Batteries are one of those things we use all the time, but they can fail us when we need them most. The best defense is to use the highest quality battery whenever you can. For AA and AAA batteries, our favorite rechargeables are the Eneloops from Sanyo.

When looking for a replacement battery, we often check to see if there are others with more kick or newer technologies. A case in point is when we needed a new battery for our remote controller and our Vespa.

The remote control unit came with a NiCad rechargeable battery and it lasted about four years. We found an NiMH replacement (9.6v, 2600mA) from a source called OnlyBatteryPacks. NiMH has none of the "memory effect" issues associated with NiCad batteries.

Another battery which had been showing its age was the one in our Vespa. The Pro-Logix conditioner had been keeping it limping along, but sooner or later we knew we would have to replace it. A bit of research showed that YUASA made an excellent scooter and motorcycle battery. We got one and will be putting it in the Vespa this Spring. We'll have a full write-up on the battery activation and installation project in April.

Our latest project is finding a replacement battery for a high-power spotlight. We got this Black and Decker V-2 Million Power spotlight for Christmas, but unfortunately it was broken right out of the box. It just would not charge up. B&D usually make very reliable products, but apparently the internal rechargeable battery in this spotlight was a piece of junk. This was great news for us as it meant we were free to take it apart, which of course we did.

The obvious next task is for us to find a better replacement battery for this Black & Decker spotlight. We are having a little trouble locating the right one, so if anyone out there has a suggestion, let us know! [Permalink] -Replacement Batteries