[lextek]

I'm looking for a source for rechargable 9V batteries. Any suggestions for batteries?

 

[andrzejpw]

Have you checked the plainviews out? A lot of people seem to swear by them here. http://www.thomasdistributing.com/

I'm thinking santa might drop a few of these . . .

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw Have you checked the plainviews out? A lot of people seem to swear by them here. http://www.thomasdistributing.com/

The Plainviews are the best 9v NiMH I've found, and that's a good place to get them.

 

[timoteus]

The drawback with the Plainviews is that they recommend that you buy their special battery charger in order to bring them up to full voltage. The Plainviews are rated at 170mAH for $9.90 apiece.

You can buy the Maha 160mAH that they say are really more like 165mAH - 167mAH for only $6.57 apiece and you can use any of the standard chargers to bring them up to full voltage. The Mahas are what I use and like.

 

[Hirsch]

The Maha's don't have the voltage of the Plainviews. The Maha's use seven 1.2 v cells (8.4v) while the Plainview uses eight (9.6v). The difference between 160 mah and 170 mah is trivial. The difference between 8.4v and 9.6v is not.

Despite what the site says, you can use a regular charger for the Plainviews, if you leave them charging long enough. The Plainview charger charges at about 25 mah, so charging time is
170 (battery rating)/25(charger rate) *1.25 (slight overcharge allowance) = 8.5 hr Most chargers use a trickle charge of something like 16 mah, so charging time might be 170/16*1.25= 13.3 hr. I spoke to both Thomas Distributing and to Plainview about this. Thomas uses 1.20 for the overcharge calculation, while Plainview uses 1.25 As long as you know the current of your charger, you can simply plug it into the formula to figure out how long to let the batteries charge.

EDIT: These charge times are for a completely drained battery, and will be less if a partial charge is present. According to Thomas, however, it's safe to leave the batteries in the charger for up to a day (although not recommended), so even if there's a residual charge, I still go ahead with the full 8.5 hour cycle.

 

[timoteus]

Thanks for the explanation Hirsch. That really helps. I was thinking that these two brands were near equivalents when in fact they are not. Nice save.

Edit:

For some reason on the Plainview battery it says...Charge at 17mA (max.) but the charger they recommend using outputs 25mA.

 

[Mr.PD]

I am sure glad you all posted this. I am just now starting to look for recharge 9v. I will be needing a new charger since mine doesn't do 9v. So It looks like maybe the Plainveiws and their charger. I must have missed them at Thomas, I don't remember seeing that brand. I will look again.

 

[lextek]

Looks like it's the Plainviews. Thanks all.

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by timoteus For some reason on the Plainview battery it says...Charge at 17mA (max.) but the charger they recommend using outputs 25mA.

That was the trigger that had me calling and e-mailing both Thomas Distributing and Plainview. I didn't like that discrepancy, and, given the warning on the battery, wanted to make sure the 25 ma charger was safe. I suspect the label was designed before they made their own charger.

 

[grinch]

i use the plainviews and find them to be very adequate. thomas distributing is a great dealer too, they called me to tell me that they were on backorder and to ask if i still wanted to order or not. that's a good dealer, in my book.

good luck with them.

 

[Mr.PD]

I have ordered from Thomas on a couple of ocasions. I like them very much.

 

[andrzejpw]

I'm not sure if its worth it for me though. . . I mean sure, they may be awesome, but my meta42 uses 2 9 volts, and those last for about a month or so of listening. . .

 

[Mr.PD]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw I'm not sure if its worth it for me though. . . I mean sure, they may be awesome, but my meta42 uses 2 9 volts, and those last for about a month or so of listening. . .

WOW, I don't think mine will last a month. In fact so far I have 9 hours on a pair of batteries and I'm already down to 14 volts. I'm guessing I will get maybe 12 hours out of a pair. That's considering 12 volts to be the minimum this thing will run on.