Rechargeable AA battery question

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I have 4 75-watt solar panels, a charge controller, 1215 Trace inverter, and a pair of L-16s.

I would like to know what is the best way to recharge those rechargeable NiCd batteries (D,C, AA, AAA, 9V, made by Eveready, General Electric, etc.)

I have the plug-into-the-wall re-charger. Is it compatible with Trace modified sine wave?

I read all the archives on L-16s, golfcart batteries, and deep cycle marine batteries. Haven't read anything on these small NiCads. I'd like to save my Duracells as long as possible.

Any reference to battery faq I missed greatly appreciated.

-- Mr. Bob (thebobster@delphi.com), December 12, 1999

Answers

Hi Bill,

MAHA makes a "Universal" smart battery charger that runs off 12 volts (and 110 volts). It'll charge any NiCd or NiMH battery or battery pack up to 9.6 volts (and maybe 12 volts, I don't recall). I have the charger and it works really well, optionally discharging the NiCd's to get rid of the "memory" problem older NiCd's have.

Bill's 2-way has them (and relatively low cost NiMH batteries) at: http://www.bills2way.com/

Look under chargers and specials.

(Standard disclaimer -- I'm just a customer)

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), December 13, 1999.


www.realgoods.com sells a battery charger #50-194 for $39. Says $49 in the catalog, but they are on sale. Skeptically, we ordered one, and found that by not using the "convertible box" that comes with it, and by using a "step down" element from Radio Shack, and by checking that the plug is compatible (positive/negative poles) that we can put it right into our 12 volt solar system, bypassing our 110 inverter, and it charges our Costco and Duracells just fine.

So I ordered a second one! (no connection with either of these co's.)

-- Mary (CAgdma@home.com), December 13, 1999.


The AC charger will probably work just fine from modified square-wave power. It won't live as long as it would on sine wave though.

I have a number of chargers for my nicad collection (extensive) including Everedy and Panasonic AC powered chargers. Have a DC Tekin charger (a "peaking" DC R/C car charger) and a DC charger from China Power Corp.

The DC charger from China Power is used more than all the rest. It has no controls, read-outs or anything other than charging slots and LEDs to indicate charging is occuring. This charger is powered from my solar system. It works great, is well built and improves my security because I know I can charge the batts even if my 2 sine wave inverters bellied up (not likely as they are Exeltechs). Alternative Energy Engineering (www.alt-energy.com) sell these for about $18.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 14, 1999.


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