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Marduke wrote:NiMH are leaps and bounds more reliable, better performing, and cheaper than alkalines, assuming you have a proper charging system and actually learn how to use them.
You can charge them up and KNOW without a doubt they are fresh and ready to go, instead of guessing with partially used alkaline. They are ~100 times cheaper in the long run. And per use, they last 2-4 times longer depending on the current draw.
Alkalines are a HORRIBLE and IRRESPONSIBLE idea for backups. Backups MUST work when you need them. Why would you want to use cells of unknown charge state which have a propensity to leak in storage and can ruin the inside of your light and cause it to fail when you need it the most?
Marduke wrote:But it's clear your not going to believe me due to your past soured experience stemming from lack of prior rechargable education.
Marduke wrote:How nice of you to leave out the fact they were C cells (where lithium primaries are not even made.
Marduke wrote:Alkalines have a very extensive track record of leaking in devices, or even still in the packaging, often ruining equipment worth hundreds of dollars.
Marduke wrote: The basic alkaline rule is "don't use them in anything you actually want to keep." NiMH very very rarely leak, usually only if you horribly abuse them (which I HIGHLY suspect is what you did). I suspect you had either a 15 minute or timed charger (both bad).
Marduke wrote: you want long runtimes, again, both NiMH or lithium primaries smoke them in moderate and high drain devices.
Marduke wrote:If you want low cost, NiMH are over 100 times cheaper, not counting replacement caused by alkaline leakage.
Marduke wrote: you want to read more, check out the battery forum on CPF
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/for ... ay.php?f=9
ArCaver wrote:Marduke wrote:Alkalines have a very extensive track record of leaking in devices, or even still in the packaging, often ruining equipment worth hundreds of dollars.
Alkalines have a very long track record, longer than NiMh. As such they will of course have been implicated in the damage of many more devices. I suspect as manufacturing processes and QC have evolved the problems with alkaline batteries have become fewer and farther between.
ArCaver wrote:Marduke wrote: The basic alkaline rule is "don't use them in anything you actually want to keep." NiMH very very rarely leak, usually only if you horribly abuse them (which I HIGHLY suspect is what you did). I suspect you had either a 15 minute or timed charger (both bad).
You may suspect all you want, but you don't know me or my battery usage habits. Don't presume to.
As for the, "don't use them in anything you actually plan to keep", alkaline batteries are commonly used in medical devices, emergency locators, fire and EMS radios etc. I can't remember seeing a NiMh in any of these except for a trashed clamshell on a fire radio. It had a combination of alkaline and Energizer 1850mAh and 2100mAh AAs inside. I'm still using the NiMh on occasion. None of the batteries were leaking.
ArCaver wrote:Marduke wrote: you want long runtimes, again, both NiMH or lithium primaries smoke them in moderate and high drain devices.
In my experience, in my lights the alkalines, when I use them, give me many more hours of use.
potholer wrote:I find a good rule-of-thumb is that for AAs, alkalines used with light loads have a capacity of about 2700mAh
With a 0.5Amp draw, that pretty much drops to 2/3 of the nominal capacity(to ~1800mAh)
With a 1Amp draw, it drops to about one third of the nominal capacity (to ~900mAh)
And that's at normal temperatures, not in significant cold.
Marduke wrote:Ask them to explain voltage retention, voltage depression, and self discharge.
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