rechargable batteries

[nufan]

Do any of you use rechargable batteries for your off camera flashes?
I was wondering how long they last and if they develope "memory"

thanks

[Axton]

I use rechargeables and don't have any problems with them. They last a long time.

Do not know what you mean by developing memory... Can you elaborate?

[MT Stringer]

I haven't ventured very far from the Energizer bunny. I have several sets of 2500mah rechargeables and they have worked well for me. I used them with a 430EX for fill flash for several football games and never had any problems. Just to make sure they wouldn't fail at the wrong time, I would change them at half time. So they had performed fine for the first 175-200 shots.

Hope this helps.
Mike

[ben_r_]

I use rechargeable batteries for EVERYTHING! Especially my three flashes! Have to, it would cost a fortune in alkaline batteries! Plus when using rechargeable batteries you get fast recycles times out of the flashes. I use Sanyo Eneloops and a Maha C9000 professional battery charger. Check out thomasdistributing.com for some good deals and lots of info.

[nufan]

I use rechargeables and don't have any problems with them. They last a long time.

Do not know what you mean by developing memory... Can you elaborate?

By "memory" I ment that some rechargable batteries are required to be fully discharged before being charged back up, otherwise their "life" gets shorter and shorter.
The older cell phones used to be this way but, the new Lithium-ion batteries in cell phones can be charged at any time no matter how much charge is left in them and it doesn't affect the life of the battery. So-called, "topping off".

[Lotto]

All battery will eventually die from old age. I have few sets of Energizer 2500 that are almost 2 years old, 2 of individual batteries finally die resently after many charge cycles. What happens is that one in the set of 4 wouldn't hold charge anymore, that fools the the charger to not give rest of the set a full charge, and the performance of the whole set degrade rapidly.

An intelligent charger, like the C9000 Maha that ben_r_ mentioned, can identify the individual bad cell, and even reconditions the older cells to extend the life cycle.

[jchad]

Another vote here for Eneloops. Fantastic batteries compared to the NiMH's I'd been using for years.

[Borderfox]

4 sets of 2500mh rechargeable batteries, one thing I noticed was that my 430ex is a heavier user of batteries than my 580exII which I didnt expect.

[sparcd]

I have lots of 2700mah rechargeables and they work great in my 430exs and pocket wizards.

[Gatorboy]

I have lots of 2700mah rechargeables and they work great in my 430exs and pocket wizards.

Rechargeable batteries do not hold a charge for long periods, so I highly recommend alkaline or eneloops for your pocket wizards.

[Wilt]

By "memory" I ment that some rechargable batteries are required to be fully discharged before being charged back up, otherwise their "life" gets shorter and shorter.
The older cell phones used to be this way but, the new Lithium-ion batteries in cell phones can be charged at any time no matter how much charge is left in them and it doesn't affect the life of the battery. So-called, "topping off".


'Memory' is something long associated with Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) batteries. Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) does not have this problem.

As pointed out, Lithium ions do not suffer from 'memory' issue, OTOH they do tend to last only about 3 years and then the capacity falls off.

[sixsixfour]

i have 16 (4 sets) Energizer 2500mAh rechargeables for 3 flash units (2 580EX IIs & 1 420EX) one set of which is a constant spare in case one set dies. i plan on adding 2 more sets soon.

not once have I had a problem in over 2 years of using the first 3 sets.

[form]

I primarily use Energizer NiMH 2500mAh batteries in my 580EX and Sunpak 383. I also have a few sets of Duracells, but I think the Energizers do very well, even beating the Duracell 2650mAh. I have no experience with Eneloops.

[zwollenaar]

Can anyone tell us the 2700mAh (or higher) would last longer than the 2000mAh?

[Wilt]

Can anyone tell us the 2700mAh (or higher) would last longer than the 2000mAh?

Yup, just like 3 gallons of gas takes you farther than 2 gallons of gas! :)

[zwollenaar]

More information about rechargeable batteries you can find at thomasdistributing.com

2000 mAh Sanyo Eneloop
2500 mAh Energizer
2700 mAh Powerex
2700 mAh Sanyo (not Eneloop)
2900 mAh Accupower

.....

[zwollenaar]

Someone told me that use the rechargeable batteries for flashes and non-rechargeable for pocket wizards. Is it true? What is the difference?

[Blackey Cole]

I personnaly use Quantun Battery 1(+)s. They recharge faster and last longer than any AA's I tried to use and if needed I can power two lights off one battery but I try to keep it on a 1 to 1 ratio.

I bought the foour I have off eBay two are still working on the power cells that came with them and one arrived DOA and I replaced the power cells my self and I just received the power cells to replace in the forth.

I keep the AA rechargeable around for other uses.

[randomlinh]

I use eneloops in my 285HV. Mainly because I don't use it too often, so it's nice not to have to worry about dead batteries given the low-discharge nature.

with that, anyone who uses the same, have you compared the eneloops to 2500mah+ nimh's? I want to squeeze what I can out of the slow recycle times of the 285, not sure if it's worth it, or if I'm just hardware limited.

[WMWARD2]

Eneloops plus a Maha C9000 charger resolve a lot of problems. The Eneloops hardly discharge while not being used. The Maha C9000 has a charge, refresh, analyze, Break-in, discharge and cycle functions.

I use the eneloops in a 580 set as master and a 430 set as slave.

[Familiaphoto]

Another vote for Eneloops. Love how long a charge lasts in these things.

[_aravena]

Eneloops it is then for me. My future mother-in-law kept asking me about rechargeable batteries so I can only assume I'm getting some for Christmas. Doesn't mean I can't get some eneloops as backups. Now about this Maha C9000 charger. What's so great about it? besides everything listed, it can pick out dead batteries?