2. What's your battery type?
3. Flash versus hard drive: Who guzzles more?
4. Is it going to rain? How weather can affect battery performance
5. Hold me, thrill me, drain me
6. Growing old gracefully: Battery-saving tips
What's your battery type?
Nowadays, most MP3 players mainly use rechargeable batteries though there are still some that choose to stick to alkaline batteries. What's good about rechargeables is that you don't need to splash down additional dough on new batteries every time you run out of power. What's bad is you become dependant on a power socket to juice up your cells when these power down and you may not necessarily be in the range of one when you really need it, unless you plan to charge your rechargeables everyday.
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 Standard alkaline
battery |
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Like anything else, rechargeable batteries have a limited lifespan that stretches anywhere from 300 to 500 charge cycles. This roughly works out to two years' worth of decent battery life, depending on usage.
Lithium-ion and Lithium-polymer (a thinner version used mainly in handphones) are currently hands-down the kings of the arena, barring the upcoming fuel cell technology. With a higher density and less chance of memory effect occurring (when the battery assumes that it is already charged when it hasn't), older rechargeable types like nickel cadium (NiCd) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH), with their limited charge cycles and tendency to discharge themselves, simply don't stand a chance.
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 Players that use
alkaline batteries often last for over 40 hours! |
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Traveller types who might not be seeing a power socket for the next 500 hundred kilometres would be better advised to stick to MP3 players that have an option to use replaceable alkaline batteries. A stash of AA or AAA batteries is probably more readily available at your nearest convenience store than a spare AC plug, unless you have the cash to splash on a dozen Lithium-ion cells or have a laptop handy which can charge a depleted MP3 player through the USB port.
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Isii
15/01/2005 06:29 AM
Some important issues are not addressed in this article! -NiCd batteries need to be recharged after they are drained off juice, recharging them when they have 50% juice will reduce their life time. Is there similar issues with Li-ion, NiMHbatteries? -Is it better/allright to keep Li-ion/NiMH batteries under constant charge? -Is one charging method better than other? (fast/normal, constant current, cinstant voltage) -is there a comprimise as NiMH capacity increases (e.g compare 1800mAh to 2400mAh), such as lifetime?
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