Nick just likes to reinvent the wheel, whilr ignoring all advances is
safety made along the way. When we are dealing with milliamps or
microamps in the charging circuit, efficiency hardly seems an issue.
Now on a battery only system, efficiency has an effect on battery
life.

He is using a non-rechargible battery that will be ruined by his
recharging scheme. At these current levels, it won't blow up or catch
fire, it just won't work when he needs it. It is a goofy thing to do
for a once a yerar or twice a year battery change.

Strange way to gain efficiency. Reinventing what has already been
invented is rarely cost effective. You can buy something off the shelf
that works for less than you can cobble together some kludge that will
not work reliably. And for a smoke detector, reliability is
EVERYTHING!!!

Now he will have to respond to this. Probably will dig up something
out of NREL :-)

Stretch


Stretch