[redshifter]

i have some aa nimh rechargeable batteries, one has 1200 mAh and the others are 1600 mAh. does anyone know what the difference between these two might be when used to power a md or walkman?

 

[Audio-Me]

The 1600mAh one will last longer.

 

[redshifter]

thanks a&m. btw, event though they are exactly the same brand, the 1600 are made in japan and the 1200 in mexico. must have factored in siesta time.

 

[Moonwalker]

Hi redshifter!

I have two GP 1800 mAh AA Ni-MHs and they last LONGER than alkaline AAs (brand forgotten) or fresh RAMs in my Sony MZ-E62 MD player. They last about 9-10 discs with 60 mins average on them.

Try any Hi-cap Ni-MH now, they're cheap and I saw some 1850 mAh too!

PS: To your question: The 1200 mAh ones will die sooner. (As Audio&Me already said)

Your
Moonwalker

 

[gaineso]

The last time I was in Costco, they still had the Panasonic 1600 mah AA's at 6 for $12.95. I've got 12 of them and they are great. Just be sure you get a good, automatic charger for them.

 

[Yang]

There are some nice deals on Ebay recently. Also saw some 2000mah AAs made by Sony. The highest I have seen previously was 1800mah by GP and others, so these must be new. Don't know if Sony's measurements are up to other standards since I never knew they even made AA rechargeables, but they look pretty nice.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1365196296

 

[fredpb]

Above 1200mah, make sure you get a good charger. Some run on just timers, and the time may run out before a larger capacity unit is fully charged. With an old crummy charger, your 2000mah battery may only charge up to "1300mah". A partial charge.

One solution is a charger that detects charge level and turns off at full charge....put it in again (even these may have timers).
Beware of overcharging.

 

[Zurg]

Hey Redshifter,

mAh stands for milli Amp Hours. It is a measure of the total energy capacity of a battery. So a 1600mAH battery should deliver, in theory, the equivalent of 160milliAmps of current for 10 hours, 1600=160x10. In actual fact, there are many factors that affect the voltage and output current of a battery over its' charge cycle. I wouldn't pay a lot more just to get a couple of 100 of mAH more in a battery. Often the highest capacity batteries carry a premium price. I prefer to just spend my money on a second set. By the way, to get the maximum use out of your batteries you should use them and charge them as a set. So if you use 4AA batteries in a device you should charge them together and continue to use them together. Mixing and matching different capacity or different charge level batteries is not a good idea. I get my NiMH batteries and chargers from:

http://www.thomas-distributing.com

HTH,
-Z
P.S. Nice pic Red! Is that really you???

 

[gaineso]

If you can't get AA's at Costco, Thomas is probably your best bet. AA's at Rat Shack are a bit more expensive.

NiMH D's are a pretty good buy at RS. 4500 mah, 2 for $14.95 is the best ah/$ I've found.

Use a RS automatic charger, 23-425, does all sizes and discharges and charges. Processor controlled. 9 V just charges. About $30.00 or $35.00.

 

[jedai]

Rayovac 3-In-1 NiMH/NiCd/Alkaline charger is another quality charger that costs only about $10 and is widely available. It has four independent charging circuits (which is unusual in this class) and each circuit automatically stops when the cell is fully charged. I have great results with charging NiMH (Rayovac 4-AA pack $9) and regular alkaline (Duracell) cells.

Panasonic high-capacity NiCd cells don't work well except with their own charger. They don't work with any of my non-Panasonic chargers.