I have bought four sets of batteries for the kodak charger and camera and have them all charged and ready. How long will they stay charged outside the camera? Will they last a few days so if I can not charge them where I am I will not run out of juice. I can not find the answer anywhere. Does anyone know how long they will stay charged without running down?

-- Jacqueline McKinney (jmck4art@aol.com), February 20, 2000

Answers

Jacqueline:
It depends on the type of battery you purchased. But you can go by the following rule-of-thumb.
A recharchable battery will lose 1% of it's charge per day under no- load. You should consider recharging the battery after it has lost 30% (30 days). Of course - if it's a NiCd battery you should make sure you discharge it (some chargers will do that for you first) or risk the memory problem NiCd's exhibit. NiMH batteries don't suffer from this problem.
Even regular batteries discharge themselves over time - but the lower internal resistance of rechargables batteries makes it happen faster. For regular batteries the longest shelf-life is with Lithium batteries. However, in actual use lithium batteries don't last as long as good old fashioned Alkaline. Mercury batteries are the most stable and lasting - but the EPA won't let battery manufacturers make them any more.

Des

-- Dan Desjardins (dan.desjardins@avstarnews.com), February 20, 2000.