Rechargeable Batteries

[+Geodoggy]

Can I use rechargeable NiMh batteries in my Magellan Meridian GPSr? I've asked Magellan several times but they haven't responded.

I was advised not to use the NiCd batteries in my digital camera because of the heat they can generate. I have the NiMhs and it would be a lot cheaper than buying new batteries all the time.

 

Thanks

 

Cache as cache can.

[+Team Hoijong]

I'm sure the NiMH are the best to use..

 

I have the 1800 mAH.. Works very good on my Garmin.. They last very long.. NiMH is simply the best for GPS units..

 

Irresisti

N12º 55.475

E100º 52.865

[+Dawgies]

I use the 1700 mAH NiMH and they go the full day with me. But, I too use a Garmin. They'd work with yours as well. A (AA) is a (AA)!

 

~Honest Value Never Fails~

[+Dawgies]

I use the 1700 mAH NiMH and they go the full day with me. But, I too use a Garmin. They'd work with yours as well. A (AA) is a (AA)!

 

~Honest Value Never Fails~

[+15Tango]

After finding out how fast my digital camera sucks the juice out of a set of batteries, I've gone over to NiMh for my camera and GPS--Energizer 1700 mAh, and I've had no problems so far. The owner's manual for my camera discourages NiCd, but says NiMh of at least 1600mAh should be fine. They've already paid for themselves, and it's a lot cheaper than buying throw-away alkalines all the time. Happy cachin'!!! 15T

 

www.1800goguard.com

[+Renegade Knight]

I've found the Alkaline still last longer in my Garmin GPS V than NiMH's (1600mah) but they do last quite well and I'm glad I have them. They beat the snot out of NiCad's.

[cache magnet]

I just bought the Rayovac 3 in 1 battery charger and thier Rechargable alkaline batteries. The charger says it can recharge NiMH, NiCd, and Rechargable Alkalines. I went with the Alkalines because the booklet with the charger said it was the best choice and the alkaline don't develop a memory. Dunno, What kind of experiences have you guys had? I don't think I have ever heard anyone else talk about the rechargable alkalines before.

 

[+Gliderguy]

The rechargeable alkaline batteries have the advantage that they don't really self discharge like nicd or nimh batteries do. This is great if you put them in an emergency flashlight or something that you dont expect to use for a while.

 

They work fine in a GPS as well, BUT they only recharge something like 20-25 times, and each time the life is a little less... after a dozen times or so, you may not think the runtime you get out of them is worth the bother...

 

Nimh, on the other hand, will recharge hundreds of times. They will slowly self discharge, so dont charge them then wait a few months before using them, they will be near dead by then.

 

One disclaimer about new Nimh or NiCd batteries, it takes two or three charge/discharge cycles before they develop their full rated capacity. Don't be discouraged if you buy a new set of 1700 or 1800 mAh batteries and find they initially dont last as long as a broken in 1400 or 1500 mAh batteries. That will change about the 3rd time you recharge them.

[+ClayJar]

Don't worry about trying to get the super-ultimate 35,000,000 mAh cells.

 

Basically, if you get decent cells (I'd say about 1600 mAh for AA), you'll be fine. The best thing you can do is to get one more set than you think you'll ever need, and just don't worry about the little differences. Get a good charger (like the newer Rayovac PS-4 1-hour charger or whatever), and you don't have to bother with much.

 

Basically, I've got about 5 sets of 1600 +/- 100 mAh AA cells, and when my Meridian says it wants new batteries, I just drop the next set in there. Eventually I get around to recharging them, but I can go at least a month without charging if I get really preoccupied. (Of course, with a good 1-hour charger and a 12V adapter, I can have two dead sets charged before I get to the next cache anyway.)

[cache magnet]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gliderguy:One disclaimer about new Nimh or NiCd batteries, it takes two or three charge/discharge cycles before they develop their full rated capacity. Don't be discouraged if you buy a new set of 1700 or 1800 mAh batteries and find they initially dont last as long as a broken in 1400 or 1500 mAh batteries. That will change about the 3rd time you recharge them.

---

 

Ok, I understand what you said about the alkalines but what is this number mAH? What is the difference between Nimh and NiCd?

 

[+Whidbey Walk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cache Magnet:

I just bought the Rayovac 3 in 1 battery charger and thier Rechargable alkaline batteries…….What kind of experiences have you guys had?

---

I’ve been using the Rayovac 3 in 1 charger and rechargeable alkaline batteries for about a year and 140 plus caches. I have 2 sets of 4 batteries that I rotate. One set is defiantly ready to be move to tv remote duty. They only last for about 3 hours in the GPS these days. The other set still give me a least a full day of caching. I have been using a set of Rayovac NiMH in my digital camera for around the same period of time and could count on one hand the number of times I have had to charge them. As soon as I get around to it I plan on moving to the NiMH for the GPS and use the rechargeable alkaline as a back up set. Overall, I have been happy with the alkaline.

 

In a related matter, I recently got a Palm and bought a set of NiMH AAA for it, but they wouldn’t power up. After a bit of experimentation I discovered that 1 NiMH and 1 alkaline would work, and it doesn’t matter which NiMH I put in. And yes the NiMH were fully charged. Kind of had me scratching my head. I bought another set of NiMH and got the same results. So now I’ve just given up on the NiMH for my palm and use alkaline.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~whidbeywalk/

[+Whidbey Walk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cache Magnet:

I just bought the Rayovac 3 in 1 battery charger and thier Rechargable alkaline batteries…….What kind of experiences have you guys had?

---

I’ve been using the Rayovac 3 in 1 charger and rechargeable alkaline batteries for about a year and 140 plus caches. I have 2 sets of 4 batteries that I rotate. One set is defiantly ready to be move to tv remote duty. They only last for about 3 hours in the GPS these days. The other set still give me a least a full day of caching. I have been using a set of Rayovac NiMH in my digital camera for around the same period of time and could count on one hand the number of times I have had to charge them. As soon as I get around to it I plan on moving to the NiMH for the GPS and use the rechargeable alkaline as a back up set. Overall, I have been happy with the alkaline.

 

In a related matter, I recently got a Palm and bought a set of NiMH AAA for it, but they wouldn’t power up. After a bit of experimentation I discovered that 1 NiMH and 1 alkaline would work, and it doesn’t matter which NiMH I put in. And yes the NiMH were fully charged. Kind of had me scratching my head. I bought another set of NiMH and got the same results. So now I’ve just given up on the NiMH for my palm and use alkaline.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~whidbeywalk/

[+Geodoggy]

Magellan just relplied and said the NiMhs are o.k. but I will get an incorrect reading on my battery level.

Has anyone had this experience?

 

Cache as cache can.

[+Geodoggy]

Magellan just replied and said the NiMhs are o.k. but I will get an incorrect reading on my battery level.

Has anyone had this experience?

 

Cache as cache can.

[+Gliderguy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by cache magnet:

 

Ok, I understand what you said about the alkalines but what is this number mAH? What is the difference between Nimh and NiCd?

---

 

Milli Amp Hours. One measure of the capacity of a battery. If the device uses 100 Milliamps of electricity, a 1600 mAh battery set would run it for 16 hours....

 

This rating is determined at some set discharge current, typically very low. So those same 1600 mAh batteries might not run a 1000 milliamp load for quite 1.6 hours...

 

The rating for alkaline batteries is still well over 2000 mAh, BUT

1. they go until the battery is discharged to under 1 volt, many GPS units will automatically shut down before you actually get the cells that far discharged

2. that is figured at a very low current draw. (which is why a lower capacity NiMH battery could actually outperform regular alkalines in a high draw device like a digital camera)

 

A GPS is a "medium draw" device, taking between maybe 60 mA on the low side up to perhaps 250 mA on the high side. My Garmin V uses about 80 - 100 mA to operate, but it is a 4 battery unit. Equivilant GPS units that only use two batteries might have double that current requirement.

 

NiCd - Nickle Cadmium. Cadmium is considered a toxic waste that shouldn't just be discarded. The highest capacity NiCd AA batteries I know of are Radio Shack 1000 mAh...

 

NiMH - Nickle Metal Hydride. The new improved higher capacity replacement for NiCd. There are 1800 mAh AA sized NiMH batteries available right now, and it is possible as the manufacturing technology improves, that it may go higher still.

Much more environmentally friendly to discard than NiCd.

 

The recharge characteristics of both types are slightly different, hence the need for a switch to set the unit up to properly charge one type or the other. Both cells do make near 1.2 V when charged. Alkaline and rechargable alkalines are 1.5 volt, which again requires a separate charge setting. I suspect you could fry NiMH or NiCd batteries if you tried to charge them with the rechargable alkaline setting on your charger, because they would never get up to 1.5 volts the charger is expecting to see.

 

[This message was edited by Gliderguy on July 15, 2002 at 07:30 PM.]

[+Rattlehead]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Geodoggy:

Magellan just relplied and said the NiMhs are o.k. but I will get an incorrect reading on my battery level.

Has anyone had this experience?

---

 

I just put a set of fully-charged NiMH in my Meridian Gold and the battery meter reads about 85-90%.

[chloew]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Geodoggy:

Magellan just replied and said the NiMhs are o.k. but I will get an incorrect reading on my battery level.

Has anyone had this experience?

---

 

Throwaway batteries are rated at 1.5V while most rechargables only generate about 1.2V. The lower voltage is still fine for most electronic devices since they are designed to work that way, but the battery meters will read a bit less since the actual voltage is lower. Some high-end GPSs allow you to specify what type of batteries you are using and will compensate for the lower voltage in their battery meters.

[+mikedx]

I use 1600 mAH NiMh Powerex batteries in my Magellan. I turn the GPS on from the time I leave the house until I get home. This lets me know how many miles I've made for the trip, as well as being able to look at the path screen to see if it matches the back roads I take. They last 6-8 hours. I just about drained two sets on my last 14hr trip. When fully recharged, the battery readers says about 85% capacity. I also have a car adapter with my recharger, so that I can recharge the first set after I put in the 2nd. Big Lots currently have Panasonic NiMh 1600 mAH 4 for $5.

 

I also keep two Duracells just in case.

[+Acc-Risk and Snarflax]

There are rechargable lithiums at 1.5 finally... I haven't been able to track any down yet, but when I was at HP, there were some people who had gotten a hold of some for their cameras... That would be the ideal way to go...

 

(The reason why lithium hasn't been mainstream is it's difficult to break the 3 volt barrier in half...)

 

Contents Under Pressure...

[+Lil Devil]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Acceptable Risk:

There are rechargable lithiums at 1.5 finally...

 

(The reason why lithium hasn't been mainstream is it's difficult to break the 3 volt barrier in half...)

---

It would be cool if they would just make ONE lithium battery that is equivalent in size to TWO normal AA cells stacked end to end. They could probably pack about 6,000 mAh in there. I could use 2 of those "double cells" at 3 volts each in my GPS V and run for days.

 

Lil Devil

[+headmj]

Whidby, it may be that the two nimhs did not reach the required voltage but the nimh + alkaline did. What is the voltage rating on the alkaline? Palms can be fussy.

[bye2]

(deleted)

 

[This message was edited by HomerSimpsonOKC on July 29, 2002 at 08:44 AM.]

[Word of Mouse]

I've been using five NiCads (To get six volts) for about twenty years now. It's not as ugly as it sounds. Two up, two down, one sideways across the top (all in series of course) Then use a one foot piece of heat shrink tubing made for sub-Cs (Any hobby shop that sells RC cars sells it for a buck a foot). Pick up a foot of Mono-Kote while you're there to hold it on the back of the GPS (Velcro, old motorcycle inner tubes, or the 3.5" E-size heat shrink tubing all work fine too).

 

If the size isn't too big try it, you'll love it (And your GPS's expanded scale voltmeter will read five cells accurately)!

 

 

 

-- 2¢

[Word of Mouse]

I've been using five NiCads (To get six volts) for about twenty years now. It's not as ugly as it sounds. Two up, two down, one sideways across the top (all in series of course) Then use a one foot piece of heat shrink tubing made for sub-Cs (Any hobby shop that sells RC cars sells it for a buck a foot). Pick up a foot of Mono-Kote while you're there to hold it on the back of the GPS (Velcro, old motorcycle inner tubes, or the 3.5" E-size heat shrink tubing all work fine too).

 

If the size isn't too big try it, you'll love it (And your GPS's expanded scale voltmeter will read five cells accurately)!

 

 

 

-- 2¢

[+Moosiegirl]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gliderguy:

Nimh, on the other hand, will recharge hundreds of times. They will slowly self discharge, so dont charge them then wait a few months before using them, they will be near dead by then.

---

 

I don't remember where I learned this, but if you put NiMHs in the freezer after charging, they don't lose nearly as much (they still lose a bit). We've had pretty good luck throwing them in a plastic cup in the freezer and grabbing a few when we're on our way out the door (Let them warm up before you install them; they sweat and you get "gook" that is probably just dirt buildup, but scares the pea-waddin' out of you thinking you have leaky batteries or something.)

 

Candy

 

Candy (moosiegirl)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CentralTexasGeocachers/