Today's toys and electronics can be very expensive to run. The average retail cost of a battery is around $.50 and devices can drain a batteries within hours. For example, a digital camera can drain two alkaline batteries after taking less than 30 pictures. That is about 3.3 cents per picture. Over the course of a year a Americans purchase nearly 3 billion batteries, leading to a lot of expensive toxic waste. You can cut down on the waste and save money by investing in NiMH batteries.
NiMH batteries come in standard AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V sizes. They hold much more power than a standard alkaline battery, can be recharged up to 500 times, and cost under $2 for AAA and AA. NiMH batteries
self-discharge at a rate of 5-10% per month. To keep a full charge NiMHs should be recharged often and unlike NiCd batteries do not have a memory effect. They can be fully charged in as little as 15 minutes. A high quality charger will get the best performance from the batteries.
I use the La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger.
This is a high quality 4 channel charger for AAA and AA batteries. It has several benefits over other chargers.
- Variable Charge Rate - it can charge the batteries at 200-1800 mAh and has a heat monitor.
- LCD Screen - The information given lets you quickly know the state of each battery.
- Multiple Modes - Charge, Discharge, Test, and Refresh modes. The refresh mode has saved several of my batteries.
The kit I bought also came with battery adapters. Once I found out about these, my use of batteries changed forever. The battery adapters let you convert AA batteries into C and D batteries. This is wonderful because now I only have to have AAA and AA batteries around the house. If I have a device that takes C or D I just use the adapter. When the batteries need recharged I just replace the ones in the adapter. And NiMH batteries hold more power than Alkaline batteries so my devices last longer with the adapters. Give NiMH batteries a try. They are good for the environment and your wallet.
