[Aushadi]

Ruahrc's thread of 9-7, (-all that mousey stuff), has me wondering...

Hmmmm... What [size=medium]is[/size] the best NiMH??

I imagine this has been addressed in some fashion, but I couldn't find a thread strictly dealing with this question.

For what it's worth on "paper", the Monster Cable people seem to have come up with a good candidate: (1800mah, "can be recharged 1000+ times", etc.). They even have one AA product aimed solely at MP3's.

Check it out:
here

Has anyone tried these or know about them? If they are as good as the MC copy, does someone know of a good(=cheap) seller of these batts?

 

[puppyslugg]

http://4cbradio.com/batteries.htm

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

1800 mah

 

[archosman]

Someone makes a 2000 mah. Can't remember where I saw it. I'll look for it again & post it here.

 

[lan]

Those Powerex from thomas distributing in the link above are pretty good especially with the Maha charger.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

And whichever NiMH battery that you buy, DON'T buy the Ray-O-Crap 1-hour charger!! That charger costs $30 or more at retail stores, but it overheats the batteries!! That's Not Acceptable, in my judgment.

But most other chargers require that the batteries be charged in pairs, making them rather inconvenient to those people whose normal music players use just a single battery. And a few chargers won't work at all unless they're fully loaded with batteries.

The very best chargers charge batteries quickly, completely and safely all at once. But sadly, virtually all moderately-priced chargers meet only two of the three - and the only chargers that meet all three advantages cost an astronomical amount of $$$.

 

[AssafL]

2000mAh at www.batteriesamerica.com

Those extra 200mAh are lifesavers...

 

[puppyslugg]

AssafL, thanks for the link.

 

[Silverbolt]

Quote:

Originally posted by Eagle_Driver And whichever NiMH battery that you buy, DON'T buy the Ray-O-Crap 1-hour charger!! That charger costs $30 or more at retail stores, but it overheats the batteries!! That's Not Acceptable, in my judgment.

Whoa. i was just looking at that thing the other day. Nice save man. Now I need to find a different quick charger in stores.

I *can* purchase online, but the hassle it is for me to do so is just too great.
Is the overheating problem with all batteries? Can it just be ignored (just don't touch them for a while until you use them) or is there a major safety issue? (would i need a fire extinguisher near the charger?

)
Thanks for the heads up tho

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by Silverbolt Is the overheating problem with all batteries? Can it just be ignored (just don't touch them for a while until you use them) or is there a major safety issue? (would i need a fire extinguisher near the charger? )

Yep, the overheating problem is with all batteries. And despite its high price, there's absolutely no excuse whatsoever in having its charging rate controlled by only a timer, with no overcharge-prevention circuitry at all whatsoever - it runs for a fixed one hour, even if a battery is fully charged when you put it in the charger. That all but guarantees that your batteries are way too hot to the touch - and will remain so for much longer than batteries charged in any other charger. And the second (and subsequent) charging in that 1-hour Ray-O-Crap charger will almost always drastically reduce the usable running time of your rechargeable batteries. In fact, several cheaper chargers are more "intelligient" in their charging rate regulation than the Ray-O Crap 1-hour charger - including the same brand's $10 slow charger.

 

[blr]

Go with Sanyo. I have rather long experience with rechargeable batteries and IMO Sanyo are better than other brands, after all they were one of the pioneers of the technology of both NiCd and NiMH cells.
Don't get too excited about the numbers. Many manufacturers overrate their capacities. In contrast Sanyo is rather conservative. Sanyo Twicell 1600 mAh usually measures close to 1700 mAh with discharge currents encountered in portable audio. They have a new 1850 mAh Twicell on the market and I bet they will measure better than some of these 2000 mAh by other manufacturers.

About the charger, the best plug in charger I've found to date is the Ansmann PowerLine 4 Traveller. It charges each cell individually (you can mix different cells while chatging), has -dV cut off with safety timer and works everywhere in the world. It is not exactly cheap but you get what you pay for.
If you really wanna get the best charger, look for a desctop charger that has reverse pulse charging. I have one of these too and the reverse pulse lowers the cell temperature by at least 5 degrees Celsius at the end of charge. Not cheap though.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Wow, just when the Maha Superex 1800 mAh rechargeable AA batteries are all the rage at Thomas Distributing... and the Energizer 1700 mAh batteries hold their own against the Maha 1800's...

WHAM!! Energizer has just upped the capacity of its NiMH AA's to 1850 mAh!! But be careful if you have an older NiMH-compatible charger: You may find that your older NiMH-compatible charger doesn't fully charge the newer 1800+ mAh batteries, since they were designed when all AA NiMH's had a rated capacity of only 1200 mAh. Which means that if you have an early NiMH-compatible charger that's timer controlled, you'll find that it doesn't properly charge any batteries that have a capacity rating of more than 1600 mAh. So what to do if you buy 1800+ mAh NiMH batteries and you own an early-generation timer-controlled NiMH-compatible charger? Simple. Buy a new charger or two.

That's exactly what I did today when I bought my 4-pack of the new 1850 mAh Energizer NiMH batteries; I bought a cheap Energizer AA/AAA/9V charger that has a 15-hour timer. Its 150 mA charging rate (for AA batteries) is lower than or equal to C/10 (for 1500 mAh or higher-capacity AA NiMH's), so you won't have to worry too much about overcharging batteries. I also have an 8-cell AA/AAA smart charger with Delta-slope termination and reverse-pulse charging -- but that charger can get fooled by damaged batteries, batteries that have been sitting unused for too ********* long, and brand-new batteries fresh out of the package (with those batteries, the charger operates for only 15 minutes and then shut off -- far short of a full charge). So, that rapid smart charger is for everyday charging -- but the cheap slow-charger is useful in tough circumstances. Thus, those two chargers (and possibly a continuously-operating trickle charger, as well) are all you need.

And my bad for saying that the Ray-O-Crap 1-hour charger had only timer control. In fact, it is a so-called "smart" charger. But too bad the major rechargeable battery manufacturers that distribute them through mass-market retailers offer only the 1-hour chargers with "smart" charging control (and I already knew that 1-hour chargers may actually deliver a charge current greater than C, which makes them much more likely than other chargers to cause overheating of the cells); all of their slower chargers feature only timer control. (Well, the Ray-O-Vac basic charger, for rechargeable alkalines and NiMH's, is the only cheap charger that has a so-called "smart" charge-termination control.)

 

[jlo mein]

so while we are on the topic of NiMH's i would like to discuss my 9v nimh:

i bought a 150mah (i think) energizer nimh rechargable, with a portable size energizer charger (i think its called "compact charger")....all for my 9v JMT CHA47 amp

It takes forever to charge one 9v (about 15 hours). I also noticed that when i switch this energizer nimh with a Duracell alkaline in my amp, it seems to sound fuller and richer with the duracell...

does this energizer really blow? is it like underpowering the amp or something? It says that it should give 150mah at 7.2 volts....

 

[Eagle_Driver]

yeah, jlo mein, most "9V"-size rechargeables really blow. You see, that CHA47 amp really needs the full 9V in order to operate properly. But even 9V alkalines fall a tad short of that, on average. Most "9V" rechargeables fall even farther short.

 

[Hirsch]

The Plainview rechargeable NiMH uses 8 internal cells to output 9.6 v Most NiMH use 7 cells to get 8.4 v output, while Energizer uses 6 to get 7.2 v (I'll leave you to do the math to figure out what kind of voltage each cell in the battery outputs). The Plainview is available at www.thomas-distributing.com

This particular rechargeable does NOT blow. I prefer it to alkalines in my RA-1 and HPA-1 amps.