This little Wolf needs help...

"Did you hear about the Energiser Bunny???
Someone inserted his batteries in upside down, and instead of going & going, he kept coming & coming......... "

you do need help!
lol lol

You will not harm anything. You may find the product use time between charges is less than with alkalines.

Bunnies are like that - at least… a few of the one I know are :) Although they are "hers" not "hims" I hasten to add :)

Mike Harding

Wolfie, NiMh should be fine, the assertion re insertion is related to the constatnt supply of current at a higher than normal battery level, Alkaline batteries hold up their voltage and then the volts "collapse" when they're dead, so do NiMh, and I *think* NiCad's also, but not so sure about them.

I have been using MiMH in all my devices forabout 5 years now, LED torches, GPS, Gameboy, Digital Camera etc. I have a charger that I got from JAYCAY electronics that come with a 12 volt plug pack, I made up a lead and run it from the the car.

It charges 8 AA cells at once and all is well.
Cheers

Alkaline batteries are rated at 1.5v and this drops with use until their dead.

NiMh etc are usually rated at 1.2v and hold that voltage right upto the time they die and need recharging.

If your gunna use NiMh get those rate 2000milliamps or higher, they'll last longer.

Have fun with all ya toys.

Russell

Don't forget to check the instruction book.

If it says do not use rechargeables, then don't.

2 x 1.2 volts is one heck of a lot less that 2 x 1.5 volts, and some devices will not like it.

Ken

Wolfie,

I have been using NiCads and NMH batteries for years in my Canon gear. They are in constant use in the practice and certain ones last better than others. The best brand is VARTA who have now brought out a 15 min rapid charger for their NMH. It then switches off and gives a small trickle charge when the batteries need it. It has its own cooling fan etc to stop the batteries getting hot.

I have a power inverter in the car so I can plug it into 240 volts etc. Nicads and NMH give rapid discharge, which means your flash will recycle faster. when they run out of charge they go off really quick. A set of 4 Nicads will do almost 36 standard shots in the 550 EX. 8 Nicads run the EOS 1 flat out for 20 or so films then they drop off suddenly, whereas 8 alkalines go forever in the EOS 1 but it starts to slow down after a while. Similarly with the flash the recycle time just gets longer and longer with alkalines.

When charging these things it is best to have a smart charger that cuts out the main charging when the batteries have had enough and then goes into trickle mode. Research has shown that overcharging the rechargeable batteries shortens their life.

Hope this is useful.

Jim