Best Rechargeable Batteries to Use in a Nomad

[SpaceBooger]

I can't afford the awesome battery mod for a Nomad, but because we need some rechargeable batteries for other appliances and kids toys I want to buy good ones.

So like the title suggests, if I buy rechargeable AA batteries which ones would work the best in a Sega Nomad?

[CRTGAMER]

Any lithium rechargeable battery but limited run time. I gave up on them for the camera. They would discharge even when not used.

For longer run time between batteries any non-rechargeable Akaline. To save money the RayOVac Akalines are pretty good, up there with Energizer and Duracell.

Some rechargeables have voltage issues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Nomad

[Lokkenjawnz]

I can't recommend any particular batteries myself, as I'm actually looking for some for that exact same purpose.

However, I do know that the voltage issue is no longer a problem as far as I know. Older rechargeables used Lithium which had problems with voltage, but current ones are Ni-Cad which should work fine. I might have the two mixed up though, it's been a long time since I looked into the matter.

[Hobie-wan]

I can't recommend any particular batteries myself, as I'm actually looking for some for that exact same purpose.

However, I do know that the voltage issue is no longer a problem as far as I know. Older rechargeables used Lithium which had problems with voltage, but current ones are Ni-Cad which should work fine. I might have the two mixed up though, it's been a long time since I looked into the matter.

You've got that backwards. Older rechargables were NiCD and only put out 1.2 volts.

[Anapan]

Get these 4 and two more

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/ - best prices and selection I could find on the net.

I did a whole bunch of research on this a few months back scouring review/comaprison sites and professional digital camera forums because I was tired of getting crap products (actually the Energizer ones faired the worst out of the different random brands I had). The best thing about that site is their listing order for products is near identical to my own research as far as performance and value is concerned for hybrid/low discharge batteries (go into the sub-category, not just the new/recently added to get the proper ranking order). They don't carry any crap products that I read were best to avoid, tho I hear the Delkin ones take a lot of charge cycles to reach their rated 2900mAh capacity (the company will promptly replace any that you suspect won't carry the full charge). For appliances that don't drain batteries quickly, the new Hybrid batteries are the best. I've heard lots of good things about Sanyo's Eneloop, but by all accounts MAHA Imedions are as good or better. The Powerex 2700 mAh AAs that came bundled with the charger seem to be working awesome as well, I'm up to 18 hours and 48 minutes according to Little-sound DJ on my Gameboy from a full charge and it hasn't even put a nick in their power. As far as chargers go, I grabbed the MAHA Powerex MH-C9000 so I can keep my new batteries in top shape and get accurate readings on their capacity. It also has the ability to repair worn-out rechargables which it does very well. It almost completely refreshed 80% of the old rechargables I already had in the house using it's deep cycle 30+ hour break-in mode (it reported that most only held about 40-60% of their original capacity when I did a quick charge test before reforming them) about 6 of the crappy batteries I had couldn't be saved. If you plan to keep the batteries working good for a long time, I'd suggest getting a charger that can refresh them. From my research, I read that most of the brands they carry also handle rapid charging without problems, as long as they are deep cycle refreshed every 4-6 months. You can get chargers that can fully charge NImH batteries in 15 minutes.

[SpaceBooger]

Get these 4 and two more

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/ - best prices and selection I could find on the net.

I did a whole bunch of research on this a few months back scouring review/comaprison sites and professional digital camera forums because I was tired of getting crap products (actually the Energizer ones faired the worst out of the different random brands I had). The best thing about that site is their listing order for products is near identical to my own research as far as performance and value is concerned for hybrid/low discharge batteries (go into the sub-category, not just the new/recently added to get the proper ranking order). They don't carry any crap products that I read were best to avoid, tho I hear the Delkin ones take a lot of charge cycles to reach their rated 2900mAh capacity (the company will promptly replace any that you suspect won't carry the full charge). For appliances that don't drain batteries quickly, the new Hybrid batteries are the best. I've heard lots of good things about Sanyo's Eneloop, but by all accounts MAHA Imedions are as good or better. The Powerex 2700 mAh AAs that came bundled with the charger seem to be working awesome as well, I'm up to 18 hours and 48 minutes according to Little-sound DJ on my Gameboy from a full charge and it hasn't even put a nick in their power. As far as chargers go, I grabbed the MAHA Powerex MH-C9000 so I can keep my new batteries in top shape and get accurate readings on their capacity. It also has the ability to repair worn-out rechargables which it does very well. It almost completely refreshed 80% of the old rechargables I already had in the house using it's deep cycle 30+ hour break-in mode (it reported that most only held about 40-60% of their original capacity when I did a quick charge test before reforming them) about 6 of the crappy batteries I had couldn't be saved. If you plan to keep the batteries working good for a long time, I'd suggest getting a charger that can refresh them. From my research, I read that most of the brands they carry also handle rapid charging without problems, as long as they are deep cycle refreshed every 4-6 months. You can get chargers that can fully charge NImH batteries in 15 minutes.

Awesome info. Thanks.
Now its time to look for a charger. If I am going to do this right I want to make sure I have everything.
Anapan, what do you think of this charger?

[Anapan]

All the specs on it look good. It's a smart charger with a trickle function so it'll charge the batteries properly to full capacity and they can be left in there for long periods of time without problems. The 400ma charge will keep the batteries in good condition.
I quickly looked up a review and some guy said he's been using that same charger for 2 years constantly in a commercial manner with no problems.
The next step up from that one is the MH-C204W that does a 1-2 hour charge and has a selectable condition/rescue function to refresh the batteries, but it's not really necessary as the 204gt's slower charge and trickle top-up function does that to a lesser extent every time you charge the batteries.
Comparison Chart
The rescue function on mine made all my worn out rechargables almost like new again after running them through a long cycle, but that was probably because I was using a crappy rapid charger and often left them sit dead for months at a time.

Just a note - The 2 in the model number of those chargers means that they're 2 channel, you'll want to always have either 2 or 4 batteries in it at once.

I'd say go for it. It's a great price for what it can do that lots of other chargers can't.

[hailrazer]

Some good news for my Nomad battery mod.

I think I will be able to get the price down to $55 for a limited run.

Found some Nomad Rechargeable Paks to buy in bulk a bit cheaper , so I am passing on the savings if it comes through

[SpaceBooger]

Some good news for my Nomad battery mod.

I think I will be able to get the price down to $55 for a limited run.

Found some Nomad Rechargeable Paks to buy in bulk a bit cheaper , so I am passing on the savings if it comes through

Still out of my price range... I think. I may be contacting you.

Anapan - If I have a bunch of rechargeable nimh energizer and duracell batteries that don't hold a charge anymore - if I got the MH-C204W I could get those old batteries to work right?
But if I get the first one I posted it will only work with new batteries... or am I wrong? Sorry all of this is new to me.

[Anapan]

You can charge any NiMH batteries in both models. If your old batteries don't perform well or don't hold much power anymore it might take some work to get them back to good working condition is all. The 204GT would probably take quite a few charging and discharging cycles to revive them and it will probably never get them back to full capacity. The way to revive worn-out rechargables is to fill them as full as they can take (more than they can take if possible), then discharge them fully to 0 power, and repeat. The trickle charge on the 204GT will slowly keep pumping power into the worn-out batteries after they signal that they're full, so to refresh your old ones, you could leave them in the charger for a couple of days, stick them in a device that will keep using their power till there's none left, and put them back in the charger for a couple more days. Doing that over and over again should eventually make them hold more power to near full capacity. The rescue function on the 204W just speeds up the process a lot. After they're fully charged using the standard charge, you pull them out to let them rest a bit then re-insert them and press the condition/rejuvenate button. It will apply a reverse current to fully discharge them, then it slowly does a full recharge to completely top them off using a ramping high-current pulse. You can repeat that a few times to fix poorly performing batteries, and if you do it to your good batteries every few months it will keep them at peak performance. The charger I got does that over and over for 30-45 hours keeping track of the results, and even still about 1/2 of my old batteries never got back to 80% capacity, and some couldn't even hold 1/2 capacity.

There's a warning on the 204W as well that says don't use it to recharge batteries that hold less than 2000mAh, tho the FAQ says that's only true if you do 2 at a time.