Doug asked:
It seems as if I will soon get the opportunity to replace the cells in
an M.15 pack... Would I be better served to replace the old cells with
matching 12 x 1/3AA Ni-Cad cells..., or 14 x 1/3AAA NiMH cells. I don't
use the motor drive every day by any means so the lack of "memory
effect" in the NiMH might be the NiMH's greatest asset.
------------------------------
I can't address the M.15 pack but I will relay what may be a pertinent
tale. I have a refurb'ed 2mp Nikon digital that I bought for a good
price from B&H. It's only use is web shots and a bit of miscellany
including some sporadic macro at which it does very well.
It requires 4 AA cells so when I bought it I also bought 8 high capacity
NiMH cells and a charger. As it turns out I typically only use this
camera once every month or two. The largest number of shots I've ever
taken at one clip was about 60 with some flash use. No indication at
all that the batteries were in any way depleted.
On the other hand, given the reputaton of NiMH cells for self-
discharching, when I haven't used the camera in a month or two I don't
dare take it out without recharging. And, of course, the spare set
isn't of any use either as they've been self-discharging too. And each
set seems to need 2-3 hours of charging time. Needless to say I can't
simply grab this camera and take it away from the house unless I put in
some alkalines.
I'm reminded of the days before I joined this list and was using
alkaline batteries in my OM-2sp instead of silver oxide. If I put the
camera away for a month the batteries would be dead when I picked it up
again. Now it's the Nikon digital but it's the batteries which are
killing themselves instead of the camera killing the batteries.
The moral of the story is: If you expect only occasional use you might
be better off with Ni-Cad. I think the newer cells don't have much of a
memory effect. Also, the charger that I bought for the NiMH has a
conditioning mode (discharge, recharge) specifically for use with
Ni-Cad's to avoid the memory problem.
I may go out and buy some Ni-Cad's myself now that I think about it.
I'm getting tired of charging up these NiMH's every time I want to use
the camera.
Chuck Norcutt
Woburn, Massachusetts, USA
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