NiMH Batteries vs. Alkaline Batteries

[Mark Holtz]

I've been cruising, and notice that they have rechargable NiMH batteries are now available in regular battery sizes. Anyone know how long a NiMH will retain a charge while in storage as well as in use, and what the temperature restrictions are? I'm toying with the idea of picking up a package of NiMH AA, AAA, and 9V with charger.

[IndyMichael]

We have them for our digital camera, and they last much longer than the akalines do. Also, once charged, you can leave them in the charger, and it trickle charges them til you need them. Sam's club has a good deal on the Energizer one's.

[Mark Holtz]

I'm thinking about getting a batch and putting them in my backpack as spares. Right now, I buy AAs by the "brick" of 40 at Costco for around $10 (Kirkland brand), and they last me a year or so.

Interestingly enough, during the toy drives, people look at me slightly strangely because I donate batteries. They forget the "batteries not included" clause, and the hunts during Christmas Day finding a store that was both open and had batteries in stock.

[Karl Foster]

I use NiMH batteries in my digital camera, as well as in my UTV remotes. They are pretty reasonable now, and last much longer than alkaline batteries, espcially in a camera. My daughter also uses them in her Diskman and they seem to last a really long time for her. My favorite brand are Ray-O-Vac. They seem to last longer than the Energizer NiMH batteries. YMMV

[Hack]

I've been cruising, and notice that they have rechargable NiMH batteries are now available in regular battery sizes. Anyone know how long a NiMH will retain a charge while in storage as well as in use, and what the temperature restrictions are? I'm toying with the idea of picking up a package of NiMH AA, AAA, and 9V with charger.

What will you use them for, Mark? Remote controls? I'm into the radio hobby os I use NiMH all the time but I need them because regular batteries would break me financially.


Then you wrote in another post:

"I'm thinking about getting a batch and putting them in my backpack as spares. Right now, I buy AAs by the "brick" of 40 at Costco for around $10 (Kirkland brand), and they last me a year or so.'

Then you don't need a charger and NiMH batteries as they drain over time and are less reliable than alks. I have over a dozen radios so I must use them.

[Mark Holtz]

The uses would be for the remotes, portable CD player, portable walkman, camera flash, backup flashlights and radios.

[Jacob S]

I use NiMH batteries in two way communication walkie talkies and they do well for those. I have the rapid one hour charger. I hear they are coming out with a charger that will charge the batteries in 20-30 minutes, if they are not out already. They are able to be recharged up to 1000 times.

[Hack]

"Right now, I buy AAs by the "brick" of 40 at Costco for around $10 (Kirkland brand), and they last me a year or so.'

Then you do not need one when a good or best Maha charger will cost you around $40 not to mention the cost of the batteries which could cost you from $9-17 per 4-pak depending on what you buy.

Like I said... I would go broke without them or would not enjoy my hobby without them. I have over a hundred batteries that I need on hand at all times but I'm an extreme user and this option is my only option while many others do not need them. Getting NiMH would probably be overkill for you since $10 last you for a year and these batteries aren't very good for flashlights or at least for long. IMO, everybody here overated these batteries although they can be charged like 500-1000 times or so they say.

I suggest you check out the below links which is the company I do business with if you're really interested in them. I couldn't sustain my hobbies without these.

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/batteries.htm
http://www.thomas-distributing.com/nimh_battery_chargers.htm

[Mark Holtz]

All rightie then. It was just something that I was investigating, and had a feeling that someone had some real world experience. It's just that I hate NiCads with a passion due to the memory effect. I was eyeing the NiMH because they appear to have a longer power life than alkalines.

But, then again, you can thank the cell phone and laptop users for the development of longer lasting rechargeable batteries.

[Hack]

Mark:

"It's just that I hate NiCads with a passion due to the memory effect. I was eyeing the NiMH because they appear to have a longer power life than alkalines."

No they don't have a longer life than "real" premium (alkaline) batteries but they sure in the hell beat NiCad’s no question about it. If the people here say that NiMH outlast alkaline then they must be buying cheap "Heavy Duty" batteries since Duracell and Energizers will out perform any NiMH since they are more powerful at 1.5 volts compared to 1.2 volts and they keep charged until the expiration date where a NiMH will lose all its power in a month or so in storage.

Don't get me wrong, NiMH is the best thing that ever happened to me but they aren't as good as premium 1.5 volt alkaline batteries although they can be charged over and over again. But for me who has the need for many batteries per month compared to you where $10 last you a year it wouldn't benfit you spending the money for NiMH.

[Hack]

"But, then again, you can thank the cell phone and laptop users for the development of longer lasting rechargeable batteries."

Oh, they use lithium batteries which are in a different league than NiMH and alkaline.

[Richard King]

I use NiMH batteries for just about everything now. They are great for my digital camera. I now use them in all my remotes. I just bought some more for my GPS system in the car. I have a couple of chargers and keep one in my computer bag which pretty much lives in my car. I have an inverter for the car and so can plug the charger into the inverter if I need to.

[Jacob S]

I seen Wal-Mart have an Energizer 1 hour rapid NiMH rapid charger with four NiMH batteries for under $30. They wanted about $12 for the pack of four NiMH batteries themselves.

[xgrep]

If you're just looking for long-lasting batteries and cost is no object, there are non-rechargeable Lithium cells in some of the common cell sizes. I don't recall whether it's AA or AAA, though. These can last for up to 10 years in a device like a remote.

x

[LarryS]

The NiMh batteries in my digital camera will go a couple of months with occasional use ( 100 pictures). I was encouraged by this to try in my Palm Pilot but in the Palm I only got about two weeks. Duracell Ultras lasted about 2 months in the Palm. Duracell in the camera is about a week. All I know is I don't think NiMh is the panacea for Alkaline replacement. If anyone has a guide as to what NiMh is good for and bad for I'd also like to know.

[Silversurfer01973]

Has anyone experienced a problem with NiMh batteries not holding a charge? It seems like if they are not used as soon as they are charged they don't last as long.

[bytre]

I use NiMH batteries in 3/4 of our equipment, and the "$10 for 40" bricks for the rest. With young kids, equipment tends to get left on and drain a battery whether its a premium alkaline or cheapie. I also use the non rechargables in things which are likely to need battery changes outside the house - I lost about 5 rechargables that left the house in my wife's MP3 player and never came back.

[Hack]

Has anyone experienced a problem with NiMh batteries not holding a charge? It seems like if they are not used as soon as they are charged they don't last as long.

NiMH batteries are great. I assume that you may be refering to Ni-Cad batteries which don't hold a charge if not treated right by it's handler? Ni-Cads are infamous for having a "memory affect" if you didn't properly charge them then discharge them. So instead of the battery going weak they would think "it's time to recharge" if that makes any sense. NiMH are supposed to be not affected by this so called "memory affect" as nearly as often as the awful Ni-Cads.

As for NiMH not holding a charge, there are bad batches of batteries due to manufacturing errors or there could be one bad battery that makes the other 3 good ones in a device (assuming 4 batteries to a device) worthless and the equipment is dead in 5 minutes when all you have to do is throw the one bad one away and your then ready to go. This happened to me yesterday. Four newly charged batteries in a radio and its dead in 5 minutes and the culprit was one bad one which won’t work especially at 1.2 volts.

[paulh]

As others have pointed out, NiMH lasts a lot longer than alkaline for Digital camera's

(My Kodak digicam's instructions even state do not use alkaline, but use Lithium use once or NiMH only, although I think that is mostly due to the camera's power meter not being calibrated to alkalines.)

Most constant use devices, though are better off using alkalines.

It seems like a set of NiMH batteries I charged a month ago, and use for the first time that they do not have as much life as they do after freshly charged NiMH do.

As far as charger time, I love my one hour charger. My dad finally was happy he "only" had an overnight charger when he traveled to Romania, as his voltage converter would not of powered the more hungry quick charger (plus my fast charger has a much heaver and larger power "brick") If you travel internationally, you may want a slower charger!