[ale] [OT] any experience with low self discharge NIMH batteries

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi all,

A few months back, we had a thread here about new advanced LED 
flashlights.  I bought one that has the giant 1/4 in LED inside, and is 
bright enough to be competitive with an incandescent krypton bulb.  Love 
the flashlight.  Works great.  However, it's powered by only 2 AA 
batteries and they're dying 6 months later.  I'm considering using NIMH 
rechargeables there.  The problem with that is that, left on the shelf, 
standard NIMH batteries lose 10 % - 30 % of their charge per month.  So, 
you could pick up the flashlight and not have it working when you need it.

Enter Low Self Discharge NIMH batteries.  These are relatively new.  
They claim to lose only about 15 % of their charge after a year.  So, 
you could get away with charging the flashlight batteries only every 6 
months or so.

Two main brands of LSD NIMH seem to dominate.  Eneloop by Sanyo and 
Imedion by Powerex (Maha Energy).  I've used some standard Powerex NIMH 
2700 mah batteries and I like them, but I have to charge them if they've 
been sitting a while.

Does anyone have any experience with the LSD NIMH batteries.  Is it a 
good idea to use them in a flashlight, or stick with Duracells at $ 3 / 
pair, or other alkalines?  I know Fry's and Home Depot / Lowes sometimes 
sell batteries in packages at lower unit cost.  I haven't done a price 
analysis on those.

Sincerely,

Ron

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com