Rechargeable batteries best for the winter?

[+Labrador Wild Man]

Well have to bite the bullet!

 

My Garmin 62s just burns my Lithium batteries to fast for the winter months. I have set all the settings I can on the 62s, so need help want kind of rechargeable batteries are best for the winter?

 

Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMh) or Nickel-Metal Hydride (LSD NiMH) or Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd)

 

I read this about Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad)

 

Look great for the winter but not sure?

 

Quoted from the web

 

Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) -The main advantage is that they work well in the winter. If you are a winter hiker, this is your ONLY choice. All other batteries will discharge very rapidly and fail. They discharge about 1% per day. When used in Garmin devices, we recommend that you use the battery setting of Alkaline. Alkaline allows voltages of 1.0 to 1.5 volts, and this allows the NiCd batteries to continue working at a variety of temperatures. This will also make the batteries look like they are half-charged all day long. You just cannot rely on Garmin's battery gauge. Try to buy NiCd batteries with 900 mAh or more.

 

This sounds good to me anyhelp would be great!

 

Happy Christmas from Labrador, Canada

 

Labrador Wild Man

[+Viajero Perdido]

There was some nonsense from the web quoted in the first post. NiCd are obsolete now, and are far from the only thing you can use in cold conditions.

 

Plain old regular NiMh batteries have worked fine for me all through our Canadian winters, and I'm sure that included a few crispy days of -20°C or colder. (That's probably -10° American).

 

PS: Here's something you could resort to, for your amusement. At the time, I thought it was too cold for the batteries, though I later realized my unit was having some loose-contact problems inside.

 

PPS: The OP's 62 may be more of a battery-sucker than my trusty old 60CSx, and that could lead to problems in the cold. Low-self-discharge NiMH (Eneloop, "duraloop", etc) have lower internal resistance than regular NiMH, and should should work better in extreme cold.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Viajero Perdido

[+Labrador Wild Man]

Thanks for the info just got from the web which was no help! it is around -15c--20c until about end of feb over hear in Labrador.

 

i should buy some goods ones and a good charger

 

LWM

[+Viajero Perdido]

A good charger you say? Try the Maha C9000; it's about as smart as a charger can be, and mine just keeps charging up my tired old Energizers well beyond what should've been the end of their service life.

 

You might find the C9000 bundled with Imedion batteries; those are good too (they're low self discharge).

[NordicMan]

How do you use your GPSr? In winter I keep mine in an inside coat pocket which keeps the device/batteries warm, yet it still seems to receive GPS signals no problem through the coat.

[jholly]

You might think about nickle-zinc batteries article and another article.

[+BlackRose67]

The latest generation of Eneloops is good to -20°C. The first generation was good to -10°C.

 

The Duracell Pre-Charged batteries (aka Duraloops) that go on sale regularly at Shoppers Drug Mart are still the first generation.

 

It's not very cold here (Ottawa) at the moment so I can't really give them a good test while I am on vacation.

Edited December 21, 2011 by BlackRose67

[+tomfuller & Quill]

I'm with Nordicman on this one. Carry the GPSr in your breast pocket and only refer to it when within 500 feet of the cache.

I do this with a digital camera in very cold weather as well.

Always carry at least 1 pair of regular Lithium for use if the rechargeables fail.

The problem with the rechargeables is that when fully charged they are only 1.2 volts. The highest rating I have seen for any rechargeables is 2300 mAh.

[+Viajero Perdido]

My C9000 smart charger leaves NiMHs charged at 1.4-1.45v. But even 1.2v shouldn't be a problem; GPS units nowadays are designed for NiMH cells. The real problem would be internal resistance, which goes up in cold temperatures; the colder it is, the less current a cell can provide. A high-drain GPS unit will therefore have problems, and low-self-discharge (LSD) cells with their lower internal resistance will work better with them. Neither is a problem with my low-drain 60CSx.

 

You can get "high self discharge" (traditional) NiMH up to 2700 or 2800 mAh in AA size. Not that I'm recommending them...

Edited December 21, 2011 by Viajero Perdido

[moose drool]

The Energizer Ultimate Lithium 8x (non-rechargeable) is a great cold weather battery. Personally, I carry those, Enloops 2100 and Sanyo 2700 NiMh batteries. Just another option.

 

+1 on the Maha C9000....great charger.

[+phlatlander]

I have used a LaCrosse charger and Sanyo Enerloops (the white ones) with good success. But I have found that my Garmin Legend screen goes blank around -15c or so which means that I keep it in an inner pocket and only take it out when necessary. I would simply carry an extra set of NiMH for every 4 hours of use.

 

Phlatlander on the Flatlands

[+BAMBOOZLE]

I find Sanyo Eneloops NiMh batteries better than any other brand I've tried

 

But I understand the problem when very cold ... guess it depends how cold you intend to let them get?

 

The new Sony eneloop's ( 2500-black ) will operate my 62s around 12 hours or so. I change the batteries for every outing and have not needed to calibrate my compass.

[+JohnnyVegas]

Well have to bite the bullet!

 

My Garmin 62s just burns my Lithium batteries to fast for the winter months. I have set all the settings I can on the 62s, so need help want kind of rechargeable batteries are best for the winter?

 

Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMh) or Nickel-Metal Hydride (LSD NiMH) or Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd)

 

I read this about Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad)

 

Look great for the winter but not sure?

 

Quoted from the web

 

Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) -The main advantage is that they work well in the winter. If you are a winter hiker, this is your ONLY choice. All other batteries will discharge very rapidly and fail. They discharge about 1% per day. When used in Garmin devices, we recommend that you use the battery setting of Alkaline. Alkaline allows voltages of 1.0 to 1.5 volts, and this allows the NiCd batteries to continue working at a variety of temperatures. This will also make the batteries look like they are half-charged all day long. You just cannot rely on Garmin's battery gauge. Try to buy NiCd batteries with 900 mAh or more.

 

This sounds good to me anyhelp would be great!

 

Happy Christmas from Labrador, Canada

 

Labrador Wild Man

How fast is to fast?

[+baloo&bd]

I find Sanyo Eneloops NiMh batteries better than any other brand I've tried

 

But I understand the problem when very cold ... guess it depends how cold you intend to let them get?

 

The new Sony eneloop's ( 2500-black ) will operate my 62s around 12 hours or so. I change the batteries for every outing and have not needed to calibrate my compass.

 

The "regular" Eneloops (2000) last about 8 to 10 in a Montana (battery hog) and will ultimately last longer than the 2500s. The 2500s are rated for 500 recharge cycles while the 2000 are rated for 1500+ cycles.

[+baloo&bd]

Well have to bite the bullet!

 

My Garmin 62s just burns my Lithium batteries to fast for the winter months. I have set all the settings I can on the 62s, so need help want kind of rechargeable batteries are best for the winter?

 

Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMh) or Nickel-Metal Hydride (LSD NiMH) or Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd)

 

I read this about Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad)

 

Look great for the winter but not sure?

 

Quoted from the web

 

Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) -The main advantage is that they work well in the winter. If you are a winter hiker, this is your ONLY choice. All other batteries will discharge very rapidly and fail. They discharge about 1% per day. When used in Garmin devices, we recommend that you use the battery setting of Alkaline. Alkaline allows voltages of 1.0 to 1.5 volts, and this allows the NiCd batteries to continue working at a variety of temperatures. This will also make the batteries look like they are half-charged all day long. You just cannot rely on Garmin's battery gauge. Try to buy NiCd batteries with 900 mAh or more.

 

This sounds good to me anyhelp would be great!

 

Happy Christmas from Labrador, Canada

 

Labrador Wild Man

 

Where is this quoted from?

[+RonFisk]

Sanyo Eneloops for sure. The only way to go and the MAHA charger pairs up well with them. I haven't tried the 2500 mAH, but the 2000's work great for me...

[frozenflyboy]

Has anyone tried Powerex batteries?

 

They are slightly fatter than regular AAs and are listed as 2700 MAH.

 

My geek buddy loves them.

[frozenflyboy]

Hi LWM,

I used to live in Churchill Falls so I know the feeling.

 

Here is another way to deal with it. It's a bit cumbersome in some ways but it may be what I will be trying. You can use the regular batteries till they die, keeping the backaup battery in a warm pocket and then plug it in to extend the range.

 

I looked on ebay with this search and there are a number of choices "backup battery for gps"

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2000mAh-external-backup-battery-MP3-MP4-PSP-GPS-iphone-3G-4G-4S-iPod-Blue-/170726590828?pt=US_Tablet_Accessories&hash=item27c019096c#ht_4829wt_1770

[+baloo&bd]

Has anyone tried Powerex batteries?

 

They are slightly fatter than regular AAs and are listed as 2700 MAH.

 

My geek buddy loves them.

 

After trying 16 of them;

 

-They do not hold a charge for any significant length f time. If I let them set for a week or more without chargig, they were useless.

 

-Even fully charged, they did not last as long as the Eneloops of lesser capacity.

 

-Rarely would charge too capacity,even with conditioning.

 

-While I only had sixteen, variance was enough that even coming closed to a matched set was impossible. With 12 of the Eneloops, I got 1 matched set and one very near matched set.