Oh no, not another battery thread

jgredline · 02-07-2008, 08:48 PM

Hi Folks...
OK, but this one is a little different....How often can we get a cool gadget for under 15 bucks in this rather expensive camera hobby?...Well, one of the best investments that I have made is purchasing this cool little battery tester...
Impact | Universal Battery Tester EC741 for AA, AAA, 9V, | EC741
Now what is very cool about this tester is that for example...
I have
2 sets of duracel mah 2650
4 sets of energizer mah 2500

Now I have noticed that two sets of my energizers lasted about 400 Pictures worth while two sets lasted about 150 pictures worth...Well, what it turns out to be, is that there was one week battery in each of the two sets that was only allowing to get 150 Pics...Well after juggling the two week sets I was able to put together 3 good solid sets of mah 2500 and one good set of duracel mah 2650...I should mention that I thought both sets of duracel where dead...

Now back to the energizers...What my nifty little tester is telling me is that my bad/weak batteries are only accepting a 60% charge where my good ones are accepting a 100% charge...So my weak set consist of 4 60% charged batteries and was able to get 227 Photos from the weak set...Not bad for batteries I was about to toss.....

So for the money spent, this was a really great investment..This means that the 12 new batteries I bought with the tester, can not wait until I really need them...

simons-photography · 03-23-2008, 12:06 PM

erm what about a multimeter ? wouldn't that help ? ok you may not have one but i do...

*k100d* · 03-23-2008, 02:13 PM

you should consider a charger that can recondition batteries like a Maha

flyer · 03-23-2008, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by simons-photography

erm what about a multimeter ? wouldn't that help ? ok you may not have one but i do...

A multimeter will tell you the voltage of the batteries, not how much amperes it holds. for that, you need an amp meter with a load, so a decent battery tester is the only thing you can trust fo the state of your batteries.

SupremeMoFo · 03-23-2008, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by flyer

A multimeter will tell you the voltage of the batteries, not how much amperes it holds.

How many milliamp-hours (mAH), not amps.

simons-photography · 03-24-2008, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by flyer

A multimeter will tell you the voltage of the batteries, not how much amperes it holds. for that, you need an amp meter with a load, so a decent battery tester is the only thing you can trust fo the state of your batteries.

hm well you can't actually measure how many mA are stored in a battery unless you intend to disharge it to find out, you could put it under load and see what happens but it will probably give you all you want until its flat, it will go down near the end batteries are a bit tricky.

flyer · 03-24-2008, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by SupremeMoFo

How many milliamp-hours (mAH), not amps.

one thousand milli-amps equal one amp.

stgmgr · 08-23-2008, 06:56 PM

Let me take it one step further?
Can you use ANY brand's batteries in ANY recharger????
I have some cheap "no name" 2000mAH batteries with charger...................would like to buy better batteries, but can I use them in the same charger?
Some retailers are telling me NO, but I suspect they are trying to sell more.
Thoughts?

jgredline · 08-23-2008, 07:09 PM

Yes, I do it all the time.

*Clicker* · 09-01-2008, 06:35 AM

For those in the GTA i'm not sure how lonq they'll be on sale but i picked up 2 smart chargers with 2 batteries included each kit made by Rayovac at Walmart discounted from $24.99 to $13.99. A set of 4 Rayovav Hybrid batteries are still $13.99
Someone here mentioned it's the same technology as Sanyo's Enloopes...so far they're working with the K200D, thank you.

Rayovac Hybrid™ Batteries

CGJung · 09-05-2008, 07:37 AM

I second the rayovac hybrids. They are good performers and last as long duracell hybrids are. In the US they're sold at $10 for a foursome (with occasionally $5 MIR, makes the total cost of $5). Duracell hybrids run about $15 at Walgreens, but they often go on sale for $9.99 or $10.99. Check their flyer. BTW, Walgreens also have monthly coupon offers that takes $5 of $20.