Batteries

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

OK, I learned something today form a professional publication.

Of particular note is that industrial batteries may have a glass to metal seal vs a crimped seal. The crimped seal leaks.

Some Lithium Industrial batteries boast, low self-discharge, the ability to be recharges at extreme temperatures (-40 + +85 C). AA sized cells can deliver 15 A pulses and glass to metal seals 20 year life and 5000 cycles.

Maybe thats what I get better life from industrial Ni-Cd's although Lithium an Alkaline were the focus of the article. FWIW, the AA cell was developed for flash cameras.

Labor costs can be significant when replacing batteries in remote areas.

Information obtained from Electronic Products, Dec 2014, "Total Lifetime vale: A yardstick for comparing batteries", Jacobs, Sol, p 12

 

[audioguru]

I have not used toxic Ni-Cad battery cells for about 20 years when Ni-MH cells were introduced with a much longer life, did not short with stalagmites and have much more capacity. Ni-MH replaced Ni-Cad.
But lousy old Ni-Cad cells still come in very cheap Chinese solar garden lights where they last for maybe 9 months.
I still have the Lithium battery that came in my daughter's first cell phone about 15 years ago. It has not been charged for 14 years and still holds a good charge.

 

[audioguru]

A few minutes ago I replaced the shorted Ni-Cad battery in another wireless home phone (I replaced another one a few weeks ago) with a smaller but same capacity Ni-MH battery that will last for years.
Years ago I used to Zap the short in a Ni-Cad battery but the short comes back too soon. Ni-MH batteries do not short.

 

[carbonzit]

Well, ackshooly, in some ways NiCd is actually superior to NiMH (notice I said in some ways, not all): one well-known shortcoming of NiMH is that the cell loses about 20% of its charge right off the bat. It's true they have higher energy density than NiCd, but they have other problems that NiCd doesn't have (and vice versa), so it's kind of a wash. My take on things is that there really aren't any good rechargeable batteries available, at least not in consumer packages (AA, AAA, etc.). (Lithium is a good chemistry, but it's not available in 1.5V cells.). Sanyo's Eneloop NiMHs are an improvement with lower self-discharge, but they're still not all that great. Pretty disappointing to those of us who would like to stop throwing batteries away.

For good info on batteries, check out Battery University.

By the way, some NiCds are exceptionally robust and long-lasting: I have a Makita cordless drill, the old-school one with the long 9.6V batteries, probably 20 years old, and those suckers still hold a charge. Apparently a lot of lithium batteries don't last that long.

 

[audioguru]

For a few years, Ni-MH cells for consumers (Eneloop, Energizer and Duracell plus some European ones not available here) hold a charge for 1 year and come pre-charged.
Energizer sells Lithium 1.6V AA and AAA cells. Their capacity is higher and they hold up their voltage while discharging better than alkaline cells. Their high price explains why.

 

[Mosaic]

As I recall NiCads take abuse (shorting & very fast charging) better than NiMH. With the advent of smarter chargers NiMH appears to be the better solution. Notwithstanding those techs...I still have an interest in Lead acid cells from the point of view of restoring service life to chronically undercharged units.