best batteries for portable

Define "best".

Tim

"Roy Szweda" wrote

Sort of depends on the gadget, doesn't it? And the usage cycle. And how you feel about throwing out batteries. And how long you are away from mains power. And .... and ... and ...

There is no definitive answer. Use what seems to work best for you and forget about it.

The voltage curve for modern rechargable cells is quite flat and doesn't fall until nearly all the capacity has been used. If their lower voltage was a problem you would expect them to either not work at all or cut off very quickly (few mins).

I believe NiCad rechargables are also quite a bit lower capacity than Alkaline cells like Duracell.

Try the newer NiMH cells with a capacity of circa 2300+ mAH. They last nearly 4 times as long as older 600mAH NiCad cells.

This is the kind of technical explanation I was hoping for - I have been using various Walkmen type gadgets such as a neat MP3/Wav/VCD player I got from EBay which has its own batteries which you can recharge in situ... when I put other cells in such as alkaline MN1500s they don't last as long it seems, nor do the other rechargeables I have used OK with other portables etc. So I wondered if the electronics in the Walkman was overly sensitive... It is always amazing that they can make these things work at all at a measly 3 V!

That low voltage must be in part a reason why these are so quiet... or is that to protect our ears? Many thanks Roy

Do you know what technology they are? It usually has it marked on there somewhere.

Some data if you are interested..

Alkaline cells have a higher voltage than most rechargables so if you see reduced run time with those it isn't a voltage issue.

Ha!

I'll leave you to work out how to protect the amplifier from a battery inserted backwards. Hint: Can you afford to loose 0.7V by adding a diode :-)