Energizer rechargables

I have been having a problem with my 2500 mAh rechargeable Energizers. They range in age from 12 months to 16 months old. They are not holding a charge for very long. I contacted the company and they recommended that I use a charger that has a trickle charge feature. They said:

"That way you can leave your batteries in the charger and they will be topped off with a low rate charge. You should occasionally drain your batteries completely by letting them run down to the point where the device will no longer work."

I am currently using the Energizer compact charger. Does anyone have a recommendation regarding a trickle charger? Would the Energizer one be a good bet?

How do others drain (run down) their rechargable batteries?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hey Ken,

I use this one: http://www.thomasdistr​ibuting.com …c-900_battery_charger.ph​p

It can charge as well is discharge or condition batteries. Also, there are 4 or 5 different rates at which it can charge/discharge. I'm going on 12-18 months for my current cells and they've still got good life.

I have a good quality 'DeltaV' charger that can detect when a battery is nearly full and pull back to a trickle charge, it does a really good job of 2000Mah+ batteries including my Energizers.

However what I have noticed is they do not hold a charge when not used. If I charge them all up, then often when I pull them out of my supply they have run flat again. This can be up to a couple of months later. If I use then straight away, no problems. Could be a NiMh thing.

I work with some sound techs, they won't go near rechargables for wireless mics etc due to reliablity issues.

i use the enegizer e2 (squared) 25mah in my speedlite 580ex. the charger i use is the enegizer 15minute because of charge speed

If it were me, and it was a bit ago, I would first get rid of the energizers. They will never hold a charge for long. Believe me I tried everything. Then get THIS charger and some good batteries. I bought some of the Eneloops and they work oh so much better.

Bushplane Ken wrote in post #3365882
I have been having a problem with my 2500 mAh rechargeable Energizers. They range in age from 12 months to 16 months old. They are not holding a charge for very long. I contacted the company and they recommended that I use a charger that has a trickle charge feature. They said:

"That way you can leave your batteries in the charger and they will be topped off with a low rate charge. You should occasionally drain your batteries completely by letting them run down to the point where the device will no longer work."

I am currently using the Energizer compact charger. Does anyone have a recommendation regarding a trickle charger? Would the Energizer one be a good bet?

How do others drain (run down) their rechargable batteries?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I've been having similar problems myself with the Energizers and using the 15 minute chargers. I bought a trickle (8 hour) charger like this and I've been able to rejuvenate a few of those "bad" batteries which I couldn't charge on my 15 minute chargers anymore.

The 15 minute charges are very convenient when you need to charge your batteries in a rush but they really shorten the life of those batteries.

Thanks for your comments and opinions. It is interesting that others have run into the same problems.

anyone have comments on 2500mAh Rayovac batteries?? i picked up two sets for my 580ex.

I have a total of 16 of these energizer batteries, with the energizer chargers (4). I thought a "matched set" would be as good as it gets.

the energizers are junk in my opinion.....I called them, they sent a $10.00 coupon to honor the "lifetime warr."----well guess what the "new" ones are just as bad.

I hate these batteries and and saving for a new brand...not sure what yet but you can bet it won't be energizer. I think da bunny died

i bought some duracell rechargables for my sigma, and they seem to work ok, they do take four hours to charge though.

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

My set of 2500 mAh Energizers came with a grayish, square-looking charger. After a bit of experimenting, I have come to the conclusion that the included Engergizer charger is a dumb charger that has little regard for how much charge the batteries already have. Ideally, as a NiMH battery gets charged, a smart charger with a good charging algorithm should back off on both the charging voltage and the charging current to prevent overcharge.

Assuming that Ken has been using the Energizer charger for his batteries all along, my guess is that your batteries have already been overcharged for far too many times, and they are pretty much dead. Overcharging will lead to heat and that causes the batteries to deteriorate, losing both their maximum charge holding capacity and their charge retention ability.

Get some new batteries and invest in a smart charger. You'll get a much longer life from your batteries.

-Lik

ryleung wrote in post #3394481
My set of 2500 mAh Energizers came with a grayish, square-looking charger. After a bit of experimenting, I have come to the conclusion that the included Engergizer charger is a dumb charger that has little regard for how much charge the batteries already have. Ideally, as a NiMH battery gets charged, a smart charger with a good charging algorithm should back off on both the charging voltage and the charging current to prevent overcharge.

Assuming that Ken has been using the Energizer charger for his batteries all along, my guess is that your batteries have already been overcharged for far too many times, and they are pretty much dead. Overcharging will lead to heat and that causes the batteries to deteriorate, losing both their maximum charge holding capacity and their charge retention ability.

Get some new batteries and invest in a smart charger. You'll get a much longer life from your batteries.

-Lik

The charger I have is a smart charger, gets a full charge into the Energizers, the question become where does it go after that?

I use the green and silver 2500mah Energizers with the slow charger and don't have any problem with them at all.

liza wrote in post #3395102
I use the green and silver 2500mah Energizers with the slow charger and don't have any problem with them at all.

Same here. I have 8 of them just stirctly for flash duty and I have yet to have an issue with them, having owned them for about a year now (roughly)

FlyingPete wrote in post #3395081
The charger I have is a smart charger, gets a full charge into the Energizers, the question become where does it go after that?

As I was saying earlier, a smart charger is supposed recognize when our NiMH battery has been fully recharged. Once that has been attained, a smart charger is supposed reduce the voltage and current down to a trickle charge to prevent overcharging the battery.

-Lik