On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 15:23:02 +1200, Brendon Pascoe wrote:
> Who/where to get these? WHich are the best? I am currently looking at Dick
> Smiths ones that come with the 1hr charger or 2 hr charger (4 AA batts) for
> $80ish.
>
> Any thing else around better? Incl. charger? AA batts a must.
>
> Cheers
> Brendon
Depends what you want them for. Portable power tools tend to use NiCads
for the budget to medium priced tools - possibly because of the need for
occasional high torque/high discharge from the batteries.
However, they suffer from the infamous "memory effect"
If you need batteries for digital cameras, flashlights etc then NiMh
(nickel metal hydride) would probably serve you better. They don't suffer
to the same extent from the memory effect.
However, most of them suffer from slow self-discharge which can be a
nuisance if you want to pick up your camera, flashlight or whatever after
it's been sitting unused on a shelf for several weeks, and expect it to
just work.
Sanyo seem to have found the answer to this problem when they introduced
the "Eneloop" series of NiMh batteries, and I've been very impressed with
them.
I managed to buy some AA and AAA Eneloops from Dick Smith (this was over a
year ago) and they have been great. However, Dick Smith seem to be no
longer selling these particular batteries as far as I can tell.
(Whoops, I was wrong - just checked. They are back at DSE again, and they
show the AA Eneloops at $22.99 for a pack of 4, and AAA Eneloops available
as a limited stock clearance product only and $16.87 for a pair)
If you want to know more about them, try searching for eneloop on Google
(or some other search engine). There will be other places selling them I
guess.
I think there are now other manufacturers offering batteries with similar
characteristics to the Eneloop brand, so a bit of searching in the internet
may be worthwhile research. Typically they are sold fully charged, as they
can hold most of their charge for over a year.
If you try searching posts from rec.photo.digital you will probably find
some good information, as I'm aware there has been some interesting
discusssion on the subject over the last year or so.
I would also suggest that you avoid the cheap battery chargers.
Overcharging (and charging too quickly) is a quick way to wreck your
batteries, and I reckon buying an "intelligent" charger is a very worthwile
investment (a decent charger should last you a lifetime, which I think
justifies paying for good quality and performance).
The "intelligent" chargers will charge each battery individually, and
monitor its condition during charging, cutting off when charging has
reached the correct level.
I have a Maha charger which I think I bought from ecobatteries
http://www.ecobatteries.co.nz/ - about 6 years ago.
This is an "intelligent" charger It charges four batteries at a time (AA or
AAA - you can mix them), but each is individually monitored, and charging
is stopped on a per cell basis when completed.
I always use it on the slow charge setting (5 hours for a complete
recharge) to minimise heat build up in the batteries. It has a switch so
you can select faster charging if you're in more of a hurry.
Personally I wouldn't buy the cheap charger/battery deals, unless you are
happy with something you can just use for a while, then throw away, (and if
you don't care too much about having the batteries fail on you when you are
relying on them).
Cheers,
John S
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