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[Ken Nelson]

Did a search, could not find any threads on this.

I am tired of buying one use 9V batts for our IEM receivers. I am sure folks on here have a good deal of expertise on the subject from real world use, whether they've realized it or not.

What brand and type of rechargeable is best, ie recharges and giving good performance under use? Since the different in cost as far as I can tell is about $4 per, it doesn't make any sense to go with anything but the best, particularly for critical applications like monitoring.

[Weogo Reed]

Hi Ken,

I've used most of the rechargeables out there.

By far, the best are the IPower:
http://www.ipowerus.com/Products/DC9V500/DC9V500.htm
Plenty of power, and they have a slow self-discharge rate.

You have to use their charger with them.

Anybody know of a LiPo rechargeable in AA form?

Good health,  Weogo

 

[William R. Conturo]

I have used Energizer's and Duracell's AA rechargeable batteries and they both suck. my last generation of Energizers was like late 2009, when I switched to the Duras, and my last generation of Duras was like late 2010. In that year of Duras I think I went through maybe 4 batches 24 batteries . The energizers where the same way. They may have updated design by now but they both sucked when I used them last. Now, I am using a battery by Sanyo called Eneloop and they are noticeably better, running the same batch since the beginning of December 2010 any haven't had one dead cell yet, I use em 3+times a week. I would normally start to see some dead cells right around now in the life of the others shown by them just simply not charging.  Also, the Energizers and Duras seemed to be real difficult in the cold climate, loosing charge quick and being more of a pain in the ass in the charger. The Eneloops are cheep and plenty juicy for all night wireless mic application and then some.

I am sure there are much better out there but I figured I'd give some input.

[Ken Nelson]

By far, the best are the IPower:
http://www.ipowerus.com/Products/DC9V500/DC9V500.htm
Plenty of power, and they have a slow self-discharge rate...

Found a setup here, B&H also carries the individual batts and charger

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/501664-REG/iPower_FC9VX44K_FC_9VX44_Fast_Smart_9V.html

Any other place I should look at for supply?

[Robert "VOiD" Caprio]

These guys have some good options:

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/AA-AAA-C-D-9V-Batteries_c_634.html

These work well too:

http://www.greenbatteries.com/reba.html

[Kevin Hoober]

Another vote for Eneloop AA's (w/ MAHA chargers) and iPower's 9Vs.

I also use Sanyo 2700 AA's in some of my higher drain devices (Lectrosonic HM's running 48V phantom) to get to 7.5 hrs of run time.  Everything else (UHF-R/KSM9 on high power, EW300iem G2/3) easily clears the prerequisite 7.5 hour run time with Eneloops.

Kevin H.

[John Sulek]

Did a search, could not find any threads on this.

I am tired of buying one use 9V batts for our IEM receivers. I am sure folks on here have a good deal of expertise on the subject from real world use, whether they've realized it or not.

What brand and type of rechargeable is best, ie recharges and giving good performance under use? Since the different in cost as far as I can tell is about $4 per, it doesn't make any sense to go with anything but the best, particularly for critical applications like monitoring.

I have had great results with Powerex Nimh 9v batteries and a Maha 10up charger.
Last for three hours no problem.
Just have to be on top of changing them up as there is no warning before the voltage drops off the cliff.

Haven't tried the iPower yet.

[Matti Jokinen]

Sanyo Eneloop. Lots of power, slow self-discharge and reliable. Remember that you can have all the best batteries in the world but they are useless without a good charger.

Matti

[Scott Raymond]

I have had great results with Powerex Nimh 9v batteries and a Maha 10up charger.
Last for three hours no problem.
Just have to be on top of changing them up as there is no warning before the voltage drops off the cliff.

Haven't tried the iPower yet.

We've also had pretty good luck with the Powerex with one exception.  We're using Shure ULXP mics and the handhelds work fine other than not being able to trust the battery meter.  However the belt packs  just aren't reliable with them.  We've put fully charged battery's in them and had them fail to transmit. So we don't use them in those.  I have no idea why they're different from the handhelds but they are.  These are the 9.6 V versions but the beltpacks seem to have an aversion to them.  The first batch has lasted about 1 1/2 years and at 14$ a battery they've really been a no-brainer compared to alkalines.  They have a 10 space charger and always used to put them on the charger and leave them till they got used.  Now we're just charging before use and we'll see if they last even longer that way.

Scott

[Matt Marcus]

Second on the iPower. Maha's have only ever given me a few hours not ling enough for an evening tech rehearsal, while the iPowers go 6-7 hrs easy. (this is in 1st gen Senn 100 series lav Tx).

[Andrew Moyer]

I'm going to change the direction of this slightly.  We have some Eneloop batteries that I have recently tried with some rental Sennheiser EM300 beltpacks getting at least 8 hours out of them.

We are about to purchase 12-18 new receivers and will be purchasing Eneloop batteries to go with all of the packs.  The question I have is what are people using for charging units?  I would like a sled that can charge 8-12 AA batteries at a time.  I don't want to have to deal with units that only do 4 at a time.  I am going to be charging anywhere from 24 to 36 batteries at a time.

Andrew

[Kevin Maxwell]

We've also had pretty good luck with the Powerex with one exception.  We're using Shure ULXP mics and the handhelds work fine other than not being able to trust the battery meter.  However the belt packs  just aren't reliable with them.  We've put fully charged battery's in them and had them fail to transmit. So we don't use them in those.  I have no idea why they're different from the handhelds but they are.  These are the 9.6 V versions but the beltpacks seem to have an aversion to them.  The first batch has lasted about 1 1/2 years and at 14$ a battery they've really been a no-brainer compared to alkalines.  They have a 10 space charger and always used to put them on the charger and leave them till they got used.  Now we're just charging before use and we'll see if they last even longer that way.

Scott

9v batteries can vary quite a bit in physical size. Stand a few different manufacturers batteries next to each other and you can see the difference. I have in the past had a problem between Energizers and Duracell. The energizers were longer and would cause the battery contacts in the body pack to get bent in. The Duracell’s were shorter so they wouldn’t make good contact with the terminals in a body pack that got stretched out by some Energizers. I either had to bent the spring contacts out or put a shim under the battery for it to make contact.

So the battery length issue may be why you are having a problem in you body packs.       

[William R. Conturo]

The question I have is what are people using for charging units?  I would like a sled that can charge 8-12 AA batteries at a time.  I don't want to have to deal with units that only do 4 at a time.  I am going to be charging anywhere from 24 to 36 batteries at a time.

Andrew

Would like to maybe dive into this real quick too.  I am using just plain ol Energizer and Duracell chargers (4 batts per charger, 4 chargers, 2 of each brand, total of 16 batteries at once). I have suspected the chargers to be battery killers since the beginning. I only charge once or twice week depending on usage hours, and monitor them as they are charging (keep myself busy doing other stuff that needs done) and take em out after about 20 min or so. Would like an alternative.

[Kevin Hoober]

I'm going to change the direction of this slightly.... The question I have is what are people using for charging units?  I would like a sled that can charge 8-12 AA batteries at a time.  I don't want to have to deal with units that only do 4 at a time.  I am going to be charging anywhere from 24 to 36 batteries at a time.

Andrew

I use MAHA MH-C800S chargers amazon link for bulk charging--they'll charge a completely empty Eneloop in less than 2 hours.  If you need faster charging try the MH-801D, they'll do an empty Eneloop in about an hour.

I also have an MH-C9000 charger/analyzer for doing break-in cycling and periodic testing.

Kevin H.

[Erik Jerde]

Did a search, could not find any threads on this.

I am tired of buying one use 9V batts for our IEM receivers. I am sure folks on here have a good deal of expertise on the subject from real world use, whether they've realized it or not.

What brand and type of rechargeable is best, ie recharges and giving good performance under use? Since the different in cost as far as I can tell is about $4 per, it doesn't make any sense to go with anything but the best, particularly for critical applications like monitoring.

I've used Ansmann rechargeables and energizer rechargeables.  The Ansmann definitely have a longer life span.  FWIW Ansmann is what Cirque Du Soleil uses in all their wireless.  My friend Mike did a shootout of a few different rechargeable batteries for his blog about a year ago.  You can find it here:  http://www.churchtecharts.org/archives/1686  It's broken into a couple posts, so that one is just the first of the series.  It's worth checking out.

[ProSoundWeb Community]