It's well before daylight and I just got back from walking the dogs and it reminded me..

[Fumesucker]

I use a flashlight a lot, no streetlights here and I have two dogs that really like walks so I'm outside at night in pitch black at least twice a night and often three or more times in the winter when the nights are long, we have a lot of trees so even the full moon still leaves a lot of inky shadows.

My Maglite LED flashlight was a bit dim when I came back home this morning so I went to the charger to swap out the cells for fresh ones and it hit me that I've been using the same AA rechargeables for four years now and they still work about as well as they did new, I get about a week of dog walking bright light from two cells before changing them, which my charger tells me is when they drop to about 1.25 V, from the 1.51 or so they are when they come off the charger.

Four years ago I spent what is quite a bit of money for me on some top quality AA rechargeable batteries and the best charger for them, at the time I was using two big external electronic flashes with my camera and they chewed through AA alkaline cells at a remarkable rate and the cheap rechargeables and a cheap charger turned out to be money wasted so I did the research and found the best rechargeables and charger.

As much as I use a flashlight I would have spent more on buying disposables by now than I did on four good rechargeable cells and the charger to properly maintain them, that's not even addressing the environmental impact of the discarded cells or the fact I still use an external flash from time to time.

As I said in another thread, everything from now on is just lagniappe..

The cells? Sanyo Eneloops.

The charger? La Crosse Technology BC-700 Alpha.

[uppityperson]

1. Thanks for the recommendation. I got some cheap rechargebles and they are a pain

[Phentex]

2. I confess. This goes back to the frugal/cheap thread about being organized...

I have tried rechargeable batteries for different things and ended up not being on top of where the chargers were kept, especially when my kids were little. People would forget to charge them or they'd get lost. And they are a pretty expensive investment IF you are not going to use them properly.

This would make a lot of sense now that we use flashlights on a regular basis. I bought some Eco-i-lites flashlights at Costco that are also nightlights and automatically come on when we lose power. They have been very handy so far.

[Fumesucker]

4. Kids toys will often destroy rechargeables..

Motorized toys are really rough because most rechargeable cells don't like to be run down completely to zero volts, it damages them and kids will run the toy until the batteries croak. Even the best cells won't stand up to that kind of abuse for long unfortunately.

In electronics rechargeables don't normally get that sort of abuse, the electronics will shut off before the cells get down to zero volts, usually well before. LED flashlights also won't run cells down to zero volts even if you leave them turned on for a long time, not so with regular bulbs, leave it on and you can kill your cells.

[Sherman A1]

3. Thanks for Posting

Frugal is about getting the best value for the price as you know.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Thanks. This is the kind of thing most of us think about.

We want value when we spend money. I am glad this is working so well for you, and I am amazed at how long you have had the same batteries with all that use. Good investment!

[freshwest]

6. Thanks for the tip. I used to do rechargeables and then... IDK. Haven't found a decent recharger.

I'll check those out. I hate to have to store batteries for the annual collection in a tub and have them leak. I refuse to toss them until I can dispose of them properly. And buying more is just dumb, I think.