Our Guide to Batteries

Supreme Imports Guide to Batteries

Alkaline

Duracell, Energizer, Samsung, Pifco, Memorex & Procell Alkaline are the most common type of household battery. They became popular in the 1970's, as an alternative to Zinc carbon & Zinc Chloride batteries (e.g., "Heavy Duty" and "General Purpose" batteries). Alkalines have a lot of power and are inexpensive and they usually can't be recharged.

Standard alkalines don't work well in high-drain devices (like digital cameras), because they're not good at pumping out lots of power quickly. They'll still work, but your battery life will be short. However, most manufacturers have introduced special alkalines which work well in high drain devices, such as Duracell Ultra, Energizer Lithium and Panasonic Oxiride etc

There's not much difference in capacity from brand to brand, as long as you're comparing standard to standard, and high drain to high drain. Consumer Reports found that the spread between the best and worst alkalines was only 9-15% regardless of the brand.

Alkalines lose their voltage gradually -- as opposed to rechargeables like NiMH or NiCad which maintain most of their voltage over the whole charge and then suddenly plummet.

Supreme Imports sell many different brands in Alklaine including Panasonic Duracell Energizer , Memorex, Pifco, Procell , Samsung . These are ideal for most products.

NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride): GP & PIFCO 

NiMH's are replacing NiCads as the rechargeable battery of choice, because they have a higher capacity than NiCads and don't have the special disposal requirements that NiCads do.

Note that NiMH's come in different capacities; for example, one D-cell might be 2200mAh while another is 8000mAh. So always check the label to see the capacity. If the capacity isn't stated, don't buy it. Of course, you'll pay more for higher-capacity batteries.

A possible downside shared by both NiMH's and NiCads is that they put out less voltage than alkalines (1.2 V instead of 1.5 V). That means that devices which require four or more batteries might not even work at all with NiCads or NiMH's. (They might work; it depends on the device, doesn't hurt to try. Appliances that take only one or two batteries usually work fine. 4 batteries, maybe, and 8, possibly not.)

Unlike alkalines which lose their voltage steadily, NiMH batteries maintain most of their voltage over the whole charge and then suddenly plummet, as shown in the graphs below. For this reason many electronic devices that tell you how much battery life is left have a hard time reporting an accurate level for NiMH's. The voltage is very similar for both a fully-charged battery some devices let you specify in the setup menu whether you're using NiMH or alkalines, so they can try to be more accurate with the battery-remaining indicator.

Another downside of both NiMH's and NiCads is that they self-discharge quickly (~20-25%/month). Self-discharge means they lose power even if they're just sitting in a drawer. Shelf life is about 2-3 months. So they're not the best choice for, say, emergency flashlights (use alkaline instead) or smoke detectors (use lithium -- lasts 7-10 years).

You can't recharge NiMH batteries in an old NiCd charger. If you try the batteries could explode. If your charger isn't specifically labelled as handling NiMH batteries, then it can't.

How to charge: You'll get more recharge cycles if you charge soon (before the battery has lost too much power). But since you can typically charge NiMH's hundreds or thousands of times even if mostly drained each time, you probably shouldn't worry about it, and can just charge recharge whenever you like. Just try not to drain the battery completely before you recharge.

Supreme Imports sell Nimh in GP , Pifco and Uniross. The high 2500 mah (AA) are ideal for hi-drain products

NiCad (Nickel-Cadmium) – Older technology rechargeable: Uniross & Pifco

NiCads are obsolete rechargeables. They've been replaced by Nickel-Metal Hydrides (NiMH's). NiMH's have much higher capacity

NiCads don't last very long before needing a recharge. They typically have 50 to 67% less capacity than alkalines and NiMH's. NiMH's. Even "High Capacity" NiCads have way less capacity than NiMH's (~900mAh vs. 2500mAh for an NiMH). If you're using C- or D-cell NiCd's, you'll also have to deal with the fact that many chargers won't completely fill up a high-capacity C or D.

Also, when NiCads are dead, you can't throw them away because they contain toxic metals. You can drop them off for recycling

NiCads have only one advantage over NiMH's, which is pretty minor: If you drain a NiCad down too far then a good charger can often resurrect it, but an NiMH drained too far will be more resistant to being brought back to life.

There's a theory that NiCad batteries can suffer from a memory effect. The basic premise is that if you recharge a NiCad before it's mostly spent, the battery will "remember" the capacity at which you recharged it, so you will have reduced the capacity of the battery.

Supreme Imports sell Nicads in Uniross and Pifco

Lithium

Lots of power – up to 3 times longer than alkaline and use exclusive technology patented by Energizer (for AA/AAA).

These are designed for very high-drain devices, like digital cameras, mp3 players, motorized toys, and portable CD players (in which they last for up to 10 years). They're more efficient than standard alkalines for high-drain devices because they can supply the POWER much quicker. But they're more expensive.

Lithiums are useful in low-drain devices like smoke alarms -- they last so long you can go for years without replacing the battery. When you go through only one battery every several years, you're not as concerned that it can't be recharged.

Don't confuse AA Lithium’s with Lithium-Ion battery packs (like the kind that come with some cell phones and camcorders). Those Lithium-Ion packs ARE rechargeable, but only when they're installed in the device they're powering, or in a special recharger.

Supreme Imports sell Lithium in Energizer

Zinc Carbon & Zinc Chloride

You know that's what they are because they're NOT labelled "alkaline"

They usually say "General Purpose", or "Heavy Duty". They were the battery type of choice in the 70's, before Alkalines were available.

Even recently they were still popular because they used to be a lot cheaper than Alkaline and are great for low drainage items like TV remotes, clocks and any low drainage device.

Supreme Imports offer Panasonic, Samsung, Eveready, Pifco and Memorex. Duracell don’t make Zinc batteries