battery charges and rechargeable AAs -hope vision 1

[samsbike]

Given the previous threads, there was lots on batteries but not much on charges.

Is there anything wrong with this smart charger

http://www.7dayshop.com/batteries-power ... -aaa-sizes

and then these batteries (I know not the Sanyos)

http://www.7dayshop.com/batteries-power ... -free-case

They are to be used in a hope vision 1

thanks

[meic]

I always mention the cold weather problems with NiMH batteries, especially at this time of year.

Batteries that go through the charger with flying colours and have a full charge and can take the full stated capacity and appear to be good batteries can fail to deliver the necessary current in cold conditions.
So you end up with failing components always happening when you least want in the cold and dark and then lulling you into thinking all is OK when you get back home.

The Hope Vision is rather notorious for just turning itself off when the current/voltage drops, so it would be even worse than my Ixon that just turned itself down to dip.

For that reason (along with others) I have given up on standard NiMHs like those you linked to and I now only use the Low Self Discharge variants like these.
http://www.7dayshop.com/7dayshop-good-t ... F0dGVyaWVz

The ordinary ones will work fine and last longer if used, freshly charged, in normal temperatures.
When they get a bit older they start to fail at temperatures as high as 6 degrees at night in the month of May. Or this time of year I would be worried about new ones.

[samsbike]

thanks for that, will the 2150 rating be enough for the hope, as it states 2500 as needed to run it?

[gaz]

The mAh rating is simply a measure of capacity which equates to run time rather than current/voltage.

Once you start powering your light from a fully charged 2500mAh it's only a matter of time before it's only got 2150mAh left .

[edocaster]

I have a 7dayshop charger. Not that one (less fancy, no LCD display), but it had the main feature I wanted - individual channels for each battery. I was a little worried about the power adapter (12W at 1.7A), but in practice it has stayed totally cool and the charger has worked fine for over 2 years.

And definitely go for low self-discharge NiMH, otherwise you'll have at least one disappointing flat battery experience.

[Ayesha]

The mAhr rating is when the cell is discharged at C1 in laboratory conditions. 20 deg C.
The mAhr rating is the mAhr rating. After some use, the cell has x% of life remaining.

Charging rates are dependent on the capacity of the cell. Charge in laboratory conditions.
Charge at 1C until the battery case is at 45 deg Celcius and then drop to 0.05C
The Tesco 'Geener living' charger does this for a 2000 mAhr cell. AA or AAA.

Look on the charger's spec sheet. If it says 2A, go for it. If it says 600 mA, leave it.

[Tonyf33]

I use an ansmann energy 4 charger that came with 4 x2850 AA batteries (I also use 4x2700), each battery is independantly charged & on the fast charge takes about an hour or so for the set, as each one reaches its full charge it goes into trickle mode. I've forgotten about the batteries on a few occasions (like overnight so longer than 12 hours past switching on) and I've never had any issues whatsoever.
There is also a built in fan that helps cool the batteries..
I've been using them in rotation for roughly 5 years and they are best batteries/charger ever. I use them (now) predominantly in a camera (takes 4xAA and is high energy consumption) as I've gone Li-ion for torches/bike lights, in all that time I've had no noticeable drop in performance

The batteries come with a 2 year warranty, the charger 3 years..

[Sweep]

Tony, Is this also known as the Ansmann Energy 4 SPEED?

I ask because I know some battery experts aways caution against any sort of speed charging.

I, I stress, am no sort of battery expert whatsoever.

[Pugwash]

Go for a technoline 700 and eneloops, anything else and you will be disapointed.

[meic]

Though a Technoline and Eneloops will not necessarily save you from disappointment either.

I had to take my Technoline apart after a shortwhile as the "buttons" stopped responding.
The Eneloops have been very good though.

[RickH]

Tony, Is this also known as the Ansmann Energy 4 SPEED?

No the Speed is a different model - with a faster charging option (the name kind of gives it away ) & only takes AA/AAA (the plain Energy 4 also charges 1 or 2 9V cells)

Another option to consider is the Ansmann Powerline 4 (this bundle comes with 4 AA e-Max low discharge cells - like Eneloops). I bought a previous model of this in late 2008 along with AA & AAA e-Max batteries, plus some more batteries in 2009, and have had no failures so far. The AAAs get used in my rear LED lights & other AAAs & AAs get used around the house.

Rick.

[Martyn B]

I have been using this EXACT combination for a couple of winters now - the charger and the batteries seem to work absolutely fine and the Hope Vision 1 copes superbly with the pitch-black lanes which make up my +/- 14mile commute. I should point out that I don't have a clue about power output / milli-amps etc but I do know that the Hope 1 will burn on full power for the 28 mile round-trip which normally takes me about 1 hour 45 minutes, or thereabouts.

However, I whole-heartedly endorse the observation made by other posters that there is abslolutely no warning that the power is about to run out - it happened to me once when I was feeling particularly energetic and extended my route home by quite a few miles, only for the light to die about a mile from my house. I ALWAYS carry at least one spare set of charged batteries with me, so it's not generally a problem, other than the fact that it's a pain in the wotsit having to change batteries.

I actually still have the original box and instructions for the Hope Vision 1 - the instructions contain a very clear cautionary note as follows: 'CAUTION: Unlike many other LED lighting systems available, this light will suddenly switch off without any dimming of the LED. Please bear this in mind when riding at night.' Undoubtedly off-putting for some people, but apart from the aforementioned one occasion, I've not found it a problem. The burn time on max output for rechargeables is given as 2.75 hours.

I would definitely recommend this combination, hope this helps.

[Tonyf33]

Tony, Is this also known as the Ansmann Energy 4 SPEED?

I didn't realise there was just an 'Energy 4', Mine is the Energy 4 Speed, it only charges AA/AAA.
There are always a lot of so called 'experts' out there for everything, all I know that in real world use these batteries have withstood many many cycles of charging on 'fast' speed I've not noticed any drop off in performance over the timescale I stated (I'm sure there is some however)

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Lidl has the long life "AAA" & "AA" plus others, rechargables, 2100 mh AA. £2.99 for 4.

[dazza500]

I went touring in Spain this summer with a maplins flat solar bpanel in the map pocket of my front bag.
It could charge two devices via usb and four batteries simultaneously.