My wife and I own two PDAs, several TV remotes, and other low-drain devices that use AA and AAA batteries. For the past couple of years we have been using Rayovac Rechargable Alkalines (formerly known as Renewal). They have worked well, providing a good balance of price, reliability, and long life. However, the local Walmart and Walgreens stores have stopped carrying them. Rayovac no longer has an information section for them on their website. It is possible that the line has been discontinued. They do have NiMH batteries which will work with the same charger, but according to their own FAQ these are not as well-suited to our needs.
I’ve emailed to see if they are still available. If not, what would be a good replacement?
Nimh’ll be fine for the PDA. They’d get annoying for the t.v remotes however. Nimh’s hold alot of power, but will naturally discharge over time. About a week or so. While this is fine for your PDA its not very convienent for your T.v remote. Just put some regular alkalines into the T.v. remote and nimhs for the PDA.
I just received a reply from Rayovac. They have indeed discontinued rechargable alkalines and now recommend using regular alkalines for low-drain devices.
Thanks for the input. We will switch to NiMH for our PDAs and non-rechargables for remotes.
Regular alkalines – even cheap ones – can last years and years in a tv remote. When the batteries seem “dead” simply take them out, tap them against a hard surface and replace them in the remote with the polarities reversed from the way they were in before (put them in the device properly but swap the location of the 2 batteries. If Bat A was pointing -+ and Bat B was pointing ±, put B in the -+ position and vice versa.) You cannot repeat this procedure indefinitely but you can do it many, many times.