WTF with Duracell NiMH 2050mHa?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Fr@nk" <Fr@nkATwizardDOT.net> wrote in message
news:l9nye.22867$FP2.8536@lakeread03...
> Hi. Several months ago, I bought four Duracell AAs, NiMH rechargeable.
> Here's what it says on the battery:
>
> Duracell Rechargeable Accu
> AA/HR6/DC1500 NiMH/1.2V/2050mAh
>
> Now, I bought these thinking they were the long-life variety: 2050 mAh. I
> have some 1600s and some 1700s, and figured these Duracells would outdo
> them. But tonight, while taking fireworks pics, a set of (two)
> freshly-charged (I've charged and discharged them several times; they
> should
> have their max capacity) Duracells petered out very quickly. I had to snap
> my Kodak "battery pack" (2 AA NiMHs fastened together) back in the camera
> to
> squeeze out enough shots.
>
> I've been very disappointed with these batteries, so I have to ask: should
> these Duracells be really long-lasting, or did I mis-read/mis-interpret
> the
> rating on the battery? Or are Duracell NiMHs just lousy? Thanks in
> advance.
>
>

I have had wonderful results with Energizer 2500mah MiMh batteries. Even
their 15 minute charger is a dream come true.

ER

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Mon, 4 Jul 2005 23:30:16 -0400, "Fr@nk" <Fr@nkATwizardDOT.net>
wrote:

>Hi. Several months ago, I bought four Duracell AAs, NiMH rechargeable.
>Here's what it says on the battery:
>
>Duracell Rechargeable Accu
>AA/HR6/DC1500 NiMH/1.2V/2050mAh
>
>Now, I bought these thinking they were the long-life variety: 2050 mAh.

I wouldn't call them long-life. NiMHs have a relatively short shelf
live and stay-charged life. I'll separate the two definitions for
clarity:

Shelf life - How long does the product last. Full stop. After this
it's dead, chuck it.

Stay-Charged-Life - How long does the product stay charged, sitting in
it's box, unused until it'll need a re-charge.

Both are 'bad' for NiMH. You need to charge them before use, and
regardless of use, within a few years they will no longer be capable
of reaching even 75% of their advertised capacity.

2050 mAh is relatively high *power*. Which you might translate to high
in-use-life. And I agree, you wouldn't expect them to behave as they
did if you had just charged them prior to use.

>I
>have some 1600s and some 1700s, and figured these Duracells would outdo
>them. But tonight, while taking fireworks pics, a set of (two)
>freshly-charged (I've charged and discharged them several times; they should
>have their max capacity) Duracells petered out very quickly. I had to snap
>my Kodak "battery pack" (2 AA NiMHs fastened together) back in the camera to
>squeeze out enough shots.

Legend suggests that these higher capacity NiMHs are even worse than
the lower capacity ones for both shelf-life and stay-charged-life. Of
course, they still should stay charged for a month for example -
plenty of time to drain them in-use.

>I've been very disappointed with these batteries, so I have to ask: should
>these Duracells be really long-lasting, or did I mis-read/mis-interpret the
>rating on the battery? Or are Duracell NiMHs just lousy? Thanks in advance.

I did some research on batteries prior to choosing Energiser as my
brand and with the 2500mAh, have had no problems. I do keep a set of
Alaline batteries (for a flash gun) spare, these have a much better
shelf-life (8 years or more).

--
Owamanga!
http://www.pbase.com/owamanga

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Mon, 4 Jul 2005 23:30:16 -0400, Fr@nk wrote:

> Duracell Rechargeable Accu
> AA/HR6/DC1500 NiMH/1.2V/2050mAh
>
> Now, I bought these thinking they were the long-life variety: 2050 mAh. I
> have some 1600s and some 1700s, and figured these Duracells would outdo
> them. But tonight, while taking fireworks pics, a set of (two)
> freshly-charged (I've charged and discharged them several times; they should
> have their max capacity) Duracells petered out very quickly. I had to snap
> my Kodak "battery pack" (2 AA NiMHs fastened together) back in the
> camera to squeeze out enough shots.
>
> I've been very disappointed with these batteries, so I have to ask: should
> these Duracells be really long-lasting, or did I mis-read/mis-interpret the
> rating on the battery? Or are Duracell NiMHs just lousy? Thanks in advance.

I've used those 2050mah Duracells as well as the smaller capacity
version that preceded them (about 1800 or 1850mah, and with a mostly
white covering). They all performed as expected, and other than the
fact that they don't match the latest 2500mah batteries, I'd get
more of them if lower prices made them more competitive. There are
many reasons why you'd experience the problem you reported.. Some
of them are:

1. A battery could have gone bad. It's very unlikely that both
would go bad at the same time. There's a very simple way to detect
bad batteries, but it requires a charger that has a separate
charging circuit for each cell, as well as either an LED for each or
an LCD display. After discharging both batteries completely, put
them back in the charger. If they both take approximately the same
amount of time to charge (within about 10% of each other), and is
about what you'd expect from cells of that capacity, the batteries
should both be good. But if on charges noticeably more quickly than
the other, such as 2/3 the time or less, you have a battery that
should be replaced, even if it's not totally dead. I've had really
bad batteries that became fully charged in only about a minute.
They charged up to the expected 1.25 volts (approx.) but their run
time was exceptionally short, albeit proportional to the charge
time.

2. If your charger has separate charging circuits for each cell but
only has a single LED to indicate when the charge cycle has
finished, one of the NiMH cells might not have made proper contact
in the charger, and when removed would have had the same reduced
charge it had when it was put in the charger. This happened to me a
couple of times with a Maxell charger. I don't use it anymore,
although I haven't thrown it away yet.

3. Something changed, either a camera setting,, or in the
environment, causing the camera to deplete the batteries more
quickly than usual. For instance, focusing motors use lots of
power, and taking pictures at night might make for more difficult
focusing, with hunting before things settle down, causing the
camera to go through batteries quicker than it normally does.

In any case, recharge the batteries once more and see if they're
back to normal or if their life is seriously reduced, compared to
when they were new.