OH, interesting information magog. I've got some 2500mah NiMH Energizers, and you can only really store them at full power for a week before they start bleeding off, and they're dead by the end of 2 weeks. (of course, that could just be an energizer issue.) So you have to charge them the day before you go on a trip. It's kinda annoying. So where do you get these wonderful Sanyo Eneloops at? I'd like to pick up an 8pack of them.
Philips has the same thing and i am using it during my travels to charge my N95 and N810 works well and charges both devices full not at the same time though
dont forget to check on it every few months or so. i seem to have killed mine by forgetting to check on it for maybe 4-5 months, and now im not sure if its the electronics or something else but it seems it will not hold a charge...
Today I happened to find the Philips pack reported by Un27Pee for 30 euros - I took it. It's the SCE4420 - technical data are online on Philips' site: it's a 2000 mAh li-pol pack, and can output a maximum current of 350 mA. While I'm now in the process of charging it (has a mini-usb input port, but no mains charger included in the box :-( ), I'll tell you another story...
...the tale of a cheap chinese solar charger and how I made it work (see attached photos).
I got it at an electronics fair for 10 euros and its tech specs seemed nice: 1500 mAh li-pol battery, solar cell for charging or usb input port, 5V output, with 2 ports, one with several mobile phone tips, the other plain USB (activated by a switch).
When home I charged it, to discover that the current coming out from its tips was insufficient to charge any Nokia device I tried (n810, e90, n95, 5200). Neither n810 nor e90 were waked to a charging state when attached, while the 5200 unit was more verbose, reporting on its display that the charger was not the right type (!).
I have been upset, of course, for a week or so, then I imagined that the USB output could be someway more generous in terms of Coulombs per second... I had at home a spare USB-to-mobile adapter with the right tip, tried it and voilą: my devices were happy to get enough current, this time.
So, don't buy any similar charger for your tablet unless you have a usb-to-small-nokia-tip adapter. They're quite common at phone or electronics shop; in the second photo, it's the black one with the retractable wire, near the solar charger with its original - not working - cable.
TSO: I had that issue with a couple NiMH batteries I left on the shelf too long and didn't use enough. It turns out that by discharging them dead as dead gets, recharging them, then repeating the cycle a couple times exercises the battery and brings them back to life. It might also recover your unit.
TSO: I had that issue with a couple NiMH batteries I left on the shelf too long and didn't use enough. It turns out that by discharging them dead as dead gets, recharging them, then repeating the cycle a couple times exercises the battery and brings them back to life. It might also recover your unit.
im looking into trying that. still, these devices are li-pol, not NiMH, so i may damage it more then recover it
also, the manual says that when all leds stop flashing, its charged. thing is that the logo led will not stop flashing even when all the others have, so im a bit confused...
Today I happened to find the Philips pack reported by Un27Pee for 30 euros - I took it. It's the SCE4420 - technical data are online on Philips' site: it's a 2000 mAh ly-pol pack, and can output a maximum current of 350 mA. While I'm now in the process of charging it (has a mini-usb input port, but no mains charger included in the box :-( ), I'll tell you another story...
seems there are two versions, the 4420 is only the battery, while the 4430 is the battery and a universal usb charger.
The lithium slowly oxidizes and the batteries become useless. Most lifespans of li-ion batteries is about 2 years. I'm not sure about li-poly; I think it might be shorter.
You can keep NIMH around for years just by re-conditioning them once in a while (re-conditioning is charge/discharge repeatedly).
If you are like me (amateur photog) and use NIMH AA or AAAs a lot, I cannot recommend getting a good charger strongly enough. IMO, the lacrosse alphapower charger is the best. It has selectable charge currents and one-touch reconditioning that brings old batteries back to like-new capacities.
