NiMH Batteries at Sam's

February 9, 2003

Found a pretty good deal on NiMH AA rechargeable batteries at Sams Club yesterday (Winston-Salem NC). A large blister pack with a wall charger and 8 (eight!) NiMH 1850mah batteries for $19.95

February 9, 2003

Thats the ones I use for my Fuji 602 and the Rino 110

____________________________________________________________

February 9, 2003

How much more time can I expect out of the NiMH batteries. I can get 4 alkaline for a $1 at the Dollar Tree store close to my house. Will the Re-chargable NiMH batteries pay for themselves by the time I've used 80 Dollar Tree batteries?

1.4k · February 10, 2003

I get 10+ hours out of my Energizer 1850's. I heart my 1850's. With 8, if you keep the charged, you will never be out batteries. I have had some trouble with them in the extreme cold lately, but think regular batteries wouldn't have fared much better.

I stopped buying dollar store alkalines a LONG time ago I was getting maybe 5 hours on them. On a real set of energizers or duracells, I could get pretty close to the advertised battery life. 17+ hours without backlight.

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Saving geocaches - one golf ball at a time.

February 10, 2003

Does anyone use rechargable batteries in the Magellan Sportrak Pro and do they work OK?

24.7k · February 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by TeamRand:
Does anyone use rechargable batteries in the Magellan Sportrak Pro and do they work OK?

Yes, and Yes.

As for Alkalines. I get about 20 hours vs. 10-12 with NiMH 1600mah batteries. I'm seeing 12+ with 1800mah NiMH's. This is for the GPS V and not a Sport Track Pro. My brother in law uses the Pro and has no problems with his NiMH's.

Wherever you go there you are.

February 10, 2003

Rechargables go a long way in helping the environment too!

The great question...which I have not been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is "What does a woman want?" --Freud

February 10, 2003

I just returned from my local Sam's Club. COuld not find this deal. They had 4(FOUR) 1850 batteries with a wall charger for 28.95. Oh well. I guess I will always be a "Day Late and a Dollar Short"

1.7k · February 10, 2003

The alkaline batteries that came with my GPS lost 70% in about 5 hours of fiddling. (The Meridian color needs that backlight fully on, excepts when in bright sunlight.)

I bout 2 packs of 2000 mAH NiMH and have yet to get the first pair down to 50%.

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

February 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by dustyjacket:
I bout 2 packs of 2000 mAH NiMH

WOW 2000mAH NiMh!! we need details 1900 is the highest I have found

More rules = Less fun!

1.7k · February 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by DougsBrat:
WOW 2000mAH NiMh!! we need details 1900 is the highest I have found...

See: http://www.nimhbattery.com/mh-4aa200.htm

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

February 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by catering chef:
I just returned from my local Sam's Club. COuld not find this deal. They had 4(FOUR) 1850 batteries with a wall charger for 28.95. Oh well....

That's all I saw today, also.

February 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by dustyjacket:
The alkaline batteries that came with my GPS lost 70% in about 5 hours of fiddling. (The Meridian color needs that backlight fully on, excepts when in bright sunlight.)

I bout 2 packs of 2000 mAH NiMH and have yet to get the first pair down to 50%.

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

If you 2000 mah are like my 1850 mah, the battery level indicator is just about useless.

On mine it displays approx 90% when it first comes out of the charger, it then drops fairly quicklty to about 70% for most of the usefull life. After that it falls to the last 1/3 of the meter for a small amount of time, followed by the battery warning and the unit shutting off whitin a few min.

Wyatt W.

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

1.7k · February 11, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by phantom4099:
....On mine it displays approx 90% when it first comes out of the charger, it then drops fairly quicklty to about 70% for most of the usefull life. After that it falls to the last 1/3 of the meter for a small amount of time, followed by the battery warning and the unit shutting off whitin a few min.....

Thanks. That is good to know.

I carry 1 or 2 sets with me and have the partially-depleted set in my butt pack, and have a 4-pack as trade goods, so I think I am ready for the battery to die at any time.

They still have lasted for 4 cache seek trips, and several time sitting connected to my PC. Probably 5 or 6 hours total. The Meridian Gold sucks batteries dry because you have to have that backlight almost all the time.

Why doesn't Magellan make an A/C adapter for use when loading/managing waypoints? I had to order a 12-V Power Supply just to set up a cradle/cable combo for my desk.....

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

February 11, 2003

I've read some good reviews on this charger. It can optionally be powered by 12VDC or a solar panel (for those that REALLY go out into the wilds!).

Plus it will do NiCD's as well as the larger battery sizes such as C's and D's.

February 11, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Argyll:
I've read some good reviews on http://www.ccrane.com/quick_charger.asp. It can optionally be powered by 12VDC or a solar panel (for those that REALLY go out into the wilds!).

Plus it will do NiCD's as well as the larger battery sizes such as C's and D's.

I personally have this charger and it works beautifully. I love the fact that you can leave the batteries inside until you need them and they will always be topped off using a trickle charge method.

The batteries are also never hot when you take them out which means that there is not nearly as much memory loss due to overheating. I swear that the rechargeable batteries using this charger last WAY longer than even traditional batteries.

Also, I recommend that you buy your batteries online or through eBay. You can get 24 AA batteries for $25, which is unbelievable since you'll never have to buy batteries again for a LONG time. FWIW...

--CoronaKid

February 11, 2003

Be sure that if your GPSr has a setting for NiMH's that you use it or you may not be getting the most out of them. NiMH's run at 1.2 volts. When they begin to fall off from that, it is much more gradual than an alkaline. While an alkaline starts at 1.5, it falls off from that pretty quickly. The alkaline hits a voltage level at which your unit complains of "Low Battery" and then if left, will soon power off as the battery voltage falls to an unacceptable level. The NiMH is able to hold at those lower levels longer than the alkaline. I read all about this somewhere on the web. If need be I can find the links.

And as far as I know, the NiMH's don't have any problems with a memory like the nicads do. I have 2 different chargers for my NiMH's. One is a slow charger which can take up to 10 hours to do the charge and the other is a quick charger which charges them in 1 hour or less. They do heat up with the quick charger but that is only a function of how much current is flowing through them. Both chargers shut off when the battery is full. It is very important that you only charge a NiMH with a charger that is intelligent to know it has NiMH's in it. Otherwise you could damage the batteries.

For what it's worth, Best Buy sells a 4 pack of Energizer 1850's with a slow charger for $19.95. The same batteries with a quick charger are $29.95.

February 11, 2003

now I dont mean to preach, but those $1 batteries are doing a lot of enviro damage, probably a lot of metals, lead, arsenic, etc, and the rechargers are multi recycle, so keep that in mind too, you are geocachers, and isnt this game played outside in the "environment?"

thanks for your consideration my friends .

Mf

I like nachos.

February 11, 2003

Here are some 3000 mAH rechargable batteries if you thought 2000 was a lot.

2.9k · February 11, 2003

3000 Miliampere Hour batts sound like an error.

Those would be great if true.

Seems like the higher capacity batteries can fail under fewer charges than low capacity ones.

Ive read battery manuals that say that.

------------------------

My home page about GPS units and information

February 11, 2003

Follow-up: I just ordered this charger directly from C.Crane. No shipping fee, no tax (unless you're in CA).

quote:
Originally posted by Argyll:
I've read some good reviews on http://www.ccrane.com/quick_charger.asp. It can optionally be powered by 12VDC or a solar panel (for those that REALLY go out into the wilds!).

Plus it will do NiCD's as well as the larger battery sizes such as C's and D's.

February 11, 2003

Dusty if this is true:

"The Meridian Gold sucks batteries dry because you have to have that backlight almost all the time."

YOu may have a faulty display. My meridian platinum never needs the backlight except in the dark. It works fine inside, outside and in the car. Backlight not required.

Call magelan and report your problem as the backlight should not need to be on all the time.

Mojocacher

1.7k · February 11, 2003

quote:
Call magelan and report your problem as the backlight should not need to be on all the time.

In the sunshine I don't need the backlight. It looks great. In the woods is another story.

In the car I do, but it may be because of all the light coming from the windshield is making the GPS look dark.

In the house, if I don't hve the backlight on (in my office) I have to really angle it around to see anything and it is a strain. If I stand right under a light I can see it, but the background is dark and it is a strain, again.

But, is yours ok in a room with a 60-watt lightbulb?

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

1.7k · February 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by MojoCacher:
Dusty if this is true:

"The Meridian Gold sucks batteries dry because you have to have that backlight almost all the time."

YOu may have a faulty display. My meridian platinum never needs the backlight except in the dark. It works fine inside, outside and in the car. Backlight not required.

Call magelan and report your problem as the backlight should not need to be on all the time.

Mojocacher

I didn't catch this until now, but you mis-quoted me. I typed:

"(The Meridian color needs that backlight fully on, excepts when in bright sunlight.)"

Not the Gold or Platinum.

(I feel better now).

My first set of NiMH batteries just died. I am happy with the 2000 mAH capacity.

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

February 12, 2003

You guys need to go to Wal-Mart or check eBay for Rayovak's 1 Hour quick charger. I got mine at Wal-Mart for 28.97 and it charges 4 NIMH batteries in about 45 minutes. Also it came with a cigerette lighter adaptor to use in your car and a standard AC plug! This is ideal for a long day of geocaching! Although I get 20 hours easy out of my 1800 mAh so I guess I don't really need it, but when I forget to charge the batteries before a day of geocaching or just a day I want to use GPS; let me tell you its great to bring the charger with me and have 4 fully charged batteries by the time I get to the area of the first cache.

Nathan & Anne

February 12, 2003

Check out the Maha chargers if just looking for a NIMH/Nicad charger. It's been one of the best/better rated for awhile. I've had mine for at least a year. Love mine - purchased new thru an Ebay vendor without problem. It also charges AAA's which was a nice bonus I hadn't been aware of.

Just purchase 8 AAA/ 8 AA on Ebay. $ 23.00 shipped (received 2 days later).

Batteries by DynaCharge - supposedly affiliated with Duracell. AA's were 1850's. Ran my MeriGreen all day plus in very cold weather this past weekend.

24.7k · February 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by maleki:
Check out the Maha chargers if just looking for a NIMH/Nicad charger. It's been one of the best/better rated for awhile. I've had mine for at least a year. Love mine - purchased new thru an Ebay vendor without problem. It also charges AAA's which was a nice bonus I hadn't been aware of.

Just purchase 8 AAA/ 8 AA on Ebay. $ 23.00 shipped (received 2 days later).

Batteries by DynaCharge - supposedly affiliated with Duracell. AA's were 1850's. Ran my MeriGreen all day plus in very cold weather this past weekend.

Maha does make a great charger. Mine came with Nexcell batteries, plus you can get a car adapter with it if you buy the right kit.

Wherever you go there you are.

February 12, 2003

I also recommend the maha chargers. i bought mine here. I also bought some 1800 mah rayovacs at walmart for $11.00. I was going to buy the 2100 mahs, but they were $16.00 and Ive heard really good things about the rayovacs.

February 26, 2003

This too is old news, but Fleet Farm had a sale on NiMH batteries and chargers the other day. The brand was Maxell which is of course a big name in tapes but didn't know they were in the battery business. The store was out of the chargers and batteries but I got a raincheck. The charger and four batteries was $19.99 and four AA batteries were $7.99.

My first charger and batteries were Quest brand and after using them for a couple years they will no longer hold a charge. I quit using the Quest charger as it wouldn't turn off and I had gotten a really nice charger with an Olympus digital camera that did shut off so it is what I have been using.

I use a digital camera that has a 1GB microdrive in it that sucks batteries like crazy. During a photo shoot I might go through 4-6 sets of four. One trick I learned with NiCad batteries that I adopted for NiMH is to not immediately charge batteries after running them down. I always let them cool off before sticking them in the recharger. Likewise, I never stick a cold set of batteries in a hot charger. I always let the batteries and the charger cool off before charging a new set.

Despite the "no memory" effect of NiMH batteries, I treat them like I always did the NiCad batteries, I run them down to near dead and then charge after cooling off. I don't want to trust the "no memory" effect. With as many batteries and chargers as I have, I can let batteries run down, not charging them partially used and I can let the batteries and charger cool before recharging.

Lew

Vividere

February 26, 2003

If you really want the best deal on NiMH and LiIon batteries, you should check with your local ham radio operator and find out when the next hamfest is happening locally. Hamfests are ham radio swap meets where dealers, hams, and others set up booths to sell. The deals are usually pretty good.

There are two battery companies that regularly work the hamfest circuit -- Batteries America and Power Works. Last hamfest Batteries America was selling 2000mAh NiMH AA's at 4 for $2.50!

They've got a web site ... prices might be a bit different than hamfest prices but still pretty good.

Scott (KD4DCY)

--

Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

February 27, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by MacBWizard201:
http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?subsection=13 if you thought 2000 was a lot.

I just don't trust a website that has pencil sketches of all there products. That and they have no idea what mah they are, sounds like some don't even have a wrapper to say what they are (was there a problem with some of the batteries that did not have good insulation causing fires in units? specially etrex?.

Back on subject I have to say that I love having rechargeable batteries, I don't know how I got along without them before. I can go through several sets in one day (camera, battery extender for my ipaq, gps, FRS radios, etc...). If you total that together on a busy day (mostly weekends) I could easily go through 12 or more batteries. And the ipaq usually can go through 8 alone on a long day with the backlight on full. If I had to pay for alkalines I would quickly go poor. Also its nice to know where I can always get more batteries, I hated it when I ran out of batteries and had to go to the store to get more. They also help in they guilty feeling I use to get when I would use something with normal batteries.

I also have the rayovac 1 hour charger and love it, its nice to finally have my battery supply able to keep up with my needs. I know that the rayovac charger is probably doing more harm to my batteries than some of the other chargers out there, but the speed of it is worth it to me.

Wyatt W.

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

[This message was edited by phantom4099 on February 27, 2003 at 01:03 AM.]

9.2k · February 27, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Nathan & Anne:

You guys need to go to Wal-Mart or check eBay for Rayovak's 1 Hour quick charger.

I'd be very cautious buying this through eBay. The early PS4 models had an overheating problem. The only way to tell the difference is by looking at the model number printed on the package. The newer models are labeled PS4-B. The "B" was not printed on the unit itself (although that may not be true on more recently manufactured units).

NiMH Batteries at Sam's

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