[raef]

Hi All.--- A great friend of mine left me his digital camera which I can now use reasonably well. My problem is that the batteries are now flat and although I have two battery charges, I haven't a clue as to how long to charge them for.
The charger that came with the camera is a Panosonic with an input of 50-60hz 0.07A
The other one is a digitor that takes various sizes of batteries. It's input is 30hz 30ma

Could anyone give me some idea how long (for each charger) to charge these AA 1.2v 2500mAH batteries for without cooking them please.
The batteries that came with the camera are the same but 1300mAH. Do these take the same time as the others?
Many thanks, Ralph

[wacor]

use the one that came with the camera

Then I would go online and see if you can find the model of the camera and if there is any info in there. Some battery chargers will only charge so much while others like you say can cook the battery.

[raef]

Thanks Bill, will do that.

Cheers, Ralph

[wacor]

your welcome

[slipe]

I haven’t ever seen a charger that will cook the batteries that came with a camera. Very few even do a trickle charge after the batteries are charged.

The higher capacity batteries will take longer to charge. Your 1300 mAH batteries are probably getting on the poor side by now – they don’t last forever and those sound to be 4 years old or older. Just put them in the Panasonic charger and see if there isn’t some change in indication when the batteries are charged. Something like the charging light going out or changing color or another charged light coming on.

Don’t be concerned if the batteries get hot. That is normal. Just leave the batteries in the charger overnight after they have gotten hot and they will likely be cool in the morning to indicate they are full and stopped charging. If they stay a little warm you might have a trickle charger. Don’t leave them in a charger with a trickle charge indefinitely as some older units had a trickle rate that would eventually do a little damage to the batteries. But you get more power in the battery after a trickle charge, so leave them in the charger for a day or so unless you want to use them right away.

There are newer chargers that will charge the batteries in an hour. But they don’t date back to 1300 mAH batteries. Some can take as long as 8 to 10 hours for the high capacity batteries. I doubt you will do them any harm by just leaving them in the charger until they cool down if you have no charged indication.

[wacor]

I don't make any claims to be an expert on batteries and battery chargers. I just recall that some chargers were not meant to leave the batteries in. That probably was old technology and that is no longer true but I learned to never make assumptions. Also need to make sure if batteries are replaced that the right ones are purchased to be used with the battery charger in question.

[raef]

Hi Slipe. Thanks for the info; I feel a bit more confident after reading it.
My Digitor charger/discharger gives the charge time for AA 1700mAH batteries as 21hrs.
As my new batteries are 2500mAH would I charge them for a lot longer? There is just a red light that comes on when charging; do they usually change colour or give any indication when the battery is fully charged?
Sorry to be such a dummy :>) I'd like to try get it right, from the start!!!
Many thanks to both you and Wacorsaut. Cheerss Ralph

[wacor]

Hi Ralph,

Did you try going to the manufacturers website for info on the model? If the unit is not too old I would hope you could find the answers you need. Not all chargers change colors but probaby more do than don't. I would think that it will take longer to charge since this is a larger capacity battery

[kiwiguy]

Originally Posted by raef

Hi Slipe. Thanks for the info; I feel a bit more confident after reading it.
My Digitor charger/discharger gives the charge time for AA 1700mAH batteries as 21hrs.
As my new batteries are 2500mAH would I charge them for a lot longer? There is just a red light that comes on when charging; do they usually change colour or give any indication when the battery is fully charged?
Sorry to be such a dummy :>) I'd like to try get it right, from the start!!!
Many thanks to both you and Wacorsaut. Cheerss Ralph

The Digitor charger you refer to sounds like the DSE Cat M9403

AA 700mAHr 8.5Hrs
AA 1000mAHr 12Hrs
AA 1700mAHr 21Hrs

Its not an automatic charger. (I have previously purchased chargers similar to these for NZ$3, at a clearance, just for the transformer). They are not widely used these days.

The charger will overcharge the batteries if left on, but if you want the appropriate time, just "do the maths". Divide the mAh rating of the batteries by 80. Thats the number of hours, according to the list above. Thats 31.25 hours for a charge of 2500 mAh cells. As you can see, its not designed for the newer high capacity cells, the recharge time is ridiculous.

A charger such as this would be the recommended way to go these days:
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.sto.../product/S4062
It will charge for as long as required then shut down when charging is complete. These "smart chargers" can sense when the cells are charged, by the small voltage cahge that occurs in the process..

They can be used in the (12v) car as well.

[slipe]

I would be surprised if your Panasonic charger isn’t automatic. My first digital came with 1750 mAH batteries 4 ½ years ago, so I guess it is possible the Panasonic charger is old enough that it isn’t automatic if it came with 1300 batteries. You will probably get some kind of indication that the batteries are charged. The Panasonic appears that it will be over twice as fast as well. The 30hz input for the Digitor seems odd.

I would avoid a charger that doesn’t stop charging when the batteries are charged. And unless your Digitor has a NiCad/NiMH switch I wouldn’t use it at all for NiMH. I guess the charge rate is slow enough you wouldn’t hurt the batteries if you forgot them for a day, but I would try the Panasonic charger first.

[kiwiguy]

I share your thoughs slipe, I have an automatic charger supplied with a recent Nikon.

It works flawlessly with the (Nikon supplied) 2000 mAh batteries, but faults with 2300 mAh batteries (both NiMh). The higher current / longer period of the larger batteries seems to invoke the protection in the charger and shut it down.

My standard automatic charger (similar in operation to the one I linked for the OP) charges all batteries I have fine however, advising when they are charged and maintaining them. Batteries can usualy be left in them for long periods without risk, unlike the constant current one like the digitor posted by the OP.