Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries – Low self-discharge NiMH battery

Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries – Low Self-Discharge NiMH Batteries 

Kodak Pre-Charged Digital Camera Batteries

What are these batteries I say?It looks like you can buy batteries that are rechargeable, but they actually come charged from the word go!

Great stuff for digital cameras, and electronic devices that need a fast turnaround battery solution.

“The idea is that people don’t purchase rechargeable batteries because they need to use them right away.  In the past you couldn’t pre-charge Ni-Cad rechargeable batteries because they would lose their charge while sitting on the shelf.  The new pre-charged batteries seem to overcome this problem which also means you can charge up the batteries and not use it for awhile without losing power. 

I’m still testing them out to write up a better review of their performance.  Duracell seems light on stats for the batteries with most of their efforts going into marketing based on humor, however the product seems good and will probably convert me back to using rechargeable batteries after a long hiatus due to the short comings of Ni-Cad technology.”

Now that’s what has done me in the past with rechargeable batteries…

You buy the batteries and they are flat!

OK, you charge them up, and store them for a month or two, you are then thinking OK; I’ll slam these batteries into my camera, and bingo! Away you go to a photoshoot!

Nahhhh!… no such luck!

They are as flat as pancakes! The motor or whatever turns half a turn, and then stops! DOH!

The solution at last is here!

Great for gifts too I just thought! Yes they’ll be usable; but you need to remind the receiver of the gift(s) that they need to be recharged once they have run down!

Maybe a battery charger should be included with the gift!

Duracell Pre-Chared Batteries With Charger

The low self-discharge nickel-metal hydride battery (LSD NiMH) was introduced in November 2005. These batteries were developed by Sanyo, who called them “Eneloop”. Subsequently other manufacturers also offer LSD NiMH.

This kind of battery reduces self-discharge and, therefore, lengthens shelf life compared to normal NiMH batteries. By using improved separator and improved positive electrode, manufacturers claim the batteries retain 70 to 85% of their capacity after one year when stored at 20 °C (68 °F), while standard NiMH batteries may lose half their charge in this time period. Low self-discharge cells are marketed as “ready-to-use” or “pre-charged” rechargeable batteries.

Low self-discharge NiMH batteries are good for photography and other high energy requirement applications. Due to the low self-discharge, they are also suitable for long-term intermittent or low-current uses; they might last a year or longer between charges, much better than ordinary NiMH batteries. They can therefore also be used for electrical clocks, remote controls, etc.

Aside from their longer shelf life, and moderately higher prices, they are otherwise similar to normal NiMH batteries of equivalent capacity and can be charged with normal NiMH chargers. However they are generally available at lower capacities than the highest capacity of normal NiMH batteries, being rated at 2000 to 2200 mAh compared to up to 2800 mAh for normal NiMH. In 2009 LSD-NiMH batteries rated at 2300 to 2500 mAh, actually reaching a capacity of 2300 mAh, were introduced by Varta, Ansmann and Rayovac. Besides, in many devices, run-times for LSD NiMH batteries are as good or better than normal cells that have higher rated capacity, because of slightly higher operating voltage not tripping under-voltage shut off circuits in devices like digital cameras. Some LSD NiMH brands also claim over 1000 charge cycles compared to 500 for normal cells.

Eneloop Pre-Charged NI-MH Rechargeable Battery

Don’t those batteries above look inviting to buy and use? Well I think so anyway!

Brand names for LSD NiMH batteries include: 

• Prolife from Fujicell
• Ready2Use Accu from Varta
• AccuEvolution from AccuPower
• Hybrid from Rayovac
• eneloop from Sanyo
• eniTime from Yuasa
• Infinium from Panasonic
• ReCyko from Gold Peak
• Instant from Vapex
• Hybrio from Uniross
• Cycle Energy from Sony
• MaxE and MaxE Plus from Ansmann
• EnergyOn from NexCell
• ActiveCharge/StayCharged/Pre-Charged/Accu from Duracell
• Pre-Charged from Kodak
• nx-ready from ENIX energies

Encore Pre-Charged NI-MH Rechargeable Battery Size AAA

Most manufacturers produce only size AAA and AA batteries and the vast majority of low self discharge batteries are sold in these sizes. Several manufacturers also offer 9v (PP3) LSD NiMH batteries (Varta, Accupower, Gold Peak, Vapex, Uniross, Ansmann, NexCell and ENIX energies), rated between 150mAh and 250mAh.However, many battery companies also market “low capacity” C- and D-size battery by inserting an AA battery into a larger case.

Re-wrapped Cs typically have a capacity of just 2 to 2.2 Ah. Re-wrapped Ds typically have a capacity of just 2 to 2.2 Ah when constructed of one AA, or 4 to 4.4 Ah when constructed of two AAs. Although re-wraps offer very limited storage capacity, they are typically priced the same as full capacity C and D batteries.

In late 2008, Sanyo announced full capacity (not re-wrapped) C and D cells in Japan, but at that time said they had no plans to bring them to the U.S., whereas other manufacturers (Ansmann, NexCell, AccuPower) do offer full capacity C (rated at 4.5 Ah) and D-size LSD-NiMH-cells (rated from 8-10 Ah) in the U.S. Unlike Sanyo’s C and D cells, these cells, however, do not contain a Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) device to protect them against overheating.

Their capacity, on the other hand, is superior to Sanyo’s cells, since Sanyo’s C size LSD-NiMH-batteries are rated at 3 Ah and Sanyo’s D size LSD-NiMH batteries are rated at 5.7 Ah.

Full capacity low self discharge batteries are noticeably heavy. However, one should always read the specifications when shopping for low self discharge batteries. Because re-wrapping and repackaging is a problem in the battery business, one may also wish to avoid low self discharge batteries that do not have the specifications clearly printed on the actual battery. 

Other benefits

Low self-discharge NiMH batteries typically have a significantly lower internal resistance than traditional NiMH batteries. This has a number of desirable effects especially for high-drain applications:

• Voltage is more stable (less load- and capacity-dependent). This can have a beneficial effect on run-time in electronic devices, which typically have a cut-off voltage per battery that is not much lower than NiMH’s nominal voltage. (However, this can also cause some devices with battery status indicators to overestimate the remaining capacity of a nearly drained cell.)
• Reduced heat buildup when the battery is quickly charged or discharged
• Higher efficiency
• Higher instantaneous current discharge capability

Developments in 2009

Whereas Varta (USA: Rayovac) and Ansmann increased their LSD-NiMH batteries’ capacity to roughly 2300 mAh, Sanyo introduced a new version of their Eneloop batteries with improved durability. Sanyo claims that the new Eneloops retain 75% of their charge after 3 years and can be recharged up to 1500 times. Having looked at this, I’ll have to say that I rate these batteries; if they keep their charge for a few months ate least, then they can be cycled a lot more, and it also extends their usage to appliances that you don’t use quite so often.

Flat Battery Reading On Meter

So hopefully not too much of this in the future before a photo shoot!…… Flat batteries!

Mark Lawton

http://mark-lawton.com

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