Okay, so it looks as if neither Isidore nor Lili will directly impact any of us (lurkers correct me if I'm wrong), but the resulting heavy rains in some areas might mean trees down and power lines with them. Here's a nice-looking battery charger. Note what it says about those NMI thingy batteries. Btw, that's not a bad price. The two sophisticated chargers I have were in the $50 range (and even they have earned their keep many times over).

i know some people have had bad luck with rechargeables but I've been ordering from ccrane.com for about five years and I'm VERY happy with their batteries. In fact, I'm about to place another order since Sweetie took a bunch of the rechargeables to Charleston. Here's where you can find a variety of batteries, from regular to nicjel metal hydride and in many different sizes. The prices are VERY good--example: you can get a box of 40 regular alkaline AAs for $20.

Once at the site, you might like to click on some of the right-hand links--there are some wonderful items in this catalogue. I much prefer it to the clothing catalogues, lol!

P.S. I don't know if ccrane still carries cell phone batteries but you might consider buying an extra and/or a car charger thingie.

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2002

Answers

I'm still having really bad luck with rechargables -- I borrowed a handy talkie last night that had a pair give out while I was talking. The owner had a spare pair. Those gave out about five minutes later.

Fortunately, I had a fresh set of non-rechargables with me. Here's what I've had better luck with along those lines:

I bought a "camping battery" from Target for around $34, as well as one of those "car jumping" batteries (about $78 at Meijer). Those have worked a lot better than the tiny rechargables for me. I plug small radios, my mini-TV (DC), and DC lights into these units with the car charger plugs (DC plugs). I also have a DC fan that's come in handy several times when we lost power. The fan was in the auto section at Target -- around $12.

The downside is that these units aren't all that portable -- well, the camping battery is less than a pound, but the other unit . . . then again, I've mostly used these at home.

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2002

We have also given up on the rechargables!!! Tryed and tryed and find the big camp batteries to be the best deal for us. I have a florescent lantern that we have run for many, many hours on the same battery. I use it for hours at a time during milking in the barn and other places were I feel the Colemans are too dangerous for our light. Love those littled dc fans!!! We used those with car batteries that we charged with the generator while I was in Haiti. Livesavers in the heat!!!

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2002

Great idea on the camp battery.

If you have trouble with the NiCads, try the NiMH types--they provide more power than either NiCads or alkalines, although lose it faster when left in a drawer. I can't quite remember--regular NiCads lose their power at about 5% a month, something like that, if they're stored. The trick to keeping NiCads in good shape is to use a slowish recharger as opposed to the quick chargers, which heat the batteries too much and cause them to lose effectiveness. There's info at ccrane which explains all this.

My ccrane NiCads last for nine hours in the scanner, running continuously and scanning continuously--that's not bad. They begin to lose some effectiveness after a year or two of daily use. The ccrane Ds that I use in the Coleman lanterns last several nights-- three or four, as I recall from Fran. And the 5" TV lasts a good long time, can't remember exactly, but I know we were surprised it lasted so long. I use rechargeables exclusively, in the clocks, remotes, tape players, revolving tie rack, toothbrushes, all kinds of stuff.

I also have solar chargers, cigarette lighter thingies that can run a computer and I used to have solar panels but we're taking them down to neaten up the yard and store for moving.

I bought two gas hot plates for cooking--cost me $5 or $10 for the pair at a yard sale--and I have two full butane canisters for them. I shall try them outside first and use them only on top of the stove with a fire extinguisher nearby. There's a good amount of Sterno in the closet, Coleman fuel too, but for those times when I need a cup of coffee NOW, the butane will be wonderful.

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2002