Eneloop batteries - charger?

[coldfire22x]

Thanks coldfire22x, I did mean recycle charges. Although on a recent dive trip a friend was convinced that her new black eneloops discharged more quicly in her strobes than the white (lower capacity) eneloops. That doesn't seem to make much sense to me, however as I have never run out of strobe power I'll stick to the white ones. (and they're cheaper )

I also keep my batteries together in the groups of four as purchased for both use and recharging. I mark them with a permanent marker when the pack is first opened and carry/store them in those little plastic battery containers.

Yeah, on paper that doesn't make sense (that the black Eneloops would not last as long as the whites in a strobe). Maybe your friend has a bad cell in the mix? Either way, NiMH cells beat the heck out of anything else in our strobes

 

[bvanant]

It is no surprise that the black higher capacity Eneloop batteries don't last as long in a strobe. I did the testing for the UWP paper and it appears that the Eneloop X (the black ones) actually use tow kinds of technology, a low and a higher internal discharge component. The higher discharge component (I mean internal discharge) will lead to fewer strobe firings.
Bill

 

[jbb]

I've never had a problem with the Eneloop branded 4 battery charger. It takes several hours but I have plenty of spares so it's not an issue. Some of my eneloops are 6+ years old and still work fine.

I would check those batteries with a good battery tester like the ZTS mini multi-battery tester. I had a simple 4 cell charger with me on a trip (trying to save weight -not much) and some of the batteries were not wanting to charger per the indicator lights. They didn't even revive after conditioning in a borrowed Maha. Well they were pretty much toast but fortunately a fellow photographer on the trip had one of these testers and I was able to sort out the four duds and scrap together the remaining good batteries. I ordered it as soon as I got home. Batteries lose about 25% of their charge capacity every year. I now have my cells color coded and dated to when I purchased them (I know they start losing charge capacity as soon as they are made) so I can be sure to have good batteries on future trips. I use Powerex AAs and I won't leave without my Maha again.

 

[coldfire22x]

It is no surprise that the black higher capacity Eneloop batteries don't last as long in a strobe. I did the testing for the UWP paper and it appears that the Eneloop X (the black ones) actually use tow kinds of technology, a low and a higher internal discharge component. The higher discharge component (I mean internal discharge) will lead to fewer strobe firings.
Bill

i thought the eneloop pros were also low self-discharge?

 

[bvanant]

I think they have a compound separator sort of half low discharge and half higher discharge to get the higher capacity.
Bill

In my hands at least they are lower internal discharge than standard rechargeable NIMH but higher than the standard 2000 mAh envelops.
Bill

 

[coldfire22x]

fwiw, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrR7-NuEvQ4 is interesting to watch ... probably not a big enough of a difference for most people to warrant getting the higher capacity cells, and he doesn't test them until they're dead so who knows which one lasts longer.