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Where To Get Sets and Parts For discussions about swapmeets, rallies, NVCF and BVWS, car boot sales, antique and charity shops, dealers, newspaper adverts, the local tip and just about any other source of equipment (other than eBay). |
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10th Oct 2011, 12:26 pm | #41 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Durham
Posts: 205
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
Agreed there Paul, Some of trhe cheap ones in Poundstretcher say heavy duty, thee the ones with the black an gold label, There rubbish. I have just baught a set of disney pen torches an they have these inside, two torches are ruined because of leaks but have managed to clean them an get them going again, The casings of these batterys are so thin an there not sealed properly either. Stick with the Panasonic i say, The Alkerline ones are cheap to an perform well, Avoid Powercell though. When they put heavy duty on them it makes them sound great but that is so you will buy them, Im always amazed at the folk who do buy them as they seem to sell well but it will cost you more in repair costs when they leak.
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10th Oct 2011, 1:05 pm | #42 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,970
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
B&M seem to have stopped stocking Powercell, so maybe people have been complaining. The Optimum ones they've been replaced with seem much better.
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21st Oct 2011, 4:23 pm | #43 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,970
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
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24th Oct 2011, 4:45 pm | #44 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Durham
Posts: 205
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
B&M now selling Panasonic but still have those green and black cheap ones in our local store.
Panasonic are better; at least they won't leak and for a zinc carbon they're good value. They're the same price but with the cheap ones you get more to a pack, but the green and black ones are no good value wise as they don't last and can leak. |
25th Oct 2011, 3:51 am | #45 |
Heptode
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Heysham, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 669
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
Lidl often sell a pack of 8 ("4 plus 4 free") Panasonic Pro Power alkalines for £1.99, i.e. a pound for 4. Tesco currently sell a 24 pack of Duracell Plus batteries for £10.00, i.e. £1.67 for 4. These are "standard" grade alkalines, designed for a wide range of applications. I find the Duracells slightly better for equipment which has a moderately high current drain and a high-ish cut-off voltage such as a hand held hiking GPS.
All (reputable) alkalines have a capacity of around 2.7 ~ 3AH, but this capacity is only available at light loads. At heavy loads, the available capacity is much reduced, typically to 1AH at 1A load to an end point of 0.9V per cell, and less than that for an end point of, for example 1.1V per cell for equipment which won't work down to 0.9V per cell. Premium cell such as Duracell Ultras are designed to minimise the capacity drop at high loads. The improvement you get is highly dependant on actual load current, end-point voltage, duty cycle, etc, but might typically be 20 ~ 50% in a digital camera. Premium cells will not be significantly better than standard cells in low drain applications such as radios. For very heavy loads, AA lithiums (actually Lithium Iron Disulfide) are by far the best. These also have a 3AH capacity, but almost the full capacity is still available at 1A or more load, and to a 1.1V end point. This is 10 times or more better than alkalines, and around 2x better than NiMH (although not re-chargeable). There are also "economy" alkalines such as the "Simply Duracell" cells which are designed for light loads only, but will still be much better than the miss-named "Heavy Duty" batteries which are likely to be Zinc-Chloride cells. Zinc Chloride cells have 1/3 of the capacity of alkalines even at very light loads, and fall off much more steeply than alkalines even at moderate loads. Add in that zinc-chloride cells have a shorter shelf life and a bigger leakage problem and they would have to be very cheap to be worth considering instead of £1 for 4 alkalines |
25th Oct 2011, 5:22 pm | #46 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Cardiff
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
Quote:
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29th Oct 2011, 5:00 pm | #47 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 3,310
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
I bought some Kodak alkalines today from our new branch of B&M(Trowbridge).
AA & AAA £1.89 for 10. BB 2017
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"Nothing is as dangerous as being too modern;one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly." |
30th Oct 2011, 9:55 am | #48 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Near Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 4,609
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Re: Cheap batteries in Poundstretcher, Poundland, B&M etc.
I think we'll close this thread now as the batteries in earlier posts will be time-expired by now.
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Mike. |