I needed a new charger and have gone for the Vapcell s4+ on the strength of the recent enthusiasm for it here, its not much more than the seeming going rate for an energizer 1hr charger and it should last a few years but…what do I do for pp3 batteries?, unless of course I can do something with the USB port.
Unlike AAs and AAAs I tend to charge pp3s singly so if anyone has a good suggestion, I’d be very grateful for it…I’m very much a fan of bang for the buck over must have the best at all costs…so please fire away and thank you in anticipation.
pp3? In the US that’s 9v, right?
So……NiMh or lithium? Both are available and they require different charges. As far as I know there is no 9v universal charger.
IMO, don’t even bother with 9v NiMh, they are almost universally awful…pathetic. Had a bunch, recycled them after years of frustration. Capacity is way too low, self-discharge too high.
Some of the lithium 9v are decent. I’ve been using a couple brands for several years with good success.
Yes 9v and thankyou for your candidness. You seem to be saying the batteries are rubbish so don’t fuss about the chargers and if that is the case that’s good information.
Mine are NiMh
Unfortunately, my smoke alarms and multimeters run on the things so there’s no getting away from them but I’d be very interested to know what lithiums you’d recommend.
Irrespective, thank you for responding.
Li primaries are out there in “9V” , but dunno if their use is warranted in things like meters, smoke detectors, etc.
Usually Li primaries are in AA size like for cameras, etc.
Æons ago, I had NiCd and NiMH in “9V” form, but most of those were 7.2V and would almost instantly trip the low-voltage warnings on everything they were stuck into. You can sometimes get ’em in 8.4V, but that’s no picnic, either.
>but dunno if their use is warranted in things like meters, smoke detectors, etc.
I’ve gotten by without them for decades so maybe not and thanks for the info.
I always like to know whats what though and ever I need some heavy duty 9Vs…
You can use NiMh 9v. I did for years as I try to avoid disposable batteries. I did not use them in smoke alarms. I think the constant beeping in 6 alarms would have been too frustrating. I did use them in a DMV, but got frustrated when it was often dead, so went back to alkaline.
Then I got, due to routine recycling, some OLD (as in 5+ years and used hard) iPowerUS 9v (8.4v really, 520mAh/2S ) lithium cells. Having a hobby charger I rigged up an adapter and did some testing. A few were under 300maH, most were over 400, and a number were near 500, close to new specs.
In use in smoke alarms they generally go 6 months. In a DMV they go a similar time frame. I have some aftermarket small car alarms and they go a couple months in there, spending most of their time armed and working.
A couple years later the same place recycled EBL 9v 600mAh. I think they tried them because they are cheaper than the iPowerUS 9v. Frankly, they are just not as good. All of them were newer than the IpowerUS, none got close to 600mAh, most were in the 400-500 range. Personally I doubt they would go 600mAh when new. They don’t seem to last quite as long, but since I have them in various capacities I’m not careful to compare close to identical batteries in the same application.
Theoretically you can charge the EBL in a normal 9v NiMh charger since the circuit will prevent over charge. I’ve done it to test, but I don’t like it or trust it. It does not seem to get as full. I’ve quit messing and just use the hobby charger.
So, I’m OK with 9v lithium, and no longer bother with NiMh. When brand new they barely got to 200mAh, and rapidly deteriorated from there. They have almost no current carry capability. The 9v lithium hold up well under load, not that I have anything that requires a load, but I could test them on discharge on the hobby charger and they did way better than I thought they would.
That’s very interesting and thank you for the link
I see what you mean about the iPowerUS li polymer batteries.
conrad and soshine liion look good too.
Yes, there may be some other decent options out there. They are kind of expensive, especially compared to Alkaline, or even NiMh, but they do work way better, and decent ones can last a long time. Some of my iPowerUS have a 10 year old date stamp on them.