BATTERIES

     Keeping the electronics going under all conditions can be challenging.  With a little creativity you can keep almost any gadget going all of the time.  The availability of  Nickel Metal Hydride batteries in almost any configuration has really helped.  While not cheap the number of recharges you get, the enormous power capacity and wide working temperature range make them a real value over the long haul.

                 LITHIUM              NIGHTSTICKS               NIMH

     The lithium batteries on the left are not cheap, they cost about 10 bucks for a four pack of AA's.  They are not rechargeable either.  They do have the widest working temperature range and highest power capacity of any battery readily available.  A set of these will last over a year in my motor drive Nikons while exposed to temperatures from well below zero to above 100 degrees.  They also weigh about half of other types of batteries.

     The batteries in the center are Vistalite Nightsticks.  They all are rated at 6 volts and intended to use for bicycle lights.  They see that duty but mostly they are used for running my video cameras.  Their 6 volt output is a very common voltage for all types of devices.  The black ones are nicads and the silver one is Nickel Metal Hydride.  You can buy two of the nicads for the price of one NiMh but I believe it is worth the extra money.  Nicads don't have near the power reserve and cold weather kills them quickly.  All you need is a Radio Shack Adapt-A-Cord set and you can power any device that requires six volts.  Anything that requires 4 AAA's. AAA's, C cells or D cells is a six volt device.

     The batteries on the right are rechargeable NiMh and are quite a value in the long run.  They hold about 70 percent more power than a standard AA and can be recharged up to 500 times.  Very cheap in the long run and more environmentally friendly than pitching alkalines in the trash over and over.  They are only 1.2 volts as compared to 1.5 for a conventional AA but I have not encountered any problems substituting the NiMh's in any device.  They work great in camera flashes where you need a quick recycle time.

6V NIMH                     6V NICAD

SOLAR BATTERY CHARGERS 

     When you are going to spend a lot of time in the back country and need to keep power to your small devices then solar chargers are the way to go.  I can charge the batteries for any device I carry from the PDA to the MP3 player.

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