Rechargable batteries

[Pacifist_Farmer]

I've been spending a lot of quality time in Radio shack recently and got thinking about rechargable batteries.

Has anyone installed a rechargable battery in a warp, or revy for that matter?

I searched but didnt come up with anything.

[GoatBoy]

I normally use a NiMH 9v battery in my 9v rev. I've tried 2 rechargeables in a 12v rev as well; seemed to be fine.

Most 9v rechargeables are actually like 7.2 volts, although you can buy ones now that give you the full 9.4 or whatever.

You might want to look on ebay for rechargeable batteries from time to time; sometimes there are good deals there.

[LoveMyMagMoreThanYou]

go here: http://www.4cbradio.com/index.htm to find a full range of rechargeables. The 9.6v batteries that are the same size as "9v" batteries work well. Also look for the charger that handles 10 9.6v batteries. Here's the link: http://www.4cbradio.com/mh-c1090f-pb.htm

[GoatBoy]

Holeee crap dude, $70 for a charger. Thomas is a neat place to look for info, but they're really pricey.

I haven't been able to find the specs just yet, but I wonder if the "new" 9v's will charge just fine in a standard charger. I get the feeling they're sort of scamming you, because I could have sworn those 9.4V rechargeables came out BEFORE specialized chargers for them came out.

[Pacifist_Farmer]

great links thanks!

I was kind of thinking more along the lines of putting a battery in the warp as a permanent piece, and then drilling a hole for a charger connection, kinda like a cell phone

You can buy the AC adapter at radio shack for 12 or so dollars, and as long as the circuit was protected by a voltage regulator i think you would be ok...

any thoughts?

[sniper1rfa]

i used to make NiMH battery packs for warps. 9 AAA rechargeables in series for 9.6V

At one point, i had my mayhem running off a single pack, warp, gun, and revvy. Everything was intellifed and the gun had a charging jack. It was ooh nice.


If i restore the mayhem, thats what i plan on doing.

you can see the pack in this pic.

[JonDaAzn]

warpig just had a review onn rechargeable batts. check it out

[billmi]

Originally posted by GoatBoy
Holeee crap dude, $70 for a charger. Thomas is a neat place to look for info, but they're really pricey.

That sounds pricey, but when you consider that a NiMH rechargeable is good for over 1,000 cycles the money you save in not buying alkalines is greater.

Check out http://www.warpig.com/paintball/tech...9v/index.shtml
Running the numbers, the cost of one of those rechargeables and the charger, compared to using the same amount of alkalines (even taking into account that the rechargeable only holds 40% as much energy on one charge as the alkaline does in its single use) it's 195 times cheaper to use the rechargeable. Buying more rechargeables with the charger makes it even more cost effective.

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills

[cgrieves]

I use two 9v NIMH rechargeables in my warp with a SPDT switch with center "off" latch to switch between them on the field (and as an off switch).

The fast chargers can shorten the life of the batteries compared to trickle chargers. I use a 15 hour charger which is pretty gentle on the batteries.

Icidentally, when I fully charge my 8.4V NIMHs (Fameart brand), they give out 9.4-9.6 volts, draining to around 8.8 volts before the warp start to show signs of slowing. The next project will be a 12V regulator.

[GoatBoy]

Originally posted by billmi


That sounds pricey, but when you consider that a NiMH rechargeable is good for over 1,000 cycles the money you save in not buying alkalines is greater.

Check out http://www.warpig.com/paintball/tech...9v/index.shtml
Running the numbers, the cost of one of those rechargeables and the charger, compared to using the same amount of alkalines (even taking into account that the rechargeable only holds 40% as much energy on one charge as the alkaline does in its single use) it's 195 times cheaper to use the rechargeable. Buying more rechargeables with the charger makes it even more cost effective.

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills

You know, it's funny, I tried to impart the same idea in the Q-Loader thread about 9v disposable batteries, but I'm guessing the math involved was too complicated or something.

So... yes, I fully understand the value compared against disposables. But I just wanted to point out that not all of us walk onto the field powered by five 9v batteries, or take care of equipment needs for an entire team. If you can get away with using just a "regular" 9v NiMH battery and a "regular" charger, how much more are you gaining by buying a really expensive battery and the mother of all 9v chargers? For $70, you could buy... man, handfuls of "lesser" rechargeable 9v batteries. You could line them up on your desk, have them spell your name out, maybe stage a civil war reenactment...


As far as the charger ideas... as long as when you said permanent you didn't really mean permanent, I guess it would be fine if you did the wiring properly. The most convenience would be if you could get it as close to not having to charge them at all, because that's the likely culprit for not having charged batteries... forgetting to charge them. Instead of spending the money on the uber-battery and uber-charger, I wonder what kind of results you would get from buying a solar cell and just plugging that into the gun and letting it trickle while you took a break between games, etc.

[Mindflux]

I recently picked up the Rayovac IC-3 15 minute charging system. It's really nice. You can also get a car charger for the system as well, so if you do run out .. spend 15 minutes 'out of game'... or have a spare set of batteries waiting!

[FallNAngel]

Originally posted by GoatBoy
If you can get away with using just a "regular" 9v NiMH battery and a "regular" charger, how much more are you gaining by buying a really expensive battery and the mother of all 9v chargers? For $70, you could buy... man, handfuls of "lesser" rechargeable 9v batteries.

But when you get all of those "lesser" rechargables, say... an Energizer 9v, what are you actually getting from it? Energizers are about 7.2v @ 150mah. That's not a whole lot of voltage. Hell, some things like EBlades will barely want to work on them. I'm not saying you should spend $70 on a charger. Personally, I would if I needed to charge more than 5-6 batteries at one time or if I was on a team that would have use for it. In the end, you generally get what you pay for.

[GoatBoy]

Originally posted by FallNAngel


But when you get all of those "lesser" rechargables, say... an Energizer 9v, what are you actually getting from it? Energizers are about 7.2v @ 150mah. That's not a whole lot of voltage. Hell, some things like EBlades will barely want to work on them. I'm not saying you should spend $70 on a charger. Personally, I would if I needed to charge more than 5-6 batteries at one time or if I was on a team that would have use for it. In the end, you generally get what you pay for.

The premise was "if you can get away with it." If you have a device that can seriously not stand 7.2V, then you're not getting away with it.


12V Warp: 2 9v batteries.

2 PowerEx Batteries, $20 from earlier suggested site.

6 noname 170mah, $20 from ebay.

Assume that since they're noname, they don't do any better than 150mAH batteries.
Assume the runtime on the PowerEx batteries is "1". The runtime for a set of 150mah batteries, loosely judging from the warpig article, would be "0.83".

But you get three sets of these for the price of the one set of PowerEx.

PowerEx runtime: 1
Noname runtime: 2.48