Household Rechargeable Batteries

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wildstar

Joined
Jun 7, 2002
Messages
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I need to find a cheaper way to use my GPS and other goofy gadgets around the house. I am looking at rechargeable batteries on Ebay and saw many. Need help with lots of info! I mainly plan to use it for my MP3 player and GPS but may also use it for flashlights. I am mainly interested with the AA size.

I know what voltage is but what does voltage mean for rechargeables and useability for different things? Can I use a 1.2V battery for something that is meant for 1.5V or vice versa?

What is mAh? Is that the storage capacity? Can I use a 1500mAh or 2000mAh on items that come with a 1200mAh battery? or vice versa?

Which battery type is best? NiCD? NiMh?

Thanks in advance
 
Milli Amp Hours tell you how much gas is in the tank ;)

Get the highest Mah rating you can afford. Ni-Mh or Ni-Cad? Based on price I tend to get Ni-Cad but, Ni-Mh are better in the long run or where charge capacity, drain, recharge times, etc. are worth the premium.

Buy a very good recharger. The best batteries in the world will fail in short order if you have a crappy recharger. Buy a good recharger first, then buy batteries with whatever money is left over.

I have a $50USD Radio Shack recharger that works with all the Ni-Cad's and Ni-Mh upto AA size. I have been pleased with its service.

I recently scored a good deal on AA Ni-Cad's from a dealer moving stock at CPF. $1 a piece for good quality 1800MaH batteries from a know source.

I have had very bad luck with the rechargables purchased from Wal-Mart (mainly). The Ni-Cad's in particular have failed on me with very little use. Those AA packs with the charger included are not worth the effort it takes to walk them out of store to the car. The newer generation Eveready and Duracel Ni-Mh seem to be better but, at $2 or $3 a piece purchased in quantity, are not cost effective compared to Ni-Cad's purchased elsewhere.

The 4500MaH D cells I purchased from Radio Shack work real well if need such. At ~$8 a piece, they are expensive but, work well in my converted Mag-lite Light Saber (a 4 D-cell model fueling Carley Lamps :eek: )

I use the Ni-Cads in Canon Digital Camera, several Flashlights and radios, and Garmin GPS unit with good success.
 
I recently purchased some NiMH (Duracell) on sale but I only have one of the older Ni-Cad chargers. Can this charger be used to charge NiMH batteries?

The clerk told me that its possible as long as I pull the batteries out of the charger as soon as they get warm.

Can anyone confirm this?
 
The biggest drawback I have found to putting batteries in the wrong charger, is that their lifespan is shortened. If you don't loose them or kill them early, Ni-Mh batteries are a good deal but, they are terribly expensive when they are not charged correctly. You can "charge" alkaline (non-rechargable) batteries to a certain extent but, it is definitely not recommended or safe in the general sense.

I would not charge C or D cell Ni-MH batteries in a Ni-Cad charger at all. The batteries are just too expensive to waste that way. AA or AAA's would be okay in a good Ni-Cad charger but, not in a simple cheap model AA Ni-Cad charger.
 
I just purchased 4 NI-mh AA batteries and a fast charger at Radio Shack for $30.00 it will recharge them in 3-4 hours and NI-mhs DO get hot during the charging cycle but the charger monitors the temps as a part of the cycle. The batteries are 1800MaH. I got them for my digital camera. That way I have one set in and one set in reserve I have been told that digital cameras are power hungry so I have some duracell ultras for just in case. The benefits of NI-mh are many. I did a search on the voltage variation of alkaline AA at 1.5 and NI-mh and NI-cad at 1.2 this is a condensed version of what I found alkalines start out at 1.5 but very quickly drop to 1.2 to .9volts and remain there till exhausted, the rechargeables start at 1.2 and keep that voltage till the very end and then drops like a rock. Almost all electronic devices that use AA batteries are designed with this 1.2 vdc average as their parameter.NI-mh don't develop a "memory",you can recharge /refresh.any time. They do not need to be completely discharged in order to charge them. Ecologically they are less harmful to the environment.They do lose their charge quickly they recommend"refreshing" once every 30 days if not used. There is more but you get the idea.:D :D :D
 
One thing you have to remember is NiMH doesn't hold a charge nearly as long as the shelf-life of a non-rechargeable battery. So recharge them if they've been sitting around awhile. It's a good idea to have some regular batteries in reserve.
 
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