Should a charge station or rechargeble batteries for my Wii

IMO rechargeable batteries are the way to go. Bought some "Eneloop" (Sanyo) batteries, and you can get them at The Source (sometimes they have a sale), but I got mine from Costco.
 
Agreed. If you get some AA's and a charger, you can also use them on other stuff as well (like a Wii Fit pad, controllers for other systems, etc)
 
I bought the one from DealExtreme.com for $15 (free shipping) since I'm too lazy to take my batteries out while charging.

The shipping takes about 2 weeks, but it's the cheapest place I've seen them (at 2800mAh)
 
[quote name='Cthulhu8u']BBV should have the batteries (intec?) on clearance[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up, do you mean rechargeable batteries or an intec charge station. Probably the latter but just wanna be sure though, from what I heard charge station could possibly damage wii remotes
 
I didn't look too closely, but I'm sure it was a 2-pack of 3rd party batteries for the Wii. Not sure if it came with the charger station or not... If I go to BBV any time soon, I'll see if I can give more deets (assuming it's still there).
 
Chargers that come with batteries are all shit. They just use a timer, and charge until it times out, usually overcharging or undercharging the batteries. They only work with the batteries that come with it, as they that is the batter they have calibrated the timer for. They don't do refresh cycles either. They don't compensate for a batteries depleted capacity. They usually have all the batteries on same circuit, so if one battery says charged, it stops charging both, etc.

It is worth the money to get a MAHA or LaCrosse charger. My LaCrosse can tell me the capacity of a battery (so I know if it should go in garbage). It can do refresh cycles (actually increased the capacity of a few of my old rechargeables). Every battery has it's own circuit, charges until battery stops taking charge, not when timer goes off. If I leave batteries in charger, it does top ups too. And I can control the rate of charge, so if not in rush, I can use a slow charge, to preserve battery life. Has LCD for each battery to show current charge, capable capacity, charge speed, etc.

I paid $50 shipped off eBay, but Thomas Distributing has them on for $39 right now, with 4 NiMH batteries! That is a steal. I think the MAHA 9000 charger is slightly better, but a lot more money.
http://www.thomas-distributing.com/la_crosse_bc-900_battery_charger.php
http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/...48_150.html?osCsid=kv1cchrbj2959c6t65s5hqt396

As for batteries, I would never buy anything other than the low drain batteries. I got sick of going to use my camera, only to find that batteries had gone dead due to a couple months of sitting. NiMH batteries lose most of their charge in a month. Low drain hybrids lose it in about 200 days. Benchmarks show the Eneloops and Hybrios being the best, witht he Hybrios edging out the Eneloops slightly. But Eneloops are easier to find. Thomas Distributing has 4 packs of both on for $10. FutureShop sells the eneloop 4 packs for $30!!!
http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/...ml?SP_id=50&osCsid=kv1cchrbj2959c6t65s5hqt396
http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/...html?SP_id=&osCsid=kv1cchrbj2959c6t65s5hqt396

edit: If you are using the batteries is something that burns through batteries quickly (high drain), then the traditional NiMH batteries do have higher capacity (3000+ mAh), and would likely be better. The advantage of the new hybrids, is that they don't drain while idle, but biggest I have seen is 2100 mAh.

I have not aphiliation with Thomas, just know they are reputable amongst camera people, and have reasonable shipping, and ship to canada.

~S
 
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Do you have more then 1 system?

I had the battery packs for my 360 controllers but they were starting to not hold a charge, so I just switched everything to rechargeable batteries. The Wiimotes, 360 controllers and Les Paul GH guitar all use AAA batteries so it's fairly easy to have a charger and 12 batteries that work in all those devices. If a set dies I always have a replacement.
 
Whatever you do don't buy the Gamestop brand battery charger. I'm not sure if I just got two crappy ones... but I wasn't impressed and just went right back to real batteries. The recharge pack did make the Wiimote considerably lighter... but it wasn't worth it. The battery pack would randomly turn off (I couldn't get passed this one point in Mario Bros 2... the Japanese one... it would turn off my remote EVERY TIME when I tried to make this one jump. Soooo annoying). And then when I went to take the pack out of my wiimote the charger actually cracked...so I can't even use it anymore. It was only a waste of $10 each... but just stay away from those ones.
 
The packs are light because they use lithium, which is light. Perfect for controllers. NiMH has lots of juice, but is heavy. You can buy generic lithium rechargeables.

They important thing (IMO) is, rechargeables don't contribute to a landfill with alkalines.

~S

edit: for grammar
 
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Damn snowy, that's quite informative. Maybe it's time for me to replace my almost two year old 15 minute Energizer with a LaCross or Eneloop, since I've noticed a brand new pack of 2500 Energizers draining really quick even on my wireless keyboard.

But back on topic, get rechargables; they're better built, better quality, lasts longer and much more reliable since you can use them for just about anything that uses double-a's.
 
Gamoe,
I went to BBV but couldn't find the Wii batteries. Almost all the clearance stuff is, well, cleared out already :) Sorry about that!
 
the eneloops are good, but they're flipping expensive (and tough to find). the duracell precharged rechargeables are cheaper, more widely available, and hold their charges just as well.
 
[quote name='snowsquirrel']Chargers that come with batteries are all shit. They just use a timer, and charge until it times out, usually overcharging or undercharging the batteries. They only work with the batteries that come with it, as they that is the batter they have calibrated the timer for. They don't do refresh cycles either. They don't compensate for a batteries depleted capacity. They usually have all the batteries on same circuit, so if one battery says charged, it stops charging both, etc.

It is worth the money to get a MAHA or LaCrosse charger. My LaCrosse can tell me the capacity of a battery (so I know if it should go in garbage). It can do refresh cycles (actually increased the capacity of a few of my old rechargeables). Every battery has it's own circuit, charges until battery stops taking charge, not when timer goes off. If I leave batteries in charger, it does top ups too. And I can control the rate of charge, so if not in rush, I can use a slow charge, to preserve battery life. Has LCD for each battery to show current charge, capable capacity, charge speed, etc.

I paid $50 shipped off eBay, but Thomas Distributing has them on for $39 right now, with 4 NiMH batteries! That is a steal. I think the MAHA 9000 charger is slightly better, but a lot more money.
http://www.thomas-distributing.com/la_crosse_bc-900_battery_charger.php
http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/...48_150.html?osCsid=kv1cchrbj2959c6t65s5hqt396

As for batteries, I would never buy anything other than the low drain batteries. I got sick of going to use my camera, only to find that batteries had gone dead due to a couple months of sitting. NiMH batteries lose most of their charge in a month. Low drain hybrids lose it in about 200 days. Benchmarks show the Eneloops and Hybrios being the best, witht he Hybrios edging out the Eneloops slightly. But Eneloops are easier to find. Thomas Distributing has 4 packs of both on for $10. FutureShop sells the eneloop 4 packs for $30!!!
http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/...ml?SP_id=50&osCsid=kv1cchrbj2959c6t65s5hqt396
http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/...html?SP_id=&osCsid=kv1cchrbj2959c6t65s5hqt396

edit: If you are using the batteries is something that burns through batteries quickly (high drain), then the traditional NiMH batteries do have higher capacity (3000+ mAh), and would likely be better. The advantage of the new hybrids, is that they don't drain while idle, but biggest I have seen is 2100 mAh.

I have not aphiliation with Thomas, just know they are reputable amongst camera people, and have reasonable shipping, and ship to canada.

~S[/quote]

Thanks a million for the informed post, the 2nd link you just posted has the batteries for sale at only $10!!!!!!!!!! per 4 pack, which looks to be a steal for any rechargeable batteries.
 
I have a penguin united set that work well it cost me like $25 shipped for two charge stations and 4 battery packs
 
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