[PLUG-TALK] Rechargeable NiMH Batteries Question

Galen Seitz galens at seitzassoc.com
Fri Jul 8 15:32:06 UTC 2016


On 06/15/16 05:17, Rich Shepard wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Jun 2016, Russell Senior wrote:
> 
>> The normal voltage of a fresh alkaline cell is about 1.6V, which is higher
>> than a fully charged NiMH. Also, NiMH are more likely to discharge over
>> time. If the purpose is backup power, you are probably better off with
>> alkaline anyway.
> 
> Russell,
> 
>    That's interesting. Thanks.
> 
>    I've also read that the NiMH is better suited to uses like LED
> flashlights.

The chemistry of a typical NiMH battery is designed for high capacity
and high discharge rates (e.g. RC cars and planes).  One consequence of
this is high rates of self discharge.  Thus they are normally unsuitable
for your application.  Sanyo has a line of NiMH batteries called
Eneloop.  These batteries have lower advertised capacity, but also have
low rates of self discharge.  These would probably work in your
application, but they still would have a lower voltage, so your low
battery icon would probably still be illuminated.  As Russell says,
better to stick with alkaline in this application.

BTW, Amazon sells some house brand low self discharge batteries which
are suspected to be relabeled Eneloops.

For more than you ever wanted to know about NiMH batteries and battery
chargers, look for reviews by 'NLee the Engineer' on Amazon.


galen
-- 
Galen Seitz
galens at seitzassoc.com



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