Rechargable Batteries Know How

[HovR]

I recently bought these: Link (AAA Duracell, 1000mAh)

They seem to give me a good run time on my 5W front light, and are very reasonably priced. Quick delivery, too! Haven't had them long enough to say how they perform long term yet.

 

[fossyant]

Charger is important - smart cell charging - i.e. each cell charged at a time.

I have found these rechargeables fine, Energiser AAA's, Maplin AA's fine -no issues. (good standby as well)

Panasonic Infinium Hybrids AA and AAA - been using 3-4 years no performance drop off at all. Great standby.

 

[junglegusset]

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.

That's interesting, I always presumed the opposite was true, run em right down before charging, from what your saying it would seem the way to go is to use them a bit then just top them up frequently.
Sounds like Vapex are a firm favourite here, does anyone know what the cheapest source of these is?

 

[junglegusset]

.....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.

Lovin' your style there Gareth.

 

[rowan 46]

Charger is important - smart cell charging - i.e. each cell charged at a time.

I have found these rechargeables fine, Energiser AAA's, Maplin AA's fine -no issues. (good standby as well)

Panasonic Infinium Hybrids AA and AAA - been using 3-4 years no performance drop off at all. Great standby.

I have to agree a smart charger and hybrid batteries have lasted me for years

 

[ushills]

That's interesting, I always presumed the opposite was true, run em right down before charging, from what your saying it would seem the way to go is to use them a bit then just top them up frequently.
Sounds like Vapex are a firm favourite here, does anyone know what the cheapest source of these is?

Have a look at the attached.
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/whats_the_best_battery

All batteries have a limet on the number of cycles, based on taking them to 80%. So using less than 80% will increase cycle life.

However, nicad and nimh require periodic full discharges.e

It's a buggers muddle as charging rate also affects lifespan.

 

[ushills]

Again, nimh work best at 0.2 to 0.5C discharge rates, so a higher mAh battery will perform better and last longer with the same load if the load on a lower mAh batter exceeds 0.5C.

Example a 1400mAh battery should only be used to power a 0.7A load (0.5C) and below and would not last as well as a 2700mAh battery which is being discharged at only 0.25C. However the 2700mAh battery can work up to 1.35A load.

 

[heliphil]

Vapex or Sanyo Eneloops - never used Vapex but the Eneloops are great - the trouble with really high capacity NiMH is that the internal resistance is too high - not a problem if you discharge them really slowly but for lights etc its too much which drops the volts down to early.

 

[PpPete]

www.vapextech.co.uk/acatalog/High_Power_Consumer_Batteries.html

Red ones for absolutely max mAh... but they take a few charge/discharge cycles before they are at their best. Also, although I have a smart charger with separate channels for each cell I find they need a good few hours "trickle charge" after the charger thinks they are full in order to get best performance.

The green "Instant" ones are great for bike lights because the charge doesn't drain away if you leave them a while.

 

[albion]

Duracell and Energiser have a near monopoly in Supermarkets yet Uniross was for a long time the only quality rechargeable battery widely available in the UK. I have 10 year old Uniross still going strong that was certainly not bought in a supermarket.

I would never buy the highly polluting Duracell or Energiser brand. Their loyalty lies with disposable batteries.

 

[bicyclos]

I have been using the Vapex AA[2900mah] and the AAA[1100mah] for the last 14 months and found them reliable and they seem to hold the charge well. I use the batteries in my lights, front and rear, my 2 garmin Etrex units, bullet cam, Kodak ZX1 and Sanyo PD1 HD camcorders and my 2 digital cameras[lots of batteries]. I junked all my older rechargables as they were old and not up to the mark. With the vapex range you get a plastic case to hold 4 batteries which is neat.

 

[albion]

The Gadget show did a feature on batteries. Uniross 2700mah supposedly came top.

You never seem to get any proper testing though so I do wonder what they would be like after 100 charges.

 

[2wd]

Just bought 8 Extreme AAA 1100mah for £7.99 off Amazon

 

[albion]

Amazon also do the Uniross acclaimed 1000mah performance batteries at £4.30 per 4.

I can't say I know the Extreme brand.