Griffo
Contributor
Hi,
I was wondering whether anyone could give me advice on whether all 3 of my battery packs are likely dead.
I have 2x DR slimline lights, 3 battery packs, and 2 chargers. All are the older trailer plug NiMh style.
The batteries are of various age, and the two chargers are also different. I've just pulled them out of storage after leaving them for 12 months unused (they were charged before being put away). I know, i know, I shouldn't have done that.
Anyway, on initial charging and testing, all 3 were hopeless. On the same LED light they gave me initially
B1: 5 seconds (oldest, green batteries)
B2: 10 minutes (second oldest, green batteries)
B3: 30 minutes (newest, orange Panasonic batteries)
After a few days of a discharge / recharge cycle with the light in a bucket, i have got them to
B1: 1hr 30
B2: 4.5 hrs
B3: 8 Hours
OK great.. to some extent. B3 gives me the full 8 hours, and B2 is good enough for my upcoming tropical holiday where I only need 2 hours a day. B1 is obviously stuffed.
However.. they all keep giving me false peaks when charging- i.e the chargers are shutting down. C1 is an older DR branded black charger, and it's just hopeless. Nothing charges more than 30 minutes before it shuts down. Testing the pack will generally show around 12 - 12.5v after removal.
C2 is a DiveGearExpress green thing that does do better, however I still generally need to re-start it 2 or 3 times to get them to what i'm guessing is full charge. Initially the packs seem to be at 13-13.5v on first "stop". After giving it a couple of restarts, the voltage of the pack will come up to about 14.6v.
So.. do people think i've stuffed all 3 packs? B3 seems to get decent run time but false peaks, which means I can't just throw it on a charger at night.
Three new battery packs is a fair chunk of change.
I was wondering whether anyone could give me advice on whether all 3 of my battery packs are likely dead.
I have 2x DR slimline lights, 3 battery packs, and 2 chargers. All are the older trailer plug NiMh style.
The batteries are of various age, and the two chargers are also different. I've just pulled them out of storage after leaving them for 12 months unused (they were charged before being put away). I know, i know, I shouldn't have done that.
Anyway, on initial charging and testing, all 3 were hopeless. On the same LED light they gave me initially
B1: 5 seconds (oldest, green batteries)
B2: 10 minutes (second oldest, green batteries)
B3: 30 minutes (newest, orange Panasonic batteries)
After a few days of a discharge / recharge cycle with the light in a bucket, i have got them to
B1: 1hr 30
B2: 4.5 hrs
B3: 8 Hours
OK great.. to some extent. B3 gives me the full 8 hours, and B2 is good enough for my upcoming tropical holiday where I only need 2 hours a day. B1 is obviously stuffed.
However.. they all keep giving me false peaks when charging- i.e the chargers are shutting down. C1 is an older DR branded black charger, and it's just hopeless. Nothing charges more than 30 minutes before it shuts down. Testing the pack will generally show around 12 - 12.5v after removal.
C2 is a DiveGearExpress green thing that does do better, however I still generally need to re-start it 2 or 3 times to get them to what i'm guessing is full charge. Initially the packs seem to be at 13-13.5v on first "stop". After giving it a couple of restarts, the voltage of the pack will come up to about 14.6v.
So.. do people think i've stuffed all 3 packs? B3 seems to get decent run time but false peaks, which means I can't just throw it on a charger at night.
Three new battery packs is a fair chunk of change.
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