I just bought a digital camera that requires 4 AA batteries and I also own a portable MP3-CD player. They both gobble up battery life faster than I had hoped, and I am thinking about buying rechargeable batteries from now on. My question is whether or not this is a good choice. I haven’t used rechargeables since I was kid, but I seem to remember that they never worked as well as regular batteries. I know that rechargeables eventually gain memory and don’t last as long, but does anyone have any advice about today’s rechargeable batteries? Have they gotten better? Are they worth the extra money? Thanks for any info…
I have a set of 8 AA batteries and a charger. I have owned these for over 10 years and still use them now. They charge in 2 hrs, give 20-30 hrs service depending on usage.
I’m sure newer sets will be even more efficient, but I have saved a load of cash on buying batteries over the years. They are definitely worth it.
As are low energy lightbulbs too. Buy them now!!! (Just doing my bit for the Environment…)
Yes, get the rechargeables.
My digital camera also takes 4 AA batteries. I picked up a charger and 8 batteries and now use them all the time. They have already paid for themselves in terms of the money I would have spent on batteries.
BTW, as a tip, don’t use the LCD screen on your camera when you take pictures. Use the viewfinder instead. It will make your batteries last much longer.
Zev Steinhardt
Thanks for the advice! I guess I should also ask for recommendations on which batteries/chargers are the best choices to buy. I’ll only be using AA’s probably, and I want a charger that works fast and is relatively small…
Digital cameras draw a huge amount of current, and are very sensitive to battery voltage. Regular batteries (non-rechargeables, e.g. alkalines) are not very suitable for this type of use; they are less efficient at high current, and the voltage drops off fast. Rechargeable Ni-Mh (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries are ideally suited. Most cameras run much longer on Ni-MH than on alkalines.
To add to scr4: rechargeable batteries do NOT have the same voltage as regular batteries, they just look the same. (Thanks to my cousin, who’s in the biz for this information) Even when fully charged they do not perform the same way. I have a digital camera that refuses to even turn on with rechargeables.
I’m all for not throwing away batteries, but a camera?–we’re talking art, not convenience or cost-effectivity.
what scr4 said. NiMh does not succumb to the memory effect you refer to. That happens with NiCd batteries.
also, the higher the mAh rating (mili-Ampere hour) the better. 1000mAh capacity means that the batteries will last for 1 hour if subjected to a 1000mA discharge current.
One more battery question: How important is the mah rating on the NiMH batteries?? Should I just buy the highest level possible or is there a point where mah stops being a determining factor for usage time? I have looked at a few battery/charger sets that come with 1300-1700 mah batteries. Of course the higher the mah, the more I will pay, but is this worth it?
Yes, NiMh batteries do not have the same volatage rating as NiCd or Alkaline batteries. NiMh batteries are rated at 1.2v while the “regular batteries” are rated at 1.5v.
Yes, your digital camera requiring 2 x 1.5v AA batteries will work perfectly well with NiMh 1.2v batteries.
partly_warmer, what you have is an isolated case of faulty batteries or faulty/unconventional equipment, or some combination of the two. Perhaps the mAh rating on your rechargable batteries is too low to power up your camera.
As i said, 1000mAh capacity means that the batteries will (in theory) last for 1 hour if subjected to a 1000mA discharge current.
short story: as long as you can get to a power outlet and recharge your batteries before they run out (e.g. when on a picnic, trip, etc.), you’re fine with 1000mAh plus.
long story:
I’m lost.
I’ve got NiMH, 1.2 volt, 700 mAh batteries, fully charged. RAYOVAC. I looked at several types in the store, and they all had the same rating.
Brand new, fully charged, I couldn’t even turn on my camera, let alone take a picture. Granted this is an inexpensive camera where they probably cut every possible cost.
So, are rechargeables exactly the same as non-rechargeables, or not?
Voltage differences are misleading. 1.2v Ni-Cd and NiMH battereies have lower internal resistance than an alkaline so in some cases can provide more power to the load. In a series circuit voltage drop is proportial to resistance. If you measure voltage with a meter and no load you’ll measure the total voltage of the battery because the meter’s resistance (impedance really but let’s keep this in the DC realm) overwhelms the resistance of the battery. The meter “gets” all the voltage, the battery’s resistance little to none. In a high current load the battery’s resistance becomes more of a factor. I’ve got a digicam, Minolta Dimage 7, that will run marginally or not at all with a fesh set of alkalines but works fine with NiMH.
The popularity of digicams has made NiMH batteries much cheaper and widely available. I use Rayovac 1600mah AAs and a pair of the 1 hour chargers.
700mah? Are those AAA batteries? What kind of camera do you have? You may have a digicam designed only to use alkalines.
I backpack and need my DC to work for several days, so I have 1600mAh batteries (the highest at the time). They can last for several days if I’m careful and don’t use the flash too often. I’d go with high mAh batteries mainly because the cost difference is pretty low.
Consider the MAHA recharger combo for sale at Thomas Distributing (http://www.thomasdistributing.com), pretty cheap in comparison to alkalines.
700mAh seems pretty darn low, they sell AAAs at that level. Consider trying ones at 1500mAh and see what happens. I’ve never seen a DC that didn’t work better with rechargable NiMHs.
Very interesting, thank you.
Yep. Mine has AAA batteries. It’s a Polaroid (RIP) bought, new, at a remainder store.
ok…let’s see if we can figure this out…
-
Are the batteries working on other devices ? try a walkman.
-
Are you using an NiCd recharger to charge the NiMh batteries ? or is the multi-charger set to NiCd instead of NiMh ?
-
Hi, Opal!
now the second question:
No. No two battery types are the same. infact, even the same battery type manufactured by different companies differ.
Batteries can differ in many many characteristics and properties.
Rechargeable batteries have reversible chemicals, which allow you to keep reacharging multiple times.
The newest rechargeable NiMh batteries have a marked cost and performance benefit over conventional Alkaline or NiCd batteries.
here’s a comparison of various types of batteries:
http://www.rayovac.com/busoem/oem/specs/ren5.shtml
ok, on preview, the first part has been answered… this board is sooo slow today
Try alkalines in it. I bet it came out before AAA NiMHs were commonplace.
Question:
I recall seeing some new battery recharge system that claimed it could recharge ordinary alkaline batteries. Do these systems actually work? How well?
Yes, the board is slooow. Makes for great conversations, doesn’t it?
I’m answering a couple of folks here. My camera is a still camera, not a camcorder. It uses 4 AAA.
I just hooked a multimeter up to it (granted something I can barely use), set it to Battery, 1.5 V, and got a reading between “Good” and “Bad”. In this case I couldn’t figure out what other scale I should be looking at. Seems to me like the battery is ok, given that it’s 1.2 V.
For the sake of the OP (I guess my questions are answered) since it seems like there are devices meant for alkalines only, is it necessarily true that he’d be better off buying rechargables?
I checked both my camera and mp3 player user guides, and both of them recommended I use NiMH batteries if I go with rechargeables. I take that as a sign that they’ll work. I found this set online and I will probably order it soon: