV9WTM, Origin: Japan
  
• $14.99 for 8 pack, black and green case, 2000 mAh (1900 mAh min.) 'made in Japan' top bullets description;
  Product Information below description ASIN: B00CWNMV4G, Origin: China