Rechargeable Alkalines

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

A short while back we had some discussions about rechargeable alkalines.
Since it's been at least 10 years that I last tried them, I thought I would
give the "Juice" product sold on Ebay a try in my Nikon Coolpix Battery Hog
950.  The problem with the camera is that just by sitting a week or so,
fully charged NEW NiMH cells apparently drop in voltage enough to cause the
camera's LOBATT warning to appear, shutting the camera off.  Testing reveals
the batteries are still nearly fully charged, but it seems that only HOT
batteries fresh from the charger can be depended upon to work.

I solved the problem for the even more low-voltage sensitive CoolPix 2100
with rechargeable LIon's.  NiMH cells would register low battery in just a
few days of sitting idle.  The LIon cells give me the best of both worlds.
The camera will still run from common AA's if I am stuck in the field
without a recharger, but performs *very* nicely now, weeks after a LIon pack
is installed.

The alkaline rechargeables didn't fare so well in the Nikon 950.  They don't
quite have the power of NiMH cells, 2500MAh compared to 2000, IIRC, and that
means they give fewer pictures per cell by what you might expect.  My first
test of longevity wasn't good, either, but it may very well be that the
camera drains more power when idle than I've estimated.  I'm not sure I'll
be able to measure that drain easily, either, so the first tests have a big
'X' factor as a result.

I'm going to recharge them again and try again first with the "Juice"
alkalines, then with some Ultra brand hi-capacity NiMH cells.  I'm also
going to set one of each aside after a full charge, with no load, to test
their voltage from week to week.  That's a problem because voltage doesn't
really tell you much about the state of a battery.  At the end of three
months (which is where I find drop off in NiMH to begin in earnest) I'll put
them in my test rig to see how long they last.

I've set up my RatShack meter to monitor the voltage as the batteries
discharge while they power a small incandescent lamp.  Not the best test of
capacity, but the RatShack PC monitoring software creates interesting
discharge curves.  The alkalines start at a much higher voltage than the
NiMH, but they fall off rapidly more rapidly than I expected at the very
beginning of the curve.  I'm going to try to post screenprints somewhere
since I told the vendor I'd give him feedback.

One place where they absolutely shine is my new Oral-B toothbrush which runs
from a single AA cell.  The higher initial voltage of the alkaline gives far
superior performance in terms of vibration and rotational speed of the
brush.  I've recharged one of them ten times now, just to see how
rechargeable they really are, and there's been a little loss of capacity
after each cycle, but not much.

Now that I have the fast charger (with a nice green "charged" indicator) I
will probably get more if they can hold their charge substantially longer
than NiMH cells.  I'm also hoping the Juice cells won't leak as often as
regular alkalines.  I'm running into more and more leakage issues with
Everleaky and Leak-O-Vac <g> cells.  I also notice they don't print a
guarantee to repair or replace any device damaged, at least on their AA
cells, like they used to.  I used some GE/Sanyo alkalines in my MP3 player
and they leaked so badly they blew off the battery door!!!  After I extract
them, I'm mailing it to them to see if THEY repair or replace items damaged
by their product.

--
Bobby G.