Best AA Batteries for Strobes

Doing a bit of homework here, I just bought a YS-D1 Sea n sea Strobe light, will use disposables oversea and recharge here at home.

What are the best performing batteries for both disposable and rechargeable???

(heard things about sanyo enloops)

I can recommend GP NiMH 2700 (2600mA/h). Unlike many other rechargeables, they hold their charge for a long time. You can buy them cheap on e-bay.

For me it's definitely Eneloops. The 2100mA are very fast in strobes and are meant to have 1000 recharge-cycle life. The newer 2500mA pack more charge, thought the 'downside' is they are only meant to have around a 500 recharge-cycle life.

Get a decent charger too, as it's makes a big difference. Fast chargers are bad, too much heat is not good for the batteries.

The Imedion 2400mah are my faves. Hold their charge for long periods and rated for around a 1000 cycles. I

definitely agree that a good charger is very important with Rechargeable cells. That and treating them like eggs

as any drops onto hard surfaces will damage them and reduce capacity and life.

Cheers,

Jim.

Thanks for your advices

Went for these- Maha Powerex 9000 Battery Charger & 8 x AA IMEDION

What about buying disposable AA's- ones that sell at Tesco Lotus or 7/11, which ones last the longest and perform the best???

Cheers,

Damon

I would bring a light quick charger (or two) and use NiMHs on a trip as well. Alkaline batteries might be unpredictable and you might need loads. If you have two sets or more you can alternate between dives..

I just got a 9000 charger as well, i dont think it is that heavy, but lighter ones like the maha MH-C401FS or C204W are available...

Another vote for the eneloops , best I've ever used.

For effective and objective battery management you should really invest in a multi-channel intelligent charger and a pulse load tester. These are excellent:

http://www.ztsinc.com/minimbt.html

http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/technoline/t...oline-BL700.asp

HTH, Tim

Eneloops all the way.

The mh c9000 charger the original poster bought is similar to the suggested charger. It also has a breakin and a refresh and analyse cycle that does the capacity analysing.

The mh c9000 charger the original poster bought is similar to the suggested charger. It also has a breakin and a refresh and analyse cycle that does the capacity analysing.

Yeah I did my homework, the charger is considered top notch- lots of camera forums talking about these two battery brands.

those two brands of battery are almost equal, one lasts more for flashes, one has slightly quicker recycle time- I went for the brand that I'll get more overall recycles- It wasn't much in it.

Enloops have a new 2400mah called enloop pros, but I couldn't find any here in Australia.

Neither have any issues of overheating or losing charge too quickly.

For effective and objective battery management you should really invest in a multi-channel intelligent charger and a pulse load tester. These are excellent:

 

http://www.ztsinc.com/minimbt.html

http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/technoline/t...oline-BL700.asp

 

HTH, Tim

I totally agree. Had two Z240 strobes go bust due to inconsistent charge in the batteries used. It is really important that all the cells are charged equally.

Cheers,

Diggy

I've been extremely happy with the Olympus branded rechargeable batteries.

Dual voltage charger allows use overseas too.

Believe the question about rechargeable batteries is more complicated than just a simple choice of brand/technology and capacity. Type of charger might be even more important than particular batteries itself. As far as understand, to simplify classification of different chargers we can divide it into two groups – fast and slow. Guess an optimum is somewhere in a middle of this classification, but what the “middle” is?

Believe the question about rechargeable batteries is more complicated than just a simple choice of brand/technology and capacity. Type of charger might be even more important than particular batteries itself. As far as understand, to simplify classification of different chargers we can divide it into two groups – fast and slow. Guess an optimum is somewhere in a middle of this classification, but what the “middle” is?

The official Sanyo position is that you should charge at no more than 0.5C and that it should take at least 2 hours or more. Fast is BAD, slow is much better.

Bill

Eneloops with Sony charger

Found LA CROSSE BC-700 on a market in Russia, looks like a Technoline BL-700 battery charger from post above.Is available in US. Any comments?

Just found. It is the same manufacturer TechnoLine. La Crosse is a name for European market.

Yes, LaCrosse & Technoline are the same thing. I believe the BL/BC difference relates to the US / UK mains plug.

Found LA CROSSE BC-700 on a market in Russia, looks like a Technoline BL-700 battery charger from post above.Is available in US. Any comments?

Yup, I have both chargers, one bought in the states, the other in the UK. Very small cosmetic differences. I highly recommend these chargers. You can choose three different charge modes, slow 13hrs, medium 5hrs (what I use) or fast 2hrs. Takes four AAs (and others) and each battery in the charger is charged individually and independently, based on it's level.

Old thread, I know, but I'm bumping it anyway cause I'm a battery geek.

Here you find some information: http://www.batteryshowdown.com

As stated before in NiMh category, the Eneloops are good. I currently have Eneloops Xx 2500mha in a Canon flash.

But the Duracell NiMh Gen 2, precharged 2400mha are great as well, much cheaper. Read some reviews about them is my advice.

What's really important to have is a good charger, don't have to be the most pricey one with all the extras. But buy a decent one.

I can recommend the Tecxus TC-6000.