Will NiMH(nickle metal hydride)rechargeable batteries work with the bp-300? The reason I ask is the instructions warn against using some lithium battery I've never heard of. Anyone with this expertise please help!

-- marc brackhahn (pookeybookey@aol.com), April 11, 2002

Answers

Marc, I used the NiMH rechargeables without a problem in the BP300. I originally called Canon about using the NimH's in the 380 EX flash, and was advised that any place you can use NiCads, it is safe to use Nimh's. Apparently the problem with the Lithiums is that they have a higher initial voltage which can cook some equipment, or at least that's my understanding. At any rate, I did find the NiMHs good in the BP300, except in cold weather( below -3 degree Celcius), when the 123's seen to perform better.

-- Dean Peckford (dpeckford@warp.nfld.net), April 11, 2002.

What he said. The voltage and current of NiCd and NiMH are quite close, so any device which will work properly with one should work properly with the other.

Li batteries have significantly different properties from NiCd, NiMH, and alkalines. Now, the Li batteries I have came in a package which included a guarantee that the battery vendor would repair or replace any device damaged by them. I doubt they'd offer to repair or replace equipment potentially worth thousands of dollars in exchange for me buying a CAD18 (roughly USD10) pack of batteries, so they must be pretty confident that a very wide range of equipment will work properly with these batteries. Still, since I'd rather not blow up a piece of equipment and wait for it to be repaired and hope they did a good job of fixing it, I'm not likely to use them in equipment where the equipment manufacturer says not to.

-- Steve Dunn (steved@ussinc.com), April 12, 2002.

I also saw that warning on my BP-300 attached to my Elan 7E.

FR6 is the IEC designation for LiFeS₂ primary cells in "AA" cylindrical packaging. Currently, there is only one manufacturer, and they are sold variously as:

Energizer Photo

Energizer Photo Lithium

FR6

L91

For more information, see:
Energizer technical data page

-- Julian Loke (elan7e-owner@yahoogroups.com), April 13, 2002.