Originally posted by noou hmmm, I'm not that sure that the charger would be as important as the batteries, at least not in the short term (in the long term I agree it would have effect on their lives).
as for me, I tried 4 chargers: 1 super fast charging 4 cells at a time (sony power charger, 15min for 4x2500mAh), 1 very slow charging pairs (haenel) , 1 average speed charging pairs (Uniross x-press 700), 1 average speed charging cells individually and with charge/discharge cycles (Sony BCG-34HRMF4).
In my latest tests I relied mainly on the latter.
However I didn't find any difference.
You're right, charger effects longterm mostly, but of course some chargers will cut off early (have only 1500 mAh instead of 2000 mAh) or overcharge and increase the internal resistance quite quickly - not just over the long term, but depending on the cells, can even happen after single digit recharging cycles.
Independent cell vs 2 or 4 cell charging is much more of a long-term effect - all cells are not created equal, no matter how tightly they are matched, at some point one or so of the 4 will be more or less capacity, and will overcharge or cause the others to be overcharged.
There are plenty of variables in what makes a good charger, not just charge time. Heat and a consistant accurate termination are things you can't assume from charging speed. Check out candlepowerforums.com 's battery forum.
btw, I did somewhere around 20 cycles of deep discharges (< 1.0 volts) followed by immediate recharges (keeping NiMH less than 1v can damage if not immediately charged) with an independent cell charger, then 1+ hour waits, and my 5+ year old 2650 energizers are showing green after some picture taking without even going into LV in my K-x when they previously would show red and depleted even immediately out of the charger.
Last edited by Eruditass; 11-16-2009 at 09:44 AM.