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I've searched hi and lo (google) for a lithium battery charger and rechargable batteries - AA / AAA to no avail.
All the links are for either camera or laptop battery chargers. I tried "lithium battery charger," "Li-ion battery charger." If anyone can provide a source, I'd really appreciate it! ;)
Nimh's are what is readily available, though they're not as fancy as Li-ion's, they're much better than Nicad's.
Agree but Li-ions weigh much less and last much longer. I use 4 AAs in my SteriPen and 3 AAAs in my headlamp. The Li-ion weight difference for that many batteries (and backups) is significant, but price is very high. That's why I want to explore rechargables.
buckowens
11-26-2007, 14:26
This place has most batteries and chargers. I have a couple of the NiMh chargers and have always had good service. They are Thomas Distributing and are found at: http://www.thomasdistributing.com/
if you can use two or four AA batteries side by side in your device then perhaps a CR-V3 Li Ion rechargable might work for you - see http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html#crv3 for example
The Old Fhart
11-26-2007, 15:41
Summit-"I've searched hi and lo (google) for a lithium battery charger and rechargable batteries - AA / AAA to no avail."That is because the chemical reaction in the lithium AAA and AA is not reverse-able so these are called are primary cells and they are not rechargeable. The non-rechargeable lithium cells do have an initial voltage (1.7) slightly higher than the more common and cheaper alkaline cells (1.5) which is why you should not put lithium AAs in devices that warn against their use because they can burn out some electronic circuitry not designed to operate at their higher initial voltage.
There are new lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that are the same size as the AAA and AA batteries and these are called the 10440 and 14500 respectively. The numbers come from their metric size so a AA size lithium-ion battery (the 14500) is 14mmDx50.0mmL. There are new high power (3 watt) LED flashlights (https://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=3186)that use a CREE XR-E P4 (http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp7090_xre.asp) LED that have circuitry built in so they can run on one or two NI-MH (1.2V), alkaline (1.5V), lithium (1.7V), or a single 14500 (3.7V) cells with no changes. These new 3W flashlights are small and lightweight but are brighter than anything that size you've ever seen. Battery life can be short so many have a HI/MED/LO setting. 14500 batteries and chargers are available from several vendors including on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160123009986).
These new 3.7 volt lithium-ion batteries must not be used in older devices designed to operate on the 1.5 volt/cell alkaline batteries.
Nimh's are what is readily available, though they're not as fancy as Li-ion's, they're much better than Nicad's.
That depends on what you are doing and the availability of a charger. NIMH’s loose 30% of their charge per month, Nicad’s only about 15% per month. NIMH’s have more amps to use (when fully charged) but I find the ones I have (Energizer 2300 & 2500 mAh) almost useless with my digital camera. Unless I leave them in the charger they will not power my camera and it will shut down only a week after being removed from the charger. On the trail I think you would find them useless. NIMH Batteries are well suited to things that get topped off from a charger every day (like cell phones and computers) but not for things that are not plugged in every night to refresh the charge.
Sanyo now makes a new NIMH battery called Eneloop that has a self discharge rate of only 15% per year. These would seem to be the best choice when recharging is a long way away. Do a search on-line, there is a guy that die some extensive testing of Eneloop’s and posted the results on his web page.
Safety Central (http://www.safetycentral.com (http://www.safetycentral.com/)) has several solar battery chargers as does Harbor Tools. Having one of these with you on the trail will allow you to keep a charge in your batteries all the time.
Bungee it to the top of your pack while you walk.