EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: Greorge on May 19, 2015, 03:31:52 am
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Ni all,
Noticed NiZn 1.6V rechargeable batteries for sale over a year now.
Does anybody who used them have any comment to make?
I have few gadgets: alarm clock, timer, radio, torch, ...
that I use 1.2V rechargeable batteries instead of 1.5V throw away ones and must say that 1.2V ones don't last as long and display is quite dim to start with.
1.6V might be bit much, as they charge to about 1.7-1.8 and if there are 3 of them difference might be too big.
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I use them in my portable tube regen radio. 3 x 1.6v gives about the right space charge on a high gain triode for a low b+ supply.
The capacity is as advertised even after 10 deep discharge cycles (at times to almost 0v when I forget to disconnect them) very tolerant batteries. Can supply a high discharge current similar to alkaline.
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Thanks for post.
JayCar doesn't sell 1.6 NiZn batteries in Australia.
E-Bay has several sellers, would like to know who sells items that can be trusted to be what they are in relation to what seller claims they are.
Many NiMh batteries sold on E-Bay were fakes with fraction of claimed charge, so suspect that NiZn will have some dishonest traders too.
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Hobbyking Aus warehouse is where I get mine.
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Hobbyking Aus warehouse is where I get mine.
As do I.
Hobbyking also sells very nice NiMh if you need them too.
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NiZn consumer cells in the AA size were an interesting idea that never quite took off. They have the advantage of higher voltage in devices (like some cameras) that are not happy with the 1.2 V nominal of NiMH cells. However, they need a special charger and they do not have a long lifetime, being prone to early failure after only a few recharge cycles. This led to consumer dissatisfaction in the USA when they were introduced a few years ago, and consequently PowerGenix withdrew from the market and remaining stocks went to clearance. A few other manufacturers have licensed the technology and tried since, but they remain a niche product.
Ultimately these batteries do not have any compelling advantage over NiMH other than the higher voltage. There are very few products which actually need the higher voltage, and some products (like certain camera flashes) can be damaged by it. So for almost all applications you are much better off with Eneloops.
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Looks that NiZn batteries:
do not live long (sounds like low number of cycles during life)
do not store well (got impression that self discharge is about a month)
Could not find info on what happens when battery is not 100%
Taking into account that I have few 12V ex-car batteries that do not perform in a car at all, but for charging mobile phone, wi-fi modem, even laptop battery, torch or the like are quite OK.
But definitely would not like NiZn go flat in a month or so.
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I'll take a page from candlepowerforums notebook on this. If you cant come up with a reason to not use Eneloops rechargeable's, you should use eneloop rechargeables.