I have the Rayovac renewal power station model PS-2. Rayovac does not make the cells anymore. Pure energy visions offers the energy XL cell. they tell me i cant use my charger and must buy theirs.Can anyone tell me where to get cells i can use with my charger ?
rechargable alkaline cells
- Thread starter bp044
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matrixshaman
Flashlight Enthusiast
Back when they first started making rechargeable alkalines I checked into this a bit. It seems there is no difference in rechargeable alkalines and regular alkalines except the tip of the battery was shaped for a particular charger thus preventing people from putting their regular alkalines into the charger. I compared the supposed rechargeable alkalines to regular ones with a Saitek charger I have that can charge 'regular' alkalines and found no difference between the two types. I've seen chargers on eBay that can charge regular alkalines for reasonable price.
matrixshaman said:
Please don't recharge standard alkalines. They're much more prone to leakage during subsequent discharges, and the additional capacity you'd get out of them is minimal. The fire risk is not just BS. It's a possibility, though unlikely, but why take the chance?
Rayovac rechargeable alkaline cells (RAM cells) had a different separator material, different cathode formulation, and different zinc loading and potassium hydroxide concentration in the anode. All these things were needed to get at least a few decent discharge / recharge cycles out of the cells.
During a recharge cycle, zinc oxide in the anode will get reduced back to metallic zinc plate back onto existing zinc particles, forming spikes. RAM cell separator material is designed to prevent these spikes from growing through to the cathode and shorting the cell internally. Normal alkaline cells have nothing to prevent this from happening.
greg_in_canada
Flashlight Enthusiast
Great answer MorePower.
The PureEnergy cells and chargers are easy to get here in Canada but I've stopped buying them (I still have dozens in use in the kids' toys* however). NiMh cells have more capacity and low self-discharge ones like Eneloop eliminate their main weakness (IMO) so that's my plan for future battery buying.
* My strategy was to use PureEnergy cells in low-draw toys that turned themselves off automatically. For motorized toys or ones that didn't turn off automatically I used (old) nicads or (new) nimh cells.
Greg
Greg
The PureEnergy cells and chargers are easy to get here in Canada but I've stopped buying them (I still have dozens in use in the kids' toys* however). NiMh cells have more capacity and low self-discharge ones like Eneloop eliminate their main weakness (IMO) so that's my plan for future battery buying.
* My strategy was to use PureEnergy cells in low-draw toys that turned themselves off automatically. For motorized toys or ones that didn't turn off automatically I used (old) nicads or (new) nimh cells.
Greg
Greg
One of the best rated battery chargers is the Accumanager 20. This has been tested by Silverfox on a CPF thread. It charges rechargable alkaline batteries. I use it with my Pure energy XL cells, as well as my other cells. I like the Pure Energy XL batteries because they were the first cells that did not drain over time. I still buy them.
VidPro
Flashlight Enthusiast
the ray-o-vac (renewal) charger that i have was FAST, it was to fast in my opinion. it would heat up the batterys in it.
i altered it with foil to defy the thing and used it to charge other batterys , and it was fast and mean on them also. the whole technology was not at all for me, if you totally discharged the battery, it was garbage.
so when you ask about using the renewal charger on some other (rechargable) alkaline, i gotta wonder if the charge rate itself, didnt add to the short life of the entire technology for ray-o-vac. AND for me.
for me that was one expencive set of junk. i wanted to use it where self discharge would not be an issue, stuff that you dont change alkies for long times, and only after the battery is totally dead. i might have got 5 cycles on average out of the whole set.
it would be good for the constant topping off of a lesser used battery.
i altered it with foil to defy the thing and used it to charge other batterys , and it was fast and mean on them also. the whole technology was not at all for me, if you totally discharged the battery, it was garbage.
so when you ask about using the renewal charger on some other (rechargable) alkaline, i gotta wonder if the charge rate itself, didnt add to the short life of the entire technology for ray-o-vac. AND for me.
for me that was one expencive set of junk. i wanted to use it where self discharge would not be an issue, stuff that you dont change alkies for long times, and only after the battery is totally dead. i might have got 5 cycles on average out of the whole set.
it would be good for the constant topping off of a lesser used battery.
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I agree with the assessment that the Rayovac was hard on the Rechargable Alkaline batteries. That is why I was suprised when I bought the highly rated Accumanager 20 and read in the instructions that it would charge the Pure Energy, and Rayovacs. The Accumanager 20 charges the Rayovacs, and Pure Energy with no, or marginal heat. To me the Rechargable Alkaline batteries are perfect for low amp AA lights that are not used often. These lights perform better than with NiMHs with the higher voltage the Rechargable alkalines provide.
The Pure Energy cells test 1.60+ open voltage on a DIMM, and I use my ZTS MBT-1 to verify performance. They definately have a niche in the AA cell world.
The Pure Energy cells test 1.60+ open voltage on a DIMM, and I use my ZTS MBT-1 to verify performance. They definately have a niche in the AA cell world.
freeze12
Enlightened
I still have 18 AAA's unopened 4 packs of Renewals and 7 4 packs of AA's I am willing to get rid of depending where You are as I am in Buffalo,NY.bp044 said:
I am in new york city.I can only use the AA,s.Can you let me know how much per pack including shipping ?If you prefer my email is [email protected] I never had overheating with the PS-2
My renewal charger worked fine while it worked. It died and left me with a bunch of batteries, I hung on to them for a couple years as I NiMH weren't working for my due to the self discharge. If you had asked just a couple months ago I could have sent you a whole bunch but I threw them away and bought a bunch of the new LSD NiMH since they finally fixed the discharge issue.
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