NiMH new battery conditioning

Jeff Liebermann · 2011-05-31T04:18:47+00:00

Per a previous discussion, I decided to test whether new NiMHbatteries need to be conditioned or charged several times beforereaching their rated capacity. Apparently they do.The test setup is a West Mtn Radio CBA-IIv1 battery analyzer.I didn't want to wait 20 hrs per test to get the official ratedcapacity, so I elected to run the tests at 1C which resulted in abouta 45 minute test, but also resulted in a much lower capacity result.It also caused some unexpected errors. The design of the CBA-II doesnot include a Kelvin probe connection to eliminate any losses in thecables and connectors. It measures the voltage at the load, insteadof at the battery. This is not a problem at low load currents, but at2 amps, results in considerable error.Two new (out of the package) batteries were used. An Energizer NiMH2300 ma-hr cell, and a Duracell 2050 ma-hr cell. Between tests, thebatteries were quick charged in a Radio Shack 23-1305 NiMH quickcharger (15 min). Each battery was discharged 3 times and thedischarge curves plotted.Note that the Energizer package says 2450 ma-hr, while the battery ismarked 2300 ma-hrs.The Energizer cell showed no change in capacity between discharges.Using 1.0VDC as the end point, the measured cell capacity is: Run 1 1785 ma-hr Run 2 1890 ma-hr Run 3 1895 ma-hrThe Duracell cell showed a larger change.Using 1.0VDC as the end point, the measured cell capacity is: Run 1 1200 ma-hr Run 2 1270 ma-hr Run 3 1385 ma-hrThe net improvement over 3 charge-discharge runs is about 10% for theEnergizer and 15% for the Duracell. Not huge, but certainlymeasurable. Whether it is worth the effort conditioning the batterybefore use, is debatable. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Cruz CA 95060 JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

May 31, 2011 20 Replies

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Jim Yanik 15 years ago

Jeff Liebermann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

earphones fit inside the ear canal,while headphones fit OVER the ear.

Jim Yanik jyanik at localnet dot com

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NiMH new battery conditioning

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