Who makes cheap but decent lithium batteries?

These are all Lithium Ion batteries. Lithium batteries are quite different, and are not rechargeable.

I have found this firm to be excellent.

Yeah, we got some sample batteries from them for our mp3 players as duracell ones were lasting about 10 hours playtime. They sent us loads and their own branded ones lasted for around 20-24 hours playtime. Really helpful people, the prices were pretty good as I recall too.

Think i've still got some of their batteries running my electric toothbrush.

Mark

Sony?

Oh, maybe not, unless you like the smell of a real fire.

Interestingly, Sony provided the batteries for both Dell and Apple, and a lot of those have been recalled. The Sony batteries used in Sony gear, though, have been reliable. Sony, in recent years, has shown a shocking disregard for their customers; yet they obviously have been able to supply themselves with reliable batteries. This could lead one to conclude they knew about the problems, and steered affected product out of house.

A large respectable company like sony playing dirty? I won't believe it. Next you'll be telling me they sue 12 year old girls and 90 year old grannies for downloading mp3's

While I'm no fan of Sony, especially their rootkit installing BMG branch, I think that's a conspiracy theory too far. The batteries they make as OEM product for the likes of Dell and Apple will be manufactured only for them, as they have to physically fit whatever specifications Dell/Apple give them.

No, Sony wouldn't do anything like that. Next thing you know somebody will accuse Disney of doing the same thing. Their lawyers have issued emphatic denials.

The weird thing was that the Disney lawyer had to wear a character head and wasn't allowed to speak, so he had to mime the whole denial.

Want to purchase some Enron stock?

-- Posted via a free Usenet account from

OK, I'll sell my WorldCom stock to cover it.

Sony knew.

I get my batteries off Ebay. Who cares how long they last. I carry a bunch of them.

Richard Perry

IME the ones from eBay tend to be quite a bit lower performing than brand names.

"Homer J Simpson" wrote in news:KsA3h.56293$H7.3347@edtnps82:

Then get brand name batteries off eBay. There are sellers of Duracell and Procell alkalines, so probably also for lithium ion types. Many of these large volume sellers are kosher, they're not pushing fakes, it only takes a small amount of negative feedback to get them shut down, so the big sellers don't do that, they rely on good stock, large volume and fast sales. You get good batteries, because they don't sit on shelves getting old, and you're not paying for the overheads that kind of storage costs, and they're cheap to deliver straight to you, so it's a very good way to get them.

Beware of cheap batteries. I managed to ruin a Seiko watch with a cheap battery that leaked.

I've purchased 8-9 aftermarket Lithium rechargeables from several of the bigger name online battery retailers-- ranging from the "cheap Charlies" to the ones that charge 60% or so of the cost of factory-branded ones and are supposed to have "Japanese cells."

My experience has been about the same with all of them. First I do several charge/discharge cycles to condition them Then if I use them right after I charge them, they're OK-- usually giving about 75-80% capacity of the factory battery.

However, if I let them sit a few weeks after charging before using them, they've self-discharged much faster than the factory batts. They're pretty much useless if I don't top them up before use.

That's my experience YMMV.

Butch

It is also worth being aware, that generally, higher capacity batteries have higher 'self discharge' rates. A friend uses a lot for quite high capacity applications, and the higher capacity cells give what they are meant to, if used as soon as they are charged. However leave the batteries for a week, and the lower capacity cells, then beat the 'high capacity' models. This prbably relates to the behaviour reported above... Panasonic, make generally good cells, that have proven for me to be amongst the best.

Best Wishes