Which Rechargeable Batteries?

I'm starting to look for rechargeable batteries for my flash that would be fairly quick to recharge and long lasting. Any suggestions as to what are some of the better ones would be appreicated. Thanks.

Steve

--

'If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.'

or other hybrid type. Regular NiMH are a PITA.

--mamallama

I've switched to Eneloops.

They hold their charge forever and last a long time per charge.

--
J. D.
Colorful Colorado



Remember . . . always keep your receipt, the box, and everything that came in it!

I've had a hard time finding the actual eneloops. But, I did find some Kodak "pre-charged" hybrid NIMH at walmart/target which hold a charge very well. The cool thing is that they don't lose power over time, so your camera won't be dead if you leave it sitting for a couple weeks.

honestly any of the hybrid or "pre-charged" NIMH batts should be pretty good.

I too recommend Eneloops if you want to go the rechargeable route, but I've also found the Energizer AA lithiums to work very well for longevity and shelf life.
--
Regards,
Hank

Steve,

Visit Thomas Distributing
http://thomasdistributing.com/
where you can purchase:

FOUR MAHA POWEREX 2700 mAh AA NiMH RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES
2 FREE BATTERY HOLDERS
Product Price: $12.57
SKU: K-MH-4270

FOUR 2000 mAh SANYO ENELOOP BATTERIES
MAHA MH-C204W WHITE WORLD CHARGER
MAHA DELUXE TRAVEL BAG
1 FREE 8 CELL AND 1 FOUR-CELL BATTERY HOLDER
Product Price: $37.97
SKU: K-C204W4ENAA]

According to the Thomas Distributing FAQ, the MH-C204W charger will charge 2 AA or AAA batteries in 1 hour, and 4 AA or AAA batteries in 2 hours.

Also, the MH-C204W charger will charge any capacity of NiMH batteries and the Sanyo Eneloop batteries.

The Powerex battery has the highest power rating of any consumer AA battery. For your strobe, this means a faster recycling time.

Because the Sanyo Eneloop battery is a low-discharge battery, it is used as a back up power supply.

I have no financial interest in Thomas Distributing, and I have ordered many battery products from the company. Its customer service is excellent.

Jerry D.
Littleton, CO

You don't state which flash, as some manufacturers do not recomend rechargeable batts in their flash units, and can void the warranty. If it's out then why worry.

If your flash is suitable for rechargeable use, you may find the recycle time is slower. Some flash guns can use a rechargeable external pack which last a long time and can speed up recycle times.

There is always a trade off, the higher capacity batts take longer to charge, some of the new very fast chargers kill the batts very quickly and don't get max capacity in for feer of destroying the batts.

Gredge said:

You don't state which flash, as some manufacturers do not recomend
rechargeable batts in their flash units, and can void the warranty.
If it's out then why worry.

Click to expand...

News to me. Which recent flash units do not recommend rechargeable batteries?

--mamallama

Well you have learn'd something new today then.

Gredge said:

Well you have learn'd something new today then.
--

Click to expand...

Not really...maybe I'll have learned something new if you would indicate which flash mfr warns against rechargeables......

--
Regards,
Hank

jfdirishguy said:

Steve,

Visit Thomas Distributing
http://thomasdistributing.com/
where you can purchase:

FOUR MAHA POWEREX 2700 mAh AA NiMH RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES
2 FREE BATTERY HOLDERS
Product Price: $12.57
SKU: K-MH-4270

FOUR 2000 mAh SANYO ENELOOP BATTERIES
MAHA MH-C204W WHITE WORLD CHARGER
MAHA DELUXE TRAVEL BAG
1 FREE 8 CELL AND 1 FOUR-CELL BATTERY HOLDER
Product Price: $37.97
SKU: K-C204W4ENAA]

According to the Thomas Distributing FAQ, the MH-C204W charger will
charge 2 AA or AAA batteries in 1 hour, and 4 AA or AAA batteries in
2 hours.

Also, the MH-C204W charger will charge any capacity of NiMH batteries
and the Sanyo Eneloop batteries.

The Powerex battery has the highest power rating of any consumer AA
battery. For your strobe, this means a faster recycling time.

Click to expand...

Hey Jerry, you might want to actually time your flash recycling with some different batteries. What you describe is pretty much backwards from what I've measured.

High power rating batteries tend to have high internal resistance, which means that they can only feed a limited amount of current to a strobe, increasing the recycle times.

jfdirishguy said:

Because the Sanyo Eneloop battery is a low-discharge battery, it is
used as a back up power supply.

Click to expand...

Because the Eneloop has the lowest internal resistnace of any battery I have seen to date, it is my number one battery.

The low internal resistance translates to faster recycling and less heating of the battery.

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

SSISteve said:

I'm starting to look for rechargeable batteries for my flash that
would be fairly quick to recharge and long lasting. Any suggestions
as to what are some of the better ones would be appreicated. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Eneloops, hands down.

1) as others pointed out, they stay charged for extended periods of time, so you can always "grab and go" with them.

2) "low internal resistance" means they recycle the flash faster than just about any other batteries. Every battery offers some resistance to current flow. This limits how quickly current can flow out of the battery. The less internal resistance, the faster the flash can recycle (and the faster the battery can be charged). My previous batteries were 2700 mA-H Sanyos, one of the most highly respected batteries on the market. The Eneloops recycle the flash considerably faster.

3) lower heat. The higher this internal resistance, the more heat the battery generates whenever you draw current from it, or push current into it. This heat is not good, it is waster power, power that doesn't go towards operating the flash. The 2700 mA-H Sanyo batteries produce a lot of heat: after hard use, they come out of the flash hot enough to burn skin. Heat is not good for electronic devices. The eneloops are less dangerous to the flash and to the photographer. And resistance is a two way street, the eneloops charge faster (yet stay cooler) than the 2700 mA-H batteries.

And, because they deliver power to the flash efficiently, instead of wasting it as heat, the 2000 mA-H eneloops deliver about as many full power pops in my Nikon flashes as the 2700 mA-H high capacity Sanyos do. So the "low" 2000 mA-H power rating isn't actually a disadvantage.

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

Wasn't many years ago they all did!!
The last sunpack I owned had a DRY CELL ONLY sticker in the batt compartment.
That was only a couple of years ago.

Like I said you need to check the instructions. But why should I care if your flash goes pop because you stuck in rechargeable batts when the flash does not have a regulated supply to control the massive current dump than can happen with any rechargeable batts that goes faulty. Working in a shop for many many years I have seen it happen.

Gredge said:

Well you have learn'd something new today then.

Click to expand...

What I have learned from your response is you're mistaken as to what's recent or you are talking about some real cheapo flash units. Any recent decent flash unit will permit rechargeable batteries AFAIK.

--mamallama

Gredge said:

Wasn't many years ago they all did!!
The last sunpack I owned had a DRY CELL ONLY sticker in the batt
compartment.
That was only a couple of years ago.
Like I said you need to check the instructions. But why should I care
if your flash goes pop because you stuck in rechargeable batts when
the flash does not have a regulated supply to control the massive
current dump than can happen with any rechargeable batts that goes
faulty. Working in a shop for many many years I have seen it happen.

Click to expand...

Your concept is contrary to electronic engineering principles. Massive current dumps are not caused by rechargeable batteries (good or faulty); it's the load that controls that.

--mamallama

In my haste to reply I did not read through what I typed and missed the faulty flash after batts.

If your flash develops a problem then rechargeable batts can dump alot of their stored energy into a product, where dry cells can not.

But that is just from my expierience dealing dealing with many pro's who will not use rechargeable cells in their flash units.

But there again I don't know what I'm talking about and have never sold flash units with warnings (from all the top makes over the years) not to use rechargeable cells.
Like I said I don't care if your products get damaged by faulty cells.

mamallama said:

Gredge said:

Wasn't many years ago they all did!!
The last sunpack I owned had a DRY CELL ONLY sticker in the batt
compartment.
That was only a couple of years ago.
Like I said you need to check the instructions. But why should I care
if your flash goes pop because you stuck in rechargeable batts when
the flash does not have a regulated supply to control the massive
current dump than can happen with any rechargeable batts that goes
faulty. Working in a shop for many many years I have seen it happen.

Click to expand...

Your concept is contrary to electronic engineering principles.
Massive current dumps are not caused by rechargeable batteries (good
or faulty); it's the load that controls that.

Click to expand...

Would you believe that some flash units actually depend on the internal resistance of the batteries to limit the current. There were only three components in the main charging circuit, the battery, the primary of the transformer, and a switching transistor. Too low a series resistance on the battery, and you blew either the transistor or the transformer primary windings.

Additional current limiting components either added pennies of cost or increased recycling times.

33 years ago, my first SLR was a Vivitar 220 (hey, I was 13, what did I know?)

It had a Vivitar flash ($19.95, brand new) that took 9 volt radio batteries, and required the series resistance of an alkaline or zinc battery to limit the current. The first time I used a 9V Nicad (even at 13, things like that were "free": I had a local RadioShack manager who paid me in small parts for doing repairs) there was smoke. I replaced the transistor, added a small series resistor, and life was good.

But I haven't seen anything else like that in 3 decades...

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

Gredge said:

Wasn't many years ago they all did!!

Click to expand...

Well, since it only takes one example to disprove an assertion that "they all did"...

The Nikon SB-3 was launched in 1975 (that's 33 years, or 1/3 century, which I'd say pretty much qualifies as "many years ago"). It could use Ni-Cad, alkaline, or zinc batteries.

Gredge said:

The last sunpack I owned had a DRY CELL ONLY sticker in the batt
compartment.
That was only a couple of years ago.

Click to expand...

First, we're talking "Sunpak", as in "friends don't let friends shoot Sunpak". They are not representative of the flash industry, in general. The last time I encountered a flash that relied on a battery's internal resistance to limit current was also about 33 years ago, a $19.95 Vivitar auto flash, the kind that used to short out the capacitor to end the flash early as its "auto" method, instead of breaking the connection between tube and capacitor.

Even the higher end Vivitar flashes could take Ni-Cads in that timeframe.

Second, although you "owned" it "only a couple of years ago", when was it built?

Gredge said:

Like I said you need to check the instructions. But why should I care
if your flash goes pop because you stuck in rechargeable batts when
the flash does not have a regulated supply to control the massive
current dump than can happen with any rechargeable batts that goes
faulty. Working in a shop for many many years I have seen it happen.

Click to expand...

Rechargeable batteries don't "dump" current when they go "faulty". There are two failure modes for the battery. Either resistance increases, limiting current, or the battery shorts, generating tremendous heat, but also limiting the current the battery can source to the flash.

It's quite literally been decades since I've seen a flash that relied on the battery's internal resistance for current limiting. Such design is irresponsible: an alkaline or zinc battery manufacturer could, without notice, reduce internal resistance and fry such a poorly designed flash.

I'm betting with the heavy promotion of rechargeables as a "green" solution to the problem of batteries in landfills that no one in the last 15 years has designed a flash that requires the battery to serve as a current limiter.

Checking the posting history of the original poster, it appears he's a D300 shooter. What do you think the odds are that he's using it with a 20 year old, $19 flash?

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

in your definition of "recent" and "decent"...

mamallama said:

Gredge said:

Well you have learn'd something new today then.

Click to expand...

What I have learned from your response is you're mistaken as to
what's recent or you are talking about some real cheapo flash units.
Any recent decent flash unit will permit rechargeable batteries
AFAIK.

Click to expand...

I'd tend to agree. Every Nikon flash since that 1975 SB-3 example I gave elsewhere in this thread permits them.

I had a 1/3 century old Vivitar $19 flash (powered by a 9V "transistor radio" battery) that couldn't use them, but even the higher end Vivitars of the time that took AA batteries could.

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

Joseph S Wisniewski said:

mamallama said:

Gredge said:

Wasn't many years ago they all did!!
The last sunpack I owned had a DRY CELL ONLY sticker in the batt
compartment.
That was only a couple of years ago.
Like I said you need to check the instructions. But why should I care
if your flash goes pop because you stuck in rechargeable batts when
the flash does not have a regulated supply to control the massive
current dump than can happen with any rechargeable batts that goes
faulty. Working in a shop for many many years I have seen it happen.

Click to expand...

Your concept is contrary to electronic engineering principles.
Massive current dumps are not caused by rechargeable batteries (good
or faulty); it's the load that controls that.

Click to expand...

Would you believe that some flash units actually depend on the
internal resistance of the batteries to limit the current. There were
only three components in the main charging circuit, the battery, the
primary of the transformer, and a switching transistor. Too low a
series resistance on the battery, and you blew either the transistor
or the transformer primary windings.

Additional current limiting components either added pennies of cost
or increased recycling times.

33 years ago, my first SLR was a Vivitar 220 (hey, I was 13, what did
I know?)

It had a Vivitar flash ($19.95, brand new) that took 9 volt radio
batteries, and required the series resistance of an alkaline or zinc
battery to limit the current. The first time I used a 9V Nicad (even
at 13, things like that were "free": I had a local RadioShack manager
who paid me in small parts for doing repairs) there was smoke. I
replaced the transistor, added a small series resistor, and life was
good.

But I haven't seen anything else like that in 3 decades...

Click to expand...

I would say that qualifies in neither the recent nor decent categories. That's simply p!ss-poor engineering for cheap products.

Decent units are designed to operate with a clean voltage source. It's easy to do with today's electronics; that's why I say recent units are all designed that way.

--mamallama