Not quite sure where to put this, I'm going to put it here...

I have been thinking about batteries, and my Legend GPS recently. It seems to go through standard alkaline batteries like a knife through butter, and the "high-performance" batteries like the Energizer Max and Duracell Ultimate batteries don't seem to be much better. I have, however, found that the Energizer Lithium AA batteries(available at Best Buy and Office Depot, possibly also other places) seem to work pretty well. However, for four of those batteries, it's ~$10, and that hardly seems like a good investment. So, the question is, what do ya'll think of the rechargeable NiMH batteries that are available, and/or has anyone found a good brand of rechargeable batteries that seem to work well and have good battery life?

I used to use the Lithium batteries but they were carving a giant hole and my wallet and there life was very unpredictable. Then I found that for the same price as one four pack of lithiums I could get 4 NiMH and a charger for an extra $5 and havent looked back. In my RINO the nimh batteries last a good while. I couldnt give you could numbers because I havent been keeping track but I really like the rechargables!

Happy Hunting!
-Amazingracer

If war protesters don't believe in violence what would they do if we punched them in the nose?

NiMH batteries are a great choice. They have a couple of properties that make them much more convenient than NiCs. One is that they can be rapid-charged without reducing their useful life -- you can rapid-charge NiCd batteries, but it rapidly deteriorates them. Another great property is that they have no memory effect. Run one down 10% or 99%, doesn't matter, charge it and it's still got its full capacity.

I have a couple of sources for good 2000mAh NiMH AA's at decent prices, because I use them in all my ham radio handheld gear as well as the GPS's ... will post a couple links tomorrow from the office.

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I bit on the sale of a 24 pack of AAs at Bass Pro for something cheap like $6.
I would get at least 1 1/2 hours off them .
A set of them were in my Maggie on the night of the Magellan treasure hunt post.
I lost the coords in the parking lot of the park since I had not powered down yet to commit them.

I was gonna put them as trade goodies in one of my caches, but I figured why torture the poor sap who gets them and relies on having enough power to do one cache 5 minutes away.

I did get a cigarette adapter for the car and it has cut down on my between cache battery consumption.

I still haven't gotten rechargables.
Anybody know of any good sales?

Kenneth

I'll have to add my two cents worth about rechargeable NiMHs. I got a set of 8 Energizers, plus the charging unit around a year and a half ago. Haven't noticed any degradation of service, which seems to be around +/-12 hours in my Etrex and set of FRS radios. The only downside is the charger unit which does not have a rapid recharge function, and the recharge is something like 12-14 hours. I have to make sure to plan ahead if I'm going out. I don't know the cost, as I got them as a gift. So, the choice is: use generic alkalines and carry a pound or two of fresh cells to get you through the day, then have to look for sales when you run out; or get some rechargeables and be set for batteries for all your devices for the next 2-3 years or longer :thumb

The Radio Shack here in Macon sells 4 AA NiMH plus rapid charger (Approx 90min for full recharge) for either $30 or $35 I cant remember so I would check Radio Shacks in your area first cause thats a good deal. Batteries normally $20 and a rapid charger Runs $20+ So I recommend the Radio Shack deal!

Happy Hunting!
-Amazingracer

If war protesters don't believe in violence what would they do if we punched them in the nose?

Just remembered I had promised some info on battery suppliers. The two best in my opinion:

BATTERY-TECH, INC.
800 South Broadway
Hicksville, NY 11801
(800) 442-4275
http://www.ebatterytech.com

BATTERIES AMERICA
2211-D Parview Road
Middleton, Wisconsin 53562
800-308-4805 (orders)
608-831-3443 (technical)
http://www.batteriesamerica.com/

Both places sell high-capacity NiMH batteries -- the ones Radio Shack sells are typically 1600-1800 mAh. From these suppliers you can get 2100mAh cells -- longer life between charges!

These guys also have every cellphone, pager, and HT battery imaginable at a pretty good price.

Scott

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I've done some looking and can't find what I'm looking for. Heck, I don't even know if it exists.

I'm looking for a solar-powered AA battery charger. Rather than carry a pocketful of alkalines, I'd like to be able to recharge off the grid.

Suggestions? (No, I won't do that!)

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Ra! Ra! Ra!

Well a google search for solar battery charger gets a bunch of hits. Also I knew someone who years ago bought a Multi-Volt Output Solar Panel from Edmund Scientifics to charge batteries.

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Some of those that wander are lost!

kewl

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Ra! Ra! Ra!

...this topic has come up before. I didn't find the particular link I was looking for but a search for "NiMH" brought up several items. So concider this post to be an "indirect markwell". (The information is out there.)

I can't remember where I bought my NiMH batteries but with 3 GPSs, camera, MP, & assorted other power consuming devises I finally made a bulk purchase of 48 so I would have 2 sets of batteries (backups) for everything. I'm up to 3 chargers also. I'd still be interested in finding a charger that would charge 8 batteries at once. It would have to be able to charge cells individually. ie 1-8 The Rino's use 3 AA batteries and it really doesn't work well charging batteries in pairs.

I've got a 1hr fast charger from Energizer that can do 1-4 AAs or AAAs - picked it up at WallyWorld. Each slot has its own LED indicator.

Can't recommend the site or the chargers www.megabatteries.com as I haven't purchased from them but they have 8 bank chargers that can be charged in multiples of 2. But you could probably easily google it and find what you're looking for.

For DaRebel: We noticed a small, portable solar panel at REI right after Saturday's meeting. I didn't investigate it, but it may be something you can link up to charge small batteries. My experience with solar chargers (in campers and trailers) is the panel is only good for keeping batteries at full charge, not bringing them up from zero.

Based on cost efficiency, NiMH rechargeable batteries are by far the best way to go if you use a lot of batteries. The biggest drawback to NiMH is that they self-discharge rapidly ... e.g., if you leave fully charged NiMH batteries unused for three weeks, they will be about half discharged. So if you use your battery powered device infrequently, this could be inconvenient since you may need to recharge the batteries between uses. I use NiMH batteries in my GPS, digital camera, cellphone, and PDA.

You can get 4 AA NiMH batteries with an overnight charger for about $13 at Micro Center. These have worked well for me.

FWIW,
CharlieP

I chimed in on this same topic sometime last year and wanted to restate something what I learned before going completely to NIMH.

The "fast chargers" that you see on the shelves of Wal Mart, K-Mart and Radio Shack have the reputation of charging your batteries at the cost of intense heat. Unfortunately these types of batteries do not like to be cooked. (Nor does anything flammible around them. I think Ed has a story about this. You can actually burn yourself taking these batteries out of the chargers.)

Presently the higher capacity batteries on the market are 2300 -2500 mah. They are expected to last about 1000 charges. Unfortunately if you cook them once their life expectancy really drops.

IMHO I would look for a computer chip controlled charger instead of a really fast charger. I bought a charger from MAH (I think it was the 204) that I am extremely pleased with. AC/DC, four cells, computer chip controlled, automatic discharge . . . no fires.