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Which Rechargeable Batteries Do You Use?
kramer2718 asks: "I go through a lot of batteries in my digital camera, remote controls, etc. I'd like to go to the rechargeable route for the environment and for my pocketbook, but I don't know which rechargeable batteries are the best. Can anyone out there give me some advice about which brand and types of batteries work well?"
Lithium-ion ones made by Sony.
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18 pack of ray o vac NIMH's. Energizer charger.
Further, I made an effort to simplify devices around them:
1. My flashlights use them
2. My mp3 player uses them
3. The flash on my canon XT uses them
4. I bought a bluetooth headset that uses them ( 1 x aaa ) Motorola H300
5. My wireless mice use them ( both use 2 x aa )
YMMV, but NIMHs are a good way to go. LiPo and LiIon I dont think are really as common or as inexpensive.
I have no connection to this company, other than being a satisfied customer, but what you want to do is to purchase Powerex NiMH batteries, and a MAHA - MH-C204W Smart World Travel Conditioning Battery Charger.
Then you will be a satisified customer too.
I'll create an amusing sig when I have something meaningful to post.
Your experience is seriously out-of-date, and just about the exact opposite of reality now.
1) The more batteries a device has, the more chance that there will be a problem. Anything that only uses 2 batteries will be fine. 4 should be okay as well. 6-8 and you've got a real issue. In that case, some higher-end devices have extra compartments for extra rechargable batteries. On my Sega Nomad, I added a couple myself.
2) Panasonic's NiCD batteries are rated at 1.25 volts, which helps.
3) Alkaline batteries offer lower voltages over time, as they become drained, so just about everything has to be able to operate on 1.2V anyhow, otherwise it will have horendous battery life. NiCD batteries, unlike Alkalines, will hold their 1.2V until they're almost completely drained. That works great in most modern devices, but is considered a drawback in flashlights because you get no warning.
4) But more than that. Modern Ni-MH batteries, though rated at 1.2V, really offer 1.5V (in my own tests) when freshly charged, and slowly go down, like Alkalines.
This hasn't been true for over a decade.
1) "High capacity" AA NiCDs from Radioshack (850mAH?) have just slightly less power than Alkalines, and have been sold for at least a decade now.
2) High Capacity AA Panasonic NiCDs (1100mAH) last as long or longer than Alkalines, DESPITE the lower voltage of NiCD.
3) NiMH AA batteries, as sold by Energizer and Duracell (2000+ mAH), last nearly TWICE as long as disposible Alkaline batteries.
1) True for NiCD, but absolutely not true for NiMH. NiMH batteries will hold their charge for months.
2) I haven't seen an always-on charger in well over a decade. So your experience is obviously very out-of-date, and not remotely applicable or helpful.
3) Recent batteries and chargers have gotten charge time down to 30 minutes, so unless you are in a situation desperately need a battery R
4) Leaving NiCD batteries constantly charging will significantly reduces their lifespan. That may have been causing some of the other issues you listed.
1) Really crappy NiCDs, under an extremely heavy duty cycle, may have the life you describe. The better ones will last far longer. And in more realistic usage, even the crappy ones will last far more than a year.
2) NiMH have no such problems. They'll last for many more years, and exhibit very little capacity loss.
Not true. With NiMH batteries, EVERYTHING I have is operating on rechargables.
Yeah, 20 years ago that was a real problem. Ever since, it's been trivially easy.
It's been overwhelmingly proven, time and time again, in study after study, that you save significant money, even with the cheapest, oldest rechargables.
Today, the situtation is worlds better, and extremely clear-cut.
Tell me, does your laptop computer operate on disposible Alkaline AA batteries, or does it use rechargeables? How about your iPod?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I'm afraid you're mistaken about the "memory effect". There never was a memory effect in consumer-grade batteries, NiCd or NiMH. What people experienced, and what was called "memory effect" was in fact overcharging due to crappy timer-based chargers.
When you put a partially-charged cell into a timer-based charger, the charging circuit won't shut off until well after the cell is cooked, thus the directions to fully discharge the battery before recharging.
However, with modern electronically controlled chargers (Such as the Energizer 30 or 15-minute NiMH charger) this is no longer an issue, and the wear on the battery caused by deep cycling far exceeds any risk of overcharging the cell.
My suggestion is to use NiMH cells in anything that tends to wear down the batteries fairly quickly (cameras, portable electronics, etc) and get a GOOD charger; a charger rated for 30 minutes or below will be electronically controlled and will maximize cell life. Be prepared to spend $50 on a charger.
For any low drain applications such as remote controls, smoke alarms, flashlights etc, your best bet is to use the non-rechargable lithium batteries that have recently become available in AA and AAA sizes. Unlike NiMH, NiCd and Alkaline to a lesser extent, Lithium batteries do not self-discharge over time, so they're perfect for applications where you want a long shelf life between uses. Lithiums also perform well in high-drain devices, but other cell types are much less expensive for such uses ('titanium' alkaline or NiMH).
(captcha on this post is 'loosing', no wonder nobody around here can spell 'losing')