A while ago I decided to go green and possibly save some money by switching to rechargeable batteries. I went to Best Buy and bought a bunch of Energizer NiMH batteries and their do-all charger. After a few months I am becoming very frustrated. I am an engineering type and used to do a lot with vehicle (motorcycle mainly) charging systems so I understand a little about the associated electronics so I can deal with a little tech speak. My first symptom I found was I had put 4 Ds in my trucks Maglite and a month or so later when I went to use it the thing was dead as a doornail. I know all batteries have a normal charge decay rate and the fact that my truck gets very hot every day sitting in the sun didn’t help matters. So I quickly determined that normal NiMH batters suck at retention. For this reason I reverted several devices like emergency flashlights, smoke detectors, and anything that was low infrequent use to alkaline. After some other problem I decided to research it today and found that my suspicions were correct but I also found that there is a new technology called LSD. But before I go buying a whole new set of batteries I was wondering how much better this technology is and if it’s worth it. I mean I got old flashlights that have sat for years and still work, it would be nice if a rechargeable could do the same. Also if it is worth it what is a good brand? I hear the new DuraCells are LSDs, how are they?

Next symptom was my charger. I specifically got this charger because it did all types and had a top-off mode that advertised that it would keep my batteries in ready to use condition. Yeah, right. My AA mouse batteries die much faster than the alkaline batteries (I’m guessing 10 to 1) and when I grab a fresh set of the charger I get about 5 minutes of use. But if I charge them for several hours I get a couple weeks of use out of them. Now I don’t know what’s going on here but I suspect that one of the problems is that this charger’s ‘smart’ circuit isn’t so intelligent. Also it charges AAs in pairs which would impede its ability to detect a bad battery. I also found that the memory is still a problem and this charger doesn’t have a discharge/renew option. So do you think I need a new charger? And if so what would you recommend? I use AA/AAA/C/D/9V batteries. I’m hoping I could find one that does a better job of detecting bad batteries and charges individually instead of pairs. And of course I want them to always be fully charged. Oh, also are there any that are not ‘vampires’? IOW ones where they stop drawing current from the wall when they aren’t doing anything?

Finally I was wondering if you have a white paper or something detailing how to test small batteries. For instance on car/MC batteries we would fully charge them, let them sit about an hour to settle, then measure voltage. If it wasn’t 12.8 it was toast for a non-sealed LA. And of course one could load test them with a tester but 99% of the time the recharge test worked adequately. I have a couple of AA NiMH batteries that when my mouse dies measure 0.1V or less and when recharged only bout 1.2V. Even though 1.2V is nominal for NiMH I’m thinking it should be more and some are more like 1.4V. So if I could test them individually that would help a lot. Also if you have some testers that are not too expensive that do more than a volt meter I would be interested.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

Cory

Hi,

I have a question I can’t find an answer for anywhere.  Is there anything I shouldn’t use rechargeable batteries for?

Years ago when I first bought a charger I vaguely recall reading about some uses that were not so great for rechargeables.  Currently I have a charger (good for AA & AAA) and batteries which we use for MP3 players and a camera, but not for clocks, remote controls, and other small, not very often used electronic devices.  

Thanks,

Becky