MFJ-259Z
 

Tam wrote:
For what it'sworth, I looked at an MFJ-269 manual, and it claims to
trickle charge at 10 - 20 ma. At that rate it will take a long time to
charge a 2600 maH battery. They say minimum Vbat is 11V, but mine gets
flakey below 12. You might want to measure the under load battery
voltage when it fails and when you think it is fully charged.

Tam/WB2TT

I don't think a 2600 mAh cell will ever become anywhere near fully
charged at that charge rate. That's barely enough to maintain an
existing charge.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

MFJ-259Z
 

Roy Lewallen wrote:
hasan wrote:

One thing I've learned about NIMH batteries...they don't sit well.
They do wonderfully if kept trickle charged, but if let to sit, they
will self-discharge in less than two weeks. (at least for digital
camera purposes)I've observed this on three different "sets" of NIMH
AA batteries. All act the same way. Two weeks of sitting and they will
only operate the camera a very short time. Left in the charger and put
directly into service I can shoot well over 75 pictures in a row with
no difficulty.

This was true until a short while ago, but no longer is. A new chemistry
is now being used for some NiMH cells which greatly reduces the
self-discharge rate. Some of the more popular brands are Sanyo's
Eneloop, Rayovac's Hybrid, and Sony's Cycle Energy, but there's a
growing number of others. A bit of web searching will bring a great deal
more information about this. "Low self discharge NiMH" is a good search
string to start with.

So far, the LSD cells have a bit lower capacity than the very highest
capacity conventional cells, with 2000 mAh typical for AA and 800 mAh
for AAA. But they have almost as much capacity after sitting for an
extended time. And the Eneloops, in particular, typically have a
slightly higher voltage under discharge, and hold up very well under
high discharge rates. They're very good cells -- I use them almost
exclusively now.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Can they (Eneloops) be charged in a conventional NiMH charger, or do
they require a proprietary charger?

MFJ-259Z
 

hasan wrote:

Can they (Eneloops) be charged in a conventional NiMH charger, or do
they require a proprietary charger?

They can be charged and otherwise treated the same as any other NiMH cells.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

MFJ-259Z
 

In article , hasan wrote:

Can they (Eneloops) be charged in a conventional NiMH charger, or do
they require a proprietary charger?

Sanyo's own words:

"Basically eneloop is a modern Ni-MH battery, which can be charged
like any other Ni-MH battery.

Therefore eneloop can be charged also with other, modern chargers,
which are suitable to charge Ni-MH batteries.

However, SANYO cannot accept any liability for the function or safety
of chargers made by other manufacturers.

Also SANYO cannot be held responsible for any damage to eneloop
batteries caused by unsuitable chargers."

On a different Sanyo page (http://www.eneloopusa.com/eneloop.html) they
say that they only provide warranty on the batteries if an Eneloop
or other Sanyo-branded NiMH charger is used. "Quick" chargers (those
charging in under 2 hours) should not be used, as these may reduce the
life of the battery... "2 hours or more" charging rate is recommended
(e.g. 0.5C or so).

A lot of people seem to like the various Maha chargers. One of my
friends here uses a Maha MH-C9000, which is relatively expensive
(currently $60 from Thomas Distributing) but is *extremely* flexible
and adaptable... you can select the charging and discharging rate for
each battery, perform one or more break-in or discharge/recharge
exercise cycles, etc. I have one on order and plan to try it out with
my various NiMH cells.

Seems to me that almost any modern NiMH charger, with a charge rate of
around 500 - 1000 mA per cell, and an effective full-charge cutoff
circuit (thermal and delta-V) would work fine with Eneloops and
similar low-self-discharge NiMH cells.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

MFJ-259Z
 

Dave Platt wrote:

On a different Sanyo page (http://www.eneloopusa.com/eneloop.html) they
say that they only provide warranty on the batteries if an Eneloop
or other Sanyo-branded NiMH charger is used. "Quick" chargers (those
charging in under 2 hours) should not be used, as these may reduce the
life of the battery... "2 hours or more" charging rate is recommended
(e.g. 0.5C or so).


That is very helpful, Dave, especially since I have a very fast charger
that would be very hard on these cells.

I'll get a set and use them on my slower chargers, and also warn people,
no faster than a two-hour charger for the new chemistry cells. (I have a
15 min Energizer charger that does well with Energizer AA and AAA cells,
but have not had a chance to evaluate lifetime. The cells charge nicely,
but 15 seems very hard charging.

MFJ-259Z
 

After charging and discharging over the past few days they are finally
keeping there charge. I have had the MFJ-259Z switched on with the power
save turned off for the past 10 hours and still have 12.6V left in the
batteries. A big difference from the 10-15 minutes I was getting from them
when I purchased it. All I have to do now is to learn and then test the unit
to make sure it is working ok. As I am new to using a Analyzer.

Many thanks all for your help.

73 Barrett


"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
news:-qidnTDq7ap4GWTanZ2dnUVZ_jKdnZ2d@easystreetonline.. .
Tam wrote:
For what it'sworth, I looked at an MFJ-269 manual, and it claims to
trickle charge at 10 - 20 ma. At that rate it will take a long time to
charge a 2600 maH battery. They say minimum Vbat is 11V, but mine gets
flakey below 12. You might want to measure the under load battery voltage
when it fails and when you think it is fully charged.

Tam/WB2TT

I don't think a 2600 mAh cell will ever become anywhere near fully charged
at that charge rate. That's barely enough to maintain an existing charge.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

MFJ-259Z
 

Barrett wrote:
I don't think that my MFJ-259Z is charging properly. Its new and it has been
on charge for over 6 hours and all the batteries are still reading 0 Volts.
I'm using the PSU that came with it. It works fine from the PSU but doesn't
seem to be charging. The switch inside for charging is turned on.. Can some

I'm not familiar with that analyzer but the websites indicate it uses AA
cells--presumably rechargable ones have been supplied with your 259Z. One
thing to check is that the cells are correctly inserted (sorry but it
happens often!) and that they're not protected by little plastic covers on
the positive terminals. Rechargable batteries that come with new
equipment often have tiny bits of plastic that have to be removed by the
end user. This isn't always mentioned in manuals.

If it's brand new and has never worked with the batteries alone, you might
have a manufacturing defect--they're not unknown in MFJ gear, not that I'm
knocking MFJ. You'd want to take a quick look at the charge/no-charge
switch, the bypass (if there is one) on the connector for the PSU on the
radio, etc.--simple things easily visible. You might also try charging
the AA cells in a standard charger, and seeing if the 259Z then works
properly with the batteries--if that doesn't work, it might be the cells
you have and not the analyzer itself.

HTH! 73 de AC4RD

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

MFJ-259Z
 

I have had the batteries on charge in the MFJ-259Z for over a day now. The
jumper inside the unit is on for charging. The batteries were at 12.6V when
put on charge and are still 12.6V. The PSU is working fine. Because I can
run the unit off the PSU that came with it.

Any ideas on what can be wrong with it now?

Thanks


wrote in message
...
Barrett wrote:
I don't think that my MFJ-259Z is charging properly. Its new and it has
been
on charge for over 6 hours and all the batteries are still reading 0
Volts.
I'm using the PSU that came with it. It works fine from the PSU but
doesn't
seem to be charging. The switch inside for charging is turned on.. Can
some

I'm not familiar with that analyzer but the websites indicate it uses AA
cells--presumably rechargable ones have been supplied with your 259Z. One
thing to check is that the cells are correctly inserted (sorry but it
happens often!) and that they're not protected by little plastic covers on
the positive terminals. Rechargable batteries that come with new
equipment often have tiny bits of plastic that have to be removed by the
end user. This isn't always mentioned in manuals.

If it's brand new and has never worked with the batteries alone, you might
have a manufacturing defect--they're not unknown in MFJ gear, not that I'm
knocking MFJ. You'd want to take a quick look at the charge/no-charge
switch, the bypass (if there is one) on the connector for the PSU on the
radio, etc.--simple things easily visible. You might also try charging
the AA cells in a standard charger, and seeing if the 259Z then works
properly with the batteries--if that doesn't work, it might be the cells
you have and not the analyzer itself.

HTH! 73 de AC4RD

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

MFJ-259Z
 

"Barrett" wrote in message
...
I have had the batteries on charge in the MFJ-259Z for over a day now. The
jumper inside the unit is on for charging. The batteries were at 12.6V when
put on charge and are still 12.6V. The PSU is working fine. Because I can
run the unit off the PSU that came with it.

Any ideas on what can be wrong with it now?

Thanks


wrote in message
...
Barrett wrote:
I don't think that my MFJ-259Z is charging properly. Its new and it has
been
on charge for over 6 hours and all the batteries are still reading 0
Volts.
I'm using the PSU that came with it. It works fine from the PSU but
doesn't
seem to be charging. The switch inside for charging is turned on.. Can
some

I'm not familiar with that analyzer but the websites indicate it uses AA
cells--presumably rechargable ones have been supplied with your 259Z.
One
thing to check is that the cells are correctly inserted (sorry but it
happens often!) and that they're not protected by little plastic covers
on
the positive terminals. Rechargable batteries that come with new
equipment often have tiny bits of plastic that have to be removed by the
end user. This isn't always mentioned in manuals.

If it's brand new and has never worked with the batteries alone, you
might
have a manufacturing defect--they're not unknown in MFJ gear, not that
I'm
knocking MFJ. You'd want to take a quick look at the charge/no-charge
switch, the bypass (if there is one) on the connector for the PSU on the
radio, etc.--simple things easily visible. You might also try charging
the AA cells in a standard charger, and seeing if the 259Z then works
properly with the batteries--if that doesn't work, it might be the cells
you have and not the analyzer itself.

HTH! 73 de AC4RD

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

1] You might want to contact MFJ and see if they can supply you with a
schematic of the unit. Usually with minimum knowledge and a Volt/Ohm/Meter,
you should be able to check some internal voltages, and or check the
operations of transistors/voltage regulators, and or internal fuses.
2] If you don't want to open up the box, contact MFJ and see how much
they want to repair the unit.. They seem to be reasonable folks..

MFJ-259Z
 

I might send it back, its only 9 days old and I did inform them by email
within the 7 days from purchase about the trouble with the batteries. If it
was an easy fix I might do it myself. But I'm unsure to what is causing it.


"Howard W3CQH" wrote in message
...

"Barrett" wrote in message
...
I have had the batteries on charge in the MFJ-259Z for over a day now. The
jumper inside the unit is on for charging. The batteries were at 12.6V
when put on charge and are still 12.6V. The PSU is working fine. Because I
can run the unit off the PSU that came with it.

Any ideas on what can be wrong with it now?

Thanks


wrote in message
...
Barrett wrote:
I don't think that my MFJ-259Z is charging properly. Its new and it has
been
on charge for over 6 hours and all the batteries are still reading 0
Volts.
I'm using the PSU that came with it. It works fine from the PSU but
doesn't
seem to be charging. The switch inside for charging is turned on.. Can
some

I'm not familiar with that analyzer but the websites indicate it uses AA
cells--presumably rechargable ones have been supplied with your 259Z.
One
thing to check is that the cells are correctly inserted (sorry but it
happens often!) and that they're not protected by little plastic covers
on
the positive terminals. Rechargable batteries that come with new
equipment often have tiny bits of plastic that have to be removed by the
end user. This isn't always mentioned in manuals.

If it's brand new and has never worked with the batteries alone, you
might
have a manufacturing defect--they're not unknown in MFJ gear, not that
I'm
knocking MFJ. You'd want to take a quick look at the charge/no-charge
switch, the bypass (if there is one) on the connector for the PSU on the
radio, etc.--simple things easily visible. You might also try charging
the AA cells in a standard charger, and seeing if the 259Z then works
properly with the batteries--if that doesn't work, it might be the cells
you have and not the analyzer itself.

HTH! 73 de AC4RD

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

1] You might want to contact MFJ and see if they can supply you with a
schematic of the unit. Usually with minimum knowledge and a
Volt/Ohm/Meter, you should be able to check some internal voltages, and or
check the operations of transistors/voltage regulators, and or internal
fuses.
2] If you don't want to open up the box, contact MFJ and see how much
they want to repair the unit.. They seem to be reasonable folks..