fredrussell
Well-Known Member
Kentli do 1.5v 3000mAh on Amazon. £8 each! Crikey.
Rechargeable batteries revelation
- Thread starter lustyd
- Start date
lustyd
Well-Known Member
Ah the old using a different unit to make something look better trick! They are in fact 3000mWh rather than mAh but either way at £8 that's a no from me!
fredrussell
Well-Known Member
Ah, my bad, missed that. That fabulous price does include a crapulous charger, to be fair.
TernVI
Well-Known Member
Lithium AA cells are a problem. AA is nominally 1.5V, the various Lithium chemistries are nominally 3 point something.
Since torches and bike lights went LED, alkaline is appropriate.
I have a middling camera which uses AAs, it was never happy on rechargeables, I got a lithium pack which works nicely.
I have a couple of other gadgets which run on Lithium and one of those USB lithium power banks which means I can recharge most of this stuff anywhere and then recharge the bank from the car or any phone charger.
What legacy gadgets do people have tying them to AA rechargeables?
Since torches and bike lights went LED, alkaline is appropriate.
I have a middling camera which uses AAs, it was never happy on rechargeables, I got a lithium pack which works nicely.
I have a couple of other gadgets which run on Lithium and one of those USB lithium power banks which means I can recharge most of this stuff anywhere and then recharge the bank from the car or any phone charger.
What legacy gadgets do people have tying them to AA rechargeables?
anoccasionalyachtsman
Well-Known Member
Maglite torches, radio door bells, wall clocks, tv/audio remotes, reserve battery packs for slr cameras, head torches, dictaphone, keyboards, mice, hand held gps, spare batteries for hand-held vhfs, emergency nav lights and cordless 'phones.
anoccasionalyachtsman
Well-Known Member
I've had one of these for, it turns out, 11 years and it's still doing a good job. I note that it was £7 cheaper back then, and that they now do a turbo version for even more lupins. I've used Eneloops for 8 years and they seem to be lasting/holding as well as they ever did. Some contrast with previous NiCad experience!
Maha/Powerex charger.
The curious thing us that if I charge AAA cells on it and then put them into a cordless 'phone, the 'phone will show them as only nearly full, and the 'phone's own charger will add a bit more. I must get around to measuring the actual V sometime.
Edit. ps. I've never used the Maha discharge function on NiMh, not felt the need but anyone know if it a good or bad thing to do?
Maha/Powerex charger.
The curious thing us that if I charge AAA cells on it and then put them into a cordless 'phone, the 'phone will show them as only nearly full, and the 'phone's own charger will add a bit more. I must get around to measuring the actual V sometime.
Edit. ps. I've never used the Maha discharge function on NiMh, not felt the need but anyone know if it a good or bad thing to do?
lustyd
Well-Known Member
but apart from Maglite torches, radio door bells, wall clocks, tv/audio remotes, reserve battery packs for slr cameras, head torches, dictaphone, keyboards, mice, hand held gps, spare batteries for hand-held vhfs, emergency nav lights and cordless 'phones, what have the
TernVI
Well-Known Member
Maglites, change to LED
Door bells clocks, remotes, mice, keyboards all better off with alkaline.
Cordless phone surely has its own charging base and wired cells probably AAA?
I use alkalines for my HH GPS, I think I put two sets in it in 2019.
SLR camera, you can probably get a Lithium pack for?
I tend to keep AAs which have been used in high current things like the HH GPS or a powerful torch, I finish them off in mice and keyboards.
The things we might use rechargeable AAs for now don't justify replacing them when a reserve set of alkalines is cheaper and more reliable.
If I used my HH VHF or GPS every week it would be different, both are old and only get used now and then, but do get carried more often.
The last gasp of our NimHs was some xmas light sets.
I've still got some wired pairs of AAAs from the last cordless phones, might see if they will still run a garden solar light.
lustyd
Well-Known Member
Why do you think things are better off with Alkaline? My modern NiMh batteries last slightly longer than Alkalines but are rechargeable
anoccasionalyachtsman
Well-Known Member
I knew I'd be wrong.
TernVI
Well-Known Member
A lot of things use so little current that a NimH battery will self discharge or die of old age before it's covered the cost of the alkalines it replaces.
Using them on low current devices, unless you keep charging them, they spend too long at low states of charge.
If you leave a rechargeable in say a torch for a year, chances are it won't work when you want it, while an alkaline will.
We used to build a lot of 'stuff' with NimHs in, we stopped doing that a few years back because the quality of NimHs seemed to drop off, it spurred us to either use lithiums or design for less current and use primary cells.
For most people it's not like the old days when the alternative was new ever-ready batteries in your bike lights every week.
If you've got something where you're changing the batteries every week or maybe month it might be different, but then it might be time for a new toy with Lithium built in?
lustyd
Well-Known Member
This isn't the case with modern ones so may be worth you giving them another go.
LiftyK
Well-Known Member
Hi, I completely agree and do the same.
William_H
Well-Known Member
As said lithium batteries called 14500 are AA sized but they do give 3.7 volts up t 4 volts so no good as a replacement for AA batteries alkaline or NIMH.
One option is NI Zn rechargeable giving 1.5 volts or even a bit more. Not too expensive but need a different charger to get full charge and auto turn off charge. I have some here but haven't used them enough to recommend certainly might be better in a camera where NiMH are just too low in volts to start with. ol'will
One option is NI Zn rechargeable giving 1.5 volts or even a bit more. Not too expensive but need a different charger to get full charge and auto turn off charge. I have some here but haven't used them enough to recommend certainly might be better in a camera where NiMH are just too low in volts to start with. ol'will
lustyd
Well-Known Member
Was just looking for another thread and realised I never reported back properly. This charger has fixed everything about the batteries and will quite happily charge just one or three, and will return them all to the same voltage. As such even "old and broken" batteries now work just fine and last as well as when new. I suspect this is at the root of a lot of concerns about rechargeable batteries, but my Duracell ones last as well as normal non rechargeables and don't seem to suffer over time now i have this charger.