should i buy Moonrays 97143 AA NiMh Pre-charged 1500mAh reviews

Moonrays 97143 4-Pack AA NiMh Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries for Solar Lights, 1500mAh. Designed especially for solar lights. This pack included 4-Piece of 1500 mAh AA NiMh batteries. mAh stands for milli Ampere hour or milli Amp hour. It is a measure of a battery's energy storage capacity. If you think of a battery as a small fuel storage tank, which in a sense it is, mAh a measure of how much "fuel" the battery holds. (This is roughly comparable to using gallons to measure how much fuel a gas tank can hold. The more gallons of capacity, the more fuel the tank can hold.) With a battery the higher the mAh rating the more electrical energy it can store. These are the right voltage for my solar lamps..1500mAh 1.2 v. They take 2-3 days to charge bu the light output is the same as when I bought the solar lights. If you buy a lesser mAh than what is called for, then the lights will not work and or the output will be dimmer. Nice to find them in bulk, as many of my mights use 3 and 4 batteries. Traditionally, most solar lights sold in the US contain rechargeable NiCd batteries. But that's only for cost reason and not because NiCd is inherently more suitable for such applications. In fact, NiMH cell is better because:
- It offers 2-3x higher capacity than NiCd cell of the same size, and
- It does not contain toxic heavy metal (cadmium) like NiCd cellAs of this writing, those Moonray NiMH cells are priced even higher than Sanyo eneloop cells. So it is just not a good value.

Additional Notes:
1. Using higher capacity battery does not automatically guarantee your solar lights will remain lit longer each night. If the charging current from solar cells is inadequate (not enough sunlight), your solar lights will not stay on throughout the night, regardless of battery capacity. But if there is sufficient sunlight, higher capacity battery can store more energy during daytime, and offer longer runtime at night.

2. In winter time where daylight is much short than night time, all solar lights will perform poorly. One solution is to remove those batteries and fully recharge them in any NiMH charger, then return them back to the solar lights. The extra stored energy will be sufficient to run your solar lights for several weeks.

6 Comments | 

Good batteries, work fine from the first day I installed them, no problems, thanks! The lights recharge them during sunny day, you don't have to charge them at all.

Traditionally, most solar lights sold in the US contain rechargeable NiCd batteries. But that's only for cost reason and not because NiCd is inherently more suitable for such applications. In fact, NiMH cell is better because:
- It offers 2-3x higher capacity than NiCd cell of the same size, and
- It does not contain toxic heavy metal (cadmium) like NiCd cell

NiCd batteries are already banned in Europe as of 2008, yet they are still being sold and dumped into landfills in the US. It is good to see solar light manufacturers finally starting to offer NiMH replacement batteries, such as this productAA cells have a higher capacity of 2000mAh (actually measured capacity is closer to 2100mAh), and offer longer lifespan of 1500 cycle.

As of this writing, those Moonray NiMH cells are priced even higher than Sanyo eneloop cells. So it is just not a good value.

Additional Notes:
1. Using higher capacity battery does not automatically guarantee your solar lights will remain lit longer each night. If the charging current from solar cells is inadequate (not enough sunlight), your solar lights will not stay on throughout the night, regardless of battery capacity. But if there is sufficient sunlight, higher capacity battery can store more energy during daytime, and offer longer runtime at night.

2. In winter time where daylight is much short than night time, all solar lights will perform poorly. One solution is to remove those batteries and fully recharge them in any NiMH charger, then return them back to the solar lights. The extra stored energy will be sufficient to run your solar lights for several weeks. Good batteries, work fine from the first day I installed them, no problems, thanks! The lights recharge them during sunny day, you don't have to charge them at all. I don't know if it is the batteries or the lights themselves. I have tried several brands and none stay charged in the Westinghouse solar lights I bought. I can't blame it on the batteries.These are the right voltage for my solar lamps..1500mAh 1.2 v. They take 2-3 days to charge bu the light output is the same as when I bought the solar lights. If you buy a lesser mAh than what is called for, then the lights will not work and or the output will be dimmer. Nice to find them in bulk, as many of my mights use 3 and 4 batteries.