why do alkaline batterys work so well on digital crap while regulars don't work at all
- posted
12 years ago
why do alkaline batterys work so well on digital crap while regulars don't work at all
Because digital cameras are high drain devices, and ordinary lead-acid batteries can't deliver the power required, where alkaline can. However, a much better solution than alkaline is the new Sanyo Eneloop NiMH batteries, which are rechargable and last a lot longer.
RobG (the Aussie one)
With my first digicam the manual said it could not use rechageable batteries. After a year of going through Duracells like there was no tomorrow I upgraded to a (4.1 megapixel!) camera that came with rechargeables, so I thought "What the hell, let's try them in the old thing" and it loved them....
Cheers,
Moramarth
I hope you mean zinc-carbon, I'd hate to see a digital camera with lead-acid car batteries in it, or even the smaller sealed cells you find in little UPS units.
Even alkaline cells are a poor choice for digital cameras: the short, high current drain requirements (principally for writing data to the memory card quickly) combined with the high internal resistance of zinc-carbon and alkaline batteries mean that they become unusable after relatively few shots. Leaving them to cool down will get a bit more use out of them, and once they've become useless for the camera they will still power your TV remote for some time.
Rechargable Ni-Cd, NiMH or lithium cells have lower internal resistance and will deliver the required current for longer.
Eneloop isn't new, but it is a good answer to the biggest problem with NiMH, their high self-discharge, meaning that they lose most of their charge after a few weeks. Unless you're a pro using your camera every day, you end up charging the batteries every time you need them, which uses up their lifetime (counted in charge cycles) much more quickly. Eneloop and the other low-self-discharge battery types (Uniross Hybrio, Maplin Hybrid, Sony CycleEnergy etc) retain 90% of their charge for more than a year, making them a much better buy. I buy nothing else now, as my old-tech NiMH's die off.
i have some nimh and they work well but must be older versions as they last about the same as alkys.
that and the fact that they are rechrgeble and safer gives them many plus's. i've had the no rechrger warnings on a few things and often forgotten with no detrimental effects to device or source.
good info, thanks.
i always drain rechrge batteries completely before i recharge so that they don't get that "memory" partial charge condition. you can even cure those with a capacitor flasher that shorts that false "memory" out.
NiMH's don't suffer from a memory effect as badly as NiCd's do, and they last a lot longer (more charge/discharge cycles) if not deep-discharged.
Lots of useful info at
indeed. tanks!
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.