rechareable battieries

[k_m10]

I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on rechargeable

battieries for my flash. I find some work better then others and

some are not holding there charge well anymore. So it is time to

get some new ones and I want to get the best ones for a good price.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[btmuir]

Are you talking a belt pack like a quantum or AA NiMH?

[david_schilling___chicago_]

You might want to scroll down the threads & read "Battery packs" also, I'll bet that if you run a search that you'll get a bunch of prior threads...........

[cjogo]

We use the AA NiMH for the Canon 580---I think it was 12 batteries and a charger for $20---works wonderfully! But we generally only use our 580 for "fill-in" situations..not Key ~~`bright sun days

[Jochen_S]

From my experience I doubt there are really good ones. (There is a weak cell among 4 Ansmanns I own for example) So I purchase affordables, use a good charger which controlls each cell as a individual and spot and mark the bad cells to replace them or move them to less important tasks. NiMhs might degrade within 2 years, so they aren't worth big investments.

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

I use the Energizer 2500's and they've been great. I can shoot an entire wedding and plenty more on one charge.

[cbender]

I use NiMH in my flash, and rechargeable alkaline in most of my non-photo electronics. The alkaline can't recycle the flash quickly enough. I buy batteries from http://store.sundancesolar.com/index.html. They are considerably cheaper than local big-box stores and also have a bigger selection. They sell AA NiMH with considerably more storage capacity than the Rayovacs that you get at Target.

 

Keep in mind that if you use rechargeable alkaline, you need a special charger.

[larry schaefer - chicago,]

KM

 

If you are talking outside the realm of flamethrower battery packs, may I suggest the Ray O Vac 15 minute rechargeable system. The batteries are NiMh and do charge in 15 minutes packing great punch in my 550 EX. I carry 3 sets generally using 2 for a day of shooting.

 

The batteries are refered to as IC3 thast work on this system and run 12-15 dollars per pack of 4.

[huey_stevens]

KM

 

A couple of websites to visit to answer your questions. Also I use rechargeables in my Nikon SB Flashes, but also augment that with a Quantum Turbo battery. When I have photo-work where it only requires one shot per second or so, the rechargeables work just fine. However when I ahve to fire off 6 to 10 shoots in that amount of time consecutively, then I DEFINETELY use my quantum turbo to assist the flash gun. But for single shot work at a moderate pace for only a few shots, recahrgeables work just fine for me.

 

Battery Resource, BTW the Energizer 2300's top the list as best batt., so the 2500's should be better.

 

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM

 

In as far as rechargers, Ken Rockwell has a good article on his favorite.

 

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/lacrosseBC900.htm

 

Hope this helps

[andrew_ito]

The Maha Powerex 2500 NiMH batteries are supposedly pretty good from the reviews.

You might want to check those out as an option.

[chris m., central florida]

Real world advice/expereince here...

 

Energizer NiMH 2500s work beautifully. I've been using the Energizer rechargeables for a long time, and some of my batteries have been recharged well over 150X with no problems. After the 4th recharge, they've basically paid for themselves. That's way better than spending $20 on batteries for longer events (I use about 50 batteries per event with off camera flash units eating up quite a few of them). I figure I've saved about $2K over the past two years using rechargeables.

 

Sam's Club is very reasonable. 8 for $20.00. Don't bother with the overnight charger pack. The Energizer 30 minute charger pack is much better. Those are available at WalMart. I use two of them. It's great to recharge 8 batteries every 30 minutes.

 

Be sure to mark or color code your batteries and keep track of recharges. Mkaes it easier to cycle them out of the lineup. I have 60+ AA batteries, NONE have failed yet. I am jst now starting to see charge loss on my first Energizer set which I bought over a year ago.

 

Some rechargeables aren't worth it. I returned on brand I bought, can't remember which it was.

 

Remember to charge your batteries no more than 1-2 days before an event. They lose 1-3% of their charge every day.

 

Leaving them in a hot environment will seriosly degrade battery performance. Store them in a cool, dry place.