GarageBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
I mean, they work, but I have enough "modern" batteries to use. Recycle em?
Any reason to keep around old 1600mAh Sanyos?
- Thread starter GarageBoy
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SilverFox
Flashaholic
Hello GarageBoy,
If they are still giving you around 1280 mAh or higher, they are still functional, but it is up to you if you have a use for them.
Tom
If they are still giving you around 1280 mAh or higher, they are still functional, but it is up to you if you have a use for them.
Tom
I gave mine away on BST.
Fallingwater
Flashlight Enthusiast
jasonck08
Flashlight Enthusiast
Why not just use them for simple things like TV remotes things other than flashlights. You must be able to find a use for them. Give them to someone before you recycle them...
The best "recycling" is to
continue to use them.
I have a set of old cheapo 1800mAh jWin AA NiMH - that should really be considered Dead. They have developed high internal resistance ("flash amps" < 1A!!!) and do not hold a charge for any real use for long.
But I still "use" them - they got relegated to to keeping clock running in a piece of equipment that I use on an ac adaptor. This is so I can unplug the ac adpator - so those "dead" NiMH keep the clock running. These bad NiMH need charging about once a month.
This is obviously an extreme example.
Closer to your case - I have 8x RayOVac 1600mAh AA NiMH that I bought way back when they first came out circa ~2001, and have had over 100 cycles of real use, before they got relegated to "secondary" usage.
One set of 4 is in the digicam that I use for my beamshots - a Canon A610 - that's how I know from experience that Canon A-series are very tolerant and frugal with NiMH batteries - these hold up for 2-3 months before they need charging.
A pair are in an electric toothbrush - which obviously gets used daily - they need charging about every 3 months.
The last two get "roaming" duty in flashlights - eg: my at home EDC - Fenix L1D-RB100 - since I can easily get another AA battery at home - I charge these obviously when the flashlights dim - and they last a surprisingly long time - I would not tolerate it, if I had to charge these every (few) days.....
Fallingwater
Flashlight Enthusiast
They are not LSD, so running remotes with them is a bad idea.
Use them in things that are often charged, such as electric razors and toothbrushes, cordless phones and the like.
JNewell
Flashlight Enthusiast
Toss 'em in the trash. Spend good money on new cells with greater capacity, even if the old ones work. More is better. A little more heavy metals in the landfill won't kill anyone.
Or, you could keep them, use them, save the money, save the planet? :thinking:
Or, you could keep them, use them, save the money, save the planet? :thinking:
Fallingwater
Flashlight Enthusiast
Is yours an ironic post or do you actually mean he should toss them? I don't get it.
Please don't do that. One of the best advantages of NiMH is that it is easier to find a place that will take them for recycling. (I have yet to find a place that will take alkalines.) In the USA, it's as easy as taking them to a Radio Shack.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Irony shots and sense of humor pills are both available in the Market Place... 
JNewell
Flashlight Enthusiast
The first part was ironic. I thought the second part would make that clear...apologies. I was trying to poke some fun, or something like that, at the idea that we should $h!tcan something that's still perfectly serviceable.
Bones
Enlightened
I have four of these dated 02/2002 that are still going strong, and according to my MH-C9000, the lowest is still within 6% of its rated capacity after a break-in cycle.
Our self-disharge experience with regular NiMH cells appears to be primarily influenced by the so-called 'high capacity' variety, rather than the lessor capacity cells that came before.
Unlike their high-capacity siblings, these lower capacity cells seem to hold their charge for more than a viable period of time.
Rather than 'recycle them', why not include a serviceable charger and pass them on to an alkaline user who has a stack of remotes sitting around. I think the recipient will be pleased with their performance.
By a serviceable charger, I even mean something like the very basic timed charger that was used on mine for the first 5 years of their life.
It pumps out 170mAh for fourteen hours and will only charge in pairs, and yet these low capacity cells seem to have thrived on this oft scorned charger's apparent abuse.
Our self-disharge experience with regular NiMH cells appears to be primarily influenced by the so-called 'high capacity' variety, rather than the lessor capacity cells that came before.
Unlike their high-capacity siblings, these lower capacity cells seem to hold their charge for more than a viable period of time.
Rather than 'recycle them', why not include a serviceable charger and pass them on to an alkaline user who has a stack of remotes sitting around. I think the recipient will be pleased with their performance.
By a serviceable charger, I even mean something like the very basic timed charger that was used on mine for the first 5 years of their life.
It pumps out 170mAh for fourteen hours and will only charge in pairs, and yet these low capacity cells seem to have thrived on this oft scorned charger's apparent abuse.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
I agree with this 100%. Unless a cell refuses to take a charge at all, I'll keep it around. Most cells with apparent low capacity actually still have close to original capacity, but only at very low currents. These would function fine in a remote or a clock. And since these cells perform well, there are zero reasons to just throw them away. If the capacity is less than you need, give them away to someone who can use them. Putting things in perspective, I remember the days of 500 mAh AAs. I would have been thrilled with 1600 mAh cells. I'm sure someone who never experienced today's rechargeables would be also.
GarageBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'll keep em. These dont self discharge that much anyways
koala
Flashlight Enthusiast
If they are still healthy, I bet they will work better than those 'modern' 2700s high self discharging cells.
Keep them if you have space, if not then donate them. It doesn't make sense to recycle them just because they are yesterday cells. It takes more energy to take them apart and cause more harm to the earth.
Keep them if you have space, if not then donate them. It doesn't make sense to recycle them just because they are yesterday cells. It takes more energy to take them apart and cause more harm to the earth.
Zero_Enigma
Enlightened
Been a while since I've messaged on the board or caught up with any email/messages.
This topic caught my attention. As Silverfox said if they're still giving you ~1200mAh they're still good. If you've any electronics knowledge then build something like some emergency light for the bathroom and use those in there and plug it into the AC plug so that when the power is out you can use the batteries then so you don't 'miss' the bulls-eye.
Then when the power comes back on then it'll recharge the cells back up.
Another good use is to use them in a solar lighting setup. Like in a shed or those solar stake lights on the ground that come with very low ~600mAh batteries. I opt for using them in the secret batcave shed if you can so you can mellow out in the peace. If all else fails load them in the shotgun. :naughty:
This topic caught my attention. As Silverfox said if they're still giving you ~1200mAh they're still good. If you've any electronics knowledge then build something like some emergency light for the bathroom and use those in there and plug it into the AC plug so that when the power is out you can use the batteries then so you don't 'miss' the bulls-eye.
Then when the power comes back on then it'll recharge the cells back up.
Another good use is to use them in a solar lighting setup. Like in a shed or those solar stake lights on the ground that come with very low ~600mAh batteries. I opt for using them in the secret batcave shed if you can
so you can mellow out in the peace. If all else fails load them in the shotgun. :naughty:Yucca Patrol
Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 954
A lot of us end up with a pile of chargers we never use. If you have a half decent charger to spare and some batteries, you could give it to someone you know who doesn't. Tell them that the batteries are perfectly good and to try recharging. If they like it, they can get some more modern batteries.
Might end up saving a bunch of alkalines from going in the landfills.
Might end up saving a bunch of alkalines from going in the landfills.
