What is a good brand of rechargable batteries and charger? (1 Viewer)

[Ernest Aguayo]

Hey all...

Anyone have a recommendation for a good brand of rechargable batteries and charger?

I used to use a Panasonic charger, but it was really hard to find batteries for it.

I want a charger that accepts all kinds of sizes of batteries like AA, AAA, C, D. Ideally, the batteries would last a while between charges and are well supported: so I can find additional batteries easily when I need them.

Any recommendations? Thanks.

Ernest

 

[KyleS]

Great thread Ernest as I was just starting to wonder about this after spending a load on batteries to run things around the house. What is a good brand to buy and what should one expect to pay?

KyleS

 

[Ernest Aguayo]

yeah, that's why I want to get a charger: COST! it's a total waste of money to keep buying batteries for all the gadgets around the house!! :frowning:

 

[MikeH1]

Great thread, I can actually offer some good advice on the subject. I had 4 pairs of them purple Rat-Shack double AA's

and they lasted me for 3 years of hundreds of uses. I believe there are a number of different colors like gold and green and I have never tried any of the others. Just the purples. The discman I was using back then in 1993(Sony D515, first model with ESP) only lasted, at best, 1.5 hours with new 2 batteries in it. Needless to say, rechargebles were a must and I lucked out because for $20.00 worth of batteries they lasted me over 3 years!!

I had a charger that charged four of them at a time and didn't drain the power of them before the next charge. I always made sure they were fully drained before charging and kept them when not in use with a full charge.

I replaced these Rat-Shack rechargebles in about 1997 with the same kind and have been using them since. They don't get quite as many uses like that first set and now have a charger that drains them before recharging. But they still hold their power and have done me well. I have only used AAs and my charger only supports AAs. It is a Go Quick Charge 3 hour NiCa Conditioner/Charger and has also has been excellent.

Its nice to know that Radio Shack has something else good to offer than just SPL meters. Highly reccomended.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I use a Ray-o-Vac charger (bought at Home Depot, the latest version is in a black casing) - a model which will charge *all* brands of NiMh, NiCad and Rechargable Alkaline (Ray-o-Vac makes these) in sizes AAA thru D. I've had very good results: I haven't bought a new set of batteries for my son's GameBoy or his My First Sony cassette player in over a year. A set of batteries costs a little more than double what an alkaline set would cost, but, obviously, lasts much longer. I have two sets of the rechargables which I regularly rotate into the devices. For the Game Boy, I use the NiMh; for the cassette, it's the alkalines.

A BIG money-saver!

 

[Jamie E]

I just bought an Energizer NiMH pack from Sam's Club. It contains eight AA batteries and a 4-battery charger (AA size only) for $20. The charger is slow (17 hours for the NiMH batteries), but the batteries hold 1700 mAH, which is the best you can find currently (longest lasting power).

I figure I'll get a universal charger later if I ever find devices powered by other than AAs.

 

[Jin E]

See this thread over at DVD talk. Very informative.
NiMH Battery Info

 

[Ryan Peter]

Anyone know of any great bargains online for one of these rechargers?

 

[Steve_Ch]

Try this:
http://thomas-distributing.com/index.htm

 

[Ernest Aguayo]

thanks for all the info!