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Not another battery thread.... but yes. Best battery options?

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Steve Litcher:
I recently sold off my Shure SBRC units and all of my SB-900a batteries in the interest of saving some weight while touring. The band I work with usually does direct support, so sets are relatively short (around 30 minutes or so).

We have 14 channels of Shure wireless (6x ULXD, 4x PSM1000, and 4x Axient).

I've been studying Shure's resources, watching Project Farm YT videos, and trying to find other information about the best rechargeable battery options (all of the units require AA batteries). It's really interesting to see how the rechargeables behave under load - the voltage drop, the longevity vs marketing/specs...

So, with all of this in mind, what are the preferred rechargeable, non-Shure batteries for Shure devices?

I was looking at the Fischer rack mount unit for recharging, now trying to find best options for the cells. The thing that scares me about the cells is when reading reviews on various retail sites, it sounds like it's a crap-shoot as to whether or not they'll die after a month of use, or if they'll match-up to the performance specs.

Real world experience/feedback is appreciated. I've used ProCells before, but would really like to avoid having to deal with dead batteries, recycling, and so on. I do have a bunch of these in two different colors (for "new" and "dead"), and love them.

Steve-White:
Subscribed to thread.  Years ago, I recharged nicads, then the NIMH - because shelf life was so poor on charged cells, I then began using Lithium non-rechargeable for the best overall performance to include output and shelf life.

Wondering where things are today - might be time for a change from non-rechargeable Lithium to something rechargeable.

Uwe Riemer2:
we´ve been using Panasonic eneloops for two years now ( or more precise used them one year and then practically stored them away for another year ).
The white ones ( not pro )

So far they work pretty well. Size wise they fit tight into the Sennheiser ew units but not too bad, no idea about Shure.

Charging: Batteries get warm so I would not want to put them in isolating boxes while charging

Russell Ault:

--- Quote from: Steve Litscher on June 03, 2021, 02:40:25 PM ---{...} So, with all of this in mind, what are the preferred rechargeable, non-Shure batteries for Shure devices? {...}

--- End quote ---

It depends on your application. Historically, as Steve White mentioned, the biggest challenge of NiMH batteries (if you aren't doing 8 shows per week, anyway) is their relatively-high self-discharge rate, but this has been improving over the years. Maha recently replaced their Powerex model (which was basically the standard in theatre when everything shut down) with their new Powerex Pro, which is spec'ed to only self-discharge 25% per year. I've also used their Powerex Precharged model (~15% self-discharge per year, but lower capacity) with a group that only performs occasionally (I use two sets of batteries for that group: the previous-show's performance batteries are used for the current show's soundcheck, and the other set is recharged during soundcheck so they'll be fully-charged for the performance).

The two pieces of practical advice I can give are: (a) always carry at least one full set of alkalines, just in case, and (b) don't trust battery metres when using NiMH batteries.

-Russ

Ike Zimbel:

--- Quote from: Russell Ault on June 03, 2021, 04:06:28 PM ---
The two pieces of practical advice I can give are: (a) always carry at least one full set of alkalines, just in case, and (b) don't trust battery meters when using NiMH batteries.

-Russ

--- End quote ---
On many newer wireless systems (vague enough for you??) you can go into a menu and select what type of batteries you are using. In some cases, the manufacturers have taken the time to measure battery performance with the different types and allow you to select the type you are using so the metering is more accurate. That said, it's anybody's guess what brand of each type of battery (or brands... if they really did their homework) they used to do the modelling.

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