Best rechargeable batteries for Nikon SB-600 Speedlight (Page 2): I use eneloop and the 8 bay chargers. All available @ B&H. Best of luck.

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Best rechargeable batteries for Nikon SB-600 Speedlight

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Jun 30, 2018 13:35:11 #

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I use eneloop and the 8 bay chargers. All available @ B&H. Best of luck.

Jun 30, 2018 13:57:53 #

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Thanks for the info... looking for AAAs... have dozens of AAs, will check

Dik

Jun 30, 2018 14:02:42 #

JimKing Loc: Salisbury, Maryland USA

grandpaw wrote:

Enloop batteries I HIGHLY recommend. Check them out on B&H you will be very impressed with these batteries. Grandpaw

I used the same four batteries in my SB900 in three different shoots one being 1 1/2 hours long the next 7 hours long and a third for about an hour. I shot hundreds of photos and all were using the flash and I still had a 3 second recycle time without recharging them at any point. They are great!!!!!!!!!!

For sure Enloop. There are several versions, the cheaper ones do not last as long (per charge) but can be charged 2100 times the more expensive ones last longer (per charge) but can be recharged fewer times.

Now that I've said all this, I went searching and found an article that disagreed with me. Not by a whole lot, but for the price, it recommends Energize Recharge Universal. Here is the link: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-rechargeable-batteries/

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Jun 30, 2018 14:21:45 #

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have been using Eneloops for 10 years now and they hold up well. They hold a charge for months instead of days or weeks. When I bought them they were a couple dollars more than other rechargeables but not a significant amount.

The charger has been mentioned as well. This is important. My old cheap charger would charge batteries in pairs in series. When the voltage goes up it stops charging. That means that the batteries were not necessarily equally charged so the system would be dependent on the weakest battery. I got a charger that charges batteries individually so they all get a full charge. That made a big difference in performance of the speedlight.

Jun 30, 2018 14:26:31 #

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Dikdik wrote:

Thanks for the info... looking for AAAs... have dozens of AAs, will check

Dik

Eneloop makes AAA as well and the 8 bay charger I mentioned charges both!

Jun 30, 2018 14:52:41 #

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Naldo wrote:

I will look at Ikea & Powerex

Many less costly chargers charge the batteries to the 'lowest common denominator' of the cells being charged. Powerex can be 'programmed' to charge all cells to their maximum capacity that each cell will hold.

Dik

Jun 30, 2018 14:53:46 #

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Thanks... have a few of them... but will take a gander at the IKEA offering.

Dik

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Jun 30, 2018 19:14:07 #

ChristianHJensen

Naldo wrote:

In checking out Eneloop,
I found this review on Amazon by "NLee the Engineer", which seems to say that the regular-strength are superior to the extra-strength batteries:

"This package (Panasonic K-KJ17KHCA4A Eneloop Pro Individual Cell Battery Charger with 4 AA Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries) contains the BQ-CC17 charger and four eneloop Pro batteries. People often ask me whether it is worthwhile to pay extra for this 'Pro' package over a similar 'regular' package. So here is a breakdown on the Pros and Cons of going Pro:

- The rated capacity of eneloop Pro AA cell is 2550mAh, or 27.5% higher than that of regular eneloop cell (2000mAh). My measured average capacities using the La Crosse BC1000 Battery Charger are around 2560mAh and 2080mAh, respectively.

- The cycle life rating of Pro is only 500 cycles, verses 2100 cycles for regular eneloop. More about this later.

- The advertised charge-retention rate of Pro cell ("85% after 1 year") is not as good as that of regular eneloop cell ("90% after 1 year, 70% after 10 years"). Those rating are consistent with my own long-term test results. Of course in real life this hardly matters.

- The Pro AA cell is slightly thicker than regular eneloop cell, so it might not fit in appliances with extremely tight battery compartments.

The chargers included in the Pro and Regular packages are identical except for color. So this is not a factor. See my review on BQ-CC17 for details of this charger.

[Capacity Matters?]
Obviously higher-capacity for batteries is better, because it gives you longer runtime for each recharge. This is especially true in the old days of NiCd batteries, since you are supposed to drain them completely before recharge (to avoid 'Memory Effects'). With pre-charged NiMH batteries and smart charger such as the BQ-CC17, you can choose to top-off your batteries anytime. So having higher capacity is less critical.

Just for example, let's say you are using rechargeable batteries in your external photo flash unit. Assuming a set of regular eneloop cells (2000mAh) can give you 1000 flashes, then by changing to Pro cells (2550mAh) you can expect 1275 flashes. But unless you actually need to shoot over 1000 pictures in one session, the extra capacity does not offer you any advantage.

[Cycle Life Matters?]
This rating refers to the number of deep-discharge cycles a battery goes through, before its capacity drops to 50% of original value. That means:
- Regular eneloop starts from 2000mAh and drops to 1000mAh after ~2100 cycles
- eneloop PRO starts from 2550mAh and drops to 1275mAh after ~500 cycles
Note that those ratings are based on tightly controlled test conditions. In real life your numbers will likely be less.

Assuming linear degradation of capacity, we can estimate that after 250 cycles:
- Regular eneloop --> 2000mAh - 1000mAh*(250/2100) = 1881mAh
- eneloop PRO --> 2550mAh - 1275mAh*(250/500) = 1912mAh
That means shortly after 250 cycles, the regular eneloop cell will actually out-perform the Pro!

[Bottom Line]
If you have mission-critical applications that demand the extra capacity offered by eneloop Pro batteries, definitely get this Pro package. Otherwise for similar cost, you can get the regular package plus another 4 regular eneloop (or the equivalent AmazonBasics Pre-Charged) batteries. So now you have 8x 2000mAh eneloop batteries instead of 4x 2550mAh eneloop Pro batteries. This approach offers you almost 60% more in total battery energy. Most importantly, you now have a set of spare batteries to swap in whenever the first set runs out, so you'll never be out of action while batteries are being recharged."

In checking out Eneloop, br b u I found this re... (show quote)

There are just a few facts missing from that post - such as the available power draw which directly relates to cycle time when e.g. used in a flash - it is a 2:1 ratio between the std cells and the Pro/Ikea Unless he has actually tested his claims - they are just hot air. BTW - the # of charge cycles will greatly depend on the charge and discharge rates rates - easily +/- 50-100%. The Pro/Ikea versions are specifically made for applications such as flash as the discharge rate can be pretty high

Jun 30, 2018 21:24:06 #

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

grandpaw wrote:

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Jul 1, 2018 00:18:10 #

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Naldo wrote:

Okay, I pulled the trigger and bought the b Nikon... (show quote)

Eneloop.

Jul 8, 2018 08:52:31 #

Tony R Loc: Westport, CT

Eneloop. The recharge kit covers AAA through D cells. Not too expensive, in the $50 range. Strong charge and holds a full charge for a long time when not used but it takes a while to fully charge them.

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