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Substituting NiMH and NiCD for Alkaline?

J

Jason Ducharme

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I am currently in South Korea and have been looking for rechargeable
alkaline batteries for my digital camera. It's an HP 620 and is
supposed to run on 4 x AA Alkaline batteries. Back in North America I
was using rechargeable alkaline batteries that I bought at Walmart,
but I can't find these anywhere over here.

I have, however, found rechargeable AA NiCD and NiMH batteries. Is it
ok to go ahead and use these in place of the alkalines, or will this
damage my camera?

Thanks in advance,

Jason Ducharme
 
K

Ken Weitzel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jason said:
Hi,

I am currently in South Korea and have been looking for rechargeable
alkaline batteries for my digital camera. It's an HP 620 and is
supposed to run on 4 x AA Alkaline batteries. Back in North America I
was using rechargeable alkaline batteries that I bought at Walmart,
but I can't find these anywhere over here.

I have, however, found rechargeable AA NiCD and NiMH batteries. Is it
ok to go ahead and use these in place of the alkalines, or will this
damage my camera?

Thanks in advance,

Jason Ducharme

Hi Jason...

Photography is my life long hobby; digital for the last
several years... many cameras :)

Buy yourself a set of NiMh's - I guarantee you won't
be sorry; you'll never look back :)

Don't even consider NiCad's, they won't work at all.
(the camera will "say" they're dead even when fully
charged)

And while you still have only one set of NiMh's,
save a set of the "dead" alkalines. Put them
in the camera while the NiMh's are recharging
so that the camera doesn't forget it's settings.
(Even virtually dead batteries will do, it requires
very little to save the settings)

Oh, one more tiny thing... I'm a way overprotective
grandfather, so if you have youngsters in your
life keep them away from the NiMh's. And while
they're not in the camera store them properly
so they can't possibly short anything, like each
other, or keys in the pocket, etc. The internal
impedance is so low that they'll dump trememdous
current for a short while. (I have a burn mark on
my leg to prove it)

Hope this helps, lemme know if you can use more info.

Take care.

Ken
 
E

eddumweer

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jason Ducharme said:
Hi,

I am currently in South Korea and have been looking for rechargeable
alkaline batteries for my digital camera. It's an HP 620 and is
supposed to run on 4 x AA Alkaline batteries. Back in North America I
was using rechargeable alkaline batteries that I bought at Walmart,
but I can't find these anywhere over here.

I have, however, found rechargeable AA NiCD and NiMH batteries. Is it
ok to go ahead and use these in place of the alkalines, or will this
damage my camera?

Thanks in advance,

Jason Ducharme

It couldn't damage your camera, but if it's not manifactured for operation
with rechargebles it could happen that it operate shorter because the
voltage for rechargebles is 1.2V instead of 1.5 for alkaline.

Greetings Peter
 
A

Allodoxaphobia

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am currently in South Korea and have been looking for rechargeable
alkaline batteries for my digital camera. It's an HP 620 and is
supposed to run on 4 x AA Alkaline batteries. Back in North America I
was using rechargeable alkaline batteries that I bought at Walmart,
but I can't find these anywhere over here.

I have, however, found rechargeable AA NiCD and NiMH batteries. Is it
ok to go ahead and use these in place of the alkalines, or will this
damage my camera?

You'll be far happier with NiMH batteries in digital camera use
versus alkaline. Don't EVEN consider NiCads.

Using Google Groups, search "NiMH" in rec.photo.digital
Limit your search to just discussions in the last 3-4 months.
Using NiMH in digital cameras is one of the *biggest* FAQ's on
usenet. :) Every new digital camera owner shows up on
rec.photo.digital without ever reading _any_ of the archives
and asks "Can I use NiMH in my digital camera?" Occurs about
three times per day.

Probably, in your case, you should look for a wallwart-style
charger that works on "all" volts and "all" cycles: The
Pansonic BQ-390 fits that bill -- running on 100-240VAC - 50-60 cps -
charging from 1-to-4 AA's at a time. And, its mains plug folds into
the case for compact, puncture-free packing in luggage.

HTH
Jonesy
 
H

H. Dziardziel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I am currently in South Korea and have been looking for rechargeable
alkaline batteries for my digital camera. It's an HP 620 and is
supposed to run on 4 x AA Alkaline batteries. Back in North America I
was using rechargeable alkaline batteries that I bought at Walmart,
but I can't find these anywhere over here.

I have, however, found rechargeable AA NiCD and NiMH batteries. Is it
ok to go ahead and use these in place of the alkalines, or will this
damage my camera?

Thanks in advance,

Jason Ducharme

Rechargeable alkalines are manufactured and sold in Korea under
the Alcava brand but the packaging may be all in Korean (can't
remember). They are found in all hypermarkets, department stores
and most convenience stores.

As others have suggested NiMh are the way to go but if the camera
shuts off too soon because of the lower NiMh voltage no harm done.
Try brand manufacturers like Panasonic, Sanyo etc.
 
E

Eric R Snow

Jan 1, 1970
0
Rechargeable alkalines are manufactured and sold in Korea under
the Alcava brand but the packaging may be all in Korean (can't
remember). They are found in all hypermarkets, department stores
and most convenience stores.

As others have suggested NiMh are the way to go but if the camera
shuts off too soon because of the lower NiMh voltage no harm done.
Try brand manufacturers like Panasonic, Sanyo etc.
My Pentax camera uses two NiMH batteries. The manual says that
alkalines are OK but will not last long. Apparently, the NiMH
batteries have a flatter discharge curve so the voltage doesn't drop
much until the battery is almost dead, The typical Duracell, etc.
batteries last only about 1/3 as long as the 1800 mah NiMH batteries
in this camera. But they will still work in a flashlight. When the
NiMH batteries won't power the camera anymore they won't work in the
maglite anymore either.
ERS
 
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