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Next Gen Oxyride Batteries Coming Soon
marksilverman writes "The New York Times is reporting that Panasonic will start selling (Biometric scan required to prove your value as a human being) next generation Oxyride batteries soon. They last twice as long as premium alkaline batteries, they deliver more power, and they're cheaper. They're already popular in Japan. The downside? They have a shorter life in a "rundown test" where you put the batteries in and leave the power on until they're drained. In real-world scenarios (like how many digital pictures you can take) they do really well."
Oxyride Car
Oxyride Test
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
Because the writer of the article doesn't understand some basic electricity princples, like the power equation and Ohm's law.
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
If you do a bunch of power on, power offs to drain the batteries, the new ones are much better.
Don't know the fine sciency details myself, but I do know that when batteries die, they're sometimes not quite dead - I've played my GBA into the ground, left it for a day, and then still got another half hour off of the "dead" batteries.
Essentially it means you want to use these in your digital camera, not your cell phone :P
Smaller cycles of being in-use could just extend that for measurement - I'd be interested in seeing how well they perform in a single full cycling, then re-use a few days later.
clicky
Done with the help of the NYT Link generator.
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
In the exact same article
As it turns out, the power-boosting effect is no marketing concoction; it's real. In identical flashlights, Oxyrides produce an obviously wider, whiter circle of light than Duracell Ultras. You can immediately tell the difference in portable fans, too, because the Oxyride fan hums at a higher pitch, a musical step higher than the Duracell one. The Oxyrides even make power screwdrivers spin faster: 364 r.p.m., compared with 316 r.p.m. for the Duracell Ultras.
I would venture to guess that if the vibrator doesn't have a power regulator, it'll vibrate faster. If that'll increase the intensity of a woman's orgasm is left as an exercise for the class.
Courtesy of Cnet
Did you read just a little further down? The article mentions that these batteries put out 1.7V vs. 1.5V for a regular alkaline.
Use this when you link to a NY Times article. It'll provide you with a link in which you don't need to register or log-in to view the article.
Reg-free link to article
Kind of like the difference between a deep cycle marine battery and a regular automobile battery. The automobile battery is designed to provide short bursts of power (and spends more of it's life being recharged as you drive) while the later is used constantly to run say an electric trolling motor. If you try to swap the applications the "other" battery won't last as long.
Dont forget the NYT Bookmarklet
(remove newlines)
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Good long-lasting Lithiums are good as a backup to keep with you if your rechargables all die on you. They are also good if you go somewhere where you just can't find a place to plug in and recharge.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
first i dont really care of NMHD because they have have a charge memory.
-1 Wrong
Nickel-metal hydride does suffer from a memory effect; nickel-cadmium, however, does.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/battery7.htm
this is my sig
NiMH batteries don't have a charge memory; you're thinking of NiCads. Plus, the best NiMH batteries store almost as much energy as alkalines, and in AA format they're not too expensive due to volume and competition.
Li-ion, on the other hand, is a very expensive format due to the need for internal circuitry to protect the battery, and as a result it doesn't come in the standard sizes, which can guarantee a high cost as each manufacturer can rip you off for their own format...
For many many applications, NiMH is by far the best way to go.
Disclaimer: IANAL. This post is, however, legal advice, and creates an attorney-client relationship.
Note the image of the batteries says "50% longer lasting" but the journalist says "twice as long". His digital camera test actually confirms the 50% longer, for 844/566 = 1.49.
This is the test to which I was referring
Sorry for the confusion.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Where are the heavy metals? I see graphite (carbon) manganese dioxide and nickel compounds in a steel case(iron). Mn, Fe and Ni are first row transition metals. There are no heavy metals used at all. These things are pretty innocuous considering most other battery chemistries (Pb-H2SO4, NiCd, Hg cell, etc.)
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
What decade are you living in? Back in the 1970s or 1980s they all used C cells, but most modern vibrators made by the name brands (California Exotics, Doc Johnson, Fun Factory, etc.) use AA cells.
NiMH batteries don't store as much power per volume as alkalines - almost none of the rechargeable chemistries do (although some lithium cells come close). The important thing to remember is that primary alkaline cells are around 1.5V/Cell, whereas NiMH batteries are 1.2V/Cell, so equivalent mAH != same amount of available power. Also, NiMH batteries usually have less mAH per cell than similarly sized Alkalines (around 1100 mAH vs. 1500 mAH IIRC). I believe they also have a slightly higher internal resistance, so you can't discharge them as hard as you can an alkaline, but it's been a long time since I did battery stuff at work. The great thing about NiMH batteries is that they're reasonably cheap, rechargeable and have slightly better discharge characteristics. Alkalines are pretty amazing in terms of energy density, and that's why they're so useful. NiMH is a good substitute when you can get away with it, but that's not always possible.
I ain't evil, I'm just good looking.
Ok, so let's take a look at those claims:
(A) quicker shooting for your digital photos
--> Well, no. Your digital camera's CCD and processor don't run any quicker on a high battery charge than on a low one.
(B) faster flash recovery
--> Actually, yes, this will; the more current the battery can deliver, the quicker the capacitors will charge up.
(C) faster battery powered toys
--> Depends on how the toy works. If it's an unregulated device that just pulls current directly, sure - but you could get the same results just hot-wiring an extra AA into the circuit.
True story: I used to have an old R/C car that ran on 8 AA batteries. I "fixed" that by hacking into the wiring and adding batteries to the circuit with a separate, modular battery bay from an electronics kit my parents gave me a few years earlier. I took it all the way up to 16 batteries total; at that point, it worked for about 1/2 hour and gave me great speed until something in the control board decided it had had enough.
If on the other hand it uses any sort of a voltage or current regulation system, no, it won't move any faster.
(D) brighter flashlights
Well, sure. See the above on devices that pull what essentially is unregulated current, relying only on the natural resistance of the device to keep it at a reasonable pace. I=V/R; Put in more Volts, even marginally, get more Amps and thus a brighter bulb. Whether it's enough to be really noticeable... well, you can tell the difference between a new and used battery, so sure, I'll assume that you can.
Of course, you'll also cause the bulb to burn out quicker.
Parent has obviously never looked at a discharge curve for either NiMH or Alkaline batteries, otherwise he'd know that the 1.5V vs 1.2V is absolute bullshit; neither stays above 1.2V for more than about 5% of its life under any real load. See for the specs on an Energizer e91 (2850 mAh, Alkaline) vs here for specifications on a 2300 mAh Energizer NiMH rechargable. Furthermore, NiMH capacities are up to Alkaline capacities these days, without the obnoxious strain alkalines have under high drain (like say running a digital camera, Alkalines typically die after a tenth of what a high capacity NiMH will do, simply due to how Alkalines react to a high current). That is plainly visible in the above, at 0.1C, the NiMH outperforms the Alkaline by 90 minutes of discharge, and the difference only gets bigger from there on out. Please note that the NiMH is 550 mAh smaller than the Alkaline, yet is outperforming it by 15%.
The only good use for Alkalines is in very, very low discharge devices like remote controls. NiMH batteries have a steady self-discharge, which means that in a remote, NiMHs might only last 1/3rd the time as an alkaline, due to the NiMH discharging itself.
"But NiMHs aren't widely available in stores", claims Mr. Pogue.
I call BS. I can go to the local wal=mart or other store and find literally walls of NiMH batteries and chargers.
Yes, but in terms of lifetime cost, I charge my batteries hundreds of times. All I need is for my batteries to last a full day in whatever device, then I can put them back in the charger. Any more is useless.
It's sickening how many batteries wind up landfilled every year. NiMH rechargables work really well and are very cheap in quantity. Go check out batteryspace.com - AA's are about $30 per 24 cells. Still more than alkalines, but they outperform alkalines in high draw stuff (what many people use them for; digital cameras and flashes) by a lot.
The article said that the battery produces 1.7 volts instead of the typical 1.5 volts. Flashlights were noticeably brighter, but they didn't measure the change in bulb life. Bulb Life is inversely proportional to V^16 -- that's a huge exponent, so bulbs are very sensitive to voltage! This means bulbs in flashlights with the new batteries will last only 1/7th the time or regular batteries.
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