Any recommendations for AA NIMH battery charger?

[Mike Lane]

On Tue, 7 Apr 2009 14:46:42 +0100, The Crimson King wrote (in article ):

I must say that I agree with this - I decided to give up on rechargeables a year or more ago, and my life has been considerably simpler ever since.

I have literally dozens of devices about the house which use AA cells - clocks, timers, thermometers, remote controls, even my mouse and keyboard, and the last time I had to change a battery was about a couple of months ago. If I have two spend a couple of pounds every month or two on a set of alkalines, it's worth it to me. Life's too short for me to play mother-hen to a set of batteries!

[Dave Liquorice]

All low power devices, our clocks, smoke detectors and other low power things also have alkalines in.

But we also have a couple of things that kill 3 AAA alkaline cells each = in

4 days. That would come to about =A310/month from Poundland. Well into m= oney saving including the capital cost of batteries and charger after a coupl= e of months...

[Dave Liquorice]

Hum, =A31 buys me more or less 10kwHr of mains electricity. These must b= e some batteries with that amount of energy stored in them...

[Roger]

The message from "john jardine" contains these words:

Anyone any thoughts on the HYBRIO batteries they also rave about?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Well yes, but all the things you mention are low power devices. The situation changes with higher power ones.

[john]

I had to google up on those. Looks like Uniross are moving into Lithium tech. Pricey but the low self discharge is a massive benefit and surely sounds the death knell on Nicads etc . Should turn up at Poundstretcher and I'm having some!.

[Mike Lane]

On Tue, 7 Apr 2009 19:43:00 +0100, Dave Liquorice wrote (in article ):

Well I don't know - I don't use anything that needs to be carried around and yet uses that much power. Some high power torches I suppose, but I need to use one so rarely that it still doesn't amount to much.

My most power-hungry portable device is a digital camera (a Canon Powershot) which uses 4 AAs. I started off following the usual advice and using rechargeables, but on holiday (when I use the camera most) it was a nightmare. I needed to carry around a spare set of 4 as they always seemed to be failing at a crucial time and then every evening I was fussing around making sure both sets were fully charged for the following day. Then I discovered Lithium AAs. They're a bit pricey at about £8 a set, but I can take around 1000 pictures with a single set of 4 (well over a year's use for me) plus they weigh about half as much so the camera feels noticeably lighter

[chris French]

In message , Roger writes

I've got some of those, as well as Sanyo Eneloop and the Ansmann equivalent. I assume they are all based on the same sort of modification to the chemistry?

They seem to do what it says on the tin as regards retaining charge. You can put them in something like a remote and it will last for ages before needing charging whereas a standard NiMH battery would have self discharged in a few weeks or so. Whether there is any great advantage in that sort of usage, as comapred to just using a few alkaline cells is a moot point given the extra cost of them.

I find them useful for things like my little DAB radio which rather eats batteries compared to a small analogue radio As I can always have a charged up set available without finding the charge has depleted so much for sitting on the shelf.

Not really so useful for the digital camera as we are probably changing the batteries every few days anyway as we use it so mcuh

[Mike Lane]

On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 00:55:19 +0100, chris French wrote (in article ):

I use Lithium AAs in my Canon Powershot camera (which are not rechargeable). They're a bit pricey but I find that one set of 4 will give me around 1000 pictures. For me that's over a year of use.

[T i m]

I think some of the problem can be down to the device being able to tell what batteries there are in there and hence what voltage constitutes 'flat'? I have a couple of little Fuji F420's cameras that take (and eat) AAA's. I currently have 800mA NiMH's in there but even straight off charge it's showing 'Low battery' pretty quickly. However it carries on working for quite some time after that? My old Garmin GPS V takes 4 x AA and has a setting for different battery types so it knows more accurately what whatever battery type is actually going flat.

Interesting. I think I would only risk such a purchase if the device in question had auto power off! Nothing more frustrating (or expensive) as fitting a new set of decent cells to something and then just flattening them in the draw. ;-(

Talking of self discharge though. I've had NiMH's in both TV remotes and a PP3 version in a DMM and they have been ok for ages?

A neighbour has a basic model Fuji and if you leave the batteries in it flattens anything within a few days! ;-(

T i m

[Andy Burns]

I have some of the Sony EneLoop iones and have found them to be very good, I left one set exactly as they arrived in the packet for over a year, put them into a digital camera and they were quite happy taking plenty of pictures, I also use them in TV remotes and wireless mice now, they seem to last *much* longer than the 2600mAh NiMHs.

I got some Maplin Hybrids which so far don't seem very good, or or two items of equipment think they are flat when the charger says they are fully charged.

[Andy Burns]

Actually the Sony name is CyclEnergy (but they are licensed from Sanyo)

[Mike Lane]

On Tue, 7 Apr 2009 22:56:25 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote (in article ):

Really my point is that any device which needs constant changing of batteries is badly designed (presumably for cheapness). If it's that power-hungry it should be designed with its own built in charging system and batteries like a mobile phone or laptop. It's this fiddling about changing batteries every few days that a lot of people seem to rather enjoy but drives me crazy and should be quite unnecessary. I certainly find it is.

[dennis]

Oh yes!..

put four alkalines in my flash gun and they will be flat after about 60 flashes whereas NiMh will last double and you can recharge them.

Buy some decent low leakage (pre charged) NiMh and forget alkaline.

[Dave Liquorice]

Aye, took my Asda special =A310 radio off the shelf after the winter the= other day. Flat as a pancake it has an LCD clock I can only assume that =

that takes enough juice to flatten 4 x AA alkalines in a few months.

Fortunately it has a real slide on/off switch rather than a soft switch = so I'll modify it so that off really is off...

[dennis]

The latest low leakage NiMh are fine in low power applications. I have some in my clocks and remotes, I may even have to charge them sometime as they have not yet been charged and that is after six months.

[Big Les Wade]

Mike Lane posted

My digital camera is very sensitive to the cells' charge state; it won't even turn on unless they are pretty fresh. I used to use NiCd cells, which were just about satisfactory, but they're now banned and you can't get them. The NiMH cells now sold in shops are useless for the purpose; they fail after a few shots.

These are non-rechargeables?

[Mike Lane]

On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 11:00:21 +0100, Big Les Wade wrote (in article ):

Yes

[T i m]

I've just taken (a fairly expensive) alarm off the 250cc scooter for the same reason. That seemed to kill a new SLA battery in a week. ;-(

They are nice aren't they, knowing there is a good 1mm gap in the wire from the battery. ;-)

T i m

[Dave Liquorice]

Oh great more wall warts to clutter the place up, get lost or not be with you when you need it. Far simpler to have standard sized batteries and a single charger. At least you can always buy standard batteries from a corner shop or garage should you need to, can't do that with kit that has built in or proprietary batteries.

It's this fiddling about with multiple, incompatible, chargers every few days that a lot of people seem to rather enjoy but drives me crazy and should be quite unnecessary.