[ale] [OT] any experience with low self discharge NIMH batteries

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Alex Carver <agcarver+ale at acarver.net> wrote:

>On 3/4/2013 21:04, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> A few months back, we had a thread here about new advanced LED
>> flashlights.  I bought one that has the giant 1/4 in LED inside, and
>is
>> bright enough to be competitive with an incandescent krypton bulb. 
>Love
>> the flashlight.  Works great.  However, it's powered by only 2 AA
>> batteries and they're dying 6 months later.  I'm considering using
>NIMH
>> rechargeables there.  The problem with that is that, left on the
>shelf,
>> standard NIMH batteries lose 10 % - 30 % of their charge per month. 
>So,
>> you could pick up the flashlight and not have it working when you
>need it.
>>
>> Enter Low Self Discharge NIMH batteries.  These are relatively new.
>They
>> claim to lose only about 15 % of their charge after a year.  So, you
>> could get away with charging the flashlight batteries only every 6
>> months or so.
>>
>> Two main brands of LSD NIMH seem to dominate.  Eneloop by Sanyo and
>> Imedion by Powerex (Maha Energy).  I've used some standard Powerex
>NIMH
>> 2700 mah batteries and I like them, but I have to charge them if
>they've
>> been sitting a while.
>>
>> Does anyone have any experience with the LSD NIMH batteries.  Is it a
>> good idea to use them in a flashlight, or stick with Duracells at $ 3
>/
>> pair, or other alkalines?  I know Fry's and Home Depot / Lowes
>sometimes
>> sell batteries in packages at lower unit cost.  I haven't done a
>price
>> analysis on those.
>
>For something like a flashlight that can handle deep discharge try one 
>of the lithium iron (that's Fe not a typo of 'ion') formulations.  You 
>can pick up AA versions at the hardware store next to the solar powered
>
>garden lights.

Hi Alex,

Thanks for that info.  I did some research on these and they sound interesting.  The attributes of that battery chemistry sound cool and it's probably worth keeping an eye on.  I don't think it will work in my case since these batteries are 3.2 V and my flashlight expects to see 3X 1.5 V cells.  I may end up going with some of the LSD NIMH ones.

Sincerely,

Ron



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Ron Frazier
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