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."

Comments

Rechargeable?

[ackthpt]

If they're not, then no thanks.

A good set of NiMH cells does everything I ask of them for a couple years. The exepense of Alkaline cells would be far greater.

Other thought is, now we have in place processes for recycling consumer batteries. What's going to be required for these?

Re:Rechargeable?

[scorp1us]

In the article the rechargibles lastes LONGER than the O-rides, by 5 flashes. Recharge these things 3 times and you've more than recouped the cost of recharbles.

Next up is the fact that they were 1800mh batteries. My budget rechargeables are 2300, up from 2250 the year before.

Plus batteryspace.com regularly has a sale, currently you can get 24 rechargables for $29!!!

Re:HUH???

[ZephyrXero]

One is probably the length of time the battery retains it's charge as while the other is how long the battery can be recharged until it's unusable... (no, I didn't RTFA...just guessing)

they don't last twice as long ...

[porky_pig_jr]

as the premium, and the best cost-effective solution is NiMH rechargable. See the article in New Your Times - rather thorough review. (no, I don't provide the URL, but it's in tech section).

Article writer REALLY DUMB!

[Nom du Keyboard]

Oxyride batteries are also supposed to deliver more power. The result, the company says, is that battery-operated toothbrushes spin faster, flashlights shine brighter, camera flashes are quicker to recharge and music players produce richer sound.

This is one of the dumbest paragraphs I've seen recently in the (so-called) scientific press.

Is there more current, more voltage, or both? Any of the above is possible from what they say above, and none of these will give you richer sound on your portable music player.

Why not say:
Your battery-operated tooth brush will over-stress its plastic gears.
Flashlights burn out quicker.
Camera flashes let you take more bad family photos quicker than before.
And because you're now using the latest technology, you will even imagine that your portable music player sounds richer than ever.

Then again, who really still expects truth to be found in the NYT?

Re:Article writer REALLY DUMB!

[Phanatic1a]

.2 volts is not going to make a difference. Anything with "complex electronic chips" is likely going to be voltage-regulated anyway, even if it's just with a Zener.

Re:Article writer REALLY DUMB!

[NathanBullock]

NiMH puts out something like 1.2 volts. 1.2 vs 1.7 is starting to be a fairly large spread. My Cannon takes 4 batteries so now we are looking at 4.8 volts vs 6.8 volts. That seems fairly significant.

If I remember correctly Kodak cameras are designed for Lithium Ion or NiMH batteries, Alkaline batteries aren't recommended because they put out too much voltage. This would lead me to believe that these new batteries with even a higher voltage could definately be a problem.

Disposable batteries should be illegal.

[TomRitchford]

A new crop of one-use batteries full of heavy metals unleashed on a world that's generally too irresponsible to have any systematic method of dealing with them -- just what we need! (Yes, I know that there are some places, notably Japan, that do a good job of handling batteries... but that isn't the Good Ol' US of A.)

Re:Disposable batteries should be illegal.

[hey!]

Eh?

It used to be that consumer alkaline batteries (AAs etc) hadn mercury, and technically had to be treated as toxic waste. Energizer, Rayovac and Duracell alkalines have been mercury free for almost fifteen years, and are safe to dispose of in the household waste stream. Duracell goes so far as to use non-toxic inks in the printing on the battery.

If you have some battery that was put into a device in China and does not say "Mercury Free", you might have a problem on your hands.

Re:how are they better

[Waffle Iron]

how are they better than nicklemetalhydride cells?

No self-discharge.

For most devices that you use infrequently, rechargeable batteries are useless because they drain dead in a couple of months even when not in use.

Re:From the previous paragraph

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

So... these batteries produce out-of-spec voltage (more than 1.5V), and this is supposed to be a GOOD thing? It's too bad the writers of the article weren't smart enought to hook the battery up to a simple multimeter to let us know what's really going on

"Rundown" test *is* a real-world scenario.

[Rick Genter]

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.

Another real-world scenario is using AAs in your Belkin Backup Battery Pack for iPod w/Dock Connector (who comes up with these names?), which is pretty much the "leave the power on until they're drained" scenario if your on an all-day hike or an intercontinental flight.