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sonyhome
Jun 20, 2006, 12:26 PM
Post #1 of 4
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Registered: Jul 5, 2005
Posts: 337
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If you need cheap NIMH or Li-Ion batteries for your headlamps or radios, check out:
all-batteries.com
[EDIT] 8% discount if you enter the code tenergy2006
AA and AAA batteries:
You can get AA or AAA rechargeable batteries for the retail price of Alcaline batteries at the store. Those guys carry the lowest prices around with a couple of other websiteslike batteryspace (check them out too!), and often have clearances and weekly special deals on top of that. You'll also get discount codes when you make your first order (like 5% off). They also give you a $30 coupon for writting reviews of their service and spreading the news. That's a special until the end of the month. It's always good to get.
They carry the most powerfull batteries available today to my knowledge: 900mAH for AAA and 2600mAH for AA. For comparison, in stores you'll see the standard offer is usually 650maH or 700mAH for AAA and 2000mAH to 2200maH for AA batteries. Here's direct links to their AA/AAA listings:
AA listing for ~ $1.00 to $1.50
AAA listing for ~ $0.75 to $1.
I had to pay $5 for S&H, and CA taxes, but the discount coupon I had offset the taxes cost. Shipping was suprisingly fast, I recieved the box within 3 days.
I use these batteries with my Rayovac PS4 1 hour charger. You need a good, fast NiMH charger to take full advantage of those batteries... Regular chargers can take up to 8H to charge otherwise, and don't always have a trickle charge mode. Watch out when you charge that the batteries don't overheat (i.e. too hot to touch) when charging. That will destroy them. I busted one like that I bought from batteryspace 2 years ago (at the time Powerizer/batteryspace was hot among digital photographers from a battery comparison that was done I think by dpreview).
Laptop batteries:
I originally came across this website looking for battery cells to rebuild my laptop's battery pack that died (I already knew about batteryspace): I discovered laptop batteries use standard cells when I dismatled it (18650 cells for my HP laptop). I rebuilt it for $38, and an hour of work soldering that stuff.
I made a web page describing how I rebuilt my laptop battery using the cells I bought there.
Looking around, I found another place that sells the new laptop battery for $80, the cheapest I have seen around, so it could be found at a reasonable premium, but this soldering solution is the rock-bottom price solution to rejuvinate old batteries.
Other stuff
They carry loads of other battery types and formats (NiCad, LiIon, NiMH, etc.) because they catter to hobbyists and the likes. So if you have projects that require odd parts, look there... They have also the matching chargers.
BTW, They also carry cheap no-name headlamps, including two with the 1Watt Luxeon/Lumiled LED. Lumileds are awesome hot new stuff. They are actually doing R&D in germany to replace headlight by those LEDs someday. BD and Petzl carry models that use them now instead of Xenon bulbs.
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9heads
Jun 27, 2006, 10:34 PM
Post #2 of 4
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Registered: Jun 27, 2006
Posts: 2
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Nice find, any good chargers to recommend? My digital camera eat power like crazy
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sonyhome
Jun 29, 2006, 6:20 AM
Post #3 of 4
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Registered: Jul 5, 2005
Posts: 337
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Buy a good 1H charger: since it sucks a lot of amps to load those batteries fast, you gotta watch for battery overheating, and also for an electronic charge sensor. Avoid time based chargers as they won't charge your batteries correctly. Avoid chargers that look flimsy or too underpowered:
My charger uses a 1.5Amp /12VDC power supply that weighs a pound :)
Maha has been raved for for a few years (since high power NiMh came out):
http://www.bestfoto.com/product%20reveiw.htm
Otherwise Steve's idigicam s a good ressource:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html
BTW, you can talk to these site that sell battery. They will know what kind of charger's best - or check their forums.
Cheers!
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9heads
Jul 7, 2006, 6:23 PM
Post #4 of 4
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Registered: Jun 27, 2006
Posts: 2
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Thanks,
Just got a maha charger. so far it works ok
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