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I love the idea of rechargeable batteries. I started buying Eneloops, and they work alright. Now I own 16 more electronic devices (8 AA, 8AAA), and I have to k

I love the idea of rechargeable batteries. I started buying Eneloops, and they work alright. Now I own 16 more electronic devices (8 AA, 8AAA), and I have to keep track of what device they're in, their charge state, and their long-term health. I don't have a great way of tracking ANY of those things. Part of my motivation was to use them in camera flash units, where a small change in the battery life can result in the flash cycle time changing from ~1s to ~10s, without any warning - while I'm trying to take a photo of something quickly - so this sucks. This is a minor pain, because I can swap out for some fresh alkalines, but in that case, why even bother with the rechargeables? They're still nice in most other devices.

wlesieutre 6y ago
Chargers like a LaCrosse BC-700 can give you an approximate capacity measurement for a battery, you could use that to bin them into rough capacities and color code with stickers. But if the charge time is changing that drastically, it sounds like more of a maximum current issue. I've been under the impression that NiMH batteries can deliver higher current than alkaline, but I've never tried them for something like a camera flash. EDIT - higher end chargers can measure the internal resistance, which I think is the number you need for issues with limited power draw. With a BC-700 you can apparently approximate this by using its discharge mode and seeing how a battery's voltage changes when you're drawing power from it. Discussion here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?338786-Quick-and-dirty-Internal-Resistance-with-the-BC-700-charger http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?338786-Qu... Or a BC-1000 will do it for you.
nicbou 6y ago
I still have the set of 8 eneloops I bought a decade ago, and they still fulfil their duty. I wrote my name of them because I didn't want people to take them. It was one of those great purchases I never really stop to think about.

wlesieutre 6y ago

Chargers like a LaCrosse BC-700 can give you an approximate capacity measurement for a battery, you could use that to bin them into rough capacities and color code with stickers. But if the charge time is changing that drastically, it sounds like more of a maximum current issue. I've been under the impression that NiMH batteries can deliver higher current than alkaline, but I've never tried them for something like a camera flash. EDIT - higher end chargers can measure the internal resistance, which I think is the number you need for issues with limited power draw. With a BC-700 you can apparently approximate this by using its discharge mode and seeing how a battery's voltage changes when you're drawing power from it. Discussion here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?338786-Quick-and-dirty-Internal-Resistance-with-the-BC-700-charger http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?338786-Qu... Or a BC-1000 will do it for you.

nicbou 6y ago

I still have the set of 8 eneloops I bought a decade ago, and they still fulfil their duty. I wrote my name of them because I didn't want people to take them. It was one of those great purchases I never really stop to think about.