Unfortunately, the manual for the charger is an eloquent testimonial to the sad state of education in the US. I can read pretty well, honest, but I am having real difficulty with this.
Does anyone have a LaCrosse 9000 or 9009 charger that they know how to use? I can't set the current, but its default is 200 mA, which is best for battery life (I understood that), so with everything plugged in (and the little display panels changing the numbers every so often), the charger should be working...
I'm trying out the cheap NiMH batteries to learn, so I don't wreck the ones that came with the charger. Good thing is that one of my batteries is a complete dud--"NULL" in the display window, no matter what--and that explains why the second pair of batteries I used lasted for maybe 8 shots.
But I left the other three in their slots for the appointed four hours last night. I used the "discharge" mode, which I think is the right one, to discharge and then charge so that the "memory" effect is minimized. The strongest of my batteries had a beginning charge of 196, then showed 195, then after three more hours was down to 105, while the other two batteries hovered around 145 (200 mA is optimal, I think). I have no idea if this is okay, or typical, or what, and I don't want to damage the new batteries by proceeding in ignorance.
I'll appreciate any advice. (I downloaded the PDF Quick Set-Up Manual, only to discover it was blank, after an initial sentence about how they hadn't written the directions yet.) Please help!
Posted by David Bostedo on September 2, 2009 at 9:22 AM
Rosemarie - Here's a little info I've figured out from using that charger :
1) Right after you plug it in, you have maybe 10 or 15 seconds to change the current or mode by using those two buttons on the front of the charger. After that time, if you aren't hitting any buttons, the whole display will flash off and back on, and then the charging mode and current will be set. I don't think I've been able to change the current at that point without unplugging the unit.
2) As far as the display, both the current and voltage will drop a lot once the battery is fully charged. The current it shows you is what it's actually pumping into the battery, so it gets lower as the battery gets close to full then even lower just to maintain full charge. The current does not show you the "charge". For that you should look at mAh. If you use the display button it will show mAh as you cycle through. Once a battery has been discharged and then is fully charged, that should show something like the rating of the battery (i.e. a 1500 mAh battery should show somewhere at or above 1500 mAh.)
Note that if you put partially charged batteries in the top them up, that will show whatever amount of energy was put into the battery, not necessarily what is actually IN the battery.
Now I suppose I have to use the recharged batteries and see, by how long they last, if the Mode I used was the correct one. And apparently they will last longer after they've been recharged about ten times?
Discussion
2 repliesUnfortunately, the manual for the charger is an eloquent testimonial to the sad state of education in the US. I can read pretty well, honest, but I am having real difficulty with this.
Does anyone have a LaCrosse 9000 or 9009 charger that they know how to use? I can't set the current, but its default is 200 mA, which is best for battery life (I understood that), so with everything plugged in (and the little display panels changing the numbers every so often), the charger should be working...
I'm trying out the cheap NiMH batteries to learn, so I don't wreck the ones that came with the charger. Good thing is that one of my batteries is a complete dud--"NULL" in the display window, no matter what--and that explains why the second pair of batteries I used lasted for maybe 8 shots.
But I left the other three in their slots for the appointed four hours last night. I used the "discharge" mode, which I think is the right one, to discharge and then charge so that the "memory" effect is minimized. The strongest of my batteries had a beginning charge of 196, then showed 195, then after three more hours was down to 105, while the other two batteries hovered around 145 (200 mA is optimal, I think). I have no idea if this is okay, or typical, or what, and I don't want to damage the new batteries by proceeding in ignorance.
I'll appreciate any advice. (I downloaded the PDF Quick Set-Up Manual, only to discover it was blank, after an initial sentence about how they hadn't written the directions yet.) Please help!
1) Right after you plug it in, you have maybe 10 or 15 seconds to change the current or mode by using those two buttons on the front of the charger. After that time, if you aren't hitting any buttons, the whole display will flash off and back on, and then the charging mode and current will be set. I don't think I've been able to change the current at that point without unplugging the unit.
2) As far as the display, both the current and voltage will drop a lot once the battery is fully charged. The current it shows you is what it's actually pumping into the battery, so it gets lower as the battery gets close to full then even lower just to maintain full charge. The current does not show you the "charge". For that you should look at mAh. If you use the display button it will show mAh as you cycle through. Once a battery has been discharged and then is fully charged, that should show something like the rating of the battery (i.e. a 1500 mAh battery should show somewhere at or above 1500 mAh.)
Note that if you put partially charged batteries in the top them up, that will show whatever amount of energy was put into the battery, not necessarily what is actually IN the battery.
Now I suppose I have to use the recharged batteries and see, by how long they last, if the Mode I used was the correct one. And apparently they will last longer after they've been recharged about ten times?
Rosemarie