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Welcome to Green Batteries Articles
Green Batteries provides these articles to keep you updated
on information and products that help you make an environmentally
friendly rechargeable battery purchase. Feel free to browse
around and click any title to read that article in its entirety.
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Thursday, May 07, 2009
RE: Rechargeable batteries check
Hi Nelty, Most testers that will test the current capacity of the battery are great but not likely identify a "bad battery" that has charge retention issues. Hope that helps. Sincerely,
Curtis
Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
phone 800-790-7866 x3
fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
www.portablebatteries.com
Hi, I’m looking for a tool that could measure if the rechargeable batteries are good or bad. We will primarily use it for two situations: - When purchasing new rechargeable batteries – we want to be able to test the bad one, i.e those that are new but don’t hold their charge.
- Old rechargeable batteries – to check to see if it’s time to replace it.
Do you sell anything of that sort? Please let me know and thanks in advance for your help. Regards, Nelty
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
RE: Lithium and Lithium-ion batteries?
Hi Felix, No worries. I get this question all the time. The AA battery size is probably the most common one on the planet. The challenge is that it is also available in a variety of battery chemistries and they all have different strengths and weaknesses. Here is a webpage that goes into some more detail so that you can better understand the choices. Your camera should use all AA 1.2 or 1.5 volt batteries - rechargeable or not - and may also use CRV3 batteries (this is a type of battery that is basically the size and shape of two AA batteries but it is in a specific battery pack and can not be used on all devices that use AA batteries.) Hope that helps. Sincerely,
Curtis
Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
phone 800-790-7866 x3
fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
www.portablebatteries.com
| Hi Curtis, I recently bought a Pentax K200D digital slr camera which came with 4 Energizer AA size #03-2023 lithium batteries, but I am confused about the warning label: "could explode when charged and not for retail trade." The label does not say rechargeable. According to your website's info, Lithium batteries are not rechargeable, while Lithium-ion batteries are and they last longer. Would you clarify my technology muddled mind; I would like to purchase the appropriate batteries and charger for my camera. Thanks, Felix |
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
RE: Question on the Maha 9.6v 230mAh NiMH battery
Hi Carlos, Thanks for your email and your business. We have many customers that use our greenbatteries.com NiMH batteries for wireless mics and the issue with voltage is always a concern because the devices all have different specs and use power differently. "9 volt" NiMH rechargeable batteries are actually battery packs with multiple 1.2 cells inside and they come in three voltage configurations - 7.2, 8.4 and 9.6 Generally a wireless mic can be designed to use 9 volts exactly (alkaline non-rechargeable batteries) or rechargeable batteries, or both but it goes through the non-rechargeable alkaline battery pretty quickly. When the mic starts to no longer function properly it has reached the "voltage cutoff" and will either work less reliably or simply cease to function at all. The specific cutoff voltage is normally not a detail that is available to the consumer, so we must just guess what the voltage cutoff is for your mics. A good rule of thumb is if they do not work for as long as you like with a 8.4 volt 230 mAh NiMH battery then it is very likely that they will work longer with a higher voltage and/or higher mAh capacity NiMH battery - like the Maha 9.6 volt unit. Keep in mind that all of our products are fully guaranteed to provide you with satisfactory service so I would definitely try the 9.6 Maha , especially if you already have one of their smart 9 volt chargers - it will charge any NiMH "9 volt" battery regardless of the voltage. The size is another issue. If your mic battery compartments are a bit on the tight side we can assume that they were really designed for non-rechargeable batteries because rechargeable batteries are not normally the same size as their non-rechargeable cousins. Indeed, batteries are not really in standard sizes it is really more of a size range. They also change size slightly (get bigger) when fully charged. So to get you the best battery to fit your devices we must know the exact size of battery that will fit well in MM because the size differences are typically in fractions of a MM. I can measure the Maha battery and let you know if it will fit after I compare it to a Duracell or Energizer alkaline battery. The Maha NiMH 9.6 volt battery does not have a shrink wrap sleeve so if it does not fit out of the box we cannot alter it to make it fit better. Hope that helps. Sincerely,
Curtis
Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
phone 800-790-7866 x3
fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
www.portablebatteries.com
Hello, Last year our church purchased 10 of your 9v 250mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries for use in our wireless mics. These batteries have performed well for us for the most part. Usually we will use a battery for a 1.5 hour practice period and then swap out the battery prior to the live performance for fear of them losing sufficient power, from the wireless mic, before the end of the service. The other problem we had initially was the plastic covering on the battery itself makes the fit in the wireless mic too snug. We had to remove the green cover to make changing out batteries much easier without cracking the plastic case on the mic itself. I noticed that you now have a 9.6v 230mAh NiMH battery listed on your website for use with wireless mics. My first concern is will the battery fit in the battery holder of the mic? A typical Duracell or Eveready 9 volt battery fits in the battery holder with no difficulty. Does this 9.6v battery you offer fit the same dimension as the typical non-chargeable battery? Or will we have to peel off the plastic cover (if it has one) once again to fit them into our wireless mics? My second concern is will these newer batteries hold their charge, under the power drain of the wireless mic, for an approximate 3 hour time period or will we have to change them out like the 9v green batteries mentioned above? We love your product overall and wish to purchase these newer batteries in the near future if they meet our need. Please reply to all email addresses above with your answers Thanks, Carlos
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Thursday, March 05, 2009
solar lights and NiMH batteries - cant get them to work easily
Hello Bridge, You are doing a lot of work to get these batteries to work properly in
your solar lamps - a challenging and frustrating process to say the
least. ;-) Almost no one that I have ever talked to gets satisfactory performance out of
these lights for very long because of the inherent flaws in the
overall design i.e.- solar charging is very inconsistent and the
limitations of battery technology, memory for NiCD, self discharge for
NiMH and limited life for rechargeable alkaline. Here are a couple of things that may help you to get better results overall. First - a charger that charges the batteries in pairs will not be as useful as
one that will charge them individually. Your batteries are probably not being
fully charged and I believe that is your main challenge - to get them
at their full capacity before you start using them. If your charger is older than a
year or so it needs to be added to your "suspect" list. Most chargers
cease to function as well as they used to and can give false and confusing
readings as they age. i.e.- they say that the battery is full when the
battery may or not be full. Also the usable capacity of the battery is
greatly diminished due to its age and most chargers have no way to
tell you this. A battery tester and/or charger/analyser will help if you need
this type of detail from your batteries. See this page for many
options. http://www.greenbatteries.com/batterytesters.html Second - a VOM will not give you useful information because voltage is
not a good reading from the useful life of a rechargeable battery. The
slight difference in voltage is not going to help you to diagnose and
make adjustments in your rechargeable battery efforts with solar
outdoor solar lighting. A VOM is one of the worst ways to diagnose
the useful capacity of a rechargeable battery. Charging the batteries once and then
testing them on the VOM will just not be a useful way to get what you need out of the lights. The higher the rated capacity of a NiMH battery the higher the self
discharge. Particularly with the battery not being charged and
discharged fully from 3-5 times.
You need to use a charger that has individual charge channels and/or
get a tester that will allow you to see the charge state of the
batteries under an actual load with an idea of the current state of
the battery.
The greenbatteries.com batteries are probably performing as they
should but you are still welcome to return them - regardless of your
reason. Sincerely,
Curtis Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
775-722-9901
mailto:curtis@greenbatteries.com Thursday, March 5, 2009, 11:51:30 AM, you wrote: New Reply: FW: order greenbatteries-store-41337 from Greenbatteries Store Hi Curtis, Thanks for the questions... I use a Digital Concepts recharger CH-2600N which is selectable for charging of Ni-CD and Ni-MH; although only using the Ni-MH settings these days. All new batteries I get are always charged first before using them. I've found that the GB batteries charge to about 1.37V while some of the older batteries (4+ years old as I mentioned in my note) will recharge a bit higher even today (about 1.42V) which is surprising.
I am using a VOM to test voltage levels
I am using the GB batteries in 18 solar lamps in our garden. Uses qty 3 AAA per unit.
At the beginning of dusk the lamps turn on and the light intensity is very similar among all 18 units. At pre-dawn I check to see which ones are the most dim. Many lamps are still running pretty bright before sun-up. I have opened up the dimmer ones and have found the voltage levels of and check voltage levels of all three batteries (per unit) individually. The voltage of some of the GB batteries (remember I am only checking on units with dimmer lights after being on all night; not all the units). These tend to have dropped to 1.02-ish levels while the older batteries are still at 1.18-ish levels. That says although the GB started out about .05V behind to after charging, they dropped more over night then existing batteries. The older, existing batteries are rated at 600mAh whereas the GBs are rated at 850mAh. (and not to confuse with my earlier comment that I did get some 700mAh at Radio Shack a couple of days ago to make up for the issue with the GBs).
One of the GB batteries is reading 0 volts. I will do a recharge of the other 4 GB batteries and advise their completed voltage level for each battery. That may take a day or two as the recharger handles only two pair of batteries at a time and I am already charging some others. It takes about 6-8 hours to charge each pair.
Once the four GB are recharged (note that I am assuming at the moment that the one GB reading 0V is really dead) I will reinstall in the lamps and see if they again drop in power faster then the others and advise back to you. Best regards, Bridge
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Re: products and pricing
Hello Matthew,
Thank you for your email. We do not try and compete based solely on price. We prefer to add value, hence the website is more about information about rechargeable batteries and why folks find them frequently so frustrating to use. Because value is so relative, it all depends on the customers perspective. Some of our prices are better than others, while some are not...it is a constantly changing thing and depends greatly on where our supplier is in the food chain.
Small companies that cannot add value but merely try and compete solely on price invariably lose, especially with the big box stores and "major brands". Hence, we are developing our own "brand" of batteries.
Example: Energizer AA NiMH batteries at the local Walmart are $10.97 for a pack or four, our price for the same Energizer four pack of NiMH batteries is $12.51, does that make our prices bad? We have our greenbatteries.com brand of AA NiMH batteries, that are actually a better battery than the Energizer brand if you test them on a battery analyzer, for $2.79 each - aka $11.16 for four batteries, or $2.50 if you buy 20 or more, aka $10.00 for four batteries. Does that make our prices good?
It's all in your perspective...
I know that many folks use our website information to educate themselves and then get their batteries elsewhere - that is OK - more rechargeable batteries in use is a good thing for our environment.
Sincerely, Curtis
Responsible Energy Corporation Curtis Randolph - CEO 3170 Eugene Way Fallon, NV 89406 775-722-9901 mailto:curtis@greenbatteries.com
Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 6:52:28 PM, you wrote:
| I found your website while searching google for rechargeable batteries. I noticed you have an affiliate program. I find that quite interesting, but I noticed your prices are quite high compared to major brands. What incentive does a customer have to purchase your batteries vs. buying similar items off the shelf for less money? Matthew |
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by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
RE: Help
From: Curtis Randolph [mailto:admin@greenbatteries.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 2:39 PM
To: 'Phil
Subject: RE: Help
Hi Phil, The solar charger will probably never charge the batteries completely. There is just not enough sunshine/power to get the job done. You may need to get a NiMH charger and get the batteries charged up completely (charge and discharge 3-5 times ideally, but at least once fully) before you get any kind of good performance out of them. Sincerely,
Curtis
Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
phone 800-790-7866 x3
fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
www.portablebatteries.com Hello – Boy, am I glad to see your page on info about batteries. My question is: I have Rechargeable battery powered lights along my driveway. The batteries that came with the lights were 600 mha. We live in the Pacific Northwest where it is not sunny all day. In fact, in the late fall, winter and early spring, a sunny day is rare and also short. So, the batteries don’t really get a long recharge time. I have replaced the 600 mha batteries with 2600 mha batteries thinking that they would maybe power the lights better than the 600 ones would. I think that my hopes are now being dashed upon the rocks as the 2600s don’t seem to perform any better than the 600s. Is this correct??? Or am I just spinning my wheels?? Am I not charging the 2600s long enough ?? What would be your suggestion ?? Thanks, in advance, for your help and I await, with baited breath, your advice and suggestions. Phil
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
RE: rechargeable batteries for solar lights
FYI - Any good quality NiMH AA batteries will probably work. You may need to get an additional charger to keep them charged in case the built in solar "charger" circuit does not get them to full capacity. Sincerely, Curtis Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
phone 800-790-7866 x3
fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
www.portablebatteries.com I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT THESE ARE AA BATTERIES FOR THE SOLAR LIGHT,THE ONES I HAVE NOW ARE 900, I WOULD LIKE SOMETHING BETTER,THE ENERGIZER ONES THAT ARE SOLD EVERYWHERE,WILL THEY WORK ? OR DO U NEED A SPECIAL ONE FOR SOLAR LIGHTS,THANKS
JD
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Thursday, October 09, 2008
RE: Batteries are dying
Hi Sandi, The worst thing you can do to a rechargeable battery is not use it. They do not last forever but you cannot really estimate the time remaining because the industry does not require an expiration date per se. It is common to have a rechargeable battery that has not been used for a long time get so low in terms of charge that when you put it into a “smart charger” the charger detects that the battery charge is below the minimum voltage and then the charger tells you it is “bad” or just will not charge it at all. Sometimes you can put the battery into a “dumb” charger – i.e.- a charger that is on when it is plugged in and off when it is unplugged, or a charger that is timer based. These charger types do not have the built in feature of “bad battery detection” that a typical smart charger has so you can sometimes rescue a battery that is still good but is just very low voltage because it has been sitting for a long time. Hope that helps. Sincerely,
Curtis
From: Sandi Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 2:20 PM
To: curtis@greenbatteries.com
Subject: Batteries are dying My batteries are over a year old, but suddenly four of them have failed. Two were in my ipod speaker case as backups. I pulled them out to use them and they were dead, I tried to charge them, no go, so I tossed them. This week, similar situation. I had two batteries in my mini tape recorder which sat unused for a long time. When I tried to charge those batteries, they also would not accept a charge. This is getting expensive. Are the batteries failing because they are sitting and losing all their juice? Should I let them sit in the charger for hours to even show one bar of charge? Should I never leave batteries sitting for any length of time? |
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
Monday, September 15, 2008
RE: Quick question about NiMH batteries
Hi Dez, Yes, NiMH batteries are a good choice for many things, depending on the energy required for the device and the usage patterns. The worst thing about NiMH batteries is still the self discharge issue. Ultra Low Self Discharge (ULSD) batteries have helped with this a little but you still need to be aware of it. Also the ULSD batteries are generally not available in C and D cells so you need to use the battery adapters with AA cells in lieu of the C and D cells. Sincerely,
Curtis
Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
phone 800-790-7866 x3
fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
www.portablebatteries.com I am assuming that NiMH batteries are best for kids' toys. Is this correct? If not what other rechargeable options do parents have? Cheers! -------------------- Desmond Williams Freelance Writer/Columnist
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
RE: New Batteries, Conditioning, Charging Rates
Hi Drew, Yes, that is perfectly OK to condition batteries at a faster rate if that is desired. Sincerely, Curtis Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
3170 Eugene Way
Fallon, NV 89406
phone 800-790-7866 x3
fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com
www.portablebatteries.com Curtis -- Last week, I purchased a LaCrosse kit and some batteries. I'm trying to treat the batteries 'right', by using the 'refresh/condition/exercise' mode to charge-discharge several cycles until the batteries are put into service. The downside here is the amount of time this is taking--the kit arrived Tuesday afternoon, and I'm just ready to use the batteries for the first time on Sunday evening. [My quick math says that a fully AA ULSD 2000mAh Greenbatteries brand batteries which charge at a rate of 200mA and discharge at 100mA will take close to 30 hours to run ONE discharge/charge cycle, so this is not unexpected.] On the one hand, I can live with this. On the other, I'm trying to put together what I've read on your site about rapid charging (with a smart charger that actually quits when appropriate) and the fact that this charger has the ability to set different charge/discharge rates for the conditioning cycle. Is is OK to use 'faster' settings for an INITIAL conditioning of NEW batteries? (e.g. charge at 1000mA / discharge at 500mA or even charge at 1800mA / discharge at 900mA) Thanks, Drew Tenenholz P.S. OK to post on your BLOG if you want.
by Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy
(0) comments
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