I recently got a Redsun RP2100, the users view of which I previously posted
on this group.
It has the facility to use rechargeable batteries, something of which I know
nothing about.
It will charge these batteries for twelve hours.
I want to use "D" cells but don't know which rechargeables to buy.
My local store can order me NiCad's or NiMH - I don't know anything about
that.
What's the difference?

Also there are different numbers like 1500 or 2500 which seems to mean how
long they hold the charge.
I would be grateful for advice from you highly knowledgeable fella's as to
what I should buy.
As they seem to be very expensive, perhaps I should just stick to ordinary
batteries and forget about the rechargeables?
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, POARDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

John,

My guess is that you will get very good battery life on that radio with
alkaline D cells.
Unless you have many devices that run on D cells, I think it would be
hard to justify the expense of the cells plus a dedicated charger.

On the other hand, with so many devices running on AAs, I think most
people can easily justify a few sets of quality NiMH AA cells and
charger. Just about all of my high use AA devices are on rechargeables
now. After a while, you figure out which devices need/prefer the
higher voltage of alkalines. As you probably know, rechargeables are
rated at 1.25 v usually vs. the 1.5 of alkaline. Devices that are
going to sit for long periods of time between uses are not good
candidates for rechargeables.

For what its worth, I have invested in AA and AAA rechargeables and
stuck with alkaline in the bigger size cells (C and D).

The numbers stand for milliamp hours. So the higher, the better. AA
NiMH rechargeables are in the 2600-2800 range now which puts them very
close to being on par with alkaline. From what I can tell, D cell
NiMH's aren't nearly as close yet.

Stick with NiMH. NiCad is older technology and has been pretty much
replaced by NiMH.

Here is a good U.S. distributor of cells. I know you are in S. Africa,
but you can learn a good bit by reading the website, etc.

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/r...-batteries.php

Russ K3Pi



John Plimmer wrote:
I recently got a Redsun RP2100, the users view of which I previously posted
on this group.
It has the facility to use rechargeable batteries, something of which I know
nothing about.
It will charge these batteries for twelve hours.
I want to use "D" cells but don't know which rechargeables to buy.
My local store can order me NiCad's or NiMH - I don't know anything about
that.
What's the difference?

Also there are different numbers like 1500 or 2500 which seems to mean how
long they hold the charge.
I would be grateful for advice from you highly knowledgeable fella's as to
what I should buy.
As they seem to be very expensive, perhaps I should just stick to ordinary
batteries and forget about the rechargeables?
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, POARDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

New recargeable NiCad batteries should always be conditioned properly
before you use them.otherwise they will develope a memory and will not
recharge up all the way again.Here is how I do it and it always works
for me.Charge the batteries up and put them in a flashlight.(torch) Turn
on the flashlight and let the batteries drain all the way down.Do that
at least three times,you will notice the flashlight stays on longer each
time.(try it,it really works) Whatever you use the batteries in,always
let them drain all the way down before you recharge them back up.Once a
month,put the batteries in a flashlight and let them drain all the way
down and then recharge them.My favorite brand name of batteries are Ray
O Vac. www.rayovac.com Eveready battteries are good too.
cuhulin,not a battery expert,but I do know what works for me

Generally, D size alkaline batteries last a long time, so getting the
rechargeable version isn't cost effective. AA size alkaline batteries on
the other hand, run down much faster, so getting the NiMH rechargeable
version is a good idea for some applications. Keep in mind, that
rechargeable batteries run down in just a few weeks or sooner after a full
charge, even if they are not being used. AA NiMH rechargeables are good for
smaller electronics that use a lot of juice in a short period of time.

If you do get a NiMH battery charger, be sure to get a "smart" charger that
will monitor each battery separately during the charge.

I got this model charger to use with my Degen radios:

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/mhc401fs.htm


"wavetrapper" wrote in message
oups.com...
John,

My guess is that you will get very good battery life on that radio with
alkaline D cells.
Unless you have many devices that run on D cells, I think it would be
hard to justify the expense of the cells plus a dedicated charger.

On the other hand, with so many devices running on AAs, I think most
people can easily justify a few sets of quality NiMH AA cells and
charger. Just about all of my high use AA devices are on rechargeables
now. After a while, you figure out which devices need/prefer the
higher voltage of alkalines. As you probably know, rechargeables are
rated at 1.25 v usually vs. the 1.5 of alkaline. Devices that are
going to sit for long periods of time between uses are not good
candidates for rechargeables.

For what its worth, I have invested in AA and AAA rechargeables and
stuck with alkaline in the bigger size cells (C and D).

The numbers stand for milliamp hours. So the higher, the better. AA
NiMH rechargeables are in the 2600-2800 range now which puts them very
close to being on par with alkaline. From what I can tell, D cell
NiMH's aren't nearly as close yet.

Stick with NiMH. NiCad is older technology and has been pretty much
replaced by NiMH.

Here is a good U.S. distributor of cells. I know you are in S. Africa,
but you can learn a good bit by reading the website, etc.

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/r...-batteries.php

Russ K3Pi



John Plimmer wrote:
I recently got a Redsun RP2100, the users view of which I previously
posted
on this group.
It has the facility to use rechargeable batteries, something of which I
know
nothing about.
It will charge these batteries for twelve hours.
I want to use "D" cells but don't know which rechargeables to buy.
My local store can order me NiCad's or NiMH - I don't know anything about
that.
What's the difference?

Also there are different numbers like 1500 or 2500 which seems to mean
how
long they hold the charge.
I would be grateful for advice from you highly knowledgeable fella's as
to
what I should buy.
As they seem to be very expensive, perhaps I should just stick to
ordinary
batteries and forget about the rechargeables?
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, POARDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

John Plimmer wrote:
I recently got a Redsun RP2100, the users view of which I previously posted
on this group.
It has the facility to use rechargeable batteries, something of which I know
nothing about.
It will charge these batteries for twelve hours.
I want to use "D" cells but don't know which rechargeables to buy.
My local store can order me NiCad's or NiMH - I don't know anything about
that.
What's the difference?

Also there are different numbers like 1500 or 2500 which seems to mean how
long they hold the charge.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" """""""""""""""""""""""""""
About ten years ago I got a batch of heavy-duty Radio Shack Ni-Cads
rated at 5,000 mah. They were quite satisfactory but were a bit fiddly
to recharge correctly. I still have some of them. The larger capacity
was well worth their extra price. Many of the new NiMH batteries on the
matket today are just repackaged AA cells at 1500 or 2500 mah. A full D
cell would be rated at 11,000 mah and would last a very long time in a
radio. You might have to get a special charger, however, as the Redsun
seems to have a charger circuit for the smaller-capacity cells: maybe
you could just leave the higher-capacity cells in longer. The ni-cads
needed close attention: they developed "hairs" that had to be blasted
off with a 12-volt battery, they would develop a memory if not
discharged occasionally, and special chargers with "saw-tooth " wave
shapes were developed to get better efficiency. There is quite a bit of
literature on the care and feeding of Ni-Cads. They also self-discharge
in storage, so if you don't use the radio a lot, the cells go flat
anyway. If you use the radio a lot, and if you can handle the extra
cost, the 11,000 NiMH cells would be worth a look. Since I have far too
many radios, I stock them with cheap garden-variety D cells that hold
their charge in storage, and only use the NiMH cells in two often-used
portables.

ve3... wrote:

About ten years ago I got a batch of heavy-duty Radio Shack Ni-Cads
rated at 5,000 mah. They were quite satisfactory but were a bit fiddly
to recharge correctly.

Are you sure about the 5000-mah capacity of those Radio Shack NiCd's?
The highest capacity 'D' cell NiCd's I ever saw at Radio Shack were
4500-mah. I still have a set of Panasonic 'D' cell NiCd's which are
rated at 5000-mah. They're about eight years old and still going strong.
I payed about $11.00-US each. Now you can get NiMH's in that price range
with much higher capacities.

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 19:54:50 +0200, "John Plimmer"
wrote:

I recently got a Redsun RP2100, the users view of which I previously posted
on this group.
It has the facility to use rechargeable batteries, something of which I know
nothing about.
It will charge these batteries for twelve hours.
I want to use "D" cells but don't know which rechargeables to buy.
My local store can order me NiCad's or NiMH - I don't know anything about
that.
What's the difference?

Also there are different numbers like 1500 or 2500 which seems to mean how
long they hold the charge.
I would be grateful for advice from you highly knowledgeable fella's as to
what I should buy.
As they seem to be very expensive, perhaps I should just stick to ordinary
batteries and forget about the rechargeables?
'Real' D size NiCd in the D size run about 5000mah, NiMh's in true D
size run from about 7000mah to 11000mah. 1500 or 2500 are in fact size
AA NiMh cells in a D sized battery. I would assume the charge circuit
is designed to charge a D size at several hundred Ma, although exactly
how much is apparently dependent on the voltage from the AC adapter.
IIIRC, according Lipyn's manual, voltages below 8V probably won't
charge the batteries.

I use 7000mah D size NiMH cells in mine. Give nice long run times.
However you will pay a lot more for 'real' D sized batteries than the
AA's in a D size package.

Dear John,

Try ordinary alkaline batteries and make note of the date on which you
install them. See for yourself how long they last. If you feel that the
time you get from those batteries vis à vis their price is
satisfactory, well, you have your answer as to which to use.

In my Grundig Satellit 800 (a "battery-eater") I use C. Crane NiMH "D"
size batteries - they are rated 9000 mAH. They cost $9.95 each here in
the US which is rather high now. (When I bought them several years ago,
they were "the only game in town.") There are others which have ratings
up to 11000 mAH and which cost less. C. Crane's Quick Charger, which
can charge all sizes of NiCads and NiMHs, sells for $39.95 in the US.
There are now other chargers which are at least as good and possibly
better for the same or less money. You'd have to check what is
available locally for you.

I use rechargeable batteries in the Satellit 800 because the cost of
regular alkalines would be exorbitant. I own two sets of six "D" cells
for that radio as well as two chargers so I can recharge six batteries
at one time.

While my Sony ICF-SW7600GRs are easy on batteries, nonetheless I use
"AA" NiMH rechargeables in them also.

In the long run, rechargeables are generally less expensive than
primary alkaline cells. (A notable exception to that rule is the GE
Superadio - it goes a VERY long time on regular alkalines. Also my old
- 1969 - Hitachi KH-1108S gets three-and-a-half to four years from a
set of four alkaline "D" cells but I do not use that set for long
periods of time - generally just to quickly listen to the local MW news
station to hear the headlines and the business report.)

Do not even consider NiCads. They are a "pain." I used them for years
and, when NiMHs came out and I tried them, I went over completely to
using NiMHs. There are just too many advantages of NiMHs over NiCads -
the most notable being virtually no "memory" effect. You can charge
NiMHs any time you like and, while they should be "conditioned"
(discharging completely and then recharging) once in a great while, in
general that annoying step can be skipped.

I hope the above has been of some use to you and, as always, I wish you
the very best of luck.

Joe

P.S. I'm waiting to see if Redsun introduces an RP-3100 model - Jay
Allen states that they will be doing so soon and this radio will be
exactly the same as the RP-2100 but will incorporate a synchronous
detection circuit. The mouth waters ...

John Plimmer wrote:
I recently got a Redsun RP2100, the users view of which I previously posted
on this group.
It has the facility to use rechargeable batteries, something of which I know
nothing about.
It will charge these batteries for twelve hours.
I want to use "D" cells but don't know which rechargeables to buy.
My local store can order me NiCad's or NiMH - I don't know anything about
that.
What's the difference?

Also there are different numbers like 1500 or 2500 which seems to mean how
long they hold the charge.
I would be grateful for advice from you highly knowledgeable fella's as to
what I should buy.
As they seem to be very expensive, perhaps I should just stick to ordinary
batteries and forget about the rechargeables?
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, POARDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

Joe Analssandrini wrote:

Do not even consider NiCads. They are a "pain." I used them for years
and, when NiMHs came out and I tried them, I went over completely to
using NiMHs. There are just too many advantages of NiMHs over NiCads -
the most notable being virtually no "memory" effect. You can charge
NiMHs any time you like and, while they should be "conditioned"
(discharging completely and then recharging) once in a great while, in
general that annoying step can be skipped.

The downside to NiMH's is they self discharge faster when not in use
than NiCd's.

Dear HF Guy,

You are absolutely correct in your comment about self-discharging.
However, if you use your radio on a daily basis for any length of time,
you will never have that problem. NiMHs lose about 1% per day - 30% per
month if not used. The way I use my radios, I have to recharge the
batteries well before any self-discharging effects are noted.

But your comment is quite correct and is something perhaps a casual or
infrequent user might want to consider.

Best,

Joe

HFguy wrote:
Joe Analssandrini wrote:

Do not even consider NiCads. They are a "pain." I used them for years
and, when NiMHs came out and I tried them, I went over completely to
using NiMHs. There are just too many advantages of NiMHs over NiCads -
the most notable being virtually no "memory" effect. You can charge
NiMHs any time you like and, while they should be "conditioned"
(discharging completely and then recharging) once in a great while, in
general that annoying step can be skipped.

The downside to NiMH's is they self discharge faster when not in use
than NiCd's.