Rechargable Batteries Know How

[Edge705]

Ive done a bit of reading and apprently the bigger the ampere per hour rating the better the battery is this tru?

Im looking for a set of rechargeables for my fibre flares and my new drift x170 helmet camera one takes AA's the other AAA's Ive got some rechargeable at the mo 1300mah AA and 800mah AAA and whilst they seem ok they do lose their effectiveness after a short period of time. Before I go and rush out and buy higher rating rechargeables is there any good advice I can take with me

Any help appreciated

Many thanks

 

[ianrauk]

I have been using Uniross AAA 1000mAh for the past couple of years. I got them from Amazon for 4 quid for a 4 pack.
They last a good old long time in my Fibre Flares and are still going strong after many recharges.

 

[marinyork]

Ive done a bit of reading and apprently the bigger the ampere per hour rating the better the battery is this tru?

Im looking for a set of rechargeables for my fibre flares and my new drift x170 helmet camera one takes AA's the other AAA's Ive got some rechargeable at the mo 1300mah AA and 800mah AAA and whilst they seem ok they do lose their effectiveness after a short period of time. Before I go and rush out and buy higher rating rechargeables is there any good advice I can take with me

Any help appreciated

Many thanks

From principles. Q=It.

Charge = current x time.
Trivially the higher mAh the more charge it holds. That's the theory. There are various reasons why this doesn't work out in practice.

1300mAh is pretty low for a AA though. You can easily improve on that. I'd recommend buying 4xAA vapex for about £4 + postage on-line. Or go down maplin as they had a sale on.

 

[Edge705]

Good advice chaps I'll do some price research BTW looks like vapex do have a good reputation on the forums Many thanks

 

[ianrauk]

in fact you just reminded me to get some more AAA's from Amazon.
They are still £4 for 4... so a bargain.

 

[marinyork]

in fact you just reminded me to get some more AAA's from Amazon.
They are still £4 for 4... so a bargain.

You got the hybrids (red) or the newest generation 'performance' standards (blue)? Never liked the standards I had (previous) generation(s). The hybrids aren't bad though.

 

[ianrauk]

Yup, the Blue Performance ones.

 

[junglegusset]

I have had a few problems with Uniross 'Performance' rechargeables. I bought a pack of 8 AAs and 3 died within a couple of months. Heard a few other people moan about them too. Personally I would go for Extremes now: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0038ATHI0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1YXU22HC9TFJO

I have actually had a lot more success with Maplin's own brand rechargeables than I have with Uniross.

 

[gaz]

I like the Enigizer Rechagable batteries, I use 2650mAh AA for my hope vision 1 and 1000mAh AAA for my fibre flares

 

[Night Train]

The Gadget show this week did a review of batteries. It may be worth having a look on demand.
http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-gadget-show/episodes/episode-17-127

 

[marinyork]

I have had a few problems with Uniross 'Performance' rechargeables. I bought a pack of 8 AAs and 3 died within a couple of months. Heard a few other people moan about them too. Personally I would go for Extremes now: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0038ATHI0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1YXU22HC9TFJO

I have actually had a lot more success with Maplin's own brand rechargeables than I have with Uniross.

I had endless problems with previous generations of uniross. It's why I never went back to them. They were awful - many breakages, not holding their charge even after fixing, not performing in cold temperatures etc. I'm told the latest generation is better. The hybrios are also fine. As I was a very heavy user as a night time rider the poor performance was never particularly a problem though when used in my rear lights.

 

[subaqua]

NiMH over NiCd too. suffers less from memory effect. if you can get LiFe (lithium Iron) or Li-Ion they suffer memory effect even less. you can resurrect seemingly dead unchargeable rechargeables with a discharger/charger which properly dischartges the batteries and "wipes" the memory effect.

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/electric-power/rc-car/9920
racers need to get maximum life/performance from batteries some good charger kits here

 

[ushills]

Batteries never like being fully discharged/very deep cycled, so if you are discharging a 1300mah by 90% it will perform worse over the long term than a 2600mah that you are only discharging by 45%. This applies to nimh, lilo and lipo and sla batteries, I would avoid nicad altogether.

 

[Gareth]

I bought 8 X Vapex 2300mah AA batteries from an ebay shop 12 months ago and have had absolutely no problems with them. 4 in bike lights, 2 in my camera, and 2 in my maglite.

I have experienced a little trouble with my other Nicads as it got colder during the autumn, especially the 8-9 year old C & D cells I have, but I recently gave these a new lease of life with a 50 volt DC thump from my welder which seems to have done the trick, as they are now recharging and holding charge again; I've also done this to a few Ryobi 18 volt Nicad drill batteries that I own with the same results.

 

[Kestevan]

Vapex all the time for me.
I've been running a couple of sets of 2900mah alternating weekly for 18months and have had no problems - they seem to be still going strong and still give 3-4hrs on full power on my Vision 1.