I lived off-grid from 2004 to 2014. I went through various brands of rechargeable AAA's and AA's. Rayovac's NiMH seemed the best brand, but the recharger is more important than the battery. Good batteries (and cheap lightweight generics) will be ruined if your recharger pushes 200mA into them when the batteries are already 100% full. Some low-cost photovoltaic panels have no trickle-charge capability (that's why they're cheap). The other thing that ruins batteries is deep discharge. If I run a radio until it shuts off due to a lack of energy, a NiMH battery's lifespan will be quickly shortened. NiCd varieties are less degraded by this poor treatment.
For maximum lifetime Amp-hours, your rechargeable batteries (NiMH, NiCd, Pb-Acid, Li-Ion) should never be drained below 50% capacity. If you need to do that often (or require 1.5V instead of 1.2V), disposable alkalines may be a better choice for performance.
As you know, changing your electronic devices to more efficient models is very important. LED lights, for example, use much less energy than an old-fashioned tungsten filament bulb or a fluorescent lamp. My 10-kilogram AGM Pb-acid battery could run a bright 6v LED light for months. It could supply a 12V compact fluorescent lamp for a night. Only people who are on the grid would use a 120VAC incandescent.
Topic: rechargeable battery (Read 3760 times)