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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
there was thread here about battery life, and some of the new technology wrt digital cameras (eating AA Alkalines). i got suckered into buying another camera, and guess what, it really EATS AA'a, changing batteries would be a full time job. the previous owner said he used 1600mah NMiH rechargeables and got 50-60 shots, some w/flash, some without the lcd on, but was generally happy. Question: before i even think about buying into an expensive set up for only occaisional use, i need to know what is the actual capacity of the current crop of AA Alkaline battery. googling now, but find nothing beyond suggested uses on manufacturers sites. Thanks! --Loren |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Loren,
AA alkalines are higher capacity than the rechargeables, but they are best utilized at slower rates of discharge. Cameras are high rate-of-discharge applications and that's why alkaline AAs don't deliver the performance you'd normally expect. Your friend was correct in recommending NiMH rechargeables, you can get a decent set of 4 and a charger for about $10 if you look for sales. Never need to pay more than about $15. We can discuss it further when we get together regarding the guns, I've used NiMH and high-capacity NiCads in many applications over the years. Martin lcoe wrote in message news:%rVOa.17979$ye4.16543@sccrnsc01... there was thread here about battery life, and some of the new technology wrt digital cameras (eating AA Alkalines). i got suckered into buying another camera, and guess what, it really EATS AA'a, changing batteries would be a full time job. the previous owner said he used 1600mah NMiH rechargeables and got 50-60 shots, some w/flash, some without the lcd on, but was generally happy. Question: before i even think about buying into an expensive set up for only occaisional use, i need to know what is the actual capacity of the current crop of AA Alkaline battery. googling now, but find nothing beyond suggested uses on manufacturers sites. Thanks! --Loren |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Zack Lau wrote:
You ought to be able to find the info on a Duracell web site. A couple of years ago, they said 2215 mAh at a cutoff voltage of 0.8 volts. Problem is, most modern cameras won't run with a battery that low, Asside from that, you must specify the drain rate. Compare the Ah capacity at 20 hour rate and 1 hour rate. Quite a difference. It depends on both cell chemistry and structure. I have a 12V (10 cell), 60Ah set of vented cell, sintered plate NiCd's that *tested* 500a for 5 minutes to a 9V end point after cold soaking overnight at -40. Try that with a 60Ah lead-acid battery! Ted |
#4
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Your friend was correct in recommending NiMH rechargeables,
you can get a decent set of 4 and a charger for about $10 if you look for sales. Never need to pay more than about $15. Please don't do that! Those cheap chargers are either constant current or timer terminated. Pay somewhat more and you can charge your batteries whenever you feel like it without worrying about state of charge. Ray-o-vac has a good charger but, personally, I like the Maha line. My 204 isn't as versatile as some of the newer ones but it works well. I paid Cdn$30 for it a couple years ago. For example, see http://www.thomas-distributing.com/batteries.htm Ted |
#5
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
(...)
there was thread here about battery life, and some of the new technology wrt digital cameras (eating AA Alkalines). i got suckered into buying another camera, and guess what, it really EATS AA'a, changing batteries would be a full time job. the previous owner said he used 1600mah NMiH rechargeables and got 50-60 shots, some w/flash, some without the lcd on, but was generally happy. Question: before i even think about buying into an expensive set up for only occaisional use, i need to know what is the actual capacity of the current crop of AA Alkaline battery. googling now, but find nothing beyond suggested uses on manufacturers sites. Thanks! --Loren Maybe you could check out rechargables? http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM --Len |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
On Wed, 09 Jul 2003 21:04:18 GMT, Ted Edwards wrote:
Your friend was correct in recommending NiMH rechargeables, you can get a decent set of 4 and a charger for about $10 if you look for sales. Never need to pay more than about $15. Please don't do that! Those cheap chargers are either constant current or timer terminated. Pay somewhat more and you can charge your batteries whenever you feel like it without worrying about state of charge. Ray-o-vac has a good charger but, personally, I like the Maha line. My 204 isn't as versatile as some of the newer ones but it works well. I paid Cdn$30 for it a couple years ago. For example, see http://www.thomas-distributing.com/batteries.htm Ted Greetings Ted and Icoe, What Ted Says! When I bought my digital camera I researched it (with lots of help from RCM) and the gist of the battery life question was to get the 1800 mah nimh batteries, made by MAHA, from Thomas Distributing. They lasted longer that alkaline batteries in digital cameras. And they can be thrown in the charger any time. When the batteries get about halfway down I exchange 'em. Keeps plenty o charge in the camera. And battery life is great. much better than the manual said to expect with alkalines. Thomas Distributing has a battery and charger deal. I just got four batteries as my camera uses two. Works great. Cheers, Eric R Snow |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
On Wed, 09 Jul 2003 21:04:18 GMT, Ted Edwards wrote:
Your friend was correct in recommending NiMH rechargeables, you can get a decent set of 4 and a charger for about $10 if you look for sales. Never need to pay more than about $15. Please don't do that! Those cheap chargers are either constant current or timer terminated. Pay somewhat more and you can charge your batteries whenever you feel like it without worrying about state of charge. Ray-o-vac has a good charger but, personally, I like the Maha line. My 204 isn't as versatile as some of the newer ones but it works well. I paid Cdn$30 for it a couple years ago. For example, see http://www.thomas-distributing.com/batteries.htm Ted Cannot beat the New Discovery IQ9000 universal charger for AAs, Nicad, NiMH, or alkaline. It uses a CEC1100 Microprocessor. 200:1 negative pulse charge technology. 900ma charge current |
#8
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Another point is peak current capability.
I believe NiMH have much higher current capability than alkiline. ...lew... |
#9
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
also see www.dpreview.com for digital camera info.
You'd be best to use NiMH's (typically 1600-2300 mA-hr in AA these days) and a good inteligent charger and charge as slowly as practical (4-6 hrs vs. 1-2 hrs), as Alklines, while rated at 2400-2800 mA-hr (all at 10 hour rate???), have higher internal impedence so run hotter and do not last nearly as long as the NiMH's, not to mention you must throw them out vs. charge them. Alternately look at cameras using propriatary Li-Ion batteries. "Thor" wrote in message ... On Wed, 09 Jul 2003 21:44:38 GMT, "Len Turnbow" wrote: (...) there was thread here about battery life, and some of the new technology wrt digital cameras (eating AA Alkalines). i got suckered into buying another camera, and guess what, it really EATS AA'a, changing batteries would be a full time job. the previous owner said he used 1600mah NMiH rechargeables and got 50-60 shots, some w/flash, some without the lcd on, but was generally happy. Question: before i even think about buying into an expensive set up for only occaisional use, i need to know what is the actual capacity of the current crop of AA Alkaline battery. googling now, but find nothing beyond suggested uses on manufacturers sites. Thanks! --Loren Maybe you could check out rechargables? http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM --Len Also look at http://www.hosfelt.com/ They have higher capacity Ni-MH batteries in their printed catalog but not shown on the web page. Avoid quick chargers like the plague! Thor |
#10
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Ted Edwards wrote in message ...
Your friend was correct in recommending NiMH rechargeables, you can get a decent set of 4 and a charger for about $10 if you look for sales. Never need to pay more than about $15. Please don't do that! Those cheap chargers are either constant current or timer terminated. Pay somewhat more and you can charge your batteries whenever you feel like it without worrying about state of charge. Ray-o-vac has a good charger but, personally, I like the Maha line. My 204 isn't as versatile as some of the newer ones but it works well. I paid Cdn$30 for it a couple years ago. For example, see http://www.thomas-distributing.com/batteries.htm Ted Ted, That's partly correct. Yes, the cheap chargers are constant- current, but no, they are not a problem. For most NiMH cells, the "cheap" chargers are charging at a rate less than C/10, and are no problem even if left plugged in all day. I bought my sets from bydusa online over a year ago, and all cells are still going strong. I paid $7.49 for the charger PLUS four 1800 mAH cells. Bought two sets, keep one charger at home and the other in my camera bag with fresh cells in it. Makes a good "battery holder". Only if you want a "fast charger" do you need to step up to the more expensive setup with microprocessor, and yes, you can get a great one for less than $15. For 22.95 you can have the charger and EIGHT NiMH cells (four AA and four AAA, I use the AAA in FRS walkie-talkies). Model V-1000 package: http://www.batteryspace.com This thing works great, and it's dual-power, either AC or an included cigarette-lighter adapter. I've also used it for over a year. I keep this one in the console of my truck for when I need to quick-charge cells, as it's not as small as the slow charger that I keep in the camera bag. best regards, Martin |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
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#12
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Dave Martindale wrote:
There are two different types of cheap charger. They're both constant current with no detection of end of charge. One type uses a low enough charge rate that a full charge takes 14 hours; that's what you're talking about. If the batteries start out partially charged, not completely discharged, they will be overcharged - but at such a low current that it won't hurt them. From my reading, this seems to be somewhat cotroversial, some authors and manufacturers claiming C/10, some C/20 and some saying even lower. My MAHA 204 charges at C/60 after the end of the fast charge cycle. It's probably on sacle of decreasing badness. :-) Ted |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
The Masked Marvel wrote:
Alternately look at cameras using propriatary Li-Ion batteries. The problem with those are proprietary packs of any cell chemistry sell at extorsionist prices. For the price of one spare Li-ion pack, I can buy several sets of NiMH cells and, at todays performance levels, the NiMH are very little behind similar volume Li-ion packs in performance. Ted |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Dave Martindale wrote:
I never use anything but fast chargers now myself. But slow chargers are better for the batteries than timed chargers, and so it's useful to distinguish between them. Agreed but a smart charger is so inexpensive considering how many safe effective recharges you will get, not to mention the convenience. Ted |
#17
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
One by one, people will realize that NiMH never really lives up to
expectations. I have gone through a small fortune in cell phones, digital cameras, and other doodads (OK, I'm a gadget hound) over the last five years. Many developed useless NiMH batteries in only a few months. Now I CAREFULLY check for Li-Ion when buying a new toy. I've gotten years on my Li-Ion Notebook and camera without battery replacement. There is a lot of BS circulating about NiMH (like any other technical topic). From 1st hand experience: 1) NiMH does have memory effect (they may not call it that, but what else can you call it when you are told to deep cycle a battery to "fix" it? 2) NiMH self discharge is far worse than Li-Ion. I hate picking up something that has been charged withing a few weeks and finding it dead. If you have NiMH cells, get used to this. 3) Yes, Li-Ion cells are proprietary, but who cares if you can plug in a camera and then use it for a few days. I've had one of those tiny Casio camera for 6 months now and I can take pictures (on and off) for 2 weeks before it needs charging. Also some makers (I think Sony and Konica) have cameras that use Li-Ion and AA Alkalines (of course you could use AA NiMH if you like too) 4) NiMh performance may, on paper, be close to Li-ion, but in "real world" electronic products, my experience is that NiMH is far behind. Do not believe that you will get more charge-discharge cycles from NiMH. Maybe in a contractor's cordless drill that normally gets run to empty every time, But not in a camera, phone, or PDA, where it's very normal to partially drain the battery, NiMH hates this, but Li-Ion is very happy with this kind of use. 5) Notice that no decent notebook computer or cell phone uses NiMH any more. These products now have brutal price pressure so the makers would love to use cheaper batteries. They did use NiMH for a while, but had to stop because the performance was just too crappy. end of rant LiIon also have the pseudo-advantage that the manufacturer *has* to supply a decent charger for them. You can get equally good NiMH chargers, but a lot of the NiMH chargers sold are junk. You have to do a bit of research to get a good one. Dave |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Icoe:
Yes, actually.... the Radio Shack #23-405 is only for NiCad and NiMH.... NOT for LITHIUM. and, yes, it is microprocessor controlled and is designed to specifically sense the unique charging curves of NiCad or NiMH, switch selectable and will shut off when it achieves full charge as detected by the chip...... or failing that, it's backup timer will shut it off. It is a nicely built unit and if used properly should work just fine.... the business about charging only fully discharged cells applies mainly to NiCad .... by fully discharging them, the "memory effect" is negated. You really do not want to fully discharge NiMH every time you charge them.... and you don't have to.... there is no memory effect to worry about..... -- Best Regards, Daniel Sofie Electronics Supply & Repair -------------------------------------------- "lcoe" wrote in message news:nzxPa.34650$ye4.26674@sccrnsc01... Ted, or anyone, i bot a RShack "Auto Sensing" model (for ni-cad and lithium). the manual and box says, "automatically senses full charge and shuts off". further, in the manual it says, '`...charge only fully discharged cells...' another feature is a "backup" fixed timer, 1.5hr for nicad, 2.0 for lith. it's RS model 23-405, 50% off recently. it's heavy, brick shaped, but is it really fully automatic? Thanks! --Loren |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
In rec.crafts.metalworking Sofie wrote:
Icoe: Yes, actually.... the Radio Shack #23-405 is only for NiCad and NiMH.... NOT for LITHIUM. yes, i mis-spoke, thanks for noticing. and, yes, it is microprocessor controlled and is designed to specifically sense the unique charging curves of NiCad or NiMH, switch selectable and will shut off when it achieves full charge as detected by the chip...... or failing that, it's backup timer will shut it off. It is a nicely built unit and if used properly should work just fine.... the business about charging only fully discharged cells applies mainly to NiCad .... by fully discharging them, the "memory effect" is negated. You really do not want to fully discharge NiMH every time you charge them.... and you don't have to.... there is no memory effect to worry about..... -- Best Regards, Daniel Sofie Electronics Supply & Repair do you, or anyone know the cutoff voltage for the charge cycle? was thinking of testing it by charging some partially discharged alkalines. i see some newer chargers on-line that have a switch selectable "dis-charge" then/charge mode. i believe it works for either type battery. Thanks! --Loren ` -------------------------------------------- "lcoe" wrote in message news:nzxPa.34650$ye4.26674@sccrnsc01... Ted, or anyone, i bot a RShack "Auto Sensing" model (for ni-cad and lithium). the manual and box says, "automatically senses full charge and shuts off". further, in the manual it says, '`...charge only fully discharged cells...' another feature is a "backup" fixed timer, 1.5hr for nicad, 2.0 for lith. it's RS model 23-405, 50% off recently. it's heavy, brick shaped, but is it really fully automatic? Thanks! --Loren |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Icoe:
I would very strongly suggest that you NOT put alkaline batteries in your Radio Shack #23-405 charger..... it is only designed for NiCads and NiMH. DO NOT put alkalines in ANY charger not specifically designed for alkalines..... they may explode or at the very least, get hot and make a hell of a mess. The cut-off voltage and charging curve is different for NiCad versus NiMH ..... that is why the charger has a 2 position selection switch..... make certain it is set correctly for the type of battery you are charging.... notice that there is NOT a 3rd selection position for Alkaline...... do NOT attempt to recharge alkaline batteries in this charger. The automatic discharge and then recharge feature of some chargers and reconditioners was meant mainly for NiCads..... to help minimize the "memory effect" ...... not really needed for NiMH although there are those that say it helps and others that say that regular deep cycling of NiMH is not beneficial or even good for the battery..... my experience suggests the latter. -- Best Regards, Daniel Sofie Electronics Supply & Repair -------------------- "lcoe" wrote in message news:J1BPa.36050$H17.10762@sccrnsc02... do you, or anyone know the cutoff voltage for the charge cycle? was thinking of testing it by charging some partially discharged alkalines. i see some newer chargers on-line that have a switch selectable "dis-charge" then/charge mode. i believe it works for either type battery. Thanks! --Loren ` |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
lcoe wrote:
Ted, or anyone, i bot a RShack "Auto Sensing" model (for ni-cad and lithium). the manual and box says, "automatically senses full charge and shuts off". further, in the manual it says, '`...charge only fully discharged cells...' That's a bad sign. A smart charger should be detecting end of charge by watching for delta-V (a slight drop in voltage). I am concerned that they say NiCd and lithium (what lithium?) but do not mention NiMH. another feature is a "backup" fixed timer, 1.5hr for nicad, 2.0 for lith. it's RS model 23-405, 50% off recently. it's heavy, brick shaped, but is it really fully automatic? Personally, I would not go for it. Sounds wrong. Ted |
#22
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Len S wrote:
One by one, people will realize that NiMH never really lives up to expectations. Actually, all 4 sets of 4 (116 cells) NiMH AA's that I have have exceeded expectations. Sounds like you may have tried very early cells. gotten years on my Li-Ion Notebook and camera without battery Well, mine died in two years. This is about average life from what I have read although a few have done better. replacement. There is a lot of BS circulating about NiMH (like any other technical topic). Li-ion suffers from the same thing such as the statements below From 1st hand experience: 1) NiMH does have memory effect (they may not call it that, but what else can you call it when you are told to deep cycle a battery to "fix" it? There are several effects in batteries that are eroneously called memory effect. Li-ion suffers from some of these too. 2) NiMH self discharge is far worse than Li-Ion. This is true but something that has been charged withing a few weeks and finding it dead. If you have NiMH cells, get used to this. Either you are storing your units in a *very* warm place or your appliance has an ureasonably high standby current. (This is not all that infrequent.) Over the winter I do not get out for as many walks as I would like (asthma) so my GPS sees much less use. I changed batteries on Feb 2, recharged the dead set and left them in my desk drawer. On Mar 7, the batteries in GPS died so I switched sets *without* recharging the set from the drawer. These were in use until Mar 20 (almost two months since being charged) and delivered their usual approx. 14 hours running time. I suggest you check the standby current on your instruments. 4) NiMh performance may, on paper, be close to Li-ion, but in "real world" electronic products, my experience is that NiMH is far behind. As you can see, I'm questioning your "real world" experience. My *measurements* corrolate well with Dave Etchell's in http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM and the data in http://www.dp-now.com/index.html Do not believe that you will get more charge-discharge cycles from NiMH. Maybe in a contractor's cordless drill that normally gets run to empty every time, But not in a camera, phone, or PDA, where it's very normal to partially drain the battery, NiMH hates this, but Li-Ion is very happy with this kind of use. Sorry, but this is patently false for NiMH being charged with a smart charger. 5) Notice that no decent notebook computer or cell phone uses NiMH any more. These products also have a high status factor. The average business persons notebok gets replaced because it is "out of date" not because it doesn't do the job it was purchased for. Li-ion is a status item. Ted |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
lcoe writes:
do you, or anyone know the cutoff voltage for the charge cycle? was thinking of testing it by charging some partially discharged alkalines. There isn't a "cutoff voltage". NiMH and NiCd cells are charged while monitoring voltage over time. As the cells reach full charge, the terminal voltage rate of change goes to zero, and then negative (i.e. the voltage *drops*). This is what the chargers sense. They may also sense the rapid rise in temperature at end of charge. Don't put alkalines in this charger. Alkalines won't accept high charge currents, and they'll probably burst or leak. Dave |
#24
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
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#25
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
lcoe writes:
so i popped them in and the camera fired up fine, and i reviewed pictures taken w/these same batteries. then i went to 'record', it tried, but shutdown. again, sameo, sameo. This is really just demonstrating that alkalines aren't suitable for your digital camera - too much internal resistance. Rechargeable alkalines, even on their first use, are worse than single-use ones, Later discharges get worse yet because internal resistance increases. I don't expect single-use alkalines that have been recharged are any different in this respect. the choice still remains to install fresh alkalines, assuming the balance of the battery cap. could be utilized, and if i am willing to put up with the intemittant operation of the camera. for now, it's going to be Ni-mh, but i will not be able to resist further testing. Forget the alkalines. You've demonstrated that they're useless except as an absolute last resort. Use NiMH for day to day use. Buy a set of single-use lithium AAs for backup if you can't always be sure of having enough NiMH batteries for a trip. Dave |
#26
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Right on the money. Heat kills batteries. Cheap chargers overheat the
batteries. The Maha chargers work nice for reasonable cost. I have NiMH batteries that still work well after 5 years thanks to the TLC they get in my cheapie Maha charger. Thomas Distributing is the place to get 'em. Speaking of heat, you should use caution in using lithium AA throwaway batteries. They apparently get quite hot during heavy discharge cycles. So much so that my Olympus D-600L's warranty would be voided if those batteries were used in it. Ted Edwards wrote in message ... Please don't do that! Those cheap chargers are either constant current or timer terminated. Pay somewhat more and you can charge your batteries whenever you feel like it without worrying about state of charge. Ray-o-vac has a good charger but, personally, I like the Maha line. My 204 isn't as versatile as some of the newer ones but it works well. I paid Cdn$30 for it a couple years ago. For example, see http://www.thomas-distributing.com/batteries.htm Ted |
#27
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#28
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#29
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Like everything else, your mileage will vary. I bought a Toshiba
digital camera around 4 years ago and bought a set of NiMH with charger for around $25. I'm still using the same set and have taken thousands of pictures. On 11 Jul 2003 00:41:15 -0700, (Len S) wrote: One by one, people will realize that NiMH never really lives up to expectations. I have gone through a small fortune in cell phones, digital cameras, and other doodads (OK, I'm a gadget hound) ov snipped |
#31
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Ted Edwards wrote in message ...
Len S wrote: .......Sounds like you may have tried very early cells. You may be right, but I've been reluctant to give them a chance for the last few years. gotten years on my Li-Ion Notebook and camera without battery Well, mine died in two years. This is about average life from what I have read although a few have done better. I would agree again. It's just that my NiMH results have never been that good. Li-ion suffers from the same thing such as the statements below From 1st hand experience: 1) NiMH does have memory effect (they may not call it that, but what else can you call it when you are told to deep cycle a battery to "fix" it? There are several effects in batteries that are eroneously called memory effect. Li-ion suffers from some of these too. OK, maybe I got on a roll here. But I have never had to "condition" LiIon cells. 2) NiMH self discharge is far worse than Li-Ion. This is true but something that has been charged withing a few weeks and finding it dead. If you have NiMH cells, get used to this. Either you are storing your units in a *very* warm place or your appliance has an ureasonably high standby current. Could be (never measured) 4) NiMh performance may, on paper, be close to Li-ion, but in "real world" electronic products, my experience is that NiMH is far behind. As you can see, I'm questioning your "real world" experience. My *measurements* corrolate well with Dave Etchell's in http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM and the data in http://www.dp-now.com/index.html I must defer to the tests. But I don't like the idea of swapping sets of cells for something like a digital camera. You pop out the discharged set for charging. Then pop in a set that was charged a while back. Now you don't know how full these cells are because they have been self discharging after their charger terminated a long time ago. I prefer embedded chargers. Do not believe that you will get more charge-discharge cycles from NiMH. Maybe in a contractor's cordless drill that normally gets run to empty every time, But not in a camera, phone, or PDA, where it's very normal to partially drain the battery, NiMH hates this, but Li-Ion is very happy with this kind of use. Sorry, but this is patently false for NiMH being charged with a smart charger. I disagree. This is the 2nd most significant difference between the 2 cell chemistries. Low self discharge being #1 5) Notice that no decent notebook computer or cell phone uses NiMH any more. These products also have a high status factor. The average business persons notebok gets replaced because it is "out of date" not because it doesn't do the job it was purchased for. Li-ion is a status item. I again don't agree. Li-Ion would not be a status symbol if there were no benefit. Do you think the average user had any idea what NiMH or Li-Ion was before all this stuff started? Of course not. If (the cheaper) NiMH cells worked adequately, cell phones and Notebook would be using them and hyping NiMH instead. The price competition on these products is ruthless. They look for ways to cut $0.05 from cost. Now the one key point that actually makes us both mostly correct is that you are talking about outboard chargers and I am talking about embedded chargers. You most like are running your cells through full cycles so your batteries are happy. I used my old cell phone a little bit every day and then plugged it in at night. The battery died (had about 5 minutes capacity) in 2-3 months. Now a days you have zero chance of getting a good NiMh charger built into something because a *good* NiMH charger actually costs more than a good Li-Ion one and almost offsets the battery cost. |
#32
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
"jakdedert" writes:
All the Motorola FRS radios (that I'm familiar with) use three AA cells. All of their literature states that alkalines or Nimhs *must* be used. According to Motorola, NiCads are not acceptable. That's not true of the T6210. In the battery installation section, it just says "AA batteries" or a special NiMH pack sold by Motorola. It doesn't specify what kind of AA batteries. Later in the manual, it describes how you can change the battery meter voltage thresholds. The two settings are "A" for alkaline and "n" for "NiMH or NiCad rechargeable". That's a direct quote from the manual. So it's clearly intended to work with NiCd cells. The Motorola NiMH pack is somewhat weird - its capacity is only 550 mAH. I wonder if they use 4 AAA cells in it to get 4.8 V for higher transmit power (but short battery life). It also has contacts that mate with charging contacts on the battery compartment cover, which in turn mate with contacts on the Motorola charger. This ensures that only the Motorola rechargeable pack can be charged inside the radio. Dave |
#33
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
lcoe wrote:
Ted, or anyone, i bot a RShack "Auto Sensing" model (for ni-cad and lithium). the manual and box says, "automatically senses full charge and shuts off". further, in the manual it says, '`...charge only fully discharged cells...' I replied to this but don't see it and my ISP has been having the nasties so: I wouldn't trust it but YMMV. First off, they don't mention delt-V termination or NiMH. Second, there should be no need to fully discharge cells before charging if it were truly a smart charger. another feature is a "backup" fixed timer, 1.5hr for nicad, 2.0 for lith. it's RS model 23-405, 50% off recently. it's heavy, brick shaped, but is it really fully automatic? I don't think so and wouldn't trust it but I haven't personally seen it. I *know* the Maha's are good. Ted |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Old Nick......
Adding the extra NiCad cell as you suggested will give you a total of 4.8 V.... very close to what 3 fresh alkaline batteries will put out. An eloquent solution that I have seen in some consumer equipment over the years is to use (2) AAA cells and (2) 1/2AAA cells. The 1/2 cells obviously won't have the capacity of a larger full size AAA cell, but the radio will operate correctly with the voltage boost....... and all the batteries can fit in the radio's battery compartment without the need for "ugly" modifications and "add ons". The "half" cells in the AAA size can be difficult to find but they are available....... -- Best Regards, Daniel Sofie Electronics Supply & Repair ----------------------------- |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
I'm sorry. I've got so many of these--of several different models--that I
can't pull up just where I saw that info. I checked to be sure, because I have NiCds I could be using. Nimh's work great, and alkaline usage is acceptable...unless I have a crew of 11 guys all trying to keep in touch. Then I go through a case of them in a week or so. I'm sure I saw this info somewhere...it may have been one particular model. The 280 manual (only one which I was able to put my hands on easily) doesn't mention NiCd's at all...just rechargeable alk's. We've got 280's, 250's, 6220's, FR-60's--among others. jak "Dave Martindale" wrote in message ... "jakdedert" writes: All the Motorola FRS radios (that I'm familiar with) use three AA cells. All of their literature states that alkalines or Nimhs *must* be used. According to Motorola, NiCads are not acceptable. That's not true of the T6210. In the battery installation section, it just says "AA batteries" or a special NiMH pack sold by Motorola. It doesn't specify what kind of AA batteries. Later in the manual, it describes how you can change the battery meter voltage thresholds. The two settings are "A" for alkaline and "n" for "NiMH or NiCad rechargeable". That's a direct quote from the manual. So it's clearly intended to work with NiCd cells. The Motorola NiMH pack is somewhat weird - its capacity is only 550 mAH. I wonder if they use 4 AAA cells in it to get 4.8 V for higher transmit power (but short battery life). It also has contacts that mate with charging contacts on the battery compartment cover, which in turn mate with contacts on the Motorola charger. This ensures that only the Motorola rechargeable pack can be charged inside the radio. Dave |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
Remember - NiCad are 1.25 volts per cell. To low for some electronics
to function when in a higher voltage circuit. Martin -- Martin Eastburn, Barbara Eastburn @ home at Lion's Lair with our computer NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
In rec.crafts.metalworking Eastburn wrote:
Remember - NiCad are 1.25 volts per cell. To low for some electronics to function when in a higher voltage circuit. Martin 1.2, right? also, i now find that the NiMH are also 1.2(!). --Loren -- Martin Eastburn, Barbara Eastburn @ home at Lion's Lair with our computer NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder |
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
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AA battary capacity, Ah (?)
My old Olympus D-320L digicam goes through alkalines like crazy...but when
they won't work in the camera anymore, they still have plenty of capacity for flashlights and the like. I'll have to measure the open circuit voltage the next time I change them, IIRC it was something like 1.3 volts. jak "Dave Martindale" wrote in message ... (GregS) writes: On the other hand, there is a GE discount CB walkie-talkie that has been sold in many discount outlets. It uses a fixed amount of cells. It will ONLY work with alkalines. It NEEDS the extra voltage for the thing to output any decent power, 5 watts, where the 1.2 volt cells will cause it to output 1/10th proper power level or 500mw. Which means that it will use half or less of the energy in one set of alkaline cells before you have to replace them with new ones. This certainly fits my definition of "junk". Dave |
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