Good rechargeable AA battteries?

[Titan Simba]

I bought a couple of sets of Uniross 2500mHa rechargeables. If I use them pretty much straight after charging, they're great and will give me several hundred photos. However (and here's the problem) if I charge them a few days in advance, when it comes time to use them they're completely dead.

I'm needing a set of rechargeable AA batteries which will hold their charge. Any recommendation on a brand? (Relatively high mAh is of course required.)

Cheers
TS

[le gravy noire]

Ask Emma, she'll know.

[Titan Simba]

le gravy noire said:

Ask Emma, she'll know.

Thanks. Erm... Emma who?

[windandwave]

Lithium AAs or CRV3s are your man for holding charge. Sanyo Eneloops work well also. I'm guessing you're using a camera that's fussy about voltage - Pentax perchance? If so, you really need the Lithiums as they put out a higher voltage for longer. With alkaline rechargeables there's generally still plenty of oomph left in them when the camera decides not to recognise them any more - the voltage cut off threshold is just too high.

[Jenx]

Emma is EmmaP on here...

I use Duracell rechargable in my flash gun...I'm sure they last longer than the throw-away ones.

[Titan Simba]

Thanks.
I'm using a Canon PS S3IS. And the batteries are of course just the usual Ni-MH. Will take a look around for a set of lithiums - although I'll probably require a new charger since the one I've got indicates Ni-MH and Ni-CD only.

[Gemm]

Uniross HYBRIO range is supposed to hold its charge when not in use (very slow self discharge), but I've never tried one, so I'd be interested know what they are like. And they are also supplied fully charged.

Edited by Gemm on Saturday 18th October 19:39

[Cabinet Enforcer]

Titan Simba said:

I bought a couple of sets of Uniross 2500mHa rechargeables. If I use them pretty much straight after charging, they're great and will give me several hundred photos. However (and here's the problem) if I charge them a few days in advance, when it comes time to use them they're completely dead.

I'm needing a set of rechargeable AA batteries which will hold their charge. Any recommendation on a brand? (Relatively high mAh is of course required.)

Cheers
TS

NiMH should discharge over time, but not in "a few days", as above eneloops or hybrios discharge a lot less but have slightly lower capacity.

I use 7dayshop NiMH AAs since they are cheap as chips, still have useful charge after a month or so, never really left them longer than that.

[Ordinary Bloke]

I've not had any success/luck with Uniross, unreliable batteries, unreliable charger. All other makes seem better...

[Titan Simba]

Hmmm. *strokes chin thoughtfully* Perhaps a set of these are worth me trying...

I'm not expecting them to last years, just a month or so when the cameras not in regular use.

Edited by Titan Simba on Saturday 18th October 21:50

[bramley]

I use 7dayshop stuff too, and they seem perfectly good to me. Really cheap and they're 2500mh iirc.

[Simpo Two]

Titan Simba said:

Hmmm. *strokes chin thoughtfully* Perhaps a set of these are worth me trying...

Impressive link - it opens a new message window in IE!

NiMH here - three sets - I just make sure I charge them up before I set off to the next wedding. So far I've never needed more than two sets during a day.

[Titan Simba]

Simpo Two said:

Titan Simba said:

Hmmm. *strokes chin thoughtfully* Perhaps a set of these are worth me trying...

Impressive link - it opens a new message window in IE!

NiMH here - three sets - I just make sure I charge them up before I set off to the next wedding. So far I've never needed more than two sets during a day.

(Sorry - fixed the link). My camera is usually just used for taking pics of the little TS, etc. on the spur of the moment so batteries need to be ready pretty much all the time.

[RameshUK]

Rechargeable batteries - in use. How to and useful products.

• In Use **

Group your batteries in groups of 4 and label them with masking tape.
so I have 12 batteries in 3 groups (4 named 'apple' , 4named 'oranges' and 4 named 'kiwis' .

keep similar names both in us and when charging.

So I would use 'oranges' in my flash and maybe 'kiwis' in my bike lights.
when I need to recharge , I group them together.
This keeps your batteries healthy over time.

• Use a quality smart chargers **

There are now several chargers which charge individual batteries rather than treat them all the same.

The Technoline BL-700 battery charger is currently very popular.
Expect to pay under £30 for one.

• Hybrid batteries - e.g, Uniross Hybrio / Sanyo Enerloops **

These are great. They work straight our of the box and after 6 months on the shelf have around 90% of their charge. They are called hybrids I think because they are a mix .....they work straight out of the packet like regular alkalines and they are rechargeable as well.

I've found them in Maplins. £9 for 4 x AA @ 2100 MAH. O.K. the MAH rating is lower then the best NIMH rechargeables we're used to. However I've found them great for my camera flashguns and its great to just pick up the batteries and go.

Finally take your batteries out of your camera /flashgun. Look aftre them and they can be relied upon.

Hope this was useful !

Edited by RameshUK on Saturday 18th October 22:02

[twister]

+1 for the 7dayshop NiMH's - I've got several sets of their 2700 and 2800mAh AA's, and they never fail to impress me with the runtime I can get out of them in whatever AA-powered device they're in. I even use them, with the AA-C and AA-D adapters 7ds also sell, in stuff that you'd expect to really need the extra capacity from a set of genuine C or D cells, and whilst they certainly don't have the same runtime as a fresh set of C/D duracells or energizers, they definitely run long enough to make it worthwhile - especially when you consider the cost of genuine C/D rechargeables and the greater flexibility offered by having a large set of AA's + adapters as opposed to a mixed bag of sizes.

The only criticism I have of them is that their diameter is *marginally* greater than a standard AA (same is also true for the C and D adapters), which makes them a tight fit in some devices, and impossible to use in the odd one or two - e.g. the battery cover on my old Garmin eTrex camo seems to have no tolerance at all for these oversized cells, and absolutely refuses to lock into place. Based on some comments on the 7ds site, this seems to be caused by the stick-on foil wrapper used to apply the 7ds branding, and so it may possible to peel off the foil and bring the diameter down to normal.

[Cabinet Enforcer]

Titan Simba said:

My camera is usually just used for taking pics of the little TS, etc. on the spur of the moment so batteries need to be ready pretty much all the time.

Then you want the sanyo eneloop or similar batteries, they are NiMH rechargeables with a (water I think) membrane in that stops charge leakage. Sanyo invented the tech, so they will probably be the best, there are a number of imitators (uniross hybrio, panasonic infinium, can't remember any others), though they aren't cheap at about 12quid for 4.

Still, that's about a million times cheaper than using alkalines

[Jenx]

http://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/pno/hr06.html
http://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/pno/cef80.html

Edited by Jenx on Sunday 19th October 13:49

[Mark A]

I've been using eneloops for about a year now and they are miles better than any other rechargeable batteries I've used over the years. They can be left in the camera for weeks and still work (months in a AAA maglight)! Every other rechargeable batteries I've had are usually dead after a few days

[Titan Simba]

Mark A said:

I've been using eneloops for about a year now and they are miles better than any other rechargeable batteries I've used over the years. They can be left in the camera for weeks and still work (months in a AAA maglight)! Every other rechargeable batteries I've had are usually dead after a few days

I've tried rechargables in my Maglight but they tend to blow the bulb each time(?)

[69 coupe]

Bang for buck can't get much better that this
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/687...