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PowerOwl 8-Bay Smart Battery Charger: An Investigation into its Oddness.

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The Curious Engineer

So, last video I looked at the PowerOwl 2800 mAh batteries and found that they didn't live up to their marketing claims, but did work marginally well as regular NiMH batteries (not Low Self Discharge).

This video I take a look at the charger I used to attempt to get better performance out of the batteries. It did not help. Additionally, it has a strange way of charging batteries, which I find will at minimum significantly reduce the life of whatever batteries are charged in it, and perhaps even result in some batteries failing when charged (especially AAA batteries). As I said in the video: I do not recommend this charger.

Still looking for a solid, inexpensive battery charger? Perhaps check out this video with a review of a UGREEN NiMH AA/AAA battery charger for about $10:
   • Solid, Inexpensive AA / AAA Battery C...  

Identified Components in Teardown:
1. Dual NChannel MOSFET (Q5Q8): 9926A CL660U.1 (https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20...) [It is not a Fairchild though!; just an example of that part reference]
// Microcontroller drives these MOSFETs to switch on and off individual channels charging.

2. PChannel Enhancement Mode MOSFET (Q1): NCE9435 1XLL3 (http://www.ncepower.com/Upload/MOSFET...) [Just an example of this part]
// Microcontroller drives this MOSFET to operate the buckconverter to create the ~1.5 V rail for charging.

3. General Purpose 8bit Microcontroller: ABOV MC96F64320 (https://www.abov.co.kr/e_sub02/sub01_...)

posted by greenpoofi