Which rechargables?

[Certa Cito]

I've been reading loads of great reviews about Sanyo's Eneloop cells, I ordered a 4 pack of 2000mAh eneloops last night but now I'm starting to wonder if I made the right choice.

Here's the reason why;
Low self discharge is not a priority, my priority is high capacity.
I use the cells in my lenser P14 when I'm on night shifts, and it's not uncommon to be in use for most of the night.
The cells get put on charge when I get home in the morning, and go back into the torch 12hrs later (fully charged), ready for night ahead.
They're not going to be charged, then left in a kitchen drawer waiting to be used for 9 months.

The question is; Will I benefit from eneloops for this routine, or will I be better off with high mAh NiMh cells?

Basicaly, I need the biggest run time possible.

Any suggestions?

 

[brted]

Eneloops will be fine for that purpose. One advantage of them is they can be charged more cycles than most batteries without losing their capacity. Even if you bought some 2700 mAh batteries, most are more like 2500 or less, so you don't get a whole lot more runtime than you would from Eneloops which are always right at or barely under 2000 mAh. You can't go wrong with Eneloops.

I'm not sure which high capacity NiMHs people would recommend but I have had some Sanyo 2700's for a couple of years that still hold 2500 mAh on a charge. I know others have had problems with them though. I also had some offbrand "2900 mAh" batteries that were really around 800 mAh and were disposed of.

 

[PolarBearX]

here's what I'd do each night if circumstance allows...for long nights like that, I'd run the eneloops through a 15 min charger during your break before they discharge, should take 5 minutes or so depending...they won't even get hot...

... I have 2500 mAh energizers that are ~5 years old, ran them through my 15 minute charger countless times, even let them totally drain which I don't do with my eneloops, and they still perform well...they have been known to get hot where the eneloops don't seem to.

PBX

 

[Mr Happy]

If you are really going to be running your cells down and recharging them daily then you need robust cells. Eneloops are very robust. The higher capacity cells tend to be more fragile and may not take that kind of workload for a long time before failing.

Two other things to take care of are the quality of your charger (a 12 hour trickle charger may not give the best long term performance), and also make sure not to run the batteries too low before recharging. An easy way to damage NiMH cells in a multi-cell light is to run them until the light dims before recharging.

 

[march.brown]

I would also suggest Eneloops (or Hybrios or the GP ReCykos), and I would change the cells when you have a break or when you report back to the office whether they need it or not ... It only takes a few seconds to swop the cells for fresh ones ... Keep a pack of fresh cells in your pocket when you are out, just in case ... The others (two sets) can be left in the office ... I personally wouldn't bother charging cells on site.

Obviously you have a back-up torch "just in case" ... Make sure your backup (preferably) uses the same cells ... The iTP A2 gets great reviews.

You may need a better charger that will charge one to four cells rather than a one that only charges two or four ... If your job really demands that you need to use a torch, I would be inclined to have another main torch in case the other fails ... Sort of belt and braces.

Plus of course the EDC one.
.

 

[Certa Cito]

Thanks for the info guys.
I think I'll use my current energizer 2500's as my back up batteries, and the eneloops as my main ones. If I'm impressed with the eneloops I'll order some more to use in my backup light, (myo xp).
I don't often get chance to get back and top up my batteries, we're on the go all shift most days, often stuck out in all sorts of miserable weather (especially in winter) with no shelter from the elements.:mecry:
Beats being nailed to a desk 9 till 5 though!

 

[csa]

Agree 100% about being nailed to a desk!

You'll like the eneloops. As others have said, in the long run they're going to be better for your use case, as they're not so fragile.

2000mah in your pocket is going to be more power than you'll ever get by trying to find some cells with 300ma more capacity.