Eneloop Battery Question

[+acachebox]

I have some Eneloop HR-3UTGA 1900mah batteries and quite disappointed in there usefulness. I am charging the at 300 with Powerex smart charger. Have charged them less than 20 times done a refresh and they are discharged in less than 2 or 3 caches. Am I doing something wrong?

[+Mineral2]

Let's be more specific... how long does it take you to find 2 or 3 caches? What GPS are you using? How are you using it? Are you taking all power-saving precautions (no backlight, screen shut off after 30 seconds, etc.).

 

What's the stored charge when full according to your Powerex charger?

[+Chrysalides]

And what do you mean when you say you charge them at 300 with the Powerex? 300 mAh?

 

I believe Maha recommends charging at 0.5C if you're using the MH-C9000. With the Eneloops, that means 1000 mA. And answering the questions mineral2 asked would help a lot as well.

 

One more question : where did you buy the Eneloops from? There are fake ones around.

 

I have Eneloops from 2007 that I'm still using. I haven't measured exactly how long they last, but easily 8 hours in an Oregon 450 (being conservative in my estimate).

[+acachebox]

Let's be more specific... how long does it take you to find 2 or 3 caches? What GPS are you using? How are you using it? Are you taking all power-saving precautions (no backlight, screen shut off after 30 seconds, etc.).

 

What's the stored charge when full according to your Powerex charger?

 

1.38 volts

 

I think they are lasting less than a few hours total time. Yes I am using the power saving features on the Garnin 450.

 

I may have discovered the problem. I had the unit on when I opened this tread. I thought I turned it off but just now when I started this post I went to turn it on and it opened instantly. The problem may be false shut downs.

[+acachebox]

And what do you mean when you say you charge them at 300 with the Powerex? 300 mAh?

 

I believe Maha recommends charging at 0.5C if you're using the MH-C9000. With the Eneloops, that means 1000 mA. And answering the questions mineral2 asked would help a lot as well.

 

One more question : where did you buy the Eneloops from? There are fake ones around.

 

I have Eneloops from 2007 that I'm still using. I haven't measured exactly how long they last, but easily 8 hours in an Oregon 450 (being conservative in my estimate).

 

E Bay

 

My post above may have answered the problem. Will have to pay closer attention to shut down

[+JohnCNA]

I have 1900 Eneloops that I used in my eTrex 30 for two years and now using them in a 64s. They easily lasted 18 hours in the eTrex and give a good 12 hours in the 64s.

[+wmpastor]

Let's be more specific... how long does it take you to find 2 or 3 caches? What GPS are you using? How are you using it? Are you taking all power-saving precautions (no backlight, screen shut off after 30 seconds, etc.).

 

What's the stored charge when full according to your Powerex charger?

 

1.38 volts

 

I think they are lasting less than a few hours total time. Yes I am using the power saving features on the Garnin 450.

 

I may have discovered the problem. I had the unit on when I opened this tread. I thought I turned it off but just now when I started this post I went to turn it on and it opened instantly. The problem may be false shut downs.

 

Battery technology is great, but people are dissatisfied with even the best batteries for gpsrs, smartphones, etc. A backup power source seems to be the answer.

[+Mineral2]

Did you also remember to change the battery type in the GPS? That affects how it meters battery level. If it's set for Alkaline or Lithium, it will think the batteries are low because the discharge rate on NiMH cells is 1.2v rather than 1.5v.

 

By the way, when I asked what the charged capacity was according to your charger, I meant the number of miliAmps stored in the battery. Voltage is a measure of the rate of charge/discharge, essentially the power given off by the battery. When they reach charged state, they should be filled with about 2000 mA, give or take a hundred.

[+acachebox]

Did you also remember to change the battery type in the GPS? That affects how it meters battery level. If it's set for Alkaline or Lithium, it will think the batteries are low because the discharge rate on NiMH cells is 1.2v rather than 1.5v.

 

By the way, when I asked what the charged capacity was according to your charger, I meant the number of miliAmps stored in the battery. Voltage is a measure of the rate of charge/discharge, essentially the power given off by the battery. When they reach charged state, they should be filled with about 2000 mA, give or take a hundred.

 

The batteries were just now set for alkaline, but that may be the result of just having updated software. Can't say for sure before that but thanks for that heads up. I will set to nimh and post the Ma after tonight's recharge.

[+mikeD]

Somewhere in this forum , cant find it now , I posted my experience on these batteries

I have a 64S with Garmin's own battery pack. These are Eneloop type , capacity 2000ma as opposed to 2600ma for NiMh

After 30 mins geocaching the meter dropped to half. Wrote to Garmin saying they need to recalibrate the meter for these lower capacity batts.

Reply was ' Do a hard reset.' I did and and there was no difference. Seen no difference following firmware updates

 

These batteries will run for 12hrs + which is enough for me.

 

BTW. These batteries come in a paired unit. In the 64S it auto triggers the battery type via a little switch in the battery chamber. I dont take batts out as they charge via USB in situe .

If you have a 64S and non Garmin eneloops you can put a piece of hard plastic in the bottom of the batt chamber to press the switch and put your batts on top. The switch is under a black rubber dimple. Pressing the switch will auto change the batt type. No batt option will appear in the settings menu

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Somewhere in this forum , cant find it now , I posted my experience on these batteries

I have a 64S with Garmin's own battery pack. These are Eneloop type , capacity 2000ma as opposed to 2600ma for NiMh

After 30 mins geocaching the meter dropped to half. Wrote to Garmin saying they need to recalibrate the meter for these lower capacity batts.

Reply was ' Do a hard reset.' I did and and there was no difference. Seen no difference following firmware updates

 

These batteries will run for 12hrs + which is enough for me.

 

BTW. These batteries come in a paired unit. In the 64S it auto triggers the battery type via a little switch in the battery chamber. I dont take batts out as they charge via USB in situe .

If you have a 64S and non Garmin eneloops you can put a piece of hard plastic in the bottom of the batt chamber to press the switch and put your batts on top. The switch is under a black rubber dimple. Pressing the switch will auto change the batt type. No batt option will appear in the settings menu

 

On a 64S you can't use AA batteries without doing a work-around ?

[+acachebox]

Did you also remember to change the battery type in the GPS? That affects how it meters battery level. If it's set for Alkaline or Lithium, it will think the batteries are low because the discharge rate on NiMH cells is 1.2v rather than 1.5v.

 

By the way, when I asked what the charged capacity was according to your charger, I meant the number of miliAmps stored in the battery. Voltage is a measure of the rate of charge/discharge, essentially the power given off by the battery. When they reach charged state, they should be filled with about 2000 mA, give or take a hundred.

 

OK Batteries have charged overnight and have these results. They are HR3UTGA 1.2V 1900mAh 1.47 volts, 303 min, and 1928 mah.

Before I put them in the Oregon 450 I assume I have to set the battery type to NiMH. Is this correct? As mentioned above I can not be sure the unit has actually been successfully been turned off in the past, my wife uses it, as I noticed it had not gone off when I was writting my original post.

[+ecanderson]

Did you also remember to change the battery type in the GPS? That affects how it meters battery level. If it's set for Alkaline or Lithium, it will think the batteries are low because the discharge rate on NiMH cells is 1.2v rather than 1.5v.

 

By the way, when I asked what the charged capacity was according to your charger, I meant the number of miliAmps stored in the battery. Voltage is a measure of the rate of charge/discharge, essentially the power given off by the battery. When they reach charged state, they should be filled with about 2000 mA, give or take a hundred.

The only way to be certain of the capacity of the battery is to start them from a fully charged state, then draw them down against a fixed load to see what they were holding after the full charge. Of course, they need to be charged again after that for use. Not all chargers are designed to run this kind of 'test' cycle. Simply looking at charge current vs. time isn't at all an accurate measure of the actual available power of the battery since conversion is never a 100% efficient function.

[+ecanderson]

The batteries were just now set for alkaline, but that may be the result of just having updated software. Can't say for sure before that but thanks for that heads up. I will set to nimh and post the Ma after tonight's recharge.

Good to hear it was just a settings issue. Yes, loading new firmware bombs a lot of prior settings, this one included. Since the nominal 1.5V alkaline voltage was assumed by the unit, a nominal 1.2V for NiMH would have looked pretty spent even though the batteries may have had quite a bit of juice left. I think you'll be happier with them now.

[+acachebox]

The only way to be certain of the capacity of the battery is to start them from a fully charged state, then draw them down against a fixed load to see what they were holding after the full charge. Of course, they need to be charged again after that for use. Not all chargers are designed to run this kind of 'test' cycle. Simply looking at charge current vs. time isn't at all an accurate measure of the actual available power of the battery since conversion is never a 100% efficient function.

 

My charger has a discharge option. Only problem is it does not explain what to expect. I just charged the batteries and they show 1928 mah. Can I assume those batteries are good for that and I may not have a problem other than having possibility improperly turned the Garmin off in the past?

[+BAMBOOZLE]

You stated you're using a MAHA PowerX charger......MAHA makes excellent chargers and a quality charger is the key when using rechargeable's. I think you're good to go.....put them in the unit and test then at home in the front window.

[+ecanderson]

The only way to be certain of the capacity of the battery is to start them from a fully charged state, then draw them down against a fixed load to see what they were holding after the full charge. Of course, they need to be charged again after that for use. Not all chargers are designed to run this kind of 'test' cycle. Simply looking at charge current vs. time isn't at all an accurate measure of the actual available power of the battery since conversion is never a 100% efficient function.

My charger has a discharge option. Only problem is it does not explain what to expect. I just charged the batteries and they show 1928 mah. Can I assume those batteries are good for that and I may not have a problem other than having possibility improperly turned the Garmin off in the past?

If your charger is charging then measuring the capacity until depletion, and that sounds exactly like what it's doing, 1928 mAh is what your cell is capable of providing at the moment. That would be good for a 2000 mAh cell.

 

I'm somewhat confused that you say "they show 1928". I'd be surprised if two cells were reported to have exactly the same capacity down to that level of precision. On a decent charger, the results will be displayed for each individual cell -- especially helpful in identifying a dud. If it measures all of them at once, you could have good 2800 mAh cell at 2800 mAh and one crappy one that needs to be discarded at ~1200 mAh. This kind of test should never be performed on cells in parallel by a good charger.