Rechargeables in use here – some less truthful than others.
They were included with an 8-bay independent cell charger for under $12, so despite seriously overstating its capacity, I didn’t feel like I was totally ripped off either.
FWIW, I have some Eneloops from 2010 that still tested over 1700 mAh capacity.
@tweezak Yeah, PF is one of a handful of channels that I’m subscribed to and regularly watch every week (Sundays). He’s done both an initial test and a follow-up after the year. All the ones made in Japan (Eneloop, Duracell, Ikea, Amazon Basics) tested well; all the ones made in China, less so.
@narfcake
Once in a while, I cruise The Usual Places looking to see how blatant the lies have become about battery capacity, flashlight output, and laser output. “Beyond ludicrous, outlandish and blatant” covers it pretty well.
@werehatrack Decades ago, those ludicrous claims went to speakers and amps. 3,000 watts from a $20 amplifier? $10 pair speakers that has a full 20-20k response range and handle 500 watts? Really?
@narfcake Would you recommend an eneloop branded charger or will any NiMH charger work? We go through batteries like crazy and I’ve been contemplating a switch.
@zinimusprime Any smart charger that’s independent channel will do.
The poorest designed ones are timer based. Empty battery? 4 hours. 50% used? 4 hours. 5%? 4 hours. It’s like pouring a whole pot of coffee every time, whether your cup is full, partial, or empty, 10 ounce mug or 100 ounce thermos. It’ll almost always be too much or not enough.
Extending on that, any charger that only charges in pairs also suck. If it calls out charging “2 or 4 at a time” or doesn’t cite it can charge one at a time, avoid it. A device uses 3 batteries? Sorry.
Some will have full displays reporting charge capacity and some do discharges to refresh older batteries. Those are niceties, not necessities.
@narfcake Thanks for that tip about Ikea! There’s one about four miles away, and I’ve been needing an excuse to get another couple of bags of Huvudroll and some Allemansratten.
@baqui63 I had a Canon pocket camera which really hated NiMH, even when the setup had “rechargeable batteries” selected; freshly topped-off Eneloops would get flagged as “Low” within a few minutes despite having over 90% of their capacity remaining. That camera got really cranky without alkalines to munch on.
@baqui63@zinimusprime “Usually”? My experience is limited, but all of the objecting devices here have been photo stuff, possibly due to the demands from flash units. Some old-school (worthless, incandescent) flashlights were always dim with NiMH/NiCd, but the LEDs seldom care, with the exception of a bike headlight that refused to turn on with them installed. It seems that the newer the device, the less likely you are to have problems.
Eneloops for things that eat batteries for breakfast, otherwise I buy packs at Sam’s Club or Amazon Basics. In a pinch, I’ve been known to buy some at Dollar-ish Tree, mostly 9 Volt.
I used to keep a bunch in a refrigerator drawer, but these days almost everything I have uses batteries that are proprietary and/or not easily replaceable. A few 9 volts for the smoke detectors and a few AAs for the AM radio about covers it.
I need a weird one for the scale but rechargeable mostly. The one that matters most does take double AA. (Yes it’s that.) The TV remotes recharge by charging cable.
I’m struggling to think of anything I need batteries for anymore outside of the TV remote and game controllers. Everything has built in rechargeables. I just grabbed a 4 pack of Amazon basics rechargeable AAs to supplement my old eneloops that have started to hold noticeably less power.
Credit card most of the time.
@yakkoTDI Charge it!
@hchavers @yakkoTDI I usually have to get amped up to buy mine.
Recharge my Eneloops when they go dead. I rarely need to buy batteries.
Rechargeables in use here – some less truthful than others.
They were included with an 8-bay independent cell charger for under $12, so despite seriously overstating its capacity, I didn’t feel like I was totally ripped off either.
FWIW, I have some Eneloops from 2010 that still tested over 1700 mAh capacity.
@narfcake Check out Project Farm on YouTube. He does some pretty good tests of rechargeables.
@tweezak Yeah, PF is one of a handful of channels that I’m subscribed to and regularly watch every week (Sundays). He’s done both an initial test and a follow-up after the year. All the ones made in Japan (Eneloop, Duracell, Ikea, Amazon Basics) tested well; all the ones made in China, less so.
@narfcake Very impressive!!
@narfcake
Once in a while, I cruise The Usual Places looking to see how blatant the lies have become about battery capacity, flashlight output, and laser output. “Beyond ludicrous, outlandish and blatant” covers it pretty well.
@werehatrack Decades ago, those ludicrous claims went to speakers and amps. 3,000 watts from a $20 amplifier? $10 pair speakers that has a full 20-20k response range and handle 500 watts? Really?
@narfcake Would you recommend an eneloop branded charger or will any NiMH charger work? We go through batteries like crazy and I’ve been contemplating a switch.
@zinimusprime Any smart charger that’s independent channel will do.
The aforementioned batteries came from this set:
https://smile.amazon.com/Rechargeable-Batteries-2800mAh-Rechargable-Flashlight/dp/B08SJ2NY63/
Consider the batteries as 1600 mAh (AA) and 700 mAh (AAA), and it’s still an alright price – about $4 extra for the 8 batteries compared to the cheapest 8-bay smart charger alone.
If you have an Ikea nearby, this will be the way to go. Their batteries are rebranded Eneloops and their charger is independent channel.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/batteries-battery-chargers-41070/
For battery comparison:
@narfcake Thanks for that tip about Ikea! There’s one about four miles away, and I’ve been needing an excuse to get another couple of bags of Huvudroll and some Allemansratten.
@werehatrack I’m about 9 miles away from my local one. It also means it’s about a half hour away due to SoCal traffic.
I mostly use rechargables… very few things really care about the lower voltage from a NiMH vs a primary (non-rechargable) battery.
@baqui63 I had a Canon pocket camera which really hated NiMH, even when the setup had “rechargeable batteries” selected; freshly topped-off Eneloops would get flagged as “Low” within a few minutes despite having over 90% of their capacity remaining. That camera got really cranky without alkalines to munch on.
@baqui63 What things usually care? I’m contemplating switching over to rechargeables.
@baqui63 @zinimusprime “Usually”? My experience is limited, but all of the objecting devices here have been photo stuff, possibly due to the demands from flash units. Some old-school (worthless, incandescent) flashlights were always dim with NiMH/NiCd, but the LEDs seldom care, with the exception of a bike headlight that refused to turn on with them installed. It seems that the newer the device, the less likely you are to have problems.
Um, where’s the refrigerator GIF when you really need it?
@hchavers
/giphy refrigerator
@hchavers
Eneloops for things that eat batteries for breakfast, otherwise I buy packs at Sam’s Club or Amazon Basics. In a pinch, I’ve been known to buy some at Dollar-ish Tree, mostly 9 Volt.
I used to keep a bunch in a refrigerator drawer, but these days almost everything I have uses batteries that are proprietary and/or not easily replaceable. A few 9 volts for the smoke detectors and a few AAs for the AM radio about covers it.
I’ve never panicked from running out of batteries.
I need a weird one for the scale but rechargeable mostly. The one that matters most does take double AA. (Yes it’s that.) The TV remotes recharge by charging cable.
I’m struggling to think of anything I need batteries for anymore outside of the TV remote and game controllers. Everything has built in rechargeables. I just grabbed a 4 pack of Amazon basics rechargeable AAs to supplement my old eneloops that have started to hold noticeably less power.