I have been considering to get in to rechargables for my gear, as I go through a fresh pair of AAs for every show. I am trying to be conscious of my waste. I've been reading on here that the Ikea Ladda's are just rebranded from the Panasonic Enloop series. From what it sounds like, they are the best rechargables you can get out there? I remember I tried using rechargable batteries back in 2008 and had a few times my batteries just died after a full charge and have been worried ever since to get back into them. I bought a Powerex MH-C9000PRO as my recharging station and I wasn't too sure if I needed to charge the batteries right away when I got them, or how I should break them in? (if that even needs to happen)
I charged the first set and placed them in to my M10. I also changed the battery settings in the M10 and in almost an hour the battery went to half full on the M10. When usually it lasts 30-40 hours. What are some tips/tricks for making these last and do you trust these batteries for a full show in your gear?
was about to start a general NiMH thread and searched to see if there was one, and came across this
a few notes:
1. Ladda 2450s are definitely time-tested batteries and offer capacity near the upper range of what is available for a fair price
2.Whether they are actually rebranded eneloops has never been confirmed to the best of my knowledge. They do have similar discharge curves at typical loads. According to this site there is some variation at extreme loads. This could be due to different versions of the batteries introduced over time, and the chart may not be apples-to-apples with current offerings
https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/CommonAAcomparator.php 3. While 'eneloop' is a trade name, there is in fact some unique chemistry involved. I'm not sure of the date of this reference, but eneloops are claimed to have lower self-discharge rates vs ordinary NiMH chemistry. Perhaps this was the advent of Low Self Discharge (LSD) NiMH technology, and was adopted by other manufacturers as the patent expired
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-203-nickel-based-batteries4. if charging on your MH-C9000 charger, make sure to leave the batteries on for at least two hours after it says 'full' to squeak out the maximum charge. the 100 mA 'top-off' charge after the unit displays 'Done' will add ~100 mAh/5% capacity
5. If doing comparative testing on batteries make sure to use the same methodology. Either fresh off the charger, or left to sit idle for the same amount of hours
6. i always use the 'break in' feature on the C9000 with new batteries. It asks for the capacity of the battery and charges/discharges accordingly. In this case it is good to look online and see what capacity others have determined in real tests, which often varies relative to stated capacity. The Laddas are in fact right at 2400-2500, but some mfrs grossly overstate their capacity. If doing a 'break in' make sure any other batteries you need are charged (or you have an alternate charger), as it will tie up your charger for two solid days. At the end of the break-in process it will display the actual values it determined during the discharge portion of the test. You can test capacity quicker using the 'refresh/analyze' feature which takes about 8 hours depending on the rates you select. for AAs i usually go with the default 1000mA charge/500 mA discharge rates
7. By far the most useful feature of the C9000 is to periodically analyze capacity and repurpose any cells that are more than a few percent lower capacity than others. An array of batteries is only as good as its weakest cell.
8. even LSD NiMHs lose a bit of capacity when taken off a charger. for maximum capacity leave the batteries on the charger as close to the show as possible, or if it capacity is close and critical, consider using the car adapter to have them trickle charging til youre ready to go in. I personally wouldn't want to run that close on capacity but i would bet a strategy like this could tack on quite a bit more runtime, depending on gear, which could make or break your recording sometimes
9. M10 runs a long time, make sure the battery setting is set to NiMH for better battery indication. Some trial and error may be warranted. Apart from the lower voltage, due to the flatter nature of the nimh discharge curve (not quite as flat as li-ion but still way flatter than alkaline), the battery indicator may drop to half almost immediately and stay there forever... and give you nearly no warning as it suddenly goes from half to zero. As always testing your gear at home until you know it forward and backward is advised.