[appar111]

Is a Maha charger and Powerex AAA batteries the best way to go for triple-A batteries for a flash-based MP3 player? I have a store near me that carries 8-packs of AAA batteries for $2.49. At that price, I may just keep using alkalines in my Cali as opposed to going the rechargeable route.

Are there other significant advantages to using rechargeables instead of alkalines in a flash-based player?

 

[Jose Perez]

Check this link out for the last word in rechargeable batteries:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM

As for me I use Energizer rechargeables because they work damn well, are easy to find, and are competitively priced. Hard to beat that.

 

[wolfen68]

Jose Perez's link is definitely where to start. I use energizer's and powerex AA's and have found them superior to some of the other out there...

 

[appar111]

So can I infer that the same would go for AAA batteries, as the testing done in that link was done with AA's?

 

[wolfen68]

You infer correctly

 

[Eagle_Driver]

While the newest Energizer 2300mAh NiMH AA batteries are still made in Japan by Sanyo, the newest Energizer 750mAh (and possibly 800mAh) NiMH AAA batteries are now made in China by who knows which company. And the factory that manufactures those AAAs may have produced AAs that perform poorly or deliver mediocre performance for their capacity class.

Thus, brand name is no guarantee of good performance.

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver While the newest Energizer 2300mAh NiMH AA batteries are still made in Japan by Sanyo, the newest Energizer 750mAh (and possibly 800mAh) NiMH AAA batteries are now made in China by who knows which company. And the factory that manufactures those AAAs may have produced AAs that perform poorly or deliver mediocre performance for their capacity class. Thus, brand name is no guarantee of good performance.

Good point...I would agree that these types of situations commonly occur (for instance, I only buy Fujifilm CD-R's made in Japan...not Taiwan, because I'm convinced they're better)....

However, if the buyer has no other resource informing you that this is the case, a "battery shootout" such as the one on imaging resource is the best guideline available to make your purchase decision. A comment that the AAA's "may" be inferior isn't too helpful unless someone has actual evidence to back that up.

I would advise anyone to refer to the imaging resource article as an indicator of manufacturing trends for all sizes until we learn otherwise.

And to be a little more specific...I've had the energizers and powerex batteries. They have both had superior capacities...but the powerex batteries seem to have a longer life span. I recently bought higher capacity AA's for my Archos and decided on Powerex 2200's due to this.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Fair enough, wolfen68. However, Energizer had recently switched manufacturers for its AAA rechargeables: Last year's Energizer 750mAh AAAs were made in Japan by Sanyo (the same as its AAs). But this year's Energizer 750mAh AAAs are now made in China (actual manufacturer unknown).

That's strange, since Energizer this year came out with its 2300mAh AA rechargeables that are made in Japan by Sanyo.

It's also strange that the newest Energizer AA rechargeables actually have a higher capacity than the same brand's current C- and D-size rechargeables! (The C- and D-size rechargeables from that brand both use the same actual cell inside both of those sizes.)

As a footnote to this, Sanyo may no longer be manufacturing AAA-size rechargeables in Japan -- in fact, that company might have switched the production of AAA-size rechargeables to the same company as whatever Energizer has been getting the latest AAAs from.

 

[pnrgi]

i just bought these 15 min NI-mh rechargeables for my digital camera. They do work really well though im not sure how many charges they will get before the battery dies.

you can get the charger at radio shack for 30$. it comes with 2 AA. but it wil fit AAA, and they sell them, the batterys are expensive though (about 20$ for 2). which isnt much more, then regular NI-mh.

i dont know im a bit sceptical still. 15min is really fast. but they havent blown up yet

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pnrgi i just bought these 15 min NI-mh rechargeables for my digital camera. They do work really well though im not sure how many charges they will get before the battery dies. you can get the charger at radio shack for 30$. it comes with 2 AA. but it wil fit AAA, and they sell them, the batterys are expensive though (about 20$ for 2). which isnt much more, then regular NI-mh. i dont know im a bit sceptical still. 15min is really fast. but they havent blown up yet

Usually batteries/chargers are a trade-off. The perfect combination yields a full capacity charge, a fast charge, and is gentle on the batteries (overheating from rapid charging greatly reduces their life). Usually, you can only achieve two of these characteristics at a time. I don't now much about the new 15 min chargeables...but I'm also a little skeptical.....

Then again if rechargeables only last for 500 recharges instead of 1000, I guess that's not too bad

 

[Eagle_Driver]

In addition to what wolfen68 said on that last post, really slow charging (14 hours or longer) should only be used for the first charge (out of the package) on any of the modern NiMH rechargeables. Repeated slow charging would permanently destroy a modern NiMH rechargeable's ability to accept a full charge due to the excessive large crystal formation -- and that would also shorten the useful life of the battery significantly, as well. In addition, modern NiMH rechargeables show a barely noticeable voltage drop as the charge nears full, which means that a really rapid charge in a high-current rapid charger is required in order to properly detect a full charge. As a result, the really slow chargers use only a timer to terminate the charge -- but NiMH batteries have extremely low tolerance for any overcharging. And because of the lack of a noticeable "full-charge" voltage drop, the slow chargers can -- and do -- actually overcharge the NiMH batteries without even letting you know that. And that would permanently destroy the useful life of the NiMH rechargeable battery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfen68 Usually batteries/chargers are a trade-off. The perfect combination yields a full capacity charge, a fast charge, and is gentle on the batteries (overheating from rapid charging greatly reduces their life). Usually, you can only achieve two of these characteristics at a time. I don't now much about the new 15 min chargeables...but I'm also a little skeptical.....

On the other hand, really slow trickle chargers that use slow charge rate all the time can only achieve at most one of the above three characteristics at a time -- unless you're so diligent to yank the charger off the wall socket exactly on time.

 

[pnrgi]

Well thats what is does, the charger that came with it has like a cooling fan and stuff haha. but yeah once you plug it in, it charges for 15 min, then it shuts off. and it does that with regualur batterys too, once they are charged it shuts off.

the package says they last 1000 charges, and putting them in the recharger half drained will have no effect on battery life.

i dont know though really there has to be a catch... you cant just get better battery life, fast charging, and cheapness. if these things really did work, everyone would have them.

i dont know though, i havent really had the time to mess around with them yet. but they last alot longer then duracel ultras in my camera (kodak easy share cx) that's for sure.

but what ever, i think you should try them. so far they work fine. there doesnt seem to be a down side.

 

[AGR]

The Ray-O-Vac system is great. I have the 1 hour charge charger. And; the batteries can be charged 1,000 times. I have been using it for 3 + years now, for my digital camera, and anything else that requires AA or AAA. The new Ray-O-Vac is a 15 minute charging system.