finally doing my part (rechargeable batteries)

[mineblaster]

After many years of just buying a dirty cheap 30pack of batteries every couple of months.

 

I made the the swap and the investment for a big stack of enderloops. I always felt bad for just chucking away batteries once their done. It really dose seem to be a big waste.

 

There will always be environmental impact (raw materials vs energy wasted recharging)

 

Not sure if anyone else has felt this way but I finally had enough when I needed some batteries for health monitoring AND THEIR FLIPPING FLAT.

 

Got enough to change out everything in the house and replace once the old ones runout. Just wondering what others opinions are or even if somrone has had similar considerations.

[DreamCat04]

35 minutes ago, mineblaster said:

After many years of just buying a dirty cheap 30pack of batteries every couple of months.

 

I made the the swap and the investment for a big stack of enderloops. I always felt bad for just chucking away batteries once their done. It really dose seem to be a big waste.

 

There will always be environmental impact (raw materials vs energy wasted recharging)

 

Not sure if anyone else has felt this way but I finally had enough when I needed some batteries for health monitoring AND THEIR FLIPPING FLAT.

 

Got enough to change out everything in the house and replace once the old ones runout. Just wondering what others opinions are or even if somrone has had similar considerations.

Did you mean AA batteries? There are NiMh batteries, though they're 1.2V vs the 1.5V that the devices are expecting, so the devices will be "empty" much sooner, even though there's still a little left in the batteries. Putting a full NiMh battery into my quest 2 controller, the controller shows 50% battery. There are rechargeable li-ion AA batteries that can recharge via USB-C

[AndrewAsd]

Eneloops are pretty expensive. I just bought cheap rechargeable batteries, either EBL or Amazon Basics and have been using them for a couple of years with no problems. I don't see much sense in spending 3-4 times as much just for some batteries.

[BobVonBob]

For anyone looking at NiMH rechargeable batteries, IKEA's LADDA batteries are probably white-label Eneloops available for a much more attractive price.

I haven't problems with the lower starting voltage of NiMH batteries, but, as you found out, it can be a concern for devices that only work on the very top end of the AA/AAA battery voltage curve. It's worth noting that standard alkaline batteries also drop to the same voltage range as NiMH batteries pretty quickly once in use, so that device would probably be best served by lithium disposable or lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, both of which maintain a higher voltage for more of their life.

[leclod]

2 hours ago, DreamCat04 said:

the controller shows 50% battery

This is not normal.

I've had my brother reporting this (years ago), it was remedied by upgrading the charger.

[DreamCat04]

2 minutes ago, leclod said:

This is not normal.

I've had my brother reporting this (years ago), it was remedied by upgrading the charger.

The charger is one that can be switched from charging none-rechargeable batteries once to recharging NiMh, I think it's probably fine. For me it kinda makes sense for the controller to show 50% as the voltage of NiMh batteries (1.2V) is at around the halfway point between 1.5 and 1V

[leclod]

4 minutes ago, DreamCat04 said:

For me it kinda makes sense for the controller to show 50% as the voltage of NiMh batteries (1.2V) is at around the halfway point between 1.5 and 1V

There's an explanation for that argument, if I remember correctly it has to do with battery internal resistance.

[leclod]

(I meant the difference in voltage is offset by the difference in internal resistance)

Edited May 23 by leclod

[Echothedolpin]

Not trying to be a duck, but besides the voltage limitations of most rechargeables, they are generally not recyclable by most small scale plants and end up trashed or shipped off to a third world country and burned in the open air.  Single-use are very easily recyclable and even smaller scale plants can handle them safely.

 

There’s also the issue of toxicity: most rechargeables contain more toxic metals that require much more negative environmental impact to mine and process. 

The issue more so is what the end user does with the single use battery in the first place. IE: chuck it vs dropping them off .

 

Like I said, not trying to be a dick, but just trying to shed some light.