Paintball

[river031403]

What is the best battery or rechargeable battery for electronic guns and hoppers

[SNAKESNIPER]

There is none. Use Duracells or Energizers.

[Mr.Smith]

Originally Posted by SNAKESNIPER

There is none. Use Duracells or Energizers.

Actually, there are a few. OP look into "The bone", I'd post info myself but im going to be late for class.

[CJOttawa]

Maha/Powerex. Go with low-discharge models to give you better shelf life. Been using those for years, originally when I had an electro and now that I don't, in everything else.

[P0E]

If your device takes AA or AAA's and the current draw is high use Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloops. They are expensive, but worth it. What I mean by 'the current draw is high' is if the current exceeds the AmpHour ratting. For a AA that's around 1Amp. This is hard to tell without directly measuring it so here's a simple test..

How long would your marker/hopper/device last if on continuously? It doesn't matter if you would ever do it on the field. It's just a way to indicate the average current consumed. If the battery dies before hour or two... it's in a high draw environment.

The internal resistance of these Eneloops is good. Nearly as low as NiCD (which is lower than traditional NiMH and secondary Lithium cells, 1/10th that of Alkaline).

NiCDs are super cheap and rugged with the fastest charge time and lowest operating temperature, but their capacity loss each month might be too high for most users. They loose roughly 20% of their charge each month depending on ambient temperature. If you play regularly or in cold environments and/or want something significantly cheaper than the Eneloops ... these would be a good alternative.

Although Lithium based secondary batteries are best suited for low current environments...if you need a 9V battery, use a Lithium based one....even if it's a high current draw environment.

The reason is cell imbalance due caused by lousy chargers. NiMH and NiCD 9Vs are difficult to charge correctly and you'll be hard pressed to find an inexpensive GOOD charger that doesn't induce cell imbalance over time.

Lithiums are not as effected by this issue due to the fewer cells. Additionally charger manufacturers can't get away with super cheap charging topologies like they can with nickel based batteries. So Lithiums might not last quite as long on the field, but you'll get orders of magnitude more uses from them.

Note that Lithium based batteries internal resistance increases with time while their capacity drops, used or not. So always purchase them from a popular distributor with high inventory turn-over.

One more thing... Lithium batteries suck in the cold. Anything under 35°F is probably going to give obviously poor performance if used in a high current environment. One solution is to just warm them up periodically to ~90°F (one in pocket against body, other in device, swap). Another solution is to just use them constantly. This will cause them to heat up a little. It uses a good deal of their energy, but allows them to be usable in cold environments.

[uv_halo]

Originally Posted by P0E

If your device takes AA or AAA's and the current draw is high use Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloops...

Thanks for mentioning Eneloop, I'd never heard of them before. From everything I've read, it looks like if you're the type to charge and then store the batteries, then Eneloops (and pre-charged NiMHs in general) are the way to go.

As for myself, I typically charge my paintball batteries the night before I plan on using them and the higher capacity of a traditional NiMH seems to serve me well.

If you're using either of these batteries, a good charger is worth the investment.

[Silent Savage]

I've bought a couple of different brands of rechargeables of the past few years mainly for my video camera as it eats through AA battteries. Both the Eneloop XX and the Powerex have performed very well. I also use the white Eneloops in my rotor that I've charged once this year. Powerex also makes a low discharge 9v the Imedion, even has a paintball gun on the packaging I've also had good results using this charger. Lots of options and will tell how much of a charge you are putting into each battery or you can do a complete dis/re charge and see total capacity. La Crosse LC-BC700 AA and AAA Battery Charger with LCD Display

[FormulaZR]

Are the Energy rechargeables any good?

[JasonSaastad]

Do a google search on "battery comparison"

One of the top hits will be a blog with a chart comparing just about every type that is available.

I would post the link, but my Blackberry sucks.