The efficiency of the wireless unit and how hard you drive it, will determine actual run-time with Ansmann high-capacity cells. For example, Shure ULX wireless units were tested with the Ansmann 250mah 9V cell and found to deliver 4 hours
continuous use. (See
Shure)
Discharge Curve
There has been much discussion regarding the differences in discharge curve between alkaline cells and NiMH rechargeable cells. Much of the concern is placed on the fact that with an alkaline battery there is a gradual decrease in voltage drop as opposed to a dramatic cut-off with the NiMH cells. A common
mis-statement is "There is no warning signal with a rechargeable battery, so therefore a rechargeable cannot be trusted."
Simply not true.
In actuality, the reverse is true. A rechargeable battery's run-time is quite predictable. Once you determine the length of your run-time application, you can determine how much "spare time" you have with a rechargeable. With an alkaline, you're guessing or hoping the gradual voltage decrease still has enough juice to power the wireless. Or, if you're smart, you stop using the alkaline once it reaches a voltage of 8.8 or less on a 9V, or 2.1 V on a AA system.
Stretching the 1x use.
We've been trained to squeeze the most use of of each alkaline battery, but this is
NOT the way to approach rechargeable usage. Because there is
no memory effect with the Ansmann rechargeable, it does not matter if you use a 9V for 1 hour or 6 hours. When your church services are over, the use of the rechargeable is too.
Do not try to use the same rechargeable for Sunday and then again on Wednesday, like you would normally try to acheive with an alkaine.
Fail-safe procedure.
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Charge the batteries in the appropriate charger to full charge. The charger will automatically switch to trickle charge and keep the batteries topped off.
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Leave the batteries in the charger until ready to use.
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Just before use, check the remaining capacity in the battery utilizing the Energy Check
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Load the batteries into the wireless units.
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After use, remove batteries from wireless unit, and return to the charger until ready for the next use.
Follow these simple procedures and you will have no issues.
Spare Rechargeable Batteries
We recommend having several spare rechargeable batteries charged and ready to go. Some churches insist on having 2 sets of batteries for each wireless unit. As a minimum, we suggest at least 2-3 spares. If you are swapping batteries between services, then of course you should have two batteries per wireless.
What about Refresh -Reconditioning?
Ansmann rechargeable batteries are designed for high recycles -- up to 1000 times. To acheive the most recycles from your batteries, we highly recommend refreshing your cells. If you purchase an Energy Series charger - (Energy 4,8,16) the charger will automatically analyze each cell and perform refresh on it as needed. This becomes important as the battery ages -- particularly after 250-300 uses. Over time the cell's chemistry can become imbalanced and crystal formation can occur. This will diminish run-time of the battery and additional recycles. Refreshing the cells periodically helps to restore chemistry to a balanced state. The refresh function is a proprietary algorithim of charge and discharge cycles at various voltage levels. Only Ansmann Energy Series chargers have this function. The Horizon 10-bay 9V does not. The 12-bay AA/9V charger has a manual discharge feature which will also increase battery life but not to the extent as refreshing. The Professional 8 and 16's do not have a refresh function, but they do have deep pulse charging cycles which help to optimize battery life as well.
Many churches, particularly those who utilize the 10-bay and 12-bay units also purchase an
Energy Series charger and cycle the batteries through this charger about once every 1-2 months to increase their recycles. Over seven year, the cost of this additional charger is money well spent.
Still need help?
If you're still not sure about rechargeables, we can help. If you would like a FREE evaluation of your needs, click
here. (At the end of the 3-minute movie, select Free Evaluation.)
For specific questions concerning your rechargeable system call us at 800-648-7239. We are available Monday thru Friday from 9AM to 5PM EST. If you'd rather email. send your questions to
care@horizonbattery.com StewardshipBy way of an example, consider Cirque du Soleil. In a normal week, they are running 15 2-hours shows. After each show, they remove the batteries from the wireless units, put them back in the charger and reload the wireless with a fresh rechargeable. With all the Cirque shows using this procedure, the company saves in excess of $1200
weekly in disposable battery expense. And, as an environmentally concerned company, they recognize the enormous harm they would cause dumping
over 900,000 alkaline batteries per year. Now just imagine if the 350,000 churches in the US would use Ansmann rechargeables instead of disposable alkalines. Using a conservative figure,
if every church used only two batteries 2x weekly, that would add up to over 72 million throw-away batteries every year.
On the financial side of disposable batteries, the average church spends about $400 on batteries per year. Small rural churches, may spend $150 - $200, megachurches - $2500 and up.
