New member "Rosed" asks about Eneloop batteries

[Rosed]

Hi,
I just joined and am not quite sure how to initiate a new thread. I have looked and can't seem to find the link I need. Help! Love my Sealife DC600.
Question I have is, has anyone used Eneloop batteries in their strobe? Under their Q and A they do not recommend using them do to a possible release of hydrogen gas in a sealed environment for lights. I see tho that people do use them in strobes. Is that not a sealed environment also? Have I read too much and am being too cautious? Eneloop seems to have great reviews.

 

[DandyDon]

Rosed is a little lost, and too new to post links, so I am copying the question from this post http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5481681-post6.html

Hi,
I just joined and am not quite sure how to initiate a new thread. I have looked and can't seem to find the link I need. Help! Love my Sealife DC600.
Question I have is, has anyone used Eneloop batteries in their strobe? Under their Q and A they do not recommend using them do to a possible release of hydrogen gas in a sealed environment for lights. I see tho that people do use them in strobes. Is that not a sealed environment also? Have I read too much and am being too cautious? Eneloop seems to have great reviews.

See SANYO eneloop | Ready to use Rechargeable Battery - The only battery you will ever need

Looks like they offer 2 different AA - 1.2 volt rechargeable batteries: one with 2000 mAh capacity that should work fine, the other with only 1000 mAh "eneloop lite. New. The low self dischcharge battery for first-time user. Ideal for low-to-medium power consumption devices."

The 2000 mAh batteries seem to be very similar to Sealife batteries so I would think they would work fine. Low self discharge batteries often have less capacity than their standard counterparts, but 50% less is a lot - too much for me. My strobe uses 4 AA 1.2 to 1.5 batteries, so while I don't know how long it would operate with 4 - 1000 mAh batteries, I would not want to risk it, or wait longer for the capacitor to recharge - whatever the actual problem would be. No way I would buy such low capacity batteries so I would not be in a position to test.

The supplier I usually buy from does carry those batteries so you could phone them for discussion: Thomas Distributing Actually, they carry a larger variety of that brand that listed on the brand's home site? Their low or ultra low discharge 2000 mAh batteries look fine. I don't know why they bother to carry the 1000 and 800 mAh batteries?

For most of my AA needs, I've been buying Panasonic Alkaline Plus batteries @ 2/$1 at a Dollar store but I just don't use many in my life really. For my land camera, my Sealife strobe, and any new uses for AA batteries that I might use often but do want long inactive life, I usually go for this Ultra Low Discharge 2100 mAh @ $2ea plus cheap shipping if I split an order with family & dive bud: Accupower Acculoop 2100mAh AAUltra Low Discharge NiMH Batter..

Now to your question of using them in a sealed environment with the release of Hydrogen inside a strobe with a firing capacitor: Wow! :shocked2: That's a new one of me. I am having visions of a small explosion inside my strobe at 100 ft down. I have to wonder how much of this is actual risk and how much is chicken-little talk from lawyers? I don't know. Maybe someone with more knowledge will post to this over the next week, or I'll try to find out more.

 

[DandyDon]

Hi,
I just joined and am not quite sure how to initiate a new thread. I have looked and can't seem to find the link I need. Help! Love my Sealife DC600.
Question I have is, has anyone used Eneloop batteries in their strobe? Under their Q and A they do not recommend using them do to a possible release of hydrogen gas in a sealed environment for lights. I see tho that people do use them in strobes. Is that not a sealed environment also? Have I read too much and am being too cautious? Eneloop seems to have great reviews.

Go to the top of this forum and click Post thread box...

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Then give your new thread a descriptive title in the first box, and your text in the second, as indicated by red arrows

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Since you are brand new here, you cannot post links yet. I'll start a thread there on your behalf and offer some comments. You can post to it the same way you posted here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/se...ember-rosed-asks-about-eneloop-batteries.html

 

[muzikbiz22]

Rosed, All,

First off, I will tell you I use nothing but Eneloop's in my Sea & Sea YS-01 Strobe, with absolutely NO ISSUES ! The performance of the strobe is better when using NiMH batteries. Lot's of strobe manufacturers go as far as to recommend the use of. The 2000mAh variety. I use the Apple charger to charge them. And, by all appearances, the Apple Rechargeable AA Batteries, appear to be repackaged Eneloops, (for what it's worth). Same spec's, etc. While the charger only does 2 batteries at a time, it works great !! Sorry, going slightly off subject here.

Second, you will find hundreds of posts (and user's) across the different forums here, that swear by these batteries. Yes, Eneloop "officially" doesn't recommend use in "underwater equipment", but that's just their disclaimer. Let your freshly charged batteries "cool down" for a couple of hours before putting them in a "sealed compartment", i.e. strobe, dive light, etc. Charge them the night before your dive, perhaps. Or what I do is rotate a set of 4 AA, every day of diving, if you are on vacation say. Use one set during the day, while the other set is back at the hotel room charging for the next day. For what it's worth, I've bough mine from BUY dot com. I think they are something like 10$ for 4 AA, Free Shipping.

Third, I had similar questions as yours. I posted a thread that answers most if not all of your questions, click here

With all of that said, if you really want to get "jiggy" with all of this information and learn more, go to wikipedia and read the entire history of this technology. It really is quite a story, click here

So there you have my cents. I dive with these batteries every weekend here in Southern California. Never had one problem.

 

[Rosed]

What a great response! Thanks to you all. I will use the Eneloops in my Sealife Strobe!
Rosed

 

[DeusVerto]

If you ever got a bank of four AA NiMH batteries to emit enough hydrogen gas effluent to cause an explosion, you would have much bigger problems along the way. Due to the relatively small size and higher internal impedance of these cells, even a dead short, while not being a swell thing to do on purpose (it may destroy the cells), would not cause enough gas to do anything, especially underwater.

Gratuitous overcharging might, but you would most certainly have to use a non-recommended charging method. It goes without saying that this is less than practical submerged.

That said, I have personally turned much larger 3800 sub-c NiMH batteries into smoldering puddles of chemical waste with no harm done other than a pungent, smelly stain that will never go away.

(breathing the fumes DEFINITELY not recommended)

Using the right charger is the key. These cells have the disturbing habit of dropping their impedance (taking more charging current) after they are fully charged, which makes a run-away melt down inevitable with an improperly designed charger (or one meant for other battery types).

In other words...don't worry, be happy and enjoy the benefits of NiHM technology.

 

[Cave Diver]

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[Rosed]

Thank you so much! Finally found it!