Alkaline Battery and Rechargeable Battery Question!

[Walay]

I just got a new digital Camera, its a Fuji 2600

It specifically state that, only use Rechargable batteries, and dont use Alkaline unless in a Emergency..
So to see what would happen, I put a brand new pair of Energizer Alkaline Batt in there...
and after like 5~10min of playing around..the Battery ran out of power!!! Wat the heck~?

Through out my life, I always though Alkaline Batteries(Non-Rechargable) always have more juice and more powerful then those rechargeable batteries....and wat happend today totally change what I thought before.....
or maybe that was like 6 years ago that Non Rechargeable is better then rechargable, so is everything different now?

Can someone please clear this up for a very confused guy please?

 

[jamarno]

Alkalines can put out roughly twice as much juice (energy) but not nearly as much power as rechargeable nickel batteries. I don't think any extra power need would matter except when flash was used.

 

[IaPuP]

hmmm... Batteries like NiMH and Lithium Ion do pump out quite a bit more power than an alkaline.

They also maintain a steady voltage for a longer period of time and drop suddenly when nearly drained, where Alkaline batteries gradually decrease in voltage.

Computer-type components have strict voltage requirements and only a partial draw on an alkaline battery might drop it below that requirement.

Basically, it may not work, even with a 60% charged Alkaline battery because of the way it drains.

Also, Alkalines don't like really "bursty" power draw, meaning they behave better when drawn slowly and gradually.

*Shrug*

Eric

 

[poppasp1ce]

<< and after like 5~10min of playing around..the Battery ran out of power!!! Wat the heck~? >>



Basically what they said, but add to it this. Your batteries probably didn't run out of power. Digicams tell you not to use alkalines because they overheat very quickly, you may have noticed when you took them out (assuming you took them out when they 'died') that they were really warm. When they overheat they stop working, seemingly drained, but not. They've just overheated. Put them in again and I assure you they'll work again. Albeit, only for another 10 minutes

 

[apoppin]

Be glad you don't have a Hewlett Packard C215. It says only use Alkaline - not rechargeables. Imagine what that will cost you,

I compromised and used alkaline rechargeables. Anyway, I just got a Fuji 1300 free with my Dell Laptop . . . at least it isn't @$$ backward like the HP.

I guess it really depends on how it is engineered (or in HP's case, slopped together).

 

[Adul]

buy some NiMH rechargables( not the NiCad) and you should get much better life.

 

[Adul]

NiMH

 

[Mark R]

Alkaline batteries do hold more energy than rechargeables, and maintain their voltage higher for longer during the discharge. So, you would be right in expecting alkaline batteries to power devices for longer.

The problem is that the energy available from an alkaline battery is highly dependent on the rate of discharge. E.g. a Duracell Ultra AA, can provide 2800 mAh if discharged at a rate of 30 mA and therefore will last for approximately 100 hours of operation. A typical NiMH AA battery will provide 1300-1500 mAh of charge.

However, if you discharge alkaline batteries rapidly (e.g. in a digital camera which draws 1400 mA), then energy available drops to only 200-300 mAh. With NiMH batteries, virtually the full charge remains available even at very high loads.

 

[stingbandel]

I agree with Adul. If you have a digital camera especially Olympus type, you need to use the Nimh batteries. I tried with alkaline batteries and it went out for only 5 min. I just bough a rechargeable nimh batteries and the charger yesterday for my Visor organizer.





Darno

 

[skriefal]

<< Be glad you don't have a Hewlett Packard C215. It says only use Alkaline - not rechargeables. >>



Ignore it. Plenty of people seem to be using rechargeable NiMH batteries in the C215, based on the Newsgroup reading and Google searches I've done. No one seemed to have any problems. So I intend to buy a set of batteries and a recharger as a Christmas gift for my parents' C215...

 

[FrustratedUser]

Rechargeable has lover voltage rating than alkaline. for example an AA size Alkaline is 1.5V and a rechageable NiCd is 1.2V. Also rechargeable batteries can deliver more current than alkaline. They also maintain voltage up until they are gone, then they drop quick. Alkaline drops gradually.

Use rechargeable, it will be much cheaper in the long run. And if the manufacturer says you should, why not do it?

 

[Jiggz]

Although Alkaline voltage rating is 1.5V this qill quickly drop to 1.2-1.3V under load. Unlike NiCad or NiMh they are constant at 1.2V. NiMh may sound expensive but in the long run you'll save money not to mention they last more than a year considering you only charge them no more than 3 times a day! NiCad on the other hand loses their charge capability after quite a long use of less than 6 months.

 

[Blastman]

Basically what Mark R said is right on the money. I have a longer post on the question I posted quite a while ago. Here it is again edited and updated a little.

Alkaline AA?s are generally rated about 2800mah (milli-amp-hours) compared to Nimh rechargeables which are 1200-1800. (I think rechargeable alkalines are only about 1000mah.). The problem with alkalines is that they achieve a 2800 rating at a very low discharge rate ? typically ? 1/25 ? 1/30C (Capacity). For example; if you discharge alkalines at 100ma (milli-amps) you would get 2800mah/100ma = 28 hours of use. Typical walkman use. If you discharge alkalines at even 0.1C (10% Capacity) = 280ma they don?t handle it very well and you will not even get close to 2800/280 = 10hrs use. ? more like 6-7hrs which means the alkalines are now only providing about 2000mah?s worth of power. As you move up the power drain of alkalines more - their power rating gets even much worse. The chemistry in alkalines cannot cope with even moderately high discharge rates while maintaining their power rating like Nicd/Nimh?s can.

This means a 1600mah Nimh can provide way more high-current on demand than an alkaline can even though it?s overall capacity is rated less. It?s also why alkalines don?t work well in digital cameras. Digital camera?s draw quite a high current which will generally destroy alkalines which cannot cope with the high current draw. I?ve read of people only getting 30 digital pictures with alkalines where Nimh?s will easily provide several times that.

One can drain a 1600mah Nimh at 1600ma (1.0C) and it will not even break a sweat. That?s almost 6x the 280ma drain where the alkaline starts to show significant capacity drop off. Most Nimh?s can be discharged at 1- 3x (1.0C - 3.0C) their rated capacity without showing a significant drop in overall output (still 90% their rated capacity or higher). Rayovac tech doc?s state that their Nimh?s can cope with as high as a continuous 10x (10C!!!) discharge rate without damage and 15x for 2-3sec.

Some of the newer ??Titanium? ? alkalines have been re-engineered to cope better with high drain devices like digital cameras but they still don?t cope that well and can?t touch Nimh?s, which provide at least 2x the pictures or more in a digital camera even though their milliamp rating is about ½ that of alkalines. Nicd?s can even be better than Nimh?s for high drain uses but the newest generation of Nimh?s (2nd generation) are catching up.

Nimh?s have even a little higher self discharge rate than Nicd?s and will typically lose 30-40% their capacity just sitting on the shelf for a month. After 2 months I wouldn?t expect a set of fully charged Nimh?s to have that much left. Alkalines on the other hand (if I remember correctly) will retain 90% of their capacity for 5-7 years. After a full charge my Nimh?s have almost nothing left after sitting on the shelf for 3 months.