Batteries and chargers

[Chris J Dixon]

There is now a Wii in the house, so I need to get my act together to keep its various bits supplied with power.

Is this about the best bet for rechargeable AA batteries?

I know that charging stands (with special battery packs) are available, but since the documentation specifically cautions against in-situ charging, I am unsure if these would invalidate the warranty. There certainly seem to be some tales of woe amongst product reviews.

I notice that "conditioning" chargers such as

are available, at a price.

I can see that this might enable me to rehabilitate, or classify as unrecoverable some of my existing battery collection.

Has anyone had a good experience with this, or something like it? Alternatively is it simply a better economic solution to scrap the old batteries, and stick with my existing charger?

Chris

[Toby]

I would recommend you get some of the hybrid NIMH batteries (Enloop are Sanyo's brand), as they have a far, far lower self discharge rate, so when you don't use the Wii for a few months, they will still be good to go, and not flat.

Maplin sell them (at price!) I expect a similar version is available cheaper

[John Rumm]

Seems like a decent price if the cells are of decent quality. There are some ebay sellers that do similar deals.

I have one very "smart" charger for AAs that can do capacity measurements, various charge currents etc. It can give you a good idea of the cell capacity, but I am not sure it can do much for knackered cells other than identify them. The very smart ones can also have difficulty if the cell voltage falls too far (either from auto discharge or getting reverse biased in an appliance due to cell mismatch), then they refuse to charge the cell at all. I find in those cases a couple of mins in a slightly dumber smart charger will be enough to have the posh one recognise and charge them again.

[Bernard Peek]

Also consider their "good to go" range.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Bernard Peek saying something like:

And have a look at

for Eneloops and Vapex Instant low self-discharge. I recommend these sellers.

[JoeJoe]

[AlanD]

I have a cheapo charging stand for the kids Wii - the original controller battery cover is replaced with the supplied battery pack with contacts on the back if it's cover. Charges when placed in the stand. Has been in daily use for over a year with now issues.

[Mark]

Personally I'd avoid a cheap charger as they can overcharge batteries and even "smart" chargers often charge batteries as a set. I use a Maha fast charger, which is very good, albeit expensive.

[1501]

One thing to be aware of when using rechargeable batteries where the kit may have been designed for dry cells is the probability/ possibility of batteries appearing flat prematurely. There isn't a huge difference in the voltage generated by a flat dry cell and that of a half charged NiCd or NiMH cell.

Many of the guys running RC planes and boats run the receivers on 5 rechargeable cells (at 1.2V each) instead of 4 dry cells (at 1.5V each) to overcome this problem.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Rechargeables tend to have a flatter voltage discharge curve than alkalines.

It really depends on design. If a device needs a constant voltage supply it has likely got a PS which will work just fine with the lower voltage.

With something like a model plane the flying time might be more important than saving money by changing rechargeables more often than alkaline. Most devices have a built in battery container so don't offer an easy option of using an extra cell.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No. most RC guys run on FOUR cells (4.8v)

Dry cells have not been part of the receiver scene since the mid 60's

They use 5 cells (6v) for faster and more powerful servo response.

[John MacLeod]

bit slow with dispatch, perhaps, but reliable. And you can always go them through Quidco or Topcash and get it a bit cheaper.

John

[Bernard Peek]

There's an exemption from VAT for goods worth less than about £18 so they sometimes split orders into multiple small shipments. When I've used them I've had reasonably prompt delivery. I allow allow an extra day for the ferry to get across the channel.

[Skipweasel]

Mostly they've moved to LiPo batteries anyway.

[The Natural Philosopher]

For flight power yes, but not the IC or glider boys.

Some use Lipos with 5v regulators on, but most still use nickel

[robgraham]

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+1 on the 'dead' cells, John.

I've got an intelligent charger that controls the charge independently to four cells and can be programmed to 'Refresh', where it does multiple charge/discharge cycles until the cells are showing a constant capacity. Typically with 'dead' cells they do end up taking near enough their labelled capacity. The charger is labelled La Crosse - whether this is original or badged I don't know but it cost me =A340 probably over 5 years ago.

Rob

[Tony Bryer]

Here the exemption from GST (sales tax) is AS1000, about £650. One of our prominent retailers has just led a campaign against this, as being unfair to local retailers. This backfired spectacularly with newspaper reports telling everyone they could save 40% buying online

[chris French]

In message , Mark writes

I do have a decent charger (ansmann), but also have one of the Wii charging stands - was given to us as a gift about a year ago. It's worked fine. It probably isn't an especially smart charger, I don't know. But it's just a few sets of AAA batteries, they'll probably still last for years.

It wasn't great shakes to change the batteries, but it is more convenient, and does give us somewhere to put the remotes rather than just ahving them lying about