I have Creative Muvo MP3 player which uses a single AAA battery. On the Creative website, it claims up to 11hrs of WMA continuous playtime, yet in reality I've been getting about 4 hrs from each battery. But of course I use this player over several days and not continuously.
I've been using Dollar General AAA alkaline batteries which are one of the cheapest that I've found: 8 AAA batteries cost $2.50. All of the main brands, Duracel, Rayovac, Eveready, and other generic store brands cost much. much more.
The question is whether switching to another more expensive battery would be worth the effort or not? Do the generics from supermarkets, drugstore, etc hold up to name brands? And of these brands, which would be most cost effective? What about using a rechargeable AAA battery?
I just picked up a Creative MuVo TX about two weeks ago, and it also uses a single AAA battery. I put a duracell alkaline battery in it when I got it. I've been using it everyday during my commute in/out of work - about 2 hrs per day, for the last two weeks. On Friday, the battery indicator dropped the last bar, but it still played well for the drive in this morning. Plus some additional use over the weekend, I've gotten 12-14 hrs thus far on the first battery. Battery voltage is reading 1.17V now.
I've always like the duracells for alkaline applications. Give one a try. I'm also considering a NiMH rechargable, since I already have a charger. But, haven't tried it yet.
Get back to us on how you get on with the NiMh cell? - I was given a whole bag of these but most of the battery operated gadgets I have don't like the lower voltage (1.2V instead of 1.5V)!
I'll let you know when I do it. However, I've found that the device seems to be working fine with my alkaline sitting at 1.17V (open ckt), so there's some evidence that it will work with the lower cell voltage of hte NiCd or NiMH. Maybe I'll run an experiment later with a power supply to see what voltage it drops out at.
I have a Creative Muvo, and I have been using NiMH batteries in it for about a week so far (only about 1hr a day). I had an MP3 player before that couldn't take the NiMH, but the Muvo seems to be doing fine with it. With Everedy alkalines, I would get at least 12 hours of use on it. Are you using the FM radio? Maybe it uses more power.
The duracell alkaline finally ran down today on the way home from work. Something like 14 hrs of MP3 playing. I measured the battery voltage at 1.125V. So, it does look like it will work OK with NiMH too. But, at about 2 wks / AAA cell with the duracells, I've got a few months worth of 'em to burn through, so I'm in no hurry to switch to the rechargables yet.
I have the same situation and a pretty good solution. Remember the "rechargeable alkaline" battery they advertised a while back? Well turns out most alkalines can be recharged over and over.
My MP3 player (also one AAA) lasts four hours at the volume I use while exercising (high). A standard brand name (and radio shack) alkaline will go four hours. I pop it in the charger and it is good to go for another four hours. This will work 6-10 times, then the time it will run falls off rapidly (may play 4 hours on charge number
9 and 2 hours on charge number 10) Then it is into the trash and get a fresh one. Leave it in the player and it may leak once it starts dying permanently so keep an eye on it or remove the battery when not using.
The charger I use is a Rayovac that set me back $20 at Walmart. It will charge one to four AA or AAA or a mix. Each battery is monitored separately with LED's that tell when one is still charging.
The charger is not fast (takes about 8 hours to recharge a battery). It was advertised as being for NICAD, NiMH, and alkaline.
I did break down and buy a couple of AAA NiMH batteries but they don't last as long as an alkaline (probably because they only put out 1.2 volts to start with) and they were more expensive than AA size batteries.
Regarding mp3 players - my little player has a pitiful memory capacity Two songs, sometimes three (very early mp3 player). I found a program called DietMP3 that will resample the mp3s in one operation and shrink them to four or more times smaller with no noticeable loss of fidelity (at least not in the portable player category). In theory the unpaid version will limit you to 4 songs at a time, but it can be used over and over as shareware
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Thanks for the info. Just wondering if playing the files at a higher volume are causing the batteriesto prematurely fail. Also, these are WMA files and not MP3; on the Creative Website one is supposed to get more hours of play with the latter.
Please sit down. The "Dollar General" batteries are worth exactly what you paid for them: Nothing. They are cheap because they have about
1/5th (or less) the capacity of "name brand" cells. I'm surprised you got as much as 4 hours.
Do the arithmatic: You're spending more per minute of playing time for your "cheap" batteries than you'd spend for (fresh) Duracels. "Fresh" means: NOT bought from a distressed merchandise store where the packages have been sitting in a warehouse under bankruptcy court hold for the past 10 years.
WRT rechargable batteries: Manufacturers (even Asians) are forced to mark them with actual energy storage capacity: "Real" AAA cells are typically 650 to 900 mAh (milli-Ampere-hours). Oh, and "Dollar General" sells rechargable cells that are just as worthless as their alkalines...read the (very) fine print: Usually 250 to 300 mAh...and they don't actually deliver that (I've tested them). For reference, fresh "name-brand" alkalines are about 1.2 to 2.1 Ah (meaning 1200 to
2100 mAh).
Both NiCad and NiMh are rated at 1.2 V (Volts), while alkaline cells are rated at 1.5 V. The voltage is not really significant...your devices will run fine on either alkaline or rechargable.
BL: The "over-priced name-brand" batteries are actually the cheapest, BY FAR, way to deliver and/or store electrical energy for most applications. Or: Surprise! The Market works.
Playing at a higher volume will flatten the battery quicker. It also wouldn't be very hard to check if the radio uses more power than the player. Perhaps someone could do a test for us all.
Personally I will not touch "dollar shop" batteries. As someone else said "you get what you pay for" and I wouldn't take the chance of them leaking in the player. I've had 6 out of 12 leak before I got them out of the pack !
Rechargeables should work okay but not as long(1.2 v compared to 1.5v) but who cares when you can recharge it after.
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