[E2] Batteries. Which is the best? Please share your stats.

[dutchcow]

I'm curious as to what type/brand of batteries you use and how long they last on average. I've read that rechargeable batteries from Eneloops are the bees knees. But maybe not in the E2. So before investing in those I'd like to know what kind of milage you get from your batteries. I'm sure this info will help narrowing down the best batteries for the E2.

As a cheapskate, I was using a house brand of low self-discharge batteries of about 2000 mAh and high capacity of the same brand of about 2500 mAh and they lasted pretty much the same period of time; 3-4 hours of light usage with headphones and power savings enabled.

I've also read a good charger can make all the difference. La Crosse BC-700 seems the best buy. The same model is also being sold as store brands in some stores. I'm curious to find out what charger and batteries you use (brand/type/mAh) and how long they usually last.

Thank you for participating and I promise I will not try to sell you batteries or chargers via PM

[troxx]

Yeah, I was wondering the same, as I've heard the average seems to be 4 hours but noticed somewhere that a user got around 6 hours on batteries, can't remember where I seen the post now.

Anyways, I haven't used the E2 with batteries yet, i'm going to dig out my battery charger and give it a go, I want to take it out to the park when its awesome weather as it is in the UK at the moment.

[Steinberger]

Eneloop batteries and a Powerex charger here. Buy 12 and you've got no worries. They discharge most like a good alkaline than any other rechargeable I've ever used. Had them for a couple years too and use them in everything from a handheld CB, GPS, SQ-1 and the Electribe. I use the Powerex to run a condition profile against them every few months. I think I charge them at 400-500mAh.

[apapdop]

I use two sets of Energizer rechargeables, 2500mAh along with a bog standard Energizer charger. Nothing fancy at all, all purchased from Asda. Very rarely to i use mains power. Never get less than 4 hours out of a set, that's with power saving features disabled.

Marvellous...

[eightysix]

The Eneloop Pro batteries are pretty long lasting. These last me a week with about an hour of use per day. Two sets, 12x, keep you covered.

[s3kn0tr0n1c]

eneloops for me....1 charger, 12 batteries....

prob get 4-5hours per set of 6

[DR.DR]

We just purchased this MaHa C-9000 battery charger. 60 bucks in Canada. It will cycle NiMH and NiCAD for you. Slow charge, full discharge, full charge. It takes a while - but preliminary results are encouraging - one of my pairs was only holding 300 MAH and it got it back up to 2100 MAH.

This was the difference between 45 minutes of battery life on the E2 and (thus far) two hours on the E2 with the indicator LED still on "Full."

[sl23]

.....

[apapdop]

Note that rechargable batteries need a few charge cycles before reaching max capacity. Li-ion are best, then Ni-mH, Ni-Cad's don't last and have a last used memory, this means that over their lifetime they lose a little capacity on each charge. Basically, what happens is that when you recharge a Ni-Cad it should be fully discharged or it 'remember's' it's state of discharge. If it discharged down to 15% full capacity, it will make a mark and so continually doing this will after a time make this it's full discharge threshold instead of the 0% it should be. Sort of like burn-in on CRT monitors. Personally, I'd steer well clear of Ni-Cad's, they're old technology that has been superceded.

I believe Duracell offer an alkaline charger which charges normal alkaline batteries (Duracell only?), though never used it myself. Alkaline's last longer than Ni-Cad and Ni-mH, not sure if they out perform Li-ion though? That's my experience anyway!

Very useful info!!

[bladuck]

Sl23 how li-ion can help us ? I'd love to hear more ....