Regarding Small AA/AAA Penlight Type Batteries

i use the NIMH AA and AAA from Jaycar and will never use normal batteries again.if i do i buy varta alkalines from the warehouse or go-lo (cheap and good batteries) Paul

G'day Geoff1967,

I've been slowly replacing my aa/aaa with the varta brand of batteries. I use the Varta 15 min charger to recharge these batteries which will recharge the 15min varta rechargable batteries in 15mins (obviously). I've also started buying the varta accu charge batteries in 2100mah and 2500mah which can also be used in the same charger but take a little longer to recharge. You can use the charger off the mains and it can also be used off 12volt in the car (handy when travelling). You can buy these from Dick Smith/Tandy, K-Mart etc...). The 15min charger cost me about $80 (on special) a couple of years ago. Use the batteries in the handheld uhf, torches, cameras, clocks (around the house).

Cheers,
Darren

I've standardised on AA rechargables for everthing with a 12V car charger.

I run my torches, GPS, cameras, hand held UHF's etc off them.

Best thing I ever did. Costs a bit to set up, but it's all free from then on and you always have plenty of batteries.

The ONLY AA or AAA batteries I'll be buying from now on are the Sanyo Eneloops.

If you want NiMH batteries to last, you must discharge and recharge them AT LEAST once every three months if you don't use them regularly.

G'day, I have used for a lot of years in my gps's, cb's, cameras, torches etc. Digitor NiMh batteries (orange) from Dick Smith. After trying most brands these still outlast all others in usage rate & age. They come with a 12/240, 1 hour charger. The higher mAh the better, regards, Dingo

Energizer rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, with Energizer charger which runs off 12v or 240v (via Inverter)

Takes 1 hour to recharge up to 4 batteries in a combination of either 'AA' (900mAH) or 'AAA' (2500mAH)

Mainey . . .

Note that the 10 or so rechargeable AAA batteries (Ni-MH) I have are all 1.2V, NOT 1.5V or thereabouts that the alkaline AAA batterys are.

This means that on some stuff that I have, they do not work or do not work very well as the voltage is too low.

Rechargeable AA batteries, great and I use them all the time in the camera and GPS but do keep a good set of alkaline batteries with each device for when the rechargeable s go flat when out for the day. I hardly ever have to use them though.

Crazy Clarks have cheap Duracells which is usually hwat I buy for non-rechargeable.

Stevesub

Hi Geoff

Our emphasis tends to be on performance of the product and hence we shy away from rechargeable Ni-cad/Ni-mh cells.

The lower voltage of 1.2 instead 1.5 means that output from lights and radios is typically 1.2^2 / 1.2^5 or only around 2/3 rds

Also in general the total energy significantly is less from the rechargeables.

Got a stack of these now removed from products, as we also try to standardize on using AA's or AAA if no option.

Where real performance is required we use the energiser lithiums and while these are expensive they can usually be brought for 1/2 price. E.G. Both a local supermarket and Bunnings have had them at 4 for $9.95 in a buy "2 get 2 free offer".
These are great and using a luxmeter I measured a 20% increase in light output from a torch with them over the normal non-rechargeable alkalines.
Their huge weight reduction is an advantage when used in a UHF handheld on say a bike helmet.


AS for non-rechargeable alkalines - well first they can usually be topped up or re-charged a couple of times and I usuall refresh them before a trip, but if you overdo this they leak.
But Jaycar and other places sell them in big 40 packs from time to time at 50c each so there not to bad in price anyway

We use cheap batteries,

Our local $2 shop has Duracell parallel imports and sell them real cheap at times can get AAA and AA batteries for less than$1 each.

They last just as long as normal duracell with the only difference being that all the writing on the batteries and packaging is in chinese.

Depends:

LED torches and headlights: I use alkalines because the torches sit around unused, and alkalines don't self-discharge. And you know when the batteries are getting flat because the light gradually dims. When you use NiMH, they self discharge and you find the torch works fine when you test it, and is dead a few minutes later (very flat discharge curve).

Normal torches: NiMH because they use a lot of power.

GPS: alkaline because my Garmin 2+ GPS needs a full 1.5V per cell, for its internal memory to work.

Camera: NiMH because they deliver the power required for plenty of flash photography, and my latest camera has a NiMH setting that adjusts the voltage cutout.

Alkalines - I buy the Jaycar bulk pack - they seem OK to me.
NiMH batteries: I only buy japanese made cells - the 2500MAh Energisers are good. I've had a duds in the past with the unlabelled ones from Jaycar.

I find that there is no one battery type that is the best for every situation...."fit for purpose" comes to mind.

I will use Energiser Lithiums AA for some situations, NiMh (eneloops) for others and Alkaline (Duracells) for the remainder.

Shop around for AA Lithiums, as their prices can be expensive. I currently buy mine in Bulk (6x4packs) for $2 each, to give you an idea of their price point. Anything more is just plain expensive (though it isn't exactly cheap at that price either).

Depending on the type of torch, ceratin types are better than others. I use some powerful (yet small) torchs (100 lumens) requiring AAAs and find that the NiMh will outlast the high quality Alkalines due to the very high current drain. Fortunately these types of lights are regulated so their light output will not deminish until a certain voltage level.

In a normal torch (mini maglite etc) i find that good quality alkalines will outperform the rechargables.

It really depends on your particular circumstances and what you require out of the device.

My latest charger is this one:



It is able to charge up to 10 batteries of AAA or AA types, individually (the ability to mix sizes is possible).....great for when i have to charge 3 x AAA's for one of my torches (most, not all, other chargers hate odd numbers of batteries). It also has a discharge function, though not as well advanced as Mikes one. (doesnt do multiple discharges etc). Having a charger that can run off both 240v and 12v is handy for travelling.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

Hi there

Don't know if this is relevant but if you buy a 9 volt battery such as fits a Dolphin Torch and then pull it apart you will find that it is quite often comprised of 30 odd AA or AA batteries. Last one that I pulled apart had the equivalent of 8 D size batteries inside. Very cheap way to buy batteries.

John