PowerOwl 8-Bay Smart Battery Charger: An Investigation into its Oddness.
The Curious Engineer The Curious Engineer
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 Published On Feb 10, 2020

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 Ni-MH 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 Ni-MH AA/AAA battery charger for about $10:
   • Solid, Inexpensive AA / AAA Battery C...  

Identified Components in Teardown:
1. Dual N-Channel MOSFET (Q5-Q8): 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. P-Channel 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 buck-converter to create the ~1.5 V rail for charging.

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

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