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We have been using rechargeable batteries for a couple of years now.  They are definitely worth it terms of both reducing the number of batteries we use and saving money, so using them is a no-brainer.

Lately I upgraded our rechargeable inventory by purchasing:

Powerex AA 2700 mAh NIMH batteries
Powerex AAA 1000 mHh NIMH batteries
Powerex 9V 300 mHh NIMH batteries
Maha 4-cell 9V charger
Maha CM-C808 intelligent charger for AAA, AA, C, and D batteries.  (NIMH and NICD)

The kid's have a couple of items that use AA batteries, same with the digital camera and my LED flashlight.  The rechargeable 9V batteries are for my paintball marker's electronic loader (it goes through a set very 2 times I play).  The new 2700 mAh batteries are a big improvement over the Energizer 2500 mAh ones that had been our workhorse batteries.

The neat thing out of that bunch is the CM-C808 charger.  It is cool, because it can charge individual batteries (they do not have to be in pairs) and can also do conditioning to restore batteries to full performance.  Ditto with doing gentle slow charging on batteries.  I have run the conditioning cycle on some batteries that I thought were having "memory" issues and were not lasting as long as expected.  I should have done an longevity actual test before conditioning those batteries.  It seemed to make a dramatic difference.

By the way, if you have a rechargeable battery that has gone bad, you can recycle them at a number of locations.  We dropped off four old ones yesterday at Lowes.

There is another, new rechargeable battery on the market that looks interesting.  They are only 2000 mAh for AA size, but the Eneloop batteries supposedly hold their charge for long periods (they are advertising 85% after a year).  The caveat to that is that warm temperatures will cause them to lose their charge faster.  You charge them like any NIMH.

So, anybody else with rechargeables and what has been working for you?

Giving new life to old laptop and other rechargeable batteries:


Now this isn't for AA, 9V, AAA batteries, etc.; as those have now become so cheap that it would be pointless to try to restore them. The purpose of this technique is for laptop batteries and other proprietary batteries which may be expensive to replace, but have lost their ability to recharge due to sitting around.

There seems to be a caveat that laptop batteries, and other types of rechargeables, become bad just from sitting around and doing nothing; this is not entirely true.

Automated battery chargers, such as though found in laptops, work on a simple principle to recharge a battery; in order for it to recognize and charge the battery, there must be some charge present in the battery. If a battey has been sitting around for some time until it has completely lost its charge, then the charger will not recognize the battery, and the presumption will be that the battery is no good; some batteries, however, can be rescued and used again using this procedure.


The key to restoring a battery is to get the charger to recognize the battery, which means putting a chrage in the battery itself. To do this, one can use a 9V battery, or a 12V lantern battery for newer, higher capacity batteries.

Take the leads from the battery (using wires with a 12V or a snap on cap for the 9V which can be purchased at Radio Shack) and attach (which most likely means to physically hold it) each lead to its corresponding contact on the battery; positive to positive, negative to negative (for some laptop batteries which don't have the contacts marked, you will need to look up a schematic on the web for the battery). Keep the leads held to the battery for anywhere from one minute to several minutes (the larger the capacity battery, the longer you should hold the leads to the battery.

When you are finished, place the battery in the charger or laptop. It may take a while to get the charger to recognize the battery, but be patient. If it recognizes the battery, it will eventually begin to charge it.

Most batteries which have been left sitting for a while will gain a memory; even though they say they are not suppose too. You will likely only get half the life from the battery after doing this, if it works.

Just thought I would share. :tongueout: