Battery recommedation for radio

[Stemlin]

I have a GE Superadio that I have been running for many years on Alkaline batteries. I would like to switch to rechargeable batteries because I hate to keep throwing six D cells into the landfill every so often. The back of the radio says it draws 3 watts from the wall at US voltage (120v), so my very basic knowledge of electricity tells me that equals 0.025 amps. So my question is, since this is such a low-current application, can I get away with using low capacity (1800 mAh) nimh D cells instead of the 10,000 mAh cells that are expensive and (I assume) heavy? I imagine that the high capacity cells would be empty from self-discharge long before I exhausted them using the radio.

Any advice anyone can provide will be appreciated.

 

[bill_n_opus]

- I would just buy 6 of the low self discharge eneloops or hybrios etc ..., slap them into some AA to D converters and away you go. Can recharge them, small investment that pays off bigtime. They are pretty much the same price nowadays and AA to D converters are low priced (although 6 of them would add up to ~ 12 bucks or so).

- or, find some old 1850mAh NiMh batteries, whatever, slap them into the converters and away you go.

- or, find a cheap source of D cells and go that way and feel bad about the environment.

- you or yourself must know somebody that has NiMh lying around. Just being here at CPF suggests that already!

- if you had a LaCrosse BC-900 or even the Panasonic bq-390 package, they come with ~ 4AA to D converters so that's more than half the battle. I bet that many CPF'ers don't even use theirs .. so you may find some CFP'ers selling them in the BST, I don't know, i've never looked. Or just order them from any cheap online place.

Hope this helps.

 

[Quantumstate]

How much current a battery can provide at once, is different from how much current a battery can store.

You quoted milliAmp Hours, which is how much it can store, in other words how long it will last.

With six D cells and a radio that takes 3 watts, the current draw is 3W /9V = 330mA. So 1,800mAH batteries (if they are in fact that in real life) will run your radio for 5 1/2 hours before recharge is needed.

Only time you really have to worry about overtaxing a battery's ability to provide current at once is with a 9 Luxeon flashlight, or an electric car!

 

[Stemlin]

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't aware that you could find adapters that use only 1 AA per adapter. Most of them use three and in that case I would be looking at 18 AA cells to run a radio, which is ridiculous.

 

[Robstorch]

Doesnt the superradio come with an AC plug too? I have had all three versions of the GE superradio but do not have one right now. I would go the AA with converter option too, that radio is heavy enough.
Bill N opus where did you find the Panasonic BQ-390 packaged with converters?

 

[paulr]

Yeah, 1AA to D adapters are easy to find, and the SuperRadio shouldn't use anywhere near 3 watts if run at normal listening levels.

My question: do you really use it on battery power all that often? If you're using it indoors, why not just plug it in? Keep a set of batteries around in case of power failure, but use the wall current most of the time.

 

[Stemlin]

paulr,

I use the radio in a portable manner, carrying it around the house during the day for news, talk radio, etc. Anyway, I want to have a radio loaded with batteries for power outages. Thanks to everyone for the help. I will try the AA in adapter option and see how it works. I bought some of the new Rayovac hybrids for general use and will give them a try.

 

[eluminator]

I used to use my SuperRadio that way. I also got tired of buying 6 D cells. Now I leave it plugged in, in my bedroom. I have another radio in the living room.

Using AA to D adaptors sounds like a good idea. You may find that the cells will discharge too far and the weakest one be damaged due to a reverse charge. Unfortunately there is no battery monitor on the radio. At least if one does become damaged it will be a lot cheaper to replace than if you used rechargeable D cells.

I have a CCrane CCradio in the living room. As that only takes 4 D cells, I bought 4 a few years ago. I learned the hard way that the weakest one could be damaged. It now has about 90% of the capacity of the other three. Because the CCRadio has a battery monitor, I learned that if I recharge when the battery monitor display changes from two dots to one dot, the cells won't be damaged any further. Unfortunately this is one of the original radios with the bad LCD display. The battery monitor display worked long after nothing else worked. Alas, now even that is invisible, so I now run this one on AC power also. But I still have the 4 D cells charged and sitting in the refrigerator in case I lose AC power.

Oh yeah, I have 6 alkaline D cells in the fridge also, should I need them in the good old SuperRadio.

 

[Brock]

I have run rechargeables in my super radio. Works fine. I would strongly recommend enloops because of the self discharge rate. If I use regular batteries I can go about 2 weeks, enloops I can go about 6 weeks. If you don't mind recharging them once a week regular NiMH are cheaper. The funny thing is I get about 3 weeks on 8500mA NiMH D cells and about 2 weeks on 2000mA AA cells and 6 weeks on the AA enloops. Of course it depends on how much you use it and how loud you have it set.

 

[pedalinbob]

I understand the love for the Superradio, but I decided to get the Sony ICF-36. Cost is about $20 - $25, and is a very nice radio. It is AM/FM, weather, TV.

Reception is good, sound is nice, it is pretty loud, easy to replace antenna, and it uses 4AA or self-stowed AC plug. I use rechargeables, and only change them every 2-3 weeks.

Just a thought!

 

[Quantumstate]

Reception is good, sound is nice, it is pretty loud, easy to replace antenna, and it uses 4AA or self-stowed AC plug. I use rechargeables, and only change them every 2-3 weeks.

... and it'll last only about three years.

 

[eluminator]

... and it'll last only about three years.

What happens after three years?

 

[bill_n_opus]

What happens after three years?

It gets struck down by the hand of God.

*just kidding* I have no idea what happens after 3 years. I'm assuming that the inference was that the quality wasn't the same for the Sony product ...

 

[Sub_Umbra]

We have a CCradio and a GE SR-III running on alkalines and another of each running on 7,000 mAH NiCad Ds from Amondo. The oldest CCRadio has alkalies inside but it's always plugged into the wall. The other three are only run on batteries. It's working pretty well for us. The pair that are running on NiCads have been running about forty five days and haven't been recharged yet. The Ds from Amondo were only $5 each.