Which type of batteries are best for small electronics when travelling without access to electricity?

March 15, 2007 8:11 AM

I'm trying to figure out what kind of batteries are going to be the best option for several small electronic items that are going with me to Uganda/Sudan next week...

I've got a Marantz PMD-660 digital audio recorder, a pair of Hyperdrive HD80 hard drives and 2 Canon 580EX Camera Flashes. All use AA batteries. The trip is 8 days long and there won't be any access to electricity. The PMD-660 is said to last for about 6 hours on a set of batteries, but I haven't seen anywhere whether that's alkaline, nimh or lithium. Similar story for the Hyperdrives. Obviously, if we had plenty of access to power, we could bring several sets of rechargeables and be set. Since we won't, however, it seems that bringing a lot of alkalines would be the cheapest and best solution. However, I know with things like digital cameras that alkaline batteries don't last anywhere near as long as nimh or lithium. Will that be the same case with the recorder, hard drives and flashes? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

posted by shawnmk to technology (7 comments total)

The don't have the Sun in Africa anymore?
posted by DU at 8:25 AM on March 15, 2007

Sorry, that was unnecessarily snarky. I just thought it was funny thinking about Africa not having access to the Sun anymore. I don't know how time efficient solar battery chargers are, especially since you are going to have an arseload of them. But if you buy enough of a buffer and keep up a running stream of them being recharged you might be able to stay ahead.
posted by DU at 8:37 AM on March 15, 2007

Lithium batteries are by far the best
posted by killa62 at 9:15 AM on March 15, 2007

If you can't recharge, get lithiums. You'll appreciate the weight savings, and they outlast alkalines by a wide margin.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:20 AM on March 15, 2007

sources

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/electronics/batteries/index.html
http://wsj.consumersearch.com/electronics/batteries/review.html
posted by killa62 at 9:20 AM on March 15, 2007

From the little bit that I have looked into solar chargers, it seems that they are very low wattage, which I think means they would charge very slowly. If I were going to be there long-term without electricity, this might be a good option, but for 8 days, it doesn't seem like I'd get enough charging done to make it worthwhile (cost or effort-wise).
posted by shawnmk at 9:24 AM on March 15, 2007

You'll get 2-4X the life out of NiMHs in high current devices like your flashes than alkalines. At 4X the cost is about equal if you're buying decent alkalines. But at the end of the trip you'll have carried less kit and still have the rechargeables for future use.

Are you going to have access to a vehicle or are you on foot? If travelling by car I'd buy enough NiMH to last me the eight days unless I'd abso-smurfly knew I was never going to be away from power again. The volume wouldn't be all that much and they are so much cheaper than Lithiums with even a few recharge cycles. You never can tell when you might want to fire off a few thousand flashes over the course of a weekend. To determine how many to buy: Time full charge to full discharge. Multiply by 5.36 (8 days X 16 hours per day) = number of batteries guaranteed to last thru trip. Adjust hours per day by your own projected usage.

Also if going by car you can charge NiMHs with a 12V charger, either while moving or overnight.
posted by Mitheral at 11:35 AM on March 15, 2007