Originally Posted By: JohnN
Originally Posted By: Eugene
WRT Lithuim Ion, bad advice.


Thanks.

Quote:
Comsumer lithium Ion has average of ~300 cycle, costs more, takes even more complex chargers, limits the devices due to less standardization, etc. Look at my bob and gear pack now, I'd need to carry about 10 different chargers if I switched everything from AA to lithium Ion. CPF loves Lithuim Ion because they tend to use their gear every day, puts run time as the top priority, and had a flashlight centric view of batteries. If you include radios, GPS, etc then lithium ion becomes a poor choice.


I think you are misunderstanding. I didn't say lithium ion was perfect for every situation. In fact, *rechargeables* are not optimal for every situation.

But I also think you are professing a somewhat slanted view of the technology as well. Lithium ion is light, good power density, fairly easy to charge, holds its charge and works well in the cold.

When it comes to lithium ion I exclusively use 18650s and the neither charger nor the batteries were overly expensive.

I haven't burned a 123A in my flashlight for years now with this method, but I also have a 2x123A battery pack as a backup.

And it isn't flashlight specific. My Yaesu VX-5 uses a lithium ion pack by default, and it would probably be pretty darn heavy if it had enough rechargeable AA cells to do the job.

Quote:
loves Lithuim Ion because they tend to use their gear every day, puts run time as the top priority


These sound like good things. Of course, lithium ion is also good for devices you don't use often because of the almost nil self-discharge.

Yes, I understand there are cases where the duty cycle of NiMH is an advantage.

I mentioned I use NiMH too. I also use primary lithium AA and AAA and 123A cells.

Everything has trade offs. Pick the right tool for the job.

Quote:
Remember also that even though a charger may be multi channel, smart, etc that it still may not be a good charger. There are various methods used to determine a full charge and better chargers will combine two or more. Also charge within the recommended .5 to 1C, charging too fast generates heat which shortens the life, charging too slow makes the end of charge harder to detect and tends to result in overcharging. So stay away from "fast" or the "slow gentle" chargers.


Yep, not all chargers are designed equally. This is why I pointed to an actual empirical test of chargers.

-john


The self discharge of NiMH is about the same as low self discharge NiMH so no advantage there. They do weigh less but in anything that uses them in a pack such as GPS or radio you still need a special charger so the weight savings is lost there. Then figure in the cost of replacing the battery pack or cells about twice as often as NiMH even if they are not used since they deteriorate with age.
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