AA batteries

[DonMuncy]

Some time ago, in a fit of genius, I decided that with all the AA batteries I go through, with hand-held NavCom, flashlights, etc., I would buy a batch of rechargeable batteries and save a lot of money recharging them. It has been a dismal failure. The life of the rechargeable ones seems about half (not an accurate measure; just gut impression) that of ordinary ones. Frequently one of my devices will cease to operate and I will measure the voltage and find one of the rechargeables will be completely dead.

Has anyone else found this to be the case. I just bought the off-brand variety sold by Fryes. Do you think another (name) brand would do any better.

I think I will just consume all the ones I have in my shower cleaner/sprayer, home flashlights etc. and keep replacing the ones in my more important devices with non-rechargeables.

[Hector]

I purchased the Eneloop brand which are quite good, but unfortunately I don't have the discipline to keep them charged and eventually went back to regular alkaline batteries.

[Marauder]

I went through a Ni-Cd rechargeable phase and came to the same conclusion you did. Between the memory issue of charging them without fully discharging, finding one dying before the rest and just keeping track of how long one would last before I could expect to find it dead in the device -- it was easier and more reliable to keep a good supply of alkaline batteries. I think I read or saw lithium rechargeables  available now. If that is true, it might be worthwhile revisiting it.

[Riq]

I use lsd nimh's from hobbyking in about everything.

 

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=25023&buddycode=5938E721-23DA-4749-9817-B026A092704A

 

The kids and I have about 60 in devices, and they last a long time, and me being into rc aircraft of all sorts have all sorts of ways of charging them.

 

They are Low Self Discharge; they hold a charge a long time. Ive had some in my king portable radio for about 3 years without recharging them, and used it again today while working on the plane.

 

Granted, you do get a bad one every now and then, but rarely, and they are cheap, a lot cheaper than feeding the devices alkalines.

[larryb]

Cheap alkalines bought by the 40-pack at Costco for $10 work best for me. NiCads do not work well in infrequently used devices. Self-discharge is high, and capacity is low. An alkaline AA cells has 2400mah, an AA nicad has about 500mah fully charged. That means your Alkaline will last about 5x the time of a nicad. Lithium Ion is much better than nicad.

 

Larry

[OR75]

makes sense ...

 

Only two things you can try to do to minimize the pain associated with managing batteries:

 

1) use wired devices when you can (via cigarette lighter)

 

2) use the same type of batteries (AA usually although some OEM use 9V batteries)

[chrisk]

+1 on the cheap alkalines.  Cosco, Sams, Amazon, etc.

[Jeff_S]

When I went to the wireless trackpad device for my new iMac I also decided to try the rechargeable batteries from Apple. My experience mimics those of other posters. Even when fully charged coming out of the charger, when you put them in the device they register with only about 60% of power left, and they wear down much more quickly.  The regular batteries lasted about 4 months, the rechargeables less than 2.

 

But I do FEEL greener!

[KSMooniac]

eneloop batteries are most excellent, and will change your opinion if you give them a try.  I just use them at home, though, because I haven't purchased enough to feed headsets yet.  They're great in remotes, and the CR123A versions for flashlights.

[Hank]

I bought some good NiMH rechargeables for my handheld radio; I recharge them before every long trip. I also carry a second battery pack full of Duracells "just in case." Prices on the rechargables have really come down.

 

NiMH doesn't develop memory like NiCADs do, they hold the charge for months when not in use, and are generally far superior. Don't recall the brand, but I think it has lots of blue and silver in the logo.

[N601RX]

Rechargeable batteries (NiMH) do not have the same cell voltage as regular batteries. It is about .25 volts less than regular batteries.  Many products don't seem to care, but I have saw some things that will not work correctly with them.

 

The good thing about them is that their output voltage is constant as they are discharged.

[N201MKTurbo]

If you have an IKEA near by, I have found they have the highest quality AAs for the money...

[jnisley]

Been there done that on rechargeables, I'm back to buying Energizer or Duracell brand from Home Depot (36 pack) I don't like cheap brand batteries.

[yvesg]

This reminds me of my IFR practical test a year and a half ago:

I prepared an IFR croscountry and had to explain it to the examiner. His first question was: OK, assume you take off IFR and then at 1000 feet, you get a COM failure... what do you do?

The answer: I change the transponder code to signal my issue... and then I reach in my pocket for my cell phone and call the tower.

His answer: OK lets assume that you don't have a cell on board.

My answer: Then I reach in my flight bag and I pull my ICOM portable...

He said: OK lets assume that your batteries are dead?

I said: Don't think this could happen as I pull from my flight bag a pack of 36 AAs batteries.

He broke in laughter...

He took a picture and told me... This is going to transport Canada!

Yves