Wiki: Are rechargeables worth it?

A quick one here, feedback welcome

NT

Are rechargeables worth it?

Good AA rechargeables ones now give similar capacity to [[alkaline]], aroun= d 2.8Ah. At =A31.50 a cell lasting 500 charges that's 0.3p per charge. Alka= line AAs at 17p each are thus 56x the cost.

Zinc carbons are much cheaper per battery, but give even less capacity per = cost.

The cost of the recharging [[electricity]] is trivial. A 2.5Ah 1.2v cell ho= lds 3 watthours, or 0.003 kWh. Allowing for inefficiencies, 0.005kWh costs =

0.005x13p =3D 0.065p. You can recharge 15 for a penny.
  • Alkaline cost: 17p each
  • Rechargeable cost plus electricity: 0.365p

Where capacity isn't so important, [[cheap]] rechargeables at half the pric= e typically give around 1/3 the capacity.

=3D=3DSee also=3D=3D [[Alkaline battery]] [[NiMH battery]]

[[Category:Batteries]]
Reply to
meow2222
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On Monday 28 January 2013 16:21 snipped-for-privacy@care2.com wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Yes...

Having been down this route *a lot* of equipment does not like running at

1.2V per cell. This stymied it for me completely - I was recharging remotes virtually 2-3 times a week to get the voltage high enough for it to work.

I gave up and buy bulk batteries (good alkalines that last for ages) from CPC.

Reply to
Tim Watts

2.8Ah. At £1.50 a cell lasting 500 charges that's 0.3p per charge. Alkaline AAs at 17p each are thus 56x the cost.
3 watthours, or 0.003 kWh. Allowing for inefficiencies, 0.005kWh costs 0.005x13p = 0.065p. You can recharge 15 for a penny.

typically give around 1/3 the capacity.

I found they aren't viable in digital cameras which take AA's. The lower voltage of the rechargables causes the cameras to decide they're too flat in a very short time, so you get only a very few pictures before they need recharging. This was true of both HP and Canon cameras. Indeed, a set of the Energizer Lithium AA's probably outlasted very many tens of charging cycles of NiMH batteries, and I gave up trying to use rechargables.

You need to factor the inconvenience of having to change batteries and carrying spares/chargers, not just look at cost.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

2.8Ah. At £1.50 a cell lasting 500 charges that's 0.3p per charge. Alkaline AAs at 17p each are thus 56x the cost.

holds 3 watthours, or 0.003 kWh. Allowing for inefficiencies, 0.005kWh costs

0.005x13p = 0.065p. You can recharge 15 for a penny.

typically give around 1/3 the capacity.

I use NiMH batteries in a Fuji 9500, and they last about as long as the Akalines when I'm wandering round taking pictures of an afternoon. Either way, it's a couple of hours actual "camera on" time. If I'm out for the day, the spare set of rechargeables and a set of alkalines don't take up much pocket space. The trick is to make sure both sets of rechargeables are charged fully the night before.

I have had the same experience on all the Fuji digital cameras I've used.

I believe some cameras have a menu setting to choose the battery type, but I could be wrong. I know my Zoom H2 sound recorder has.

Reply to
John Williamson

A while ago there was a company selling 1.5V rechargeable alkalines (aka RAM batteries) which aren't quite as efficient as NiMh etc, and need a different charger... They were sold as "Pure alkaline" and various 'green'-themed brands like "Owl". Unfortunately they seem no longer to exist, new anywhere. It's still possible to find some on eg ebay - I've just bought another 24 cells from someone in the US.

Reply to
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts

But remotes tend to last for ages using alkalines. Many years here. Things like mouses, not.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

On Monday 28 January 2013 17:05 Jeremy Nicoll - news posts wrote in uk.d-i- y:

Given absolute efficiency is not that important, I'll see if I can find these - thanks - I have never heard of them.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Reply to
Java Jive

On Monday 28 January 2013 17:02 John Williamson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

After tests, I use lithium *primary cells* in the one camera I have that takes AAs. Migh tbe more expensive but a set of 4 will go for about 2 years of random use whereas a set of Duracells ran out in pretty short order.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Different usage pattern to me, then. My cameras get used intensively all day for a week or so at irregular intervals. Nothing will last a full day when I'm taking anywhere from 60 to 200 pictures, and framing up anywhere up to 500, amd ignoring half of them as not being good enough. I even need to carry spare batteries for the ones that use a specific Lithium rechargeable.

And that's before I start shooting video....

Reply to
John Williamson

Daughters Samsung camera has.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Rechargeable alkalines aren't really rechargeable, they're more revitalisable. At best they can manage 6 charges, and doing so much increases the risk of leakage.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

I have never really though of (normal) remotes (or any other low drain application) being suited to rechargeable use. The exception to that would be things like Wii remotes, which will eat you out of house and home on dry batteries eventually. (the inductive charging replacement packs are probably the best compromise there)

I do that, but also use 2.7Ah NiMh AAs for certain applications.

Reply to
John Rumm

I wonder if I'm describing the same thing? I mean the cells described at:

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bought some in 2008 to experiment with and then bought more later in the same year. At first I did not keep track of which ones I used together, nor how long they lasted for &/ how often they needed recharged. In 2010 I'd had a few instances of cells that didn't ever show as fully charged in the charger (but still worked ok, perhaps not for quite as long as at first), so I numbered the cells and started to keep track of which ones were in which devices, when they needed changed, and whether or not an iffy charging process actually much affected their life. I'm still using cells that were bought in 2008.

I think I'd agree that they don't work as well as NiCd or NiMh, but I've found them more economic than dry cells.

Reply to
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts

I use Eneloop AAs with my Canon S2. Works fine for me, and I do a lot of zooming.

Reply to
stuart noble

I must be lucky then, I don't have any equipment that objects to rechargeables, I did have one set of Maplin LSD NiMH batteries that one camera seemed to object to, they seem ok with other kit, and other batteries seem ok in that camera, maybe they need a "running in" a bit first?

All my torches are now LED, so seem to wring the last dregs out of rechargeables.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Digital cameras are supposed to be one of the places rechargables work better than alkalines - but maybe HP and Canon are the exceptions there. My Ricoh ones a few years ago did quite well on them.

Nowadays the li-ion batteries they come with last ages, so I'd not bother with a camera which takes AAs.

Reply to
Clive George

version 2:

Good AA rechargeables ones now give similar capacity to [[Alkaline battery|= alkaline]], around 2.8Ah. At =A31.50 a cell lasting 500 charges that's 0.3p= per charge. Alkaline AAs at 17p each are thus 56x the cost.

Zinc carbons are much cheaper per battery, but give even less capacity per = cost.

The cost of the recharging [[electricity]] is trivial. A 2.5Ah 1.2v cell ho= lds 3 watthours, or 0.003 kWh. Allowing for inefficiencies, 0.005kWh costs =

0.005x13p =3D 0.065p. You can recharge 15 for a penny.
  • Alkaline cost: 17p each
  • Rechargeable cost plus electricity: 0.365p

Where capacity isn't so important, [[cheap]] rechargeables at half the pric= e typically give around 1/3 the capacity.

=3D=3DWhen they're not as good=3D=3D With LED devices such as torches or remote controls, rechargeables' lower v= oltage reduces light output or range, making the batteries run longer.

Rechargeables don't last as long in very low drain apps such as clocks, due= to gradual self discharge.

There are still some appliances that won't work with rechargeables, such as= a minority of cameras.

=3D=3DSee also=3D=3D [[Alkaline battery]] [[NiMH battery]]

[[Category:Batteries]]
Reply to
meow2222

minority of cameras.

And remote thermometer sensors. Especially in cold weather.

Reply to
polygonum

I found NiMh AA cells worked much better than alkalines in my Canon powershot. The camera would reject the alkalines after less than 10 shots.

Reply to
Mark

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