Wanting to take IR photos of the Aurora Borealis with M8

[wlaidlaw]

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On Saturday evening as we had clear skies for a couple of hours, I wanted to take some long exposure shots of the Aurora using a 610 nm IR pass filter, using my M8. It is a couple of years since I used my M8, so all 3 of the remaining working batteries were all flat. I thought I kept all my various Leica chargers in the same place but the M8/9 charger has obviously been offended by its lack of use and has taken umbrage and hidden itself. I will have to form a search party later today to go and look for where it is hiding, otherwise it is "buy a cheap charger on Fleabay time". 

Wilson

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[FrozenInTime]

I have on occasion rigged up a lab DC power supply to get charge into batteries that have become disassociated with their original chargers.

Li-ion is constant current for ~80% of the charge cycle, with 500mA being conservatively safe.

[wlaidlaw]

I have a Nitecore charger which has a setting that will kickstart those cheap Chinese blue 18650 batteries, the ones with totally fictitious stated capacity, that are supplied with items like bicycle lights, after they have become over discharged. I tried kickstarting a dead M8 battery with a 6V lead acid battery out of our old house burglar alarm but it did not work. I keep telling family members that lithium batteries from drills, strimmers and the like, must not be left lying around after they have shut down but ideally, go straight onto their charger. 

Wilson