Re-Chargeable Batteries- Recommendations (Page 4): Keep in mind that the stated voltages on various cells are generally measured for a fresh battery under some specified load. Open...

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

TreborLow wrote:

Also consider IKEA which sells LADDA cells in AA size for about half the price of ENELOOPS and are as good or better! They are Ni-MH and rated 2450 and MADE IN JAPAN. Hold their charge longer in storage than anything else I have used! Just checked one in storage for at least a week and it is just below 1.4volts
Stay safe,
Bob

Keep in mind that the stated voltages on various cells are generally measured for a fresh battery under some specified load. Open circuit voltages are based on electronegativity values (remember your chemistry class?) and will always be higher. For fresh alkaline batteries, it's generally 1.6 volts or more for a nominal voltage under load around 1.5 volts..

Richard Spencer Loc: Evansville, Indiana

Have used Eneloop batteries in everything that requires batteries for at least ten years and never had a problem of any kind with them. The first ones I purchased are still functioning just fine.

hj Loc: Florida

TreborLow wrote:

Also consider IKEA which sells LADDA cells in AA size for about half the price of ENELOOPS and are as good or better! They are Ni-MH and rated 2450 and MADE IN JAPAN. Hold their charge longer in storage than anything else I have used! Just checked one in storage for at least a week and it is just below 1.4volts
Stay safe,
Bob

I purchased the Ladda AA from IKEA and found they were slightly larger and too tight so I didn't insert the whole way as I was afraid they wouldn't come out.

Elias Amador

Eneloop and Duracell rechargeables, both work fine.
To test them I use a digital battery voltmeter from eBay.

The useful electronic points to remember is that the batteries feed electricity to a step up transformer that charges a 340V capacitor and fires a ~1,300 V trigger coil.
This means the battery voltage is not that crucial, it tells one how many flashes to expect. If the batteries are charged over ~ 1.25V (my guess) or so, they will fire the flash.

The real voltage is provided by the built-in step-up transformer, steps up the V from about 5-6 V to 340V capacitor and 1200V + trigger coil that do the heavy lifting. The 340V capacitor charges the xenon tube and the trigger coil ~1,300 V fires the xenon gas to flash about one millisecond, adjustable duration length flash.

To me the important thing is to avoid batteries that corrode, and to remove them when not in use.

tvor-matt

Based on my experience- unless you are a working pro, stay away from rechargeable batteries. They discharge when not in use. That's ok if you use and charge them every day. If you are like me now that I am retired, the camera sits on the shelf a lot of the time. Just when something exciting happens and I grab the camera for a fast pic, I want to know that the flash batteries are ready. AAs are cheap and Costco or Lowes, and they do not discharge when idle.

Elias Amador

?No picture attached of the milliamp/hr tester/results. It will be useful to see, thank you.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

tvor-matt wrote:

Based on my experience- unless you are a working pro, stay away from rechargeable batteries. They discharge when not in use. That's ok if you use and charge them every day. If you are like me now that I am retired, the camera sits on the shelf a lot of the time. Just when something exciting happens and I grab the camera for a fast pic, I want to know that the flash batteries are ready. AAs are cheap and Costco or Lowes, and they do not discharge when idle.

I have not found that to be a serious problem with Eneloops, but Alkalines are certainly better, however leaving them for long periods in equipment invites leakage. NiMH do self discharge and are worse in that respect than Li ions. Here is a curve showing the typical self-discharge curve.

You may also find this comparative self-discharge data for various battery technologies useful:

Primary lithium-metal - 10% in 5 years
Alkaline - 2–3% per year (7-10 years shelf life)
Lead-acid - 5% per month
Nickel-based - 10–15% in 24h, then 10-15% per month
Lithium-ion - 5% in 24h, then 1–2% per month (plus 3% for safety circuit)

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

tvor-matt wrote:

Based on my experience- unless you are a working pro, stay away from rechargeable batteries. They discharge when not in use. That's ok if you use and charge them every day. If you are like me now that I am retired, the camera sits on the shelf a lot of the time. Just when something exciting happens and I grab the camera for a fast pic, I want to know that the flash batteries are ready. AAs are cheap and Costco or Lowes, and they do not discharge when idle.

I’ve been using rechargeable batteries for around 15 years or so and yes they do discharge overtime but that discharge is very slow for the NIMH type. I have charged myMH batteries and they held an adequate charge for several months. The other positive is that I’ve never had a NIMH battery leak in any device.

Elias Amador

Rechargeable batteries are much less polluting as they take the place of several dozen throw aways.
Less corrosion, less frustration, less time spent shopping, less expense and less pollution = Go Rechargeable baby, Go!

Elias Amador

Rechargeable batteries are much less polluting as they take the place of several dozen throw aways.
Less corrosion, less frustration, less time spent shopping, less expense and less pollution = Go Rechargeable baby, Go!

Silverrails

CWW wrote:

Greetings all, What is your experience with AA re-chargeable batteries in speed lights? I've read the Amazon reviews for EBL and ENELOOP, lots of negative posts. Any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!

I myself went thru the "Recharging Batteries", very disappointed, they for some reason did not hold a 2nd Charge satisfactory, I was very surprised how fast the "Recharged" Batteries lost their Charge. Not sure if it was the Batteries or the Charger not performing properly. I had a negative Experience, others may disagree with my "Recharging" of Batteries. To feel confident, I will prefer " Fresh, New, Batteries, as is required by my Photography equipment. I only use the recommended Nikon brand Batteries to power my Nikon D3300 Camera, presently have 3 EN-EL14a that Nikon strongly recommends for my personal Nikon D3300 camera.

Elias Amador

I thought we were chatting about AA and AAA batteries, at least those are the ones I have referred to.
Camera batteries of proprietary (special) shape are a different matter and I stick to the Nikon, Olympus etc batteries made specifically for each camera.
The rechargeable AA and AAA batteries by Eneloop and Duracell are excellent, reduce pollution and expense.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

CWW wrote:

Greetings all, What is your experience with AA re-chargeable batteries in speed lights? I've read the Amazon reviews for EBL and ENELOOP, lots of negative posts. Any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!

I've been using Eneloop fo year without even a minor complaint.