Meet Melvin. He is a rechargeable AA battery – one of those fancy ones that come charged and hold there charge up to 85-90% even after a year of sitting unused. Actually Melvin is a group of AA batteries. I named them Melvin.

Why do I name my batteries? Good question.

Just like the Universe, parents of twins, and civil rights workers, batteries want everything to be equal. If you put 4 rechargeable AA’s into your flash and one of them is only half full, the three full batteries will self discharge and you’re flash will stop working long before it should have. The batteries want to equalize and it’s not good for the life or use of the batteries.

How do I keep this from becoming a problem? Another good question. Thanks for asking.

Battery management. I want to group the batteries so that each set is used together for the same amount of time over their lives. The batteries will have a longer use and a longer life by maintaining almost equal charges. In order for me to know what group they are in I name them. These four are named Melvin. Those four are named Pickles. Oh, here comes Deloris. She’s four AAA’s. I write the names on their sides with a Sharpie marker. Some folks just number them, and I’ll admit I used to do it that way. But it seems so cold and disconnected for something that gives our gear life. Heartless. There, I’ve said it. It’s heartless.

Keep in mind; you’re going to want to have different groups. I have some that are groups of two, some four, some six, and even a few loners. I NEVER use two groups of two in a four battery device. And I don’t sometimes split groups of four to be used in a two battery device. That would be Anarchy!

How do you remember if Susie is 4 AA’s and you just can’t find the other two or she’s a group of 2 and you are cleared for a launch? Well, you also put a number on the battery. Is Dean riding solo? Write Dean and a number 1 on the side. Lulu comes in two? Write Lulu and the number 2 on each of those batteries as soon as you tear her out of that new blister pack, before you even use her the first time. Your GPS device uses 6 AA’s? Make up two or three 6 packs. Name one pack Bud and put a #6 on each of them. Name the next 6 pack Samuel just don’t forget to put a #6 on each Samuel battery.

See, it’s easy. I hope this helps you manage your batteries and get the most use and life from them.

What’s that?

Why not just use disposable batteries? Seriously? You were doing so good with the questions, and now this?

Even if you don’t give a poop about the environment you can save gobs and gobs of cash by making the switch.

How much can you save? Enough with the questions! What, do you work for homeland security? You do? Oh.

One decent quality alkaline AA in a jumbo pack costs 75 cents. One of the new-fangled pre-charged NiMH batteries costs around $2.50 in a $10 four-pack (sometimes they are on sale for even less). The rechargeable one lasts for over 1000 recharges. So that makes it the equivalent of .0025 or one quarter of a cent per battery over it’s life. But hang on! These batteries hold much longer of a useful charge – useful as far as cameras, flashes, and other high drain devices go. So you can use the rechargeables as much as three times as long. That’s .00083 of a cent per battery-ish.

Yes, yes, yes, you will have to pay for the electricity to charge it. But I’m not going to count it because then we’d have to factor in the shipping charges or gas for your car every time you went and bought a new pack of the planet eating alkaline batteries (which would be far more than the cost of electricity to refill these).

The simple math works out like this: if you have 40 batteries slots (flashes, remotes, various gizmos, and backups) and you switch to using the rechargeables, over the life of those batteries you’ll have saved $89,868.00. What! That can’t be right!

Yep. It’s right. 75 cents times 40 batteries is $30. Now multiply that times 3 (because of the shorter useful life). That gives you $90 (only $10 less than the initial investment in 40 rechargeables). Now multiply that times the 1000 recharges and you have 90 grand. Subtract the $100 investment for the 40 rechargeables and $32 for a really nice charger and it leaves you with a savings of $89,868.00!

That’s enough to pay for eleven Canon 1Ds mark III cameras, buy a Tesla Roadster (almost), or get in your time machine and go back to 1982 and buy a house. Just make sure you’re time machine is using rechargeable batteries and that you give them a nice name. They deserve it.

Disagree? You’re a mathematician or a battery scientist and I’ve got it all wrong? Let me know in the comments below. I can take it. Don’t forget to sign up for the Nice RSS feed or to be updated by email over in the right hand column so you don’t miss other ninety-thousand dollar savings tips.

Nice!

Now Shipping: The Nice Clip! - The lens cap clip and cord catcher Wired called, "A super handy little widget!"

Chase Jarvis Portrait Sessions - Inspiration from a Master of Photography
Strobist Lighting Diagrams Photo Tips & Tricks Vol. 1

| Del.icio.us | Technorati | Stumble it! | Digg