Hi Paul,
I am not familiar with the Duracell line of chargers and so cannot really comment on that specifically. Generally manufacturers state in various ways that to get the most of their units you should use their own brand of products. The problem is it is hard to know if this is designed to reduce their customer service issues or perhaps it might have some marketing intent. Who is to say? The bottom line is that it is always best to follow the instructions that came with the device.
The speed of the NiMH charger involves several interrelated issues that frankly compete with each other: safety, battery life and last but not least, consumer convenience vs. cost.
Generally, in my experience you can use any good quality NiMH changer with any good quality HIGH CAPACITY NiMH battery. Faster chargers are riskier and slower chargers are safer. Folks get into trouble if/when they do not read the packaging and see if there are warnings on the battery or the charger, or if they just do not know that the battery is designed to be charged in a fast charger - i.e.- I had a woman contact me once with a melted charger and we discovered that her husband bought batteries that had "600 mA max charge rate" on the batteries and she used one of our 1,000 ma chargers and the batteries got so hot they melted the plastic cover before the charger safety circuits kicked in and shut it down. (safety issue)
FYI - The super fast chargers available today like the Energizer 15 minute charger have a very high charge rate e.g.- 7 amps (7,000 mA) for the Energizer model and if you use an inferior quality battery or one that is not specifically designed to be used in a fast charger you might experience both some safety and battery life issues. Even with the Energizer NiMH batteries, this charger makes the batteries VERY hot - too hot to handle - and this will definitely cause the batteries to not last as long in terms of the number of charge and recharge cycles. (battery life issue)
For general users, the faster the charger, the more you need to be concerned about compatibility/safety/battery life - particularly with companies that have lots of different qualities of batteries with the same brand name. If you don't want to pay much attention to the details, then just default to a slower charger i.e.- less than 1,000 mA charge rate - and you are much less likely to ever have any safety issues. This is why I personally like chargers that are able to charge at different rates but the default charge rate is fairly slow - like the LaCrosse unit that you have purchased from us.
Sincerely,
Curtis
Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
16157 Galena Meadows Drive
Curtis Randolph - CEO
16157 Galena Meadows Drive
Reno, NV 89511
phone 800-790-7866
fax 815-301-3958cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
From: paul
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 9:51 AM
To: curtis@greenbatteries.com
Cc: Jacob
Subject: One question from me and one from prospective customer.
1. If it is better not to run a NiMh battery down to zero before recharging, what level would you recommend as a minimum - my tester measures in 20% increments.
It is not that it is better to not drain the batteries down when they are discharged.
see this page for more details
2. A buddy owns a couple of Duracell quick chargers - he wants to verify that he can charge any NiMh battery in it. (any idea whether Duracell uses smart chargers or not?)
3. Do you have a view on Green batteries vs Duracell vs the Energizers that you have on your site? He is a user like me - not super technical with cameras and things - more kids toys.
Paul
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments