Batteries (AA etc)

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Welp, the results are in.

This weekends race is in the books, and a few fun things happened:

First, I got to test my scoring transponder since I plan on racing at the series finale in October. (It's 'the Race Ready system, uses RFID tech on a sticker placed under your helmet visor.) I managed for the first time to run five full laps (the length of our race motos) on our 1.5 mile track,and averaged a lap time of 2:40 (The really fast guys run 1:30 -1:35, but that's the young bucks classes.) I will be running with riders in the 50+ or 40+ classes.

I didn't know it until the races were on, but I was actually entered in the race! I only found out when I was announcing the lineup for Race 17 (of 22) and read my name off on the mike...(the program moves quickly and I name all the riders in the upcoming race whilst the preceding race is about to finish.) I found out that in order to time me the day before, I had to be an actual event entry or the system won't score. Now I have two DNS (Did Not Start) races on my record, which sucks.

Okay, back to the topic...

My Energizers as usual got weak around the midpoint of the day, so I switched to the brand new Duracells that the track bought for our two-way radios. Those pieces of lasted exactly TWO HOURS before going bad, I had to swap the weak Energizers BACK to finish the show.

So in conclusion, BOTH the Energizer Max and Duracells are total for use with a high draw device like a wireless mic. So to both of them. I will try the Energizer Lithiums this coming weekend, they had better work. ("I'm taking an awful risk Vader, this had better work." - The late Peter Cushing, Grand Moff Tarkin)

And before Mark chimes in suggesting rechargables, they won't work well in my application, as the mic must put out maximum allowable power due to the distances and ignition noise from the bikes.

As a funny side note, the track bought the Duras for our radios as I'd mentioned. The nice young lady who does our sign-ups replaced the rechargeable packs in three of the radios with the alkalines.....and put the radios back on the chargers! The next day the whole building stank, the three radios were blazing hot, and I had a very nasty mess to clean out. Unfortunately, all three radios are ruined from the leakage.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

And before Mark chimes in suggesting rechargables, they won't work well in my application, as the mic must put out maximum allowable power due to the distances and ignition noise from the bikes.

As a funny side note, the track bought the Duras for our radios as I'd mentioned. The nice young lady who does our sign-ups replaced the rechargeable packs in three of the radios with the alkalines.....and put the radios back on the chargers! The next day the whole building stank, the three radios were blazing hot, and I had a very nasty mess to clean out. Unfortunately, all three radios are ruined from the leakage.

Sounds like it's time to update the equipment, because you are beginning to have worse luck with dry cells.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Sounds like it's time to update the equipment, because you are beginning to have worse luck with dry cells.

Actually, my wireless mic is a Nady U1100HT that for the price (around $130) has the very best overall range and performance. It operates in the 480-500mhz space of the UHF band. I bought the exact same one for the track I was at this past weekend.

The mic is fine, it is the batteries that totally suck. When I bought the first of those mics ten years ago, I could easily get a practice day AND most of a race day on one set of batteries, i.e. Energizer Max. (I would change them at intermission on race day as a precaution.) But you saw what has happened in my last post, the ONLY thing that has changed in ten years is the batts.

Because of the abuse a mic takes at a hot, dusty mx track, I won't buy a more expensive system. I do have an old Telex wireless that set me back around $400 many years ago (early 1990's) that needs some work, I think the caps in the handheld have failed as it has low audio output and lots of distortion.


Nady suggests using AA alkaline or NiMH batteries. I could not find any reference to reduced output with the NiMH batts, so I might end up trying them out next.

I did pick up an 8 pack of the Energizer Lithiums, and will try those this weekend. It was expensive, as Leo said, around $3.25 per cell. But if they work reliably it is worth it.

PS: I think it was my old Audio-technica mic system that mentions reduced power output with rechargeables, it operates on a 9v cell but as I am writing this I can't recall if a 9v rechargeable has a lower output voltage.

Edit: On second reading, I think Mark was referring to the radios. Most are about tow-three years old (Midland Public band types) and one of the three ruined ones is less than a year old. The original rechargeable packs had gone bad, that's why she replaced them.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Tony, keep the voltage per cell ratings in mind when you choose... NIMH is 1.2... Ni-cads are also 1.2 volts... Lithium is 3.7 volts except for the Duracell versions... Alkaline should be 1.6 volts when brand new... The wrong lithiums will obviously damage the radio. I'm not so sure of those Duracell Lithium batteries that claim to be 1.5 volts. It would have more meaning if battery manufacturers specified capacity in amp hours like they do for car batteries. You could calculate the length a battery should last when it's fully charged based on the draw of the radio, or piece of gear. Hope this helps

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Tony, keep the voltage per cell ratings in mind when you choose... NIMH is 1.2... Ni-cads are also 1.2 volts... Lithium is 3.7 volts except for the Duracell versions... Alkaline should be 1.6 volts when brand new... The wrong lithiums will obviously damage the radio. I'm not so sure of those Duracell Lithium batteries that claim to be 1.5 volts. It would have more meaning if battery manufacturers specified capacity in amp hours like they do for car batteries. You could calculate the length a battery should last when it's fully charged based on the draw of the radio, or piece of gear. Hope this helps

Mark, just metered one of the new Energizer Lithiums, it is at 1.7v no load. Did you mean 1.7 instead of 3.7? I have used these same batteries in that wireless before with no issues whatsoever.

As for the radios, they take a rechargeable pack (I'll have to measure one next time I'm at that track, I will be at a different one this weekend.) If you use AA's it takes four of them per radio, so I am going to take a WAG that the rechargeable packs are 4.5 or 5 volts. (The wall warts for the charging bases are 5v.)

Thankfully, the track's radios are not really my responsibility. They get used and abused every race, more so than my mic does.

I agree with you on the specs. Would be mice if they put the (mA) hour capacity on the package. But sadly, most devices also don't specify the current draw.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

No... it's there just under Duracell name...

Lithium is 3.7 volts except for the Duracell versions... Alkaline should be 1.6 volts when brand new...

[Leo Enticknap]

For some reason, the mAH capacity is almost always specified on rechargeable AAs, but not on one-time batteries:
image.png

Agreed that it would be useful to see a claimed figure for one-time batteries, too.

Incidentally, you can now buy 1.5V lithium rechargeable AAs. $32 for 8 doesn't seem like a bad price to me, either. At $4 a battery, after around 10 charge/discharge cycles, you'd be ahead relative to buying one-time batteries.

[Dave Macaulay]

I tried lithium rechargeables for my LED flashlight and head lamp. Pretty good but consideably shorter life (not a big issue) but they each take 3 AAA cells and all the chargers I could find charged in pairs. Keeping track of discharged cels was a pain and extras were needed to get used pairs. Ended up using alkalines again.
I found a charger on Amazon with one to four cell charging and some higher capacity cells, only need 9 batteries now to always have a set ready.
Working out well. Life compares to alkaline, Charge goes fairly quickly.

[Leo Enticknap]

Seen at my local supermarket yesterday:

image.png

Twenty four bucks for one 9V one-time lithium battery! This compares to $3-4 for a regular alkaline one. As opined above, my only guess for the skyrocketing price of Energizer lithiums (of all models) is that demand for the ingredients has increased exponentially, for use in electric vehicle batteries.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Amazon has cheap lithium cells. Earlier this year I bought 4 D size Lithiums from them. I just looked and they are still $19.95 each. I've had them in my antique Self Winding clock since March and have not needed recharge yet. The clock only winds once an hour, but D size alkalines always needed to be switched out twice a year. The clock is supposed to be running on two of the round - 8 inch tall 1.5 volt lantern batteries which seem to be NLA.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Seen at my local supermarket yesterday:

image.png

Twenty four bucks for one 9V one-time lithium battery! This compares to $3-4 for a regular alkaline one. As opined above, my only guess for the skyrocketing price of Energizer lithiums (of all models) is that demand for the ingredients has increased exponentially, for use in electric vehicle batteries.

Yikes!! At that price you're better off buying 6 regular alkalines.

Don't know if you saw my post above but I did the the lithiums for the wireless and they were around $3.25 per cell. Best part is after I use them in the mic they still hold enough charge to go into my remotes so I get dual use out of them. I haven't done the hard math but I think it works out cheaper overall than buying alkalines for both applications.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Wanted to let you guys know of a new type of Lithium Ion Battery. They are known as LiFePO4 batteries. I recently bought a 6 volt 6000 ma from Amazon for !5 bucks. It came with a charger, leads that clip to the battery and connect to the charger. Am going to try this one in one my antique self winding clocks. They will last 5 to 10X longer than standard Lithium Ion and do not combust. I am going to give you a link below if you want to check out all the details of these type of batteries in depth., Hopefully Lithium fores are a thing of the past.