A few years ago I discovered a product few people outside of professional photography circles have heard of, yet most people could greatly make use of: Eneloop batteries.
These white rechargeable batteries, made by Sanyo, are the best thing to come to batteries since, um, batteries. They can be recharged up to 1,500 times. They don't develop a memory, unlike every other rechargeable AA battery I have used. While many batteries will discharge at a rate of about one per cent per day while in storage, Eneloops will hold up to 80 per cent of a charge for a year. While slightly more expensive than other rechargeables, after a gazillion recharge cycles, they cost next to nothing per use. Eneloops have meant a total end to my purchasing of conventional disposable batteries.
I use a lot of batteries with my photography. I have five flashes now, each using four AA batteries. I strongly prefer to have three sets of batteries for every device I use. When you count the voice recorder, drone helicopter transmitters, flip video camera, light meter and sundry other devices, my battery pouch weighs more than most people's camera bags. Then there's the kids' toys, everything from Nerf dart guns to their own model helicopters that also require AAs, as well as the pocket flashlights.
All told, I need a pile of batteries (get it - a pile? As in a Voltaic pile, an early battery? Forget it - it's nerd humour).
This is where Eneloops came in. They are next to impossible to find in Western Canada on store shelves. Typically I buy them in packs from Dell.ca, although I see Costco now carries them online. Over the years I have bought dozens upon dozens of Eneloops. Usually they come with one charger per eight batteries, and I have 10 chargers. Therefore I should have around 80, and more like 120, Eneloop AA batteries.
When Christmas came and all the toys required batteries, I pulled them out of my battery pouch. Then I opened up my flashes. Holy mackerel! Where did all my batteries go?
As soon as the kids were packed off to Grandma's, I raided their toys and seized all my batteries back. I could account for only around 40.
This is a pickle, I tell you. I quickly ordered another 32 AAs from Dell, thankfully on sale. I will now have 14 chargers, but that still doesn't explain where my batteries have gone. I've gone through my office, looked through my gear, found six more, but that's it.
I think the Sock Monster has escaped the laundry room and acquired a hunger for rechargeable batteries.
This same monster has been devouring iPhone/iPod charger cables. We should have at least seven authentic Apple 30-pin cables and several more knock-offs, yet two-thirds of them seem to have vanished. Where do they go? Are they fornicating with the missing socks in some dark recess of the house? Will the result be a cross resulting in rechargeable wool cables? Or did the Conniving Cable Demon eat them?
Are these gremlins occurring in every household, or just mine? Do they have any relation to the Key-Filching Fairy? What about the Pocket-Picking Pixie who makes your wallet-disappear just as your wife is loading the vehicle to take the kids to supper, the movie, or out of town for the weekend? The Stuffed-Animal Sprite steals the kids' stuffies before they go to bed, making it impossible for a six-year-old to sleep. Maybe it's associated with the kids' Gloves Goblin that results in five left-handed mittens and gloves, but no matching right hands. Then again, there may be some collusion with the Receipt Troll that swallows all receipts needed for expense claims and income tax preparation.
Surely there is an explanation for all this mischief. In the meantime, I will await the courier delivering the new batteries from Dell. Hopefully they don't end up in Customs Hell like the other courier shipment I am still waiting for. That's where the Customs Bogeyman lives, devouring all he can lay his hands on.
- Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at [email protected].
