I have a Canon SX-150 that takes AA cells and anything other than Ni-MH are a waste of time. Nonetheless, this wasn't made clear in the manual and many people have thought their cameras were defective in various ways due to using the wrong AA cells.
I suspect your situation is similar. It seem to me that the Ni-MH are more able to provide the extra current for the lens motor and flash features, Ni-Cd and Alkaline can't do it. I am not so sure one brand of Ni-MH is a 'must use'.
I am not so sure one brand of Ni-MH is a 'must use'.
Hopefully there are other brands besides Eneloop which perform well but I haven't found one. I have a bunch of almost useless Energizer NiMH cells from Sam's Club. These lose their charge very quickly. They might be useful in a robot which will be charged right before use but for cameras or other devices which won't be used right after they're charged the Energizer NiMH cells are practically useless.
I am getting tired of my Ni-Zn chargers dying. One is completely dead, and the other will only charge 2 cells at a time. Takes a while to do 6 for a Scribbler.
I know the chargers I cited will not do Ni-Zn. I am looking for replacement batteries.
I use an 8 bay Maha charger. It is several years old, probably has been replaced by a newer model. Whatever charger you get, be sure that it charges cells individually. Many of the 4 bay wall chargers will only charge in pairs - not good.
Costco has a great deal on Eneloops that includes a wall charger - the kind that charges each cell individually.
+1 to the Maha charger. Very happy with mine - it can not only tell you the capacity of a cell, but you can set it to do some charge/discharge cycles and over a few days you can see the cell capacity increase.
Re eneloops, thanks for these, I got some too the other day. Generation 4. Capacity checks out. However they are Made In China and there are some threads around that say the Made In Japan ones are better as they last many more charges. I need to source Japanese ones, ? specifically look for ones with Japanese writing on the packet.
I like the individual charging. Some of the charges do not complete because of a bad cell. Would be nice to know which one.
Yup, that's the one. Charging in series can cause bad cells. If the cells are at different charge states then at least one of them will not be optimally charged. When the cells are used in a device one of them runs out first risking reversal which will kill the cell.
I have all my Ni-mhs 'paired off' (using my Brother labelwriter). I just put 1-1 on the first pair, 1-2 on the second pair, the next two pairs were 2-1 and 2-2 and so on.
The theory being that most of my devices uses pairs of cells, and some use 4 cells.
When recharging it's easy to see which cells needs to be paired off in the charger.
(My charger works with pairs)
Not certain how I'll mark the 8pack of Eneloops that arrived the other day...
Comments
I suspect your situation is similar. It seem to me that the Ni-MH are more able to provide the extra current for the lens motor and flash features, Ni-Cd and Alkaline can't do it. I am not so sure one brand of Ni-MH is a 'must use'.
Hopefully there are other brands besides Eneloop which perform well but I haven't found one. I have a bunch of almost useless Energizer NiMH cells from Sam's Club. These lose their charge very quickly. They might be useful in a robot which will be charged right before use but for cameras or other devices which won't be used right after they're charged the Energizer NiMH cells are practically useless.
I found these on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Charger-Battery-Rechargeable-Batteries-SunLabz%C2%AE/dp/B00SO25HUO/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1435076245&sr=8-17-spons&keywords=eneloop+aa
http://www.amazon.com/FlePow-Intelligent-Discharger-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00NBT5LWY/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1435076245&sr=8-18-spons&keywords=eneloop+aa
I am getting tired of my Ni-Zn chargers dying. One is completely dead, and the other will only charge 2 cells at a time. Takes a while to do 6 for a Scribbler.
I know the chargers I cited will not do Ni-Zn. I am looking for replacement batteries.
I use an 8 bay Maha charger. It is several years old, probably has been replaced by a newer model. Whatever charger you get, be sure that it charges cells individually. Many of the 4 bay wall chargers will only charge in pairs - not good.
Costco has a great deal on Eneloops that includes a wall charger - the kind that charges each cell individually.
Thanks
I'm guessing it is this charger?
http://www.amazon.com/Powerex-Maha-MH-C801D-Eight-Charger/dp/B003OU51LG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1435081607&sr=1-1&keywords=powerex+maha+mh-c801d
I like the individual charging. Some of the charges do not complete because of a bad cell. Would be nice to know which one.
Re eneloops, thanks for these, I got some too the other day. Generation 4. Capacity checks out. However they are Made In China and there are some threads around that say the Made In Japan ones are better as they last many more charges. I need to source Japanese ones, ? specifically look for ones with Japanese writing on the packet.
Now i contact you immediately,for your interest ,it is better. I will be most joyful to provide for you with Japanese stickers to apply, Dear.
For a small fee and five-star feedback. are you ok? so sorry for inconvience to you,waiting for your reply
have a nice day
best regards
Plus, I ordered 8 and they sent me 7. Isn't 8 supposed to be a lucky number in China?
Yup, that's the one. Charging in series can cause bad cells. If the cells are at different charge states then at least one of them will not be optimally charged. When the cells are used in a device one of them runs out first risking reversal which will kill the cell.
The theory being that most of my devices uses pairs of cells, and some use 4 cells.
When recharging it's easy to see which cells needs to be paired off in the charger.
(My charger works with pairs)
Not certain how I'll mark the 8pack of Eneloops that arrived the other day...