How long can rechargeable batteries last?

Depends on what you’re using it on.

In my experience rechargeable batteries dont hold their charge half as long as normal batteries.

Granted my camera is a battery hog, when I take it out, I have to bring at least 6 batteries with me for back ups. Where as if I had real batteries Id only need the 2.

@uberbatman “real batteries” lol

I’ve had this set (4 batteries, my camera takes 2 AA’s) for about a year. Now, if I use the camera a lot in one day (I mean a lot – atleast 10 minutes every hour), I might get the “Low Battery!” message by the end of the day. Even after that I can use the camera for about a half hour. So I guess if you get some good ones they’ll last you a year or so, and if you keep a pair charged at all times, you’ll never be without batteries.

@susanc is it that obvious how I feel about rechargeables? But they do save me shit loads of money so i cant complain too much.

Too many variables to say.

I can say that @uberbatman must be using either cheap rechargeables or ones based on old technology. Back when I was into R/C cars, a AA NiCad held 550mah which is considerably less than alkaline batteries. Nowadays, AA NiMHs hold 1800–2600mah, which is about what a NiCad C-cell holds.

However, the mah rating of alkalines varies with load, so it’s like comparing apples and fairy farts. Under light load, an alkaline AA might rate 3000mah, but put it in a camera and the added drain wll reduce it’s effective mah rating to well under 1000mah; less than half of what a NiMH AA has, and therefore a NiMH will last at least twice as long as a “real” battery!

@jerv it is important to note how much of a battery hog my camera is. In my 360 controllers, the batteries last much longer. My camera was just a good example because it drains any kind of battery really fast.

look at the number 1 con lol

As for durability, many people who own a Toyota Rav4 EV still have their original NiMH battery pack after over a decade, driving over 150,000 miles. NiMHs are pretty tolerant of abuse compared to NiCads while not losing capacity over time (regardless of usage) like Lithium-Ion. The only real problem with NiMHs is that any NiMH large enough for a car is prohibited by Chevron, who owns the patents on them.

Nicads longevity depends largely on how religious you are about cycling them (they have a terrible memory effect) since if you only partially discharge them before throwing them on the charger (like many people do) then they go downhill quickly. It should tell you something that two of the NiCad packs in my R/C car which get run down to near-death then hooked to a discharger before recharging, lasted over 15 years while the NiCad pack in the cordless phone was crapping out about annually.

Lithium-ion packs degrade with temperature and exposure to air, but it’s safe to assume that under normal usage at normal (room) temperature, they will lose 15–20% of their capacity per year whether you use them or leave them on the shelf. That gives them an effective life of 2–3 years.

@uberbatman My S 860 seems to get more shots out of a set of NiMHs than a pair of alkalines. I tend to carry a spare pair of AAs when I take my camera out, but the last time I tried alkalines in my camera, I went through both sets in less than 50 pics as opposed to 70–100 pics per set with the 2500mah NiMHs.

@jerv hmmm i may have to buy some new rechargeables :P

@uberbatman They seem to be improving by leaps and bounds these days :D

@uberbatman So if i use it in my 360, while it last long?

@xboxfan yea they last pretty long. But as its been established, my rechargeables are rubbish :P