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Why rechargeable (AA/AAA) batteries not popular?

4 pointssunjain15y ago11 comments

I have been using these for a while. Good value for money and using these is more environment friendly(supposedly). It is difficult to find these in stores, can order it online only. Is it because of the alkaline battery maker's lobbying/deal with stores? Less profit for stores? Consumers don't care, not worth the hassle?

11 comments

9 comments · 4 top-level

archangel_one15y ago· 4 in thread

Too expensive, performance degrades over time, you have to have a charger for them and when they run out it takes hours before they're recharged, during which you can't use whatever it is that needed batteries.

pwg15y ago

Stcredzero's listed amazon AA batteries: $12.95 for four.

Another amazon listing for Duracell 4-pack Alkaline: 4.95 for four.

Rechargeable: $3.24 per battery

Alkaline: $1.24 per battery

3.24 divided by 1.24 = 2.61.

After 3 recharges, the rechargeable has now become cheaper than the alkaline battery. It seems difficult to believe the performance would degrade sufficiently after only 3 recharges to justify sticking with alkalines.

As for the lengthy recharge, the solution there is buy a second set. Keep one in the charger (a good one that goes to trickle when done), when you run down, swap. Result, no effective wait time for fresh power.

Travis15y ago

I recently purchased 3 sets of AA Energizer brand rechargables. They kept their charge in some of my electronics for all of 24 hours in many cases.

They seem like a great idea, but in my recent (last 2 years) experiment, the performance actually does degrade that quickly. It could have just been a bad batch, but it was 3 separate 4 packs of battteries, all with their own chargers.

EECS15y ago

You can find bulk batteries for cheap at Costco, Home Depot, and a ton of other stores. They sell them in 24, 36, 72 packs for almost nothing. And there are deals online that make them even more lucrative at times. Can't remember the last deal I got but I think it was like 72 AA batteries for like $9. While that's not typical, what is typical is spending less than $10 for Energizer or Duracell AA batteries around 24 to 36 packs. These are pretty common and each battery lasts pretty long.

On the flip side, as others have said, rechargeable are only good for the first week or two you have them if you use them a lot. The charge doesn't hold after awhile and they suck. The charger and the batteries are expensive compare to the non-rechargeable alternatives.

stcredzero15y ago

Also, the marketing has been damaged by the crappy batteries and chargers sold in drugstores and prevalent retail outlets. To buy good batteries, you need to buy the ones pro photographers use for AA powered devices, like these: http://amzn.com/B0009H5VVM

Unless you are doing something with high current applications, you probably want low self-discharge. It's really hard to beat Alkalines for batteries that last forever with low-current uses.

I've had a good experience with this: http://amzn.com/B0014KLX9C

It was able to charge my iPhone more than once. (Maybe 1 2/3rds of a charge?) Getting out the charger and transferring the batteries over was a pain, though. With the good NiHM batteries, it can also extend the endurance of my PHS300 mobile hotspot to 5 hours. (Even though it's not supposed to be able to!)

antimora15y ago· 1 in thread

Here is an article on this by Jeff Atwood on his "Coding Horror" blog.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/03/adventures-in-recha...

sunjainOP15y ago

Thanks. This is very helpful.

motters15y ago

I use these all the time in many gadgets. They're easy to find in supermarkets, so it depends where you live I suppose.

petervandijck15y ago

Stores have incentive to sell goods that expire fast.

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