PowerOne now offers rechargeable batteries and a charger. They are NiMh so not lithium, but they are substantially cheaper than going with the current rechargeable system.
Thanks for sharing the info, Britanny. I’ve looked into NiMh rechargeable battery option for the size 312 before and the problem is that they don’t have the capacity to last you all day. For example, if you look at the spec for the 312 PowerOne NiMh rechargeable battery here, it’s rated at 23 mAh. Compared this to the ZPower Silver Zinc 312 rechargeable capacity of 32 mAh, the PowerOne NiMh is only about 2/3 of the Zpower rating. And even with the ZPower rechargeable 312, it’ll only last you 15-16 hours a day with 4 hours of TV streaming and 1 hour of iPhone streaming, which is pretty typical usage pattern in a day. So as you can see, 15-16 hours means it barely lasts you for the day, so I’m pretty sure the PowerOne NiMh 312 can only last me a bit more than half a day and that’s it.
Since the main advantage of the rechargeable option is not really the cost, but the real attraction of a rechargeable option for many people is not having to keep taking the batteries in and out every few days, especially for older folks with dexterity or vision issues. They can simply put the whole HA in a charging slot every night and it’d be ready in the morning to just pull out and put on. You can’t do it with this NiMH option. You’d need to take it in/out a couple of times a day probably, and then there’d be a recharge time unless they have 2 sets of rechargeables, which they would need to carry around the extra set with them because the first set won’t last through the whole day.
One other thing people like about rechargeable batteries is that they won’t have them unexpectedly run out of juice in the middle of the day at an unfortunate time where they may need their HA working the most and either don’t have new batteries with them to change, or not in a position to change them (like in the middle of an activity). This is assuming that the daily charged batteries will last them all day.
If the NiMH batteries can’t last all day, this important advantage that people expect is not there to begin with.
I also checked out the KS7 at Costco - that Audi says they are also a 312 battery but one can only expect 9-10 hours on the rechargeable battery, so they didn’t recommend going rechargeable.
Then I found this post in another thread:
On edit 1, I found yet another thread on rechargeable 312’s
I’ve been pretty happy with the rechargeable 13’s in my Siemens. Simple to drop them in the charger when you go to bed and they run all day the next day. To me it is no different than dropping them in a case or dryer at night.
Can there be that much difference between power consumption between brands? Does anybody have any experience on rechargeables on the KS7’s? My gut says the Costco rep was simply trying to up sell me.
The Unitron and Oticon products are using a different rechargeable battery technology than the KS7, and that accounts for the longer runtime. KS7 uses nickel-metal hydride (NiMH); the others are using ZPower’s silver-zinc cell.
That explains most the difference.
Too bad Doc Jake is not around any more - he indicated the Rextons with rechargeable 312’s were getting 14 hours back in 2014. That is longer than my typical day.
I’m sure he’s nearby. 12 to 14 hours is average, but could be 8 to 10 hours depending on your specific power consumption requirements and feature utilization. Only way to know is to try it.
I think maybe I should also clarify that the NiMH 312 battery option that I’m talking about is just the stand-alone 312 that you’d need to take it out of whatever regular HA you’re wearing to put into a separate charger to charge up, then once charged up, you’d need to put it back into the regular HA. THAT type of NiMH 312 doesn’t last all day. Maybe just half a day.
But now if the KS7 or other rechargeable HA use NiMH batteries, if it uses some kind of bigger non-standard size NiMH batteries that’s built into the HA and not really removable from a battery door, then it may last longer than the 312 size stand alone NiMH.
When I first started wearing HA’s in 2010, I asked my audiologist about rechargeable batteries and he said they were kind of pointless. Having worn HA’s for some time now, I have to agree. I always keep a pack of 312’s in my wallet, so changing out batteries is no big deal. If anything else, it just adds the extra step of having to recharge. PITA. Plus, if (when!) you drop and lose a battery, it’s no big deal.
Maybe we are talking different technologies, I didn’t find recharging to be a PITA. At the end of the day I would take my HAs out and set them in the charger. I’d also take my glasses off and set them beside the charger. In the morning I knew where to find them both.
If you don’t have to take the batteries out to recharge, it is unlikely you will drop and lose them.
Good point. Something to add to my wish list of things for new HA’s.
This was in regards to rechargeable batteries, themselves, not HA’s with built-in rechargeable batteries — which I agree bring convienence to folks that want to use them…
Some HA’s are designed to take both, rechargeable and regular batteries. My Siemens pure carats came with a charger. If I forgot to charge or was away from electricity, I could simply drop a regular battery in. The Moxi Fit rechargeable I’m looking at have the same. You can choose which battery to use.
