As we all know, batteries are critical to many things we do. As photographers, we rely upon batteries to make our cameras work. May years ago I had cameras that worked on AA batteries. Now all the batteries I need for photography are proprietary to Canon. For my handheld radios I can buy an Icom sealed battery pack or I can get a pack that uses AA cells. I have opted for the latter. You can burn through AA cells pretty quickly. I have always used the copper top batteries. This gets expensive. I decided to give the new NiMH cells a try. They are supposed to be 2000 mAh. The alkaline batteries come out about 2500 mAh. Of course battery life comes down to how much you listen and how much you transmit with your Handy Talkies (HTs).

One of the things about the alkaline cells is that they all seem to leak eventually. When that happens, you end up with a destroyed device. I can't tell you how many MagLite flashlights I have screwed up over the years. Also screwed up TV remotes and the like. So I decided to have a go with the NiMH cells and see what happens. They do not leak. For the beginning of the experiment I am charging them up with my Icom charger. I also have another charger designed for NiMH AA and AAA cells.

One big difference between alkaline cells and NiMH cells is the voltage. The alkalines have 1.5 volts and the NiMH are about 1.2 volts. so, I am going to have some fun with this for a while. Stay tuned unless you don't feel like it.