Question about Nikon Battery charger MH-30 (for Nikon F5)

[R Halim]

I could not find the MH-30 user manual anywhere.
There is a "refresh" button in this charger. What is it for? A manual
for a different charger (MH-16) indicated that you want to push this
button for discharging, Why do you need to discharge the battery?
How does the charging for the battery pack (MN-30) work? When the
light is blinking green, what does it mean? There is no "end" button
like another charger, so how do you know if the charging is complete?
Is it turning to continuous green?
How long does it take to fully charge the battery. This is supposed to
be a quick charger... so, is it less than 2-3 hours?
Thanks for the info

[Len...@myhouse.com]

On Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:31:21 -0800 (PST), R Halim <anir...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I could not find the MH-30 user manual anywhere.
>There is a "refresh" button in this charger. What is it for? A manual
>for a different charger (MH-16) indicated that you want to push this
>button for discharging, Why do you need to discharge the battery?

Old style battery's, usually Ni-cads, could develop a 'memory' and needed to be
completely discharged and recharged a few times to clear it. If you kept
charging a half-full battery, it would eventually only keep a half a charge or
less. If the camera doesn't completely kill the battery, you need to do it
manually. This happens a lot with movie cameras because they quit while there is
still useful charge in the battery. I had a Sony Handicam battery degrade to 5
minutes! I had to make a lamp device to discharge it, and after a few cycles, it
went back to 1 hour capability.

>How does the charging for the battery pack (MN-30) work? When the
>light is blinking green, what does it mean? There is no "end" button
>like another charger, so how do you know if the charging is complete?
>Is it turning to continuous green?

I have a new Nikon charger (mh18a), and it blinks when charging, and stays lit
when finished.

>How long does it take to fully charge the battery. This is supposed to
>be a quick charger... so, is it less than 2-3 hours?

Could take a few hours, lots of variables. I once waited 5 hours for mine...