Why are rechargeable batteries not more commonly used?

Every time I’ve tried to use rechargeable batteries, they end up no longer charging before I’ve really gotten enough uses out of them to really make up for the extra cost of them. I’ve had good luck with battery packs though (like the ones you can get for gaming controllers), so I use them and always by cameras with rechargeable batteries. It’s just the regular AA, AAA, etc that I’ve had problems with in the past.

Well, I can vouch for families with young children—they have like a bazillion toys which use batteries, to keep them all charged would require like 10 charging stations or whatever they’re called. That said, I hate having to charge the many electronic devices I own which have lithium ion batteries, so for me it is just another nuisance, it is much easier to just throw em out and put in new.

@Seaofclouds – The Eneloop are very highly rated (I like to really research my purchases, so I can decide on the best buy for my money) and are supposed to be good for 1500 charges. Not only that, they keep most of their charge for years, when stored. I guess I’ll see through actual use whether they end up being worth it, but I have a really good feeling they’re going to be awesome.

@glenjamin – Yeah, I get that.. but it’s not that hard, if you’re organized about it. Like, have spare sets and charge those and have them handy for replacement, rinse, and repeat. :)

@MissAnthrope Yeah, I guess I’m just a lazy guy lol

If they’ve really improved the technology that much, I might consider trying it again, but my experience was like @Seaofclouds , they didn’t take a big charge and they died too soon. That was a while ago, though, (sometime in the 90s) so I’m guessing it’s better now.

I have one and I totally forget to use it , plus the batteries are higher .

I had bad luck years ago and the batteries were quite expensive. I couldn’t afford all the ones I would have needed. Plus there was no warning, one day the remote worked, the next it didn’t. I had to buy regular batteries anyway. I’m pretty sure that recharger is in the basement somewhere.

I’ve got 4 AA and 4 AAA rechargeable batteries and I constantly have to recharge them. I keep regular batteries on hand for when the others run out.

I will admit my charger and batteries are pretty old. Maybe the technology has improved.

I also had the same experience as @Seaofclouds. If I hear the technology is now better, perhaps I will try them again.

I kept losing the batteries – and they were more expensive to lose.
But any other rechargeable packs (e.g., like the one on my phone, video camera, etc) work just fine.

Same as the ladies above – I found that they didn’t last long enough for me to justify the extra cost. But that was back when I used a Walkman, so I’m sure the technology has improved!

They are really inconvenient. Before Eneloops came around, rechargeables would self-discharge after a month, so would be dead when you got around to needing them. Continually charging them would cause problems too. I have a cool charger for my old style rechargeables. I’ll switch to Eneloops some day.

In terms of sheer amp-hours, rechargeables still lag behind. Also, there are other characteristics of certain battery types that make them iffy replacements for alkalines.

NiCads are finicky, have a hellacious “memory effect” that requires special care to mitigate. For instance, many old cordless phone batteries (NiCads) only last a year or so; most people start recharging them before they are 100% drained, thus reducing their capacity over time until they can’t hold a charge at all.
Also, they only put out 1.2 volts per cell, so many things that take 4 alkalines require 5 Nicads to get the 6V they need ( 1.2V * 5 = 1.5V * 4 = 6V ).

NiMH batteries, the most common rechargable, put out the right voltage, but lack in endurance, especially in high-drain devices. Their amp-hours actually depend on how quickly you drain them, so there are certain things that can drain them many times faster than they would drain an alkaline cell.

Lithium is expensive and puts out an odd voltage and requires special care. A device built for LiON packs like a cellphone or a laptop already has the proper charging circuitry to handle them, and the devices are designed to handle the voltage they put out, so it’s no big deal for an item designed for LiON packs. Those designed for normal batteries fare less well though. Imagine putting pure alcohol in a regular car’s gas tank; they both burn, but they each require different engines and handling procedures to burn safely.

The batteries and the charging stations are so expensive, and I have a bazillion things that need charging, and I loose them all the time, and they don’t really stay put which then makes them get lost more easily, and they’re better used in things where you frequently change the batteries than things like TV remotes where you change the batteries once every 3 years. I used to try to use them, but they were so impractical it made me wonder why I was bothering with the wireless route at all.

NiCd and NiMH rechargeables actually do really well in high drain use, such as digital cameras and photo flash units. They can really dump current, while alkalines struggle to keep up. So if the application needs current, use a freshly charged set of these rechargeables.

This is one of the reasons why Prius’ use NiMH.

@RocketGuy I have melted more than a few NiCad packs due to high drain. As for NiMh, I confused them with something else that has high internal resistance. Mea culpa.

BTW, I love NiMhs for cars, and wish Chevron didn’t own the patent. The Toyota Rav4 EV was awesome and reliable, with many owners getting over a decade (>150k miles) out of their original pack.

I am so much more informed about rechargeable batteries now! I knew there were different kinds, but I had no idea if or why one type might be superior to another.

When you guys say ‘high drain devices’, does that mean a device that uses a lot of juice constantly, as opposed to something like a remote control, that only uses a little bit and the batteries last forever? I guess the application makes a difference. I have an iPod and rechargeable packs in my cameras, so no need there. I’m mainly going to be using these for my Wii remotes and for.. um.. you know.. my.. ahem.. personal massager.. ahem. So far, it seems they’ll be great for the Wii – I traded out the dying disposables last night and then played for hours and the Eneloops seem every bit as good as disposables so far.

@jerv – ha, ha: my dad set fire to our carpet one day when he shorted his NiCd flash battery pack. Perils of a pro photographer. Chevron – unbelievable!

@MissAnthrope – rechargeables might be good for “massagers”, but power drops quickly at the end of the charge, so you will need spare something just in case ;)

Hahaha.. well, the set came with 8 AAs, so I should be set with backups. :P

The flat discharge curve until the end of the charge takes getting used to. With regular batteries, voltage goes down and they gradually fade until death whereas most rechargeable put out normal voltage until they are near-death and then drop quickly. My old R/C car got stranded a few times as it would go full power for eight and a half minutes, start to slow down, and be dead less than thirty seconds later.

I like the flat discharge curve of rechargeables better than the gradual curve of regular batteries. With regular batteries things run, but slowly, towards at the end. Not slow enough to justify tossing, but slow enough to be annoying.

I generally do too, but I admit that I prefer a dim flashlight over a dead one that was fine two minutes ago. It really depends on whether it is something that would be bad to have die suddenly and whether it has a charge level indicator of some sort.

I’m really interested in this (see my question about batteries). How are your rechargeables holding up?

Pretty well, so far. I haven’t done any actual measurement, but they seem to be almost as good as disposables. The ones in the Wii controller held up much like the disposables, the ones in the.. uh.. high-drain device.. I don’t think they lasted as long. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied. The good thing is I have 8 in total, so it’s easy because I have back ups.

Thanks! I’m definitely going to look into this.

because they are expensive and it will take some time to charge a rechargeable battery

@gussaviour That is why you get two sets ;)