Inexpensive Alternative to Batteries

I bought this new on E-Bay for $10. Came in an un-opened package. Installation was simple. A word of caution, however. Be sure to back-up BEFORE putting in the new batteries. They come with no charge and you WILL lose all your data. You must charge it for a few hours before you can really use it. Read the instructions for recommended length.

Depending on your amount of use, you may find you need to charge about once a week. I use mine quite frequently and that is the average for me. Word of caution on this NiMH battery: The charge level remains constant (little above half charge) from shortly after full charge is reached until just before the battery is completely dead. It is not a smooth curve like on regular Alkaline batteries so the "Batteries Low" warning does not kick in. There is no way around this except to get a feel for how long the charge lasts for you. I have missed the drop-off a number of times and lost all my data. Luckily, I back up on a daily basis!

Another thing to note about this unit, is shortly after you have a complete charge, you will find the battery level drop to about 3/4's charge. This is normal and is related to the above drop in charge before the battery dies. For more information on the discharge curve of NiMH Batteries this web page may be of interest:
http://shdesigns.org/batts/battcyc.html

It is not for this particular battery, but should give a better idea of what I'm referring to above.