Any Electricians out there?

[andrew1]

Can anyone tell me this please.

I have a small 'Energizer' battery charger for AA & AAA batteries.

its says on the bottom :

Input AC 220 -240v~50/60Hz 6W

Output: DC 1.4v=170 - 200mA x 2 (AA)
DC 1.4v= 80-100mA x 2 (AAA)

I have 2 green lights on the front which light up when the batteries go on to charge.
I have 6 batteries all 2200mAh

The guy in the electrical shop told me that the green lights should go off when the batteries are fully charged, but it seems they are not fully charging because I have never seen the lights go off. The batteries get warm so I am presuming a charge is going in, but when I put them in my camera, they last a couple of shots with a flash and then say battery's flat - its not a big camera, nothing fancy.

Can anyone tell me from that techi info above how long a battery would, in good condition ( these are new) need to be charging before it was full?

I don't know if it's the charger broken, the batteries no good or my camera - it's a matter of elimination.


Thanks

[dx100uk]

i would assume the batteries are NimH and that charger is a NiCaD one.

to work out what time it will take you divide the mAh of the battery by the charge current of the charger

in this case 2200/200= 11hrs

now, there is another point to bear in mind here, batteries should NEVER get hot under charge , typically this will be caused by too higher chargee current or too much A/C on the output on the charger.

dump the charger and get one of the intelligent ones from maplin or cpc.

dx

[andrew1]

Thanks dx. You're dead right with the batteries they say Ni-MH HR6 1.2volt standard charge 16hr @220mA which probably answers my own question

but it seems as though they are in there charging a lot longer than that, so I'll take your advice and get my self a new one. Got a Maplins nearby so will go take a look.

Do you think the fact these batteries have got warm will affect their functionability?


Many thanks.


Sarah

[dx100uk]

been in the game 35yrs sarah
heat and any rechargable battery do not mix.
it can be heat from the charger itself or heat from too higher charging current [fast chargers] or heat from too much A/C content on the DC charging circuit going into the battery, which everway, chemically, its not good for any standard [consumer] availble battery. [milspec is diff , but also 3 times the price!]

if you are just talking about warm, then no , i should not think you have created a problem.

there is a wealth of stuff on the net about half-life and the like

if you want more i'll find it

dx

[andrew1]

No, I think you've given me enough to convince me to go buy a decent one thanks. Oh, one thing you can tell me though, that avatar of Roger Waters album - I take it that it's good is it? Heard him on the radio no so long ago, sounded great.

Thanks for your help.