Batteries are a blessing and a curse. When you're vegging on the
couch with a remote or outdoors with your camera, they're the best
invention ever.They're not so great when they die at exactly the wrong moment and you don't have replacements. Or maybe you have replacements, but they've been sitting in a drawer for a year and they've lost a lot of juice.
Depending on how many battery-powered gadgets you have in the house, you could be going through dozens of AA and AAA batteries a year. The cost adds up.
Plus, if you recycle your batteries - which you should - the recycle center might be at an inconvenient location. Then you have dead batteries filling up your drawers between trips. In the case of 9 volt batteries, that can be very dangerous.
Back to the cost, though, there is an alternative to endlessly throwing away alkaline batteries, and that is rechargeable batteries. Obviously your smartphones, tablets and laptops already use rechargeable batteries, but is that the right move for every other gadget you own? Will it really save you money?
The first thing to do is figure out how much you're spending on regular Alkaline batteries. So take an inventory of your house to see what gadgets use batteries. Then keep a record for a few months to see how many you go through a month.
Once you know how many batteries you use, you can figure out how much you're spending on them a year. Simple enough.
Next, you need to know the contenders.
Disposable batteries
Obviously, Alkaline batteries need no introduction, since that's what everyone uses. Of course, there are different brands and different versions that may be more or less powerful and long lasting.If you're sticking with Alkaline, you can try a few different brands to see which one gives you the best performance for the price.
A recent development in disposable batteries is Lithium. Now, a lot of people immediately assume Lithium batteries are rechargeable like their smartphone and laptop counterparts. That is NOT the case.
AA and AAA Lithium batteries are disposable. A small rechargeable lithium battery would be too dangerous. Learn more about the dangers of Lithium batteries here.
The benefit of Lithium batteries is in high-power uses like digital cameras. They'll last up to four times longer than regular Alkaline, however they cost about three times as much. In low-power situations like remotes, they don't have as much of an advantage. However, they will theoretically hold a full charge even after decades in storage.
Rechargeable batteries
The rechargeable battery you probably think of immediately is the good old "NiCad" battery. These are relatively inexpensive and dependable.If it's been a while since you've looked at rechargeable batteries, however, there is an alternative to the standard nickel-cadmium batteries of yore.
Nickel-metal-hydride batteries are more powerful than NiCd, have less of the dreaded "memory" effect and don't contain the toxic material cadmium. Sounds good so far.
The main drawback of NiMH is that they lose their charge very quickly. In fact, with a typical NiMH battery, you'll lose 20 percent of the charge the first day and be left with just 50 percent even after a year of non-use.
Fortunately, back in 2005 the now-defunct electronics company Sanyo created the Eneloop NiMH battery. Now available from Panasonic, Eneloop batteries hold up to a 90 percent charge for a year and 70 percent after five years of non-use. The Rayovac Hybrid NiMH battery performs similarly.
Based on performance then, Eneloop sounds like the way to go, but there is a catch.
A pack of 8 AA Eneloop batteries will run you $27. An 8 pack of Tenergy AA NiCd batteries go for $11. That's quite a cost difference.
Note: If you go online,
you can find deals on batteries that will change these pricing figures,
but I'm sticking with non-deal prices for the comparison.
That's a lifespan roughly four times longer than NiCd for two and a half times the price. If you're looking at long-long-term savings, then Eneloop is the better option.
How does this stack up to alkaline batteries though? Well, again, it depends on how often you go through them.
Time for math
Let's use a TV remote as an example. Mine uses two AA batteries, and those need replacing twice a year, so that's four batteries a year.If I bought four alkaline batteries, I'd pay around $5 vs. $15 for four Eneloops. I'd only be using two of the Eneloops, so that's really $7.50. That means I wouldn't break even the first year, but would the second.
Eneloops should last for more than a decade and I'd be saving $5 a year. That's really small change, but if you have a dozen batteries in the house you could be saving $70 a year. Don't forget that some gadgets run through batteries much faster than twice a year, so that's even more savings.
Of course, you could go with NiCd and get even more savings, but you'll probably have to replace them and spend a chunk of change sooner than you would with a long-lasting NiMH.
Where this might fall down is if you have a bunch of battery-using gadgets - such as kids' toys - you won't have in five years. You might end up with a bunch of rechargeable batteries you aren't using. Something to keep in mind.
There is one thing we haven't talked about - rechargeable batteries need a charger.
You can find combined NiMH and NiCD chargers for less than $15. However, these often don't have features built in that help batteries last longer.
Important note: If you
have an old NiCD charger, DO NOT use it to charge NiMH batteries.
Without the right safeguards, NiMH batteries can overheat and damage
themselves and their surroundings.
It can discharge batteries before charging to reduce the memory effect, refresh batteries that have a memory effect and test how good the batteries are. Plus it has overheat protection.
You'll need to factor the cost of a charger into your figures. However, over time you'll still see big savings over Alkaline.
