Rechargeable batteries or dry batteries - which is the more economical?

Question

According to my sony cd player manual:
- The rechargeable batteries have a life of 35 hours
- The dry batteries have a life of 50+ hours

But:
I am thinking the rechargeable batteries will pay off in the long run as I will not have to buy any! (perhaps ever if i take good care) -- Will they cost a lot though in terms of electricity used? Are they good value?

The dry sony batteries (2xAA) cost just £1 for 8, but over a year, that may cost me up to £15 in a year

Whish is best?

Answer 1

recharge are better as long as you get ni-mh type they recharge more often and don't lose memory

Answer 2

Interesting question. Since Sony is having so many recalls with their batteries, a brand change may be in order. As to the argument of "dry" vs "recharge", one must consider the usage.
The general rule seems to be that (as re-chargers and their cells have improved over the years) rechargeable batteries in the consumer market have proven to be the most economical. The only problem seems to be the voltage difference. In the case of many hand held two-way radios that operate on 12 volts, for example, it takes 10 nicads to do the job of 8 alkaline. Now that we are dealing with much lower voltages, (most of which are regulated in the device) voltage is not so much an issue now and it is mili-amp hour that is grabbing the market. Metal-hydroxides have pretty well replaced Ni-cads and the amp/hour rate has increased quite a bit. Your 50 hour AA is really only 5000 mah, where as m/h cells now are at least 2500 to 2800 mah. PER CHARGE. They also have a charge/use cycle that is measured in YEARS. Once that AA is dead (or down about 50%) it becomes useless. You should not re-charge the dry batteries.

Answer 3

If its a standard AA you should be ok using standard rechargeable AA batteries. You can get a charger and 4 batteries from Asda for a tenner! There are 2 kinds, NiCad and Nicam and one is for things like cameras where you have a short burst of power for the flash, the other is better for things like MP3 players where you get a regular drain. (I think I've got this right, you might want to check!)

It used to cost about a penny a charge a couple of years ago, so even if you allow for inflation I guess 4 batteries will cost about 10p or less to recharge. I charge ours over the economy 7 period as well. I bet you could either work it out or find a website to tell you.
They last for about 18 months before you have to replace them. But even allowing for the fact that they're more expensive to buy, they're a lot cheaper to run.