Questions From A Newbie

Questions From A Newbie





I have recently become interested in rechargeable batteries and chargers
as one means of having sustainable light during times of disaster particularly
the grid going down. Since, I don't believe in having only one type of battery or light,
I also have several LED's as well as a maglite flashlight and many Duracell batteries.


I have been slowly building up my supply of NImH Energizer batteries.
I have already purchased an Energizer charger for AA, AAA, C & D
batteries as well as a solar charger. Would you take the time to answer
a few questions that I can't seem to find answers to.



- If my lantern uses 8 D batteries, do I keep 8 NImH batteries always
together as a group for the lantern? In other words do the same
batteries get charged together and always placed together in the
lantern?



- Is storage any different for the NImH than for the traditional
battery?



- Since my intent is to use the NImH in three lanterns which would
total 16 batteries, I felt that having 32 NImH batteries would be
an adequate goal. Am I crazy to have that amount? Do I need
more or less?



Thanks in advance!
Schoolmarm

Welcome to CPF!
Have you visited batteryuniversity.com A great resource to get started. I'll let more experienced people do the answering.

Rechargeables are great for lots of constant/daily use. However, if you want to feed rechargeables into all these lights "for emergencies only", you may find that months down the road (when you need them), the lights might not work as well - they self-discharge with time. If you'll keep tabs on your batts and top them off often, etc. you'll be OK, though. Anyway, just a thought.

How long are these outtages you're planning for? That'll give you an idea of how many batts you need.

Welcome to CPF.
I'll second GreenLED's suggestions and comments. Especially on consulting the experts, of which I do not claim to be, but... If you really want to have an "emergency stash" it's good to have low discharge Alkalines on hand, or even better, very low discharge (store for 10 years) Lithium batteries. If you have a few sets of NiMH that you are regularly keeping charged, and/or cycling through use and storage, then you will probably be OK.
I got a solar panel (part of my first CPF inspired purchase) for a long term emergency backup to charge batteries, but have not tried it yet, except to maintain a car battery. Have you tried to charge NiMH with it yet?

Blindasabat said:

Welcome to CPF.
I'll second GreenLED's suggestions and comments. Especially on consulting the experts, of which I do not claim to be, but... If you really want to have an "emergency stash" it's good to have low discharge Alkalines on hand, or even better, very low discharge (store for 10 years) Lithium batteries. If you have a few sets of NiMH that you are regularly keeping charged, and/or cycling through use and storage, then you will probably be OK.
I got a solar panel (part of my first CPF inspired purchase) for a long term emergency backup to charge batteries, but have not tried it yet, except to maintain a car battery. Have you tried to charge NiMH with it yet?

Click to expand...

No, I literally just received it this week. As you know, since we live in the
same area, the weather at the moment is not conducive for a solar charger.
What I plan to do is to wait for more consistent sunlight and try the
solar charger then. I am using the Energizer charger in the house right now.
Energizer Lithium batteries are next on my list.

Blindasabat and greenLED, thank you for the welcome. I am completely
fascinated ,all of a sudden , by the subjects here. I hope no one minds
a woman,who knows nothing ,on board.

Roxann,

A word of caution on the Energizer batteries - don't bother with their C & D cells, they're just a shell around a sub-C cell. You'll notice even their D cell is only rated at 2500 mah, less than some AAs.

Keep the charger you have and get some proper Cs and Ds from batterystation or Amondotech, they're high capacity and high current, you'll be much happier.

If the batteries are the same capacity, you probably don't always have to use them as a strict group. You can charge them seperately and use them in seperate lights, but when you do put them into the big lanter, maker sure they're all at the same state of charge. i.e. don't put 4 fully charged and 4 half charged cells into the lantern; you'll run down the half ones first, and might overdrain them.

Oh yeah, welcome!

I'd use the rechargeables for day to day usage, and store primary (alkaline, LIon, etc) for emergency usage. Having a solar charger is okay, but it would be better if it also worked from automotive cigar lighter power, and via an AC adapter, as the electrical resources are more effective for charging. And with the exception of the doomsday scenario, there is likely to be ether AC or auto battery power available in the event of an emergency (and if there isn't, there are the primaries until you can find some source for power.)

I have not finished my solar panel trial on maintaining my summer car battery. I have had it on almost six weeks and the weather is warming, so I will have to try it soon, though this weekend is supposed to be in the 40's.
I didn't know you were in this area, your post header has no location. Not even "en route" similar to GreenLED. :shakehead Where are you?
Even in overcast weather you can leave depleted NiMH's in the solar charger for several days to trickle charge. It is a very good idea to check them on a battery tester a couple of times each day, or more on very bright days to reduce the risk of overcharge and leakage. Plus, with a tester you will know when your stored backup batteries need to be topped off.
We are all still learning, and we are an international and diverse crowd (I just received a Q3 mod part from Bangkok, Thailand today, and I didn't even know where I had ordered it from), so everyone fits in. I am new myself, lurking since Dec, joined in January, and just now preparing to do my first semi-involved mod. This place is a good reference for people interested in finding just one good light, a discussion area for true flashaholics, and everything in-between.
One of those internet places you never knew existed until you got here...

Roxann said:

No, I literally just received it this week. As you know, since we live in the
same area, the weather at the moment is not conducive for a solar charger.
What I plan to do is to wait for more consistent sunlight and try the
solar charger then. I am using the Energizer charger in the house right now.
Energizer Lithium batteries are next on my list.

Blindasabat and greenLED, thank you for the welcome. I am completely
fascinated ,all of a sudden , by the subjects here. I hope no one minds
a woman,who knows nothing ,on board.

Click to expand...

Roxann, a lot of us started "from scratch". I'm still learning, and if you hand me the parts for a hotwire mod, I'd go and send it off to milkyspit nana

A couple of links for you to spend some time on: theledmuseum.org and flashlightreviews.com Both sites are maintained by CPF'ers, and have loads of info. There's quite a few lights that you could use for emergency purposes that are reviewed there.

Also, don't let the price of 123's at the local stores scare you, they're available on-line for $1 or so each (check the CPF Specials list on my sigline for more low prices on what you need). Their storage life is about 10yrs, and they work in very cold conditions (alkalines don't, for example) which makes them great for emergency situations.

A couple of my favorite lights for "emergencies" are the Infinity lights. They're now made by Gerber and use a single AA battery. Worth looking into. On the CR123 front, check out the Inova X5 - sucks those batteries dry.

Keep asking questions, we don't mind at all.

Blindasabat said:

I have not finished my solar panel trial on maintaining my summer car battery. I have had it on almost six weeks and the weather is warming, so I will have to try it soon, though this weekend is supposed to be in the 40's.
I didn't know you were in this area, your post header has no location. Not even "en route" similar to GreenLED. :shakehead Where are you?
Even in overcast weather you can leave depleted NiMH's in the solar charger for several days to trickle charge. It is a very good idea to check them on a battery tester a couple of times each day, or more on very bright days to reduce the risk of overcharge and leakage. Plus, with a tester you will know when your stored backup batteries need to be topped off.
We are all still learning, and we are an international and diverse crowd (I just received a Q3 mod part from Bangkok, Thailand today, and I didn't even know where I had ordered it from), so everyone fits in. I am new myself, lurking since Dec, joined in January, and just now preparing to do my first semi-involved mod. This place is a good reference for people interested in finding just one good light, a discussion area for true flashaholics, and everything in-between.
One of those internet places you never knew existed until you got here...

Click to expand...

I am in Ferndale. Where are you?

East side of Farmington Hills.

Roxann said:

I am in Ferndale. Where are you?

Click to expand...

Blindasabat said:

East side of Farmington Hills.

Click to expand...

lol I taught high school there.