Headlamps and rechargable batteries?

I know that some headlamps can have problems with lithium batteries. Does anyone know of problems with NiMH rechargables?

I have an LED headlamp that I use with rechargeable AAA batteries, no problems. I find the name brand (Energizer, Duracell) work better than off brand.

Best to read the instruction manual to be sure. Most new headlamps are probably OK with rechargeables. Nowadays I don't buy electronic gear unless it will work with alkalines, NiMH, and lithium batteries. Usually I use Nimh.

There was a big flap last year about Petzl headlamps not being compatible with rechargeables--fire hazard or some such. You want to check the specs on their website for your specific model to see if yours is compatible with rechargeables (this per the Petzl website). The same is true of lithium batteries (some models, like my e+lite, use lithium camera batteries, but there was a flap about lithium being a fire hazard in other models a couple of years ago.

That's probably true of everything--find out what the manufacturer recommends. My camera manufacturer (Canon) says no lithium, but rechargeables are recommended. Thanks to some knowledgeable folks on this site, I now use the Sanyo Eneloop batteries, which hold a charge pretty well.

I've given up trying to get everything with interchangeable batteries--basically impossible! Actually, all I have are my camera and headlamp!

“Nowadays I don't buy electronic gear unless it will work with alkalines, NiMH, and lithium batteries.”

+1. It makes life so much easier.

-Barry

Right, the Myo series (except the regulated one) for whatever reason cannot accept rechargables or lithiums. Something to do with NiMH's greater current capacity. My suspicion is that they'd still be okay provided you didn't use boost mode, but what's the fun in that?

I know of no other brand that has a similar restriction on NiMH. FWIW the revised Petzl Tikka and Zipka 2s can use any battery formulation.

Cheers,

I pretty much got the same way. All I ever have is camera and headlamp, so I used to have a tikka/tikka+ whatever I could get that took AAA batteries. I also had a nikon camera that took same. looked up all the amp hour ratings, etc. and decided the nikon with AAA's carried way more juice than a little propietary battery.. well, that's true, but the battery use on the camera sucked so much juice I ended up going through tons of batteries on the trail. Bleah!

Nowadays I just have two of the proprietary rechargables in my olympus SW camera, and two cr2032 coin cell in my e-light headlamp. I carry a spare couple of cr2032 because it's so light, and then if I fall asleep and leave the headlamp on while reading it's not the end of the world, but really, I've not managed to run out the cr2032 cells in the e-light in basically a month in the field. I end up putting a fresh battery in the elite at the start of the hiking season.

I've not seen any rechargable cr2032's..

Rechargeable 2032 with charger

I have not actually tried this though.

I'm pretty sure the Photon Rex has a couple rechargeable 2032s inside. It's a lot brighter than the e+lite but not really set up for headlamp use (although it could be so-rigged). Its advantage is being field rechargeable using virtually any common cell. Do that during the day and have maximum light each night. Pretty slick

Cheers,

If your light is direct drive (i.e. it has no boost/regulation circuitry between the cells and the bulb/LED) it will not be as bright on NiMH due to the fact that they produce a lower voltage than Lithium or Alkaline cells. That is, comparing fresh cells to fresh cells. It's another story when they reach the end of their discharge curve.

... now that's neat - and since most cr2032's I find are Li anyway..

Thank you everyone!

I have used a princeton tec aurora and a couple versions of the Petzl Tikka with NiMh rechargeables, no problems with mine.

I did not put NiMh rechargables in my Princeton Tec as the web site did not list them as acceptable for my light. I did use them in an old Rayovac LED headlamp with no problems. Thanks again for the advice.