An interesting discovery...

[Aussie_Pleo]

As most of you know when I first received Neon the initial battery charge took just over 6 hours before the charger went green, a result of that was I got around 2 or so hours with him. Consequently after that I have been charging his battery for 4.5 hours (which is how long it takes the charger to go green) and I get just over an hour or so.

So the other day I decided that after the battery charges (4.5 hours) to remove the battery from the charger and put it straight back in again. What happens is the charger's light glows red and it seems to charge the battery again but for a further 2 hours and 15 mins (half the time of the first charge) The result of this is that I get twice the length of battery life with Neon before it goes flat. So 4.5 hours charging (light goes green) I get around an hour or so... 6 hours and 45 minutes (one full charge, take battery from charger place back in again) I get twice the usage and the battery isn't even hot after this process.

I've tested this twice now and the result is the same. I'm not really sure I want to charge the battery for almost 7 hours to get 2 hours (I don't think I could leave it in the charger overnight as it seems I need to take the battery out after the first charge and replace it again for a second charge).

What are your thoughts on this?

[Toyguy]

I'd contact Customer Service and see what they have to say. There sure seems to be a common thread of bad chargers - yours may have a problem. My first one would only go about 10 minutes but the new one works fine.

[Aussie_Pleo]

No good, because Pleo's aren't sold in Australia and Neon purchased from the U.S. and taken here they want offer any advice. Tried that already.

I just thought it was an interesting anomaly and I'm probably more concerned that my 2 x charge method may in fact be detrimental to the battery. I think I'll just let it do it's 4.5 hours charge and hope that Ugobe come good on the extra batteries this May/June.

[mweed]

NiMH does develop a memory. The question is, is the double-charging causing the battery to remember the overcharged state? If so, the more you do it, the longer the bttery will run!

[Aussie_Pleo]

NiMH does develop a memory. The question is, is the double-charging causing the battery to remember the overcharged state? If so, the more you do it, the longer the bttery will run!

You don't think there might be the opportunity of doing the reverse? In other words blowing a cell or something? I have to stress that after doing this 2 x charge technique the battery does not get hot at all.

[mweed]

If the battery is not overheating then I doubt you're going to blow a cell. Charging an already charged battery under normal circumstances sets a memory where the battery thinks it's low when it's not, so that i doesn't last as long. But that's not what yours appears to be doing.

[denodan]

4.5 hours seems a long ime to charge your battery, mine is fully charged in 3 hours and get on average 1.5 hours. If it takes 7 hours to get 2 hours sounds like it's faulty.

So in fact your not double charging your battery. I have had the odd time the green light come on 1/ 2 an hour after charging and found the battery is still flat. Then put it back again, 3 hours latter a fully charged battery

[Aussie_Pleo]

4.5 hours seems a long ime to charge your battery, mine is fully charged in 3 hours and get on average 1.5 hours. If it takes 7 hours to get 2 hours sounds like it's faulty.

So in fact your not double charging your battery. I have had the odd time the green light come on 1/ 2 an hour after charging and found the battery is still flat. Then put it back again, 3 hours latter a fully charged battery

Well unfortunately if that is the case there is nothing I can do about as Ugobe will not recognise it now that it is in Australia and not the USA, but I knew that when I received it.

[degers]

Aussie, where did you buy Neon from?

[Aussie_Pleo]

Neon was given to me as a gift.

[degers]

Right, I'm guessing that what you will need to do is to go to the person who gave Neon to you then ask them to give you the details of where they purchased Neon from if you want to do anything about it, UGOBE will only deal with people if 1. they are in the US and 2. they purchased their pleo direct from UGOBE.

[Aussie_Pleo]

LOL oh well :)

[Darkwolf]

When I read this interesting discovery I decided to try this myself.
It finished charging in about 2:15 hours and now I put it back into the charger.
The indicator is RED again.
I am going to time the second charge and see what comes up.
Note: my battery is warm. Not hot. But noticibly warm.

[Darkwolf]

Update: 15 minutes later the red light started blinking.
When reading the instruction manual it could mean two things: either it's not seated properly or it's overheating.
Since it was seated nice and tightly I assume the latter reason caused the blinking red light.
I quickly removed it from the charger to prevent possible damage or harm.
Again, the battery was luke warm and didn't increase in temprature!

[Aussie_Pleo]

That is interesting. Well what's happening with me and my charger is consistent, recall the very first time I charged the battery before turning Neon on it did actually take over 6 hours to charge.

[Darkwolf]

That is interesting. Well what's happening with me and my charger is consistent, recall the very first time I charged the battery before turning Neon on it did actually take over 6 hours to charge.
I am quite happy with mine.
Up to an hour play time and it took 2:15 to charge.
Still 2x the time charging versus time playing, but a lot better then "3 to 4 hours" as noted in the booklet.

[junkroxy]

I am quite happy with mine.
Up to an hour play time and it took 2:15 to charge.
Still 2x the time charging versus time playing, but a lot better then "3 to 4 hours" as noted in the booklet.

That's happened to me too!:D At my 2nd recharge i've played with my pleo for 2 hours....

[pleoWhisperer]

That's happened to me too!:D At my 2nd recharge i've played with my pleo for 2 hours....

Well, it's having to make up for all the lost time you spent waiting for a pleo. ;)

[junkroxy]

Well, it's having to make up for all the lost time you spent waiting for a pleo. ;)

lol:D i think yuo're right!

[CritterFan]

NiMH does develop a memory. The question is, is the double-charging causing the battery to remember the overcharged state? If so, the more you do it, the longer the bttery will run!

Reading this thread got me thinking about the memory effect in rechargeable batteries, enough so that I headed over to google to see what I could see.

The good news is that according to this site: http://www.zbattery.com/Battery-Memory-Effect NiMH batteries are rarely prone to the memory effect. NiCad batteries (which I haven't noticed for sale in quite a while, now that I think of it) are the most prone to exhibiting this problem.

So using this double-charging technique might not cause a memory effect on the battery; however, I'd still try to find out from Ugobe if this is a recommended way to treat the battery. Will you be able to get fewer charges out of it, thereby shortening battery life overall, by charging it like this? That, I don't know.

[fancyfont]

Critterfan, Not to change the subject but I 'm able to click on the pink egg but always get permission denied on the red.
Here's a question for Siren. Do you have any idea why??:D

[CritterFan]

I checked the dragoncave forums -- it says that "permission denied" can happen to a person who is using a proxy server to connect to the internet.

Darn computer gremlins -- they always find ways to show up. I think I'll teach the dragons I raise to eat computer gremlins. Then we won't have these problems. :D

Thanks for trying to click!

[fancyfont]

It must be something about red. First the egg then the dragon. Pink egg is no problem.
I do know there's gremlins in this computer! Can't be me all of the time!;)

[Allosaurus]

Interesting. I'll have to keep that in mind when I get my Pleo.

[Allosaurus]

I found a wierd vid.
Here ya go: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BlJHF_fQ7k0

[Daisydo]

Here's what I posted at Youtube about that video.....

I got mine 2 weeks ago so it has the latest charger and mine only flashes red if the battery gets too hot or if it's not in the cradle properly. It never flashes green. It flashes long enough for it to cool then goes to a solid red until it's fully charged. Once it's charged it goes to solid green. There is no flashing from that point on and the battery cools down completely and stays cool. Not sure why this one is flashing unless BOTH chargers have now been updated and I have the latest.