Batteries

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Can someone recommend a good source of info on batteries? I mean the different types, technologies, sizes, applications, how best to store them, how long do they last, etc? What about rechargeables? I've never understood how long, how often you are supposed to recharge them. And there are different types of rechargeables; what are the tradeoffs? Do solar battery chargers really work (I live in the midwest, sometimes there is no sunlight for two weeks in January). What's a good one? I have done internet searches on "batteries" and only come up with retail sources. Frustrating, I am battery iliterate.

-- (just@barely.prepped), November 08, 1999

Answers

Yes, solar charges work, but you need the more expensive rechargeable batteries. About $8 each at Radio shack. Even then its a pain in the butt and I recently bought the Freeplay wind up lantern. Why I haven't had one of these all my life, I will never know. Beats the hell out of batteries anyday. Taz

-- Taz (Taz@aol.com), November 09, 1999.

we just purchased a bunch of alkaline rechargeables from noble true value, even got a 10% discount. we got aa, aaa, c and d and a recharger. alkalines are supposed to be the best, but they're more money also.

-- lou (lanny1@ix.netcom.com), November 09, 1999.

As I understand it NiCad batteries have a memory so need to be used fully before recharging or you lose capacity from there on. I have read that rechargeable alkalines should NOT be fully drained before re-charging, I am not wanting to trust them because I have a 3 year old son and have also found flashlights that I have left on myself.

I chose Nickel Metal Hydride because they can be drained fully or partially before recharging. Yes, they are pricey but seem to be working ok in the digital camera. We are recharging them in a $20 solar recharger purchased this summer - only 2 at a time and I let them go all day in the sun, but it seems to work so far.

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), November 09, 1999.


i chose a mix of types. i saw a really good special on a new brand of NIMH batteries (that obviously had just come out so they were pretty cheap) at Best Buy. Check it out--they had a whole rack. I am sorry I can't remember the name. also, from what I understand you can occasionally recharge non-rechargeable alkaline batteries.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 09, 1999.

Solar battery chargers really work, but they work better when you live in an area that has more "sun-hours" per day. this is basically the average of how many TOTAL hours of full sun you get per day. It includes cloudiness and sunrise to sunset. I live in the Midwest as well (Chicago area). The "average" sun-hours per day is about 3.4 hours. that means if you have a a 100 watt solar panel, you will get 340 watts of power out of them. The minimum is around 1.4 sun-hours and the MAXIMUM number of sun-hours is only just over 4.

I've heard people yakking about how they were going to spend $6000 on solar panels and use them exclusively for selling the power back to the electric company. They seemed very excited about this new scheme. "they have to buy it!" they would say, "It's the LAW!" Unfortunately the "law" doesn't require them to pay retail for the solar power. I calculated that optimistically, the most anyone around here could make selling solar power back to the utility was $50 per year. (with $6000 worth of solar panels)

anyways, back to batteries, here is a good link for a battery FAQ:

BATTERY FAQ



-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), November 09, 1999.



See also info on batteries in another post. Flashlights:P I know it's pricey, but I went ahead and bought the Maglite with 3-cluster LED "bulb" from realgoods.com. The cluster will last 11 years in continuous use! My kinda flashlight bulb! The batteries last a very long time (300 hours, as I recall) because the LEDs are so very efficient. The Maglite is the Porsche of flashlights--HAS to be sturdy because this is the type used by police officers. I'd like to try the wind-up o0ne, though. How long does it hold a wind, Taz?

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 09, 1999.

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