Rechargable batteries

Several years ago, I recognized my children would probably use a lot of batteries in various devices to power their toys, and we would also need batteries for toothbrushes, flashlights, and other things. I knew that rechargeable batteries could conceivably save a lot of money, but my personal history up to that point with a few different attempts to go rechargeable had been unsuccessful.

This time, armed with the power of the internet and a willingness to invest in a good system that would hopefully pay off with thousands in savings over the coming decades, I set out to find and acquire batteries that would finally live up to the promise of consistently recharging and lasting a long time between charges. Years later, I am declaring success.

The batteries I chose are Eneloops from Sanyo. I bought over a dozen AA batteries. We've used them in a toy train, our Canon Powershot A480 camera, Oral-B Crossaction toothbrushes, Nintendo Wii controllers, and a few other toys the kids have had.

To this day, we've never had any of the batteries discharge more quickly than conventional batteries that you buy and throw away, unlike the silver Energizer rechargeable batteries I'd previously bought at Sam's Club, which discharge very quickly.  The Eneloops are supposed to hold a usable charge for up 3 years. This makes them perfect for using in devices that are only used a little at a time and that you don't want to have to think about the batteries on a regular basis.

To give you a good idea of how long these batteries last, we have gotten about 70 shots over the course of a couple of months from the Powershot camera. The toothbrushes only need to have the single AA battery charged every couple of months.

For charging your batteries, I cannot recommend highly enough the Maha MH-C401FS. We've had ours for years, and it works excellently. The slow charge mode keeps the temperature down, and that's an important part of keeping your batteries in good condition. It's important that your battery charger is capable of charging each battery independently, like the MD-C401FS. If you get one that isn't capable of this, then the charger will charge the battery with the highest charge to full, and the other battery will only get the same amount of charging, even if it started out at a much lower charge level. Thus, your battery might seem to have a lower charge level because one of the two batteries runs out of power. With the Maha, it will charge each battery over the 90% charge level regardless of the initial discharge amount. This is an investment that will protect your battery investment for years.

If you have a need for C or D size batteries, you can find spacers that you insert the AA battery into, and then use the AA batteries to power your devices that need larger sized batteries.

Eneloop AA or AAA batteries are available for 2.50 - 3.00 per battery, if you are patient and wait for a good price, but they are good for a thousand recharges and last for years.