I use Alkaline batteries in a sony digital camera. i tried the rechargable ones at 10 time the cose, but they do not recharge 10 times. Rechargeable batteries almost always make economic sense. The upfront cost of setting yourself up with rechargeable batteries and the charger may seem off-putting at first, especially when you realize that you'll want to have some extra batteries that can be recharging while you're running devices like your Walkman, wireless computer mouse, and battery-powered toys.
Let's walk through a cost analysis by considering the following scenario. Say you have a few different devices that use AA batteries, and you want to be able to have a total of eight batteries to power them at any given time. You also want four spares that can be charging while the other batteries are in use.
The total cost for this scenario鈥?2 rechargeable batteries plus the charger鈥攚ill be about $75.00. That may sound like a lot of up-front spending when you consider that you can buy an 8-pack of disposable AA batteries for about five bucks. But if you're like most households and it seems like every other trip to the store finds you buying another 8-pack of throw-aways, then rechargeables will definitely be the better deal.
For instance, under the scenario above, if you're now buying a five-dollar 8-pack of batteries every month, that's a yearly cost of $60. After a little more than a year, your $75 initial investment in the rechargeable setup will be paid for, and the next 10 years of battery use will be free. Over that period, you would save $600! And it will be 1,000 fewer disposable batteries going into your nearby landfill or incinerator.
If you don't use that many batteries鈥攕ay a couple of 8-packs per year鈥攜ou could still actually save money over the long run with rechargeables, though that would depend on the types of uses. But rechargeable batteries make the most sense for devices that get heavy to moderate use and have a high to medium current draw. These are the devices you find yourself changing batteries for at least once a month, or every couple of months at a minimum.
There are some uses where rechargeable batteries simply do not make economic sense:
low-draw devices like battery-powered wall clocks, smoke detectors, and remote controls;
devices that have long idle times (measured in months), like emergency flashlights鈥攗nless you're willing to shell out the extra dough it takes to buy lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. The other answerer has pretty much covered it, but there are just a few other things to note. A few devices won't work with rechargeable batteries, so check the manual first - it is possible for rechargeable batteries to dump their whole power at once, which won't be healthy for the device they are in. When buying rechargeables, check the capacity (measured in milliamp hours or mAh) as there can be quite a variation between brands. Finally, you should have got a lot more than 10 charges out of one set, so maybe it's a good idea to double-check everything's compatible. prices are too high a 4 pack of AAA NMHi is $6.00 and a charger is $15.00 at Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Di...
If it is not on sale it will be soon. They have sales all the time.
My batteries work great! |
