From baxtrom@home.com Sat Aug 04 06:09:35 2001
To: misc_survivalism_moderated@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [misc_survivalism_moderated] (fwd) Repost of an good article from a GPS group
From: baxtrom@home.com
Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2001 06:09:35 -0600
--------
On 4 Aug 2001 01:26:44 GMT, in misc.survivalism Dante'@inferno.net
(Speaker to Animals) wrote:

>I lurk in a wider group of NGs then I ever post in.
>sci.geo.satellite-nav is a GPS (there are other satellite nav systems but GPS 
>is the most common) NG. LG hangs out there.
>A guy wrote an interesting article on batteries.
>A lot of us use batteries for many usefull activities.
>It agrees (mostly) with my own studies and experience.
>
>>Matching the Battery to the Task
>>
>>By DAVID POGUE
>>
>>IF the F.B.I. ever singled me out for surveillance, its final
>>report wouldn't hold much interest. "Wife, two kids, dog.
>>Watches `Survivor.' Aversion to mayo." Only one line at the end
>>of the document might seem a little peculiar. "Buys AA batteries
>>by the gross."
>>
>>These days, most gizmos digital cameras, palmtops, music players
>>seem to have been designed in a conspiracy with Duracell: they
>>guzzle batteries like Gatorade at the marathon finish line. And
>>it's not just me. According to an Industrial Market Research
>>survey, the average American has about 25 battery-operated
>>gadgets in the house, up from only 7 in 1987. 
>>
>>The battery makers, of course, are delighted. All around us, we
>>see ads for new kinds of batteries that "offer unsurpassed power
>>for today's demanding devices," "last longer on high-tech
>>devices" and have "longer service life." In the name of science,
>>I decided to perform a few simple tests: I'd pop sets of each
>>heavily hyped battery into, say, a Palm organizer and see how
>>long they took to run down. What could be more scientific?
>>
>>As it turns out, almost anything. When I shared my plans with
>>representatives of the Big Three Duracell, Eveready and Rayovac
>>they told me, with the weary sighs of people who explain this
>>point to journalists every day, that battery run-down tests are
>>terribly misleading. For starters, a battery designed to excel
>>in such a test would do poorly in the real world, where people
>>play, pause and put aside their electronics for days or weeks.
>>Who on earth actually runs a gadget continuously until it's out
>>of power? (Game Boy owners, you can put your hands down.)
>>Furthermore, the battery makers say, there is much greater
>>inconsistency in the power consumption of supposedly identical
>>devices than between two different batteries.
>>
>>"We'd be delighted to help you design valid tests," one battery
>>company representative said. "And we'll look forward to reading
>>the results around Christmas."
>>
>>When people conduct proper battery tests the repetitive,
>>expensive, computer-controlled sort prescribed by the American
>>National Standards Institute they find little variation across
>>brands. One such test, published by Consumer Reports in March,
>>offered a straightforward conclusion: When you need standard
>>alkalines, ignore the marketing; just buy the cheapest ones.
>>
>>Whatever size you're looking for, from tiny AAA's to fat C's and
>>D's, the hard part is figuring out whether to buy the standard
>>alkalines or some other type. Until 1980, you had only one type
>>to choose: the silver "heavy duty" batteries, like the Eveready
>>types with the black-cat logo. But that era is long over. 
>>
>>What replaced those old "standard" batteries is a wide and
>>confusing range of higher-powered battery types: alkaline,
>>premium alkaline, rechargeable alkaline, nickel metal hydride
>>and lithium. (All told, 92 percent of the batteries sold
>>nationwide are alkalines, which offer from two to six times as
>>much life at roughly the same price as the old "heavy-duty"
>>type.) 
>>
>>It would feel glorious to declare one type the winner and then
>>rent a movie to celebrate. Alas, batteries aren't that simple. 
>>
>>In general, you can break down today's battery-operated devices
>>into three categories. First, there are low-drain gadgets that
>>sip power with all the gusto of an elderly aunt at afternoon
>>tea: radios, clocks and flashlights that you keep on hand only
>>for emergencies.
>>
>>The vast majority of today's electronic gizmos fall into the
>>moderate-drain category: tape recorders, Game Boys, music and CD
>>players, electronic toys, pagers, boomboxes, smoke detectors,
>>remote controls and flashlights that you'll use a lot when
>>camping, for example. The third category, high-drain devices,
>>has only a few occupants like digital cameras, palmtops, remote-
>>control toys, portable televisions and photo flash units but is
>>likely to see more arrivals in the next few years. 
>>
>>Once you've grasped that much background, buying batteries is
>>fairly simple: for low- and medium-powered equipment, standard
>>alkalines offer the best power per penny. 
>>
>>Battery selection for high-drain gear, however, is where the
>>game gets interesting. In a typical digital camera, standard
>>alkalines might last all of 30 minutes, as many a crestfallen
>>consumer discovers. 
>>
>>That's why some companies are touting something called premium
>>alkalines reformulated batteries designed to last longer than
>>standard alkalines in high-drain gadgetry. (The improvements
>>include, as Duracell puts it, "proprietary separator material,
>>enhanced cathode design and a high-power anode composition,"
>>just as you probably suspected.)
>>
>>Duracell, for example, says that its premium battery, called
>>Ultra, lasts up to twice as long as standard copper-tops in
>>high- drain electronics. (Energizer's E2 line is also a premium
>>alkaline, but Consumer Reports says it's not much more powerful
>>than standard alkalines.) 
>>
>>On the other hand, Ultra isn't as effective in medium- or
>>low-drain electronics, offering an improvement of less than 50
>>percent, Duracell says, over standard alkalines. Any improvement
>>is welcome, of course, but remember that Ultras cost about $1
>>apiece in a multipack, twice the price of store-brand regular
>>alkalines. In other words, the convenience of Ultras is worth
>>paying for in your Palm, television or digital camera but may be
>>a waste of money in ordinary devices. 
>>
>>But even premium alkalines can't power a digital camera for more
>>than about 60 minutes of shooting, viewing and deleting pictures
>>still not enough to last the whole day at Six Flags, let alone
>>your two-week vacation. 
>>
>>The final step up, therefore, is lithium batteries (not to be
>>confused with lithium-ion laptop batteries) very expensive cells
>>($10 for four) that last five times as long as standard
>>alkalines in high-drain electronics. Only Energizer makes AA
>>lithiums. Duracell makes a lithium power pack called CV3 that
>>looks like two AA batteries fused together, but it fits only
>>certain digital camera models from Casio, Kodak and Olympus, for
>>example, that have been designed to accept them.
>>
>>If you use a high-drain device almost every day (this means you,
>>palmtop and digital-photography addicts), the ultimate solution
>>to the battery problem is nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries.
>>Not only do they last even longer than premium alkalines, but
>>for the ultimate in economy, you can recharge them 500 to 1,000
>>times by snapping them into a charger plugged into the wall. 
>>
>>Rayovac's superb $30 charger (for AA, AAA and 9-volt sizes)
>>rejuvenates drained NiMH's in one hour or less, a great
>>improvement over previous chargers. (You'd think that engineers
>>would have devised a shorthand for this battery's name, so they
>>don't have to spend their days shouting, "Yo, Frank, should I
>>put these nickel metal hydrides over on the nickel metal hydride
>>shelf?" But they haven't.) 
>>
>>The trouble with NiMH's is that they lose their charge over time
>>about 15 percent per month. That makes them poor choices for
>>long-term locations like remote controls, smoke detectors,
>>digital cameras used only occasionally and, for that matter, the
>>kitchen battery drawer. Some people keep one set in the charger
>>and a second set in the camera, so they're always ready; but
>>that's a lot of complication. At this point, rechargeables
>>(including rechargeable alkalines, short-lived batteries that
>>you can recharge only a few times) represent only 1 percent of
>>battery sales. On the other hand, it's the fastest-growing
>>battery category.
>>
>>If you'd like to minimize complexity and maximize economy, then,
>>the bottom line is this: Buy standard alkalines for everyday
>>gadgets. Cheap store brands generally do just as well as
>>big-name brands. In digital cameras, palmtops and other
>>high-powered gizmos, buy rechargeable nickel metal hydrides (for
>>gear you use daily) or Duracell Ultras (for gear you store
>>between uses). 
>>
>>Oh, and don't bother trying to conduct your own battery of
>>tests.
>>
>>-- 
>>[Don't send mail, address not working.]


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Small business owners...
Tell us what you think!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/vO1FAB/txzCAA/ySSFAA/DROolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
misc_survivalism_moderated-unsubscribe@egroups.com


Group webpage:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/misc_survivalism_moderated

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/