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Power Hardware

Next Gen Oxyride Batteries Coming Soon 249

Posted by CmdrTaco from the get-your-juice-on dept.
marksilverman writes "The New York Times is reporting that Panasonic will start selling (Biometric scan required to prove your value as a human being) next generation Oxyride batteries soon. They last twice as long as premium alkaline batteries, they deliver more power, and they're cheaper. They're already popular in Japan. The downside? They have a shorter life in a "rundown test" where you put the batteries in and leave the power on until they're drained. In real-world scenarios (like how many digital pictures you can take) they do really well."
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Next Gen Oxyride Batteries Coming Soon More

Next Gen Oxyride Batteries Coming Soon

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  • Oxyride Car & Test ... (Score:5, Informative)

    by foobsr ( 693224 ) * on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:11PM (#12169122) Homepage Journal
    Oxyride Car [howstuffworks.com]

    Oxyride Test [pcworld.com]

    CC.
    • Frankly, there are a lot of good reasons to believe, from a quick search of the patent literature [uspto.gov], that there are still several unexploited leads in the development of batteries.

      Why don't we, for example, have modular batteries for electric cars which could be changed by robotic equipment at service stations where they would be recharged underground? That kind of thing would allow us to cut over from oil to renewable (eg., wind, hydro) power without any innovations in actual battery technology.

      I like t

      • Uhm, no, the time to pour money into battery research was about two centuries years ago. Do you know who invented the battery? This guy [ca.gov]. Look at how old he is. Were he alive today, our batteries would be instantly recognizable to him. For all their new oxides and ions, the simple truth is that batteries are the same expensive, bulky, heavy, short-lived, inefficient and environmentally unfriendly means energy portability they always were. Spend your research money on fuel cells, an affordable hydrogen distri
  • how are they better than nicklemetalhydride cells? these store as much power and are rechargable.
    • According to the link above that goes to PCWorld. They last almost as long. They last more than double of the Alkalines and cost the same amount ($4 for four).

      Ofcourse they are not rechargeable.
    • They are 3 times cheaper, and come fully charged, as opposed to NiMH, which you have to charge for hours before use. Disposable batteries in high-drain devices are an emergency solution.

    • Re:how are they better (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:34PM (#12169377)
      how are they better than nicklemetalhydride cells?

      No self-discharge.

      For most devices that you use infrequently, rechargeable batteries are useless because they drain dead in a couple of months even when not in use.

      • Yeah, that's huge. Eco-friendly me tried to get my family over to rechargeable alkalines, but they fail and leak too often. Then I tried to get them to use Nimh cells, but not only was the voltage not quite high enough, they were never charged when we needed them.
      • What are you talking about? I use nicklemetalhydride cells in all my smoke detectors and I haven't had to change them in two years! Next I'm going to install in my dads pacemaker....
      • Depending on the batteries and device, some rechargeable batteries won't even last for a month when not in use. My digital camera suffers from this: I've learned that I can't keep it ready for use for weeks, I have to keep the batteries in the charger and pull them out when I want to use the camera.
    • NiMH batteries don't store as much power per volume as alkalines - almost none of the rechargeable chemistries do (although some lithium cells come close). The important thing to remember is that primary alkaline cells are around 1.5V/Cell, whereas NiMH batteries are 1.2V/Cell, so equivalent mAH != same amount of available power. Also, NiMH batteries usually have less mAH per cell than similarly sized Alkalines (around 1100 mAH vs. 1500 mAH IIRC). I believe they also have a slightly higher internal resis
      • All the NiMH AA's I bought 5 years ago with my digital camera were 1600 mAH, I still have all of them, the new set I got a few months ago is 2400, they charge fully in less than 2 hours, don't have problems with deep discharge cycles... Honestly, I can't understand why everyone's not using them.

      • No, wrong. (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Parent has obviously never looked at a discharge curve for either NiMH or Alkaline batteries, otherwise he'd know that the 1.5V vs 1.2V is absolute bullshit; neither stays above 1.2V for more than about 5% of its life under any real load. See for the specs [energizer.com] on an Energizer e91 (2850 mAh, Alkaline) vs here [energizer.com] for specifications on a 2300 mAh Energizer NiMH rechargable. Furthermore, NiMH capacities are up to Alkaline capacities these days, without the obnoxious strain alkalines have under high drain (like say run

  • Biometric what?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:13PM (#12169134)
    Biometric scan required to prove your value as a human being

    Not entirely true. I have it on good authority that they'll accept gold bullion as well -- at least on Tuesdays.

  • Just a scoop of Oxyride in the wash (Score:5, Funny)

    by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:13PM (#12169144) Journal
    Will make your whites whiter and your brights brighter.

    Just watch how it cuts through this stubborn blood stain.

  • This is a little hard to swallow (Score:5, Funny)

    by winkydink ( 650484 ) * <sv.dude@gmail.com> on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:13PM (#12169145) Homepage Journal
    Then there's that bit about Oxyrides making MP3 players and CD players produce richer, fuller sound. Panasonic cited a test in Japan in which 80 percent of the players in an orchestra said they preferred the sound from an Oxyride-powered music player. (Panasonic doesn't include sound-quality claims in its official marketing, but it does say it's investigating.)

    This one's a tougher call. In blind tests, most people couldn't tell any difference between a CD player with Oxyrides and one with regular alkalines. A few identified the Oxyrides as maybe being a bit richer-sounding, but said that the difference was awfully subtle. All participants confessed, though, that they were not members of a Japanese orchestra.

    Yeah, I know that battery makers have been struggling to solve the problems of ripple. Puh-leez. What's the next claim? Women who use Oxyrides in their vibrators experience 15% increased intensity in their orgasms?

    Hey Panasonic! QUick, better shorten that name to O-Rides.

    • Re:From the previous paragraph (Score:4, Informative)

      by stinkyfingers ( 588428 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:22PM (#12169236)
      In the exact same article

      As it turns out, the power-boosting effect is no marketing concoction; it's real. In identical flashlights, Oxyrides produce an obviously wider, whiter circle of light than Duracell Ultras. You can immediately tell the difference in portable fans, too, because the Oxyride fan hums at a higher pitch, a musical step higher than the Duracell one. The Oxyrides even make power screwdrivers spin faster: 364 r.p.m., compared with 316 r.p.m. for the Duracell Ultras.

      I would venture to guess that if the vibrator doesn't have a power regulator, it'll vibrate faster. If that'll increase the intensity of a woman's orgasm is left as an exercise for the class.

      • Re:From the previous paragraph (Score:5, Funny)

        by jeff4747 ( 256583 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:29PM (#12169317)
        Where do I sign up for this class?

      • Re:From the previous paragraph (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        As it turns out, the power-boosting effect is no marketing concoction; it's real. In identical flashlights, Oxyrides produce an obviously wider, whiter circle of light than Duracell Ultras. You can immediately tell the difference in portable fans, too, because the Oxyride fan hums at a higher pitch, a musical step higher than the Duracell one. The Oxyrides even make power screwdrivers spin faster: 364 r.p.m., compared with 316 r.p.m. for the Duracell Ultras.

        So... these batteries produce out-of-spec voltag

    • Re:This is a little hard to swallow (Score:5, Funny)

      by kidgenius ( 704962 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:22PM (#12169240)
      Women who use Oxyrides in their vibrators experience 15% increased intensity in their orgasms?

      Sounds like the perfect research project for my PhD.

    • What's the next claim? Women who use Oxyrides in their vibrators experience 15% increased intensity in their orgasms?

      Sure you laugh now, but have you seen the Panabrator [panasonic.ca]? I didn't believe it myself when I fist saw it. (Come on! Folks in marketing had fun with that one!)

      Ease your tension and massage away stress with Panasonic's Panabrator Portable hand-held massagers.

      Truth usually tends to be stranger than fiction.
      • That reminds me of a "personal massager" I saw in a catalogue once, where they really weren't trying to hide anything... it was even shaped in a general vibrator-like shape. The photo of a woman using it as a back massager was really almost surreal.
    • actually, you should always use cheapo, non-alkaline batteries in vibraters because the higher voltage alkalines burn out the motors faster.
    • that's on par with those 'audiophiles' (and the people who market to them) who think a $2,500+ power line conditioner will make their hi fi sound better.

  • Rechargeable? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:14PM (#12169153) Homepage Journal
    If they're not, then no thanks.

    A good set of NiMH cells does everything I ask of them for a couple years. The exepense of Alkaline cells would be far greater.

    Other thought is, now we have in place processes for recycling consumer batteries. What's going to be required for these?

    • Not to mention how valuable is your time? I dont want to be bothered by having to stop for batteries when i can just pop them into a charger.
    • We tried using rechargables where I work for pagers. Problem was that the rechargables don't die the same way as regular batteries. Time and time again the on-call person would find that their pager had just "shut off", where with traditional batteries, you got several hours or even days of warning that the battery was low.
    • I use NIMH for most everything (and don't they last longer in digital cameras than alkalines?) but they are no good for flashlights, where you need long storage life and a lot of power. Long life is good too. So, I'll get a few of these oxy-whatever when they come out.

    • Re:Rechargeable? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by scorp1us ( 235526 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:37PM (#12169408) Journal
      In the article the rechargibles lastes LONGER than the O-rides, by 5 flashes. Recharge these things 3 times and you've more than recouped the cost of recharbles.

      Next up is the fact that they were 1800mh batteries. My budget rechargeables are 2300, up from 2250 the year before.

      Plus batteryspace.com [batteryspace.com] regularly has a sale, currently you can get 24 rechargables for $29!!!

  • What is their density per hour of battery life? This is very important for not only for cameras, laptops, or other portable devices, but also things such as remote airplanes, or even electric cars, scooters, and segways. The lighter and smaller, the better. Does anyone know?

  • sounds engrish (Score:5, Funny)

    by dtfinch ( 661405 ) * on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:20PM (#12169218) Journal
    oxyride

  • Userfriendly? (Score:3, Funny)

    by brontus3927 ( 865730 ) <edwardra3@ g m a i l . com> on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:20PM (#12169220) Homepage Journal
    According to the press release, they will be packaged in "user-friendly" packaging. Will it open itself for you

  • they don't last twice as long ... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by porky_pig_jr ( 129948 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:21PM (#12169225)
    as the premium, and the best cost-effective solution is NiMH rechargable. See the article in New Your Times - rather thorough review. (no, I don't provide the URL, but it's in tech section).

  • Article writer REALLY DUMB! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:21PM (#12169229)
    Oxyride batteries are also supposed to deliver more power. The result, the company says, is that battery-operated toothbrushes spin faster, flashlights shine brighter, camera flashes are quicker to recharge and music players produce richer sound.

    This is one of the dumbest paragraphs I've seen recently in the (so-called) scientific press.

    Is there more current, more voltage, or both? Any of the above is possible from what they say above, and none of these will give you richer sound on your portable music player.

    Why not say:
    Your battery-operated tooth brush will over-stress its plastic gears.
    Flashlights burn out quicker.
    Camera flashes let you take more bad family photos quicker than before.
    And because you're now using the latest technology, you will even imagine that your portable music player sounds richer than ever.

    Then again, who really still expects truth to be found in the NYT?

    • Re:Article writer REALLY DUMB! (Score:5, Informative)

      by kidgenius ( 704962 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:27PM (#12169297)
      Did you read just a little further down? The article mentions that these batteries put out 1.7V vs. 1.5V for a regular alkaline.

      • Re:Article writer REALLY DUMB! (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Don't ruin his high, he's been waiting since Jayson Blair was fired for another article in the NYT to be completely made up, and he's all giddy like a little kid again because it must clearly be lying since it doesn't explain electrical engineering principles in the first paragraph!
      • Now, does anyone but me think that this might be a bad thing? If your device is designed to handle a 1.5 volt power source, and instead it gets a 1.7 volt power source, couldn't that damage the device? Of course, a lightbulb wouldn't be hurt by such a thing, but something with complex electronic chips in it?
        • .2 volts is not going to make a difference. Anything with "complex electronic chips" is likely going to be voltage-regulated anyway, even if it's just with a Zener.

          • NiMH puts out something like 1.2 volts. 1.2 vs 1.7 is starting to be a fairly large spread. My Cannon takes 4 batteries so now we are looking at 4.8 volts vs 6.8 volts. That seems fairly significant.

            If I remember correctly Kodak cameras are designed for Lithium Ion or NiMH batteries, Alkaline batteries aren't recommended because they put out too much voltage. This would lead me to believe that these new batteries with even a higher voltage could definately be a problem.

    • probably not from the player itself, but possibly from the headphones you plug into them.

  • Reg-free link (Score:5, Informative)

    by The Hobo ( 783784 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:21PM (#12169233)
    clicky [nytimes.com]

    Done with the help of the NYT Link generator [blogspace.com].

  • No Registration Needed (Score:3, Informative)

    by blackmonday ( 607916 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:22PM (#12169246) Homepage
    Courtesy of Cnet [com.com]

  • Disposable batteries should be illegal. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TomRitchford ( 177931 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:24PM (#12169266) Homepage
    A new crop of one-use batteries full of heavy metals unleashed on a world that's generally too irresponsible to have any systematic method of dealing with them -- just what we need! (Yes, I know that there are some places, notably Japan, that do a good job of handling batteries... but that isn't the Good Ol' US of A.)

  • Toxic? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cplusplus ( 782679 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:28PM (#12169302) Journal
    Oxyride huh? People still use disposable batteries? I'm a NiMH guy myself. The initial investment in NiMH is greater, but your cost in the long run is far cheaper. Plus, it keeps a lot of batteries from being thrown away.
    If these new batteries last longer than alkaline, maybe fewer will be sent to the landfill. I wonder how toxic they are compared to alkaline?
    • "Oxyride huh? People still use disposable batteries? I'm a NiMH guy myself. The initial investment in NiMH is greater, but your cost in the long run is far cheaper. Plus, it keeps a lot of batteries from being thrown away."

      Good long-lasting Lithiums are good as a backup to keep with you if your rechargables all die on you. They are also good if you go somewhere where you just can't find a place to plug in and recharge.

  • Hey Slashdot editors / article posters.. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Xeo 024 ( 755161 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:28PM (#12169305)
    Use this [blogspace.com] when you link to a NY Times article. It'll provide you with a link in which you don't need to register or log-in to view the article.

    Reg-free link to article [nytimes.com]
  • OK, so now we have a topic for batteries. We have a topic for the moon, even though when a story involving the freaking moon [slashdot.org] or another story involving the freaking moon [slashdot.org] is posted, no one remembers to use it.

    Now can we please get a Gentoo topic? Ubuntu seems like another good choice.

  • NYT Article [nytimes.com]

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • No Reg Required Link (Score:3, Informative)

    by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:33PM (#12169367) Journal
    Here [nytimes.com].

    Dont forget the NYT Bookmarklet [blogspace.com]
    (remove newlines)
    javascript:(function(){var%20x,t,i,j;t=location.hr ef.replace(/[%]3A/ig,':').replace(/[%]2f/ig,'/');i =t.lastIndexOf('http://');if(i>0){t=t.substring(i) ;j=t.indexOf('&');if(j>0)t=t.substring(0,j)}window .location='http://nytimes.blogspace.com/genlink?q= '+t})();
  • They have a shorter life in a "rundown test" where you put the batteries in and leave the power on until they're drained. In real-world scenarios (like how many digital pictures you can take) they do really well.


    Another real-world scenario is using AAs in your Belkin Backup Battery Pack for iPod w/Dock Connector [belkin.com] (who comes up with these names?), which is pretty much the "leave the power on until they're drained" scenario if your on an all-day hike or an intercontinental flight.

  • Batteries on the march (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    There's been a ton of research into batteries for laptops and portable gizmos, of course, but it's nothing like what we'll see as the world figures out that it's time to get serious about all-electric and hybrid cars. Spinning a HD and lighting up an LCD is child's play compared to propelling a car, a bunch of groceries, and your fat butt down the road.

    The Cost of Energy [grinzo.com]

  • Isn't that the same as Dihydrogen Monoxide [dhmo.org]?
  • Is there actually any way to compare the life times of alkaline batteries with NiMHs? Short of buying both and running them in the same appliance, that is. So, for example, what is going to last longer in a digital camera or a flash light, a Duracell copper head, or a 2100mAh NiMH AA?
    • Presumably, you didn't read the article. It answers these questions.
      • I know it's almost unheard of, but I did RTA. The only mention of NiMHs is "You can recharge NiMH batteries hundreds of times, and each charge lasts longer than Oxyride or any sort of alkaline."

        It doesn't say by how much, and it only covers digital cameras. For those, NiMHs are pretty much a no brainer unless you leave the batteries in the camera for months. But high drain or constant drain devices might act differently.

        And I don't know how much I trust the author--the article also claims that NiMHs aren'
    • "Is there actually any way to compare the life times of alkaline batteries with NiMHs?"

      Sure. NiMH batteries will be dead in about a month or so from self-discharge. If the battery is to be used in an application where the current draw is low enough for that to be the dominant factor, then use non-rechargeable lithium batteries (or alkaline, if lithium cells aren't available in that size). Otherwise, use NiMH.

      If you're not sure what the current draw of a particular application is, buy some cheap alkalines
  • I'm still using some 5 year old batteries that came with an Olympus digital camera. I must have recharged them hundreds of times, and although the battery life is lower than it used to be (to be expected) I'm sure that they work out quite cheap by now! I do need to find some decent replacements in the UK for a good price however, some of these 2300mh ones mentioned elsewhere in the comments... I did get 6 1400mh rechargables with a wireless keyboard and mouse I bought though.

    So it is nice that these batt

  • batteries can't cut it anymore (Score:3, Interesting)

    by grqb ( 410789 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @04:09PM (#12169699) Homepage Journal
    The improvement in battery technology is pretty slow compared to the technologies that need those batteries. Really the next power supply for small electronics will probably be micro fuel cells that are fueled with methanol [thewatt.com]. Since batteries are basically the same thing as fuel cells, any advancement in battery technology (like the Li-Ion electrode materials advancement [thewatt.com]) will also be available to fuel cells, but the fuel cell has the advantage of instantaneous refill.

    I guess there's always the problem of where to get that damn methanol from though...

    • Battery technologies have been arriving at a faster and faster rate.

      Lead acid - centuries.
      NiCd - couple of hundred years
      NiMH - Decades
      Li-ion - Just about a decade now.
      Next generation - Probably Li-S in a year or two.

      Technologies inevitably arrive slower than demand. Fact of life. Demand says "Hey I need X" and someone goes away and makes X.

      "Really the next power supply for small electronics will probably be micro fuel cells that are fueled with methanol."

      Bet they won't. When you run out of methanol you

  • Bunny (Score:2, Funny)

    by Gax ( 196168 )
    I'm the energiser bunny, you insensitive clod!

  • claim: "But NiMHs aren't widely available" (Score:3, Informative)

    by bani ( 467531 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @05:11PM (#12170342)
    "But NiMHs aren't widely available in stores", claims Mr. Pogue.

    I call BS. I can go to the local wal=mart or other store and find literally walls of NiMH batteries and chargers.

  • Flashlight bulb life 1/7th (Score:4, Informative)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @08:20PM (#12171911) Journal
    The article said that the battery produces 1.7 volts instead of the typical 1.5 volts. Flashlights were noticeably brighter, but they didn't measure the change in bulb life. Bulb Life is inversely proportional to V^16 [wikipedia.org] -- that's a huge exponent, so bulbs are very sensitive to voltage! This means bulbs in flashlights with the new batteries will last only 1/7th the time or regular batteries.

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