Use of Thunderbolt 9v 200 mAh NiMH rechargeable battery

@rckstone I've used 200 mAh by other companies without issue.  IIRC the mAh is a measurement of the battery's capacity to hold charge and not the voltage.

A single cell Ni-Mh battery is 1.2 volts. 20 years ago there were 6 cell  (7.2V) batteries marketed as 9 volt. I doubt there are any on the market today. The Harbor Freight battery is probably 7 cells (8.4V). 9 volt is the nominal rating.

As long as it's a 7-cell NiMh, it'll be fine.

I know of one well-known forumite with a large layout who eschews BCRs and uses the Harbor Freight rechargeables.  He has a LOT of engines and swears by them.  

Truthfully, while I have no hard evidence to back this up, I strongly suspect that the high initial current draw of a BCR may be hard on the charging circuits when contrasted by the much smaller charging current of a true battery.

You're good to go.  I see the HF battery msrp is $7.99 so with coupon from Sunday paper maybe $6

I looked up my eBay archives and 3 years ago I paid $4.23 (free shipping from Asia) for qty 2 of 9V 300mAH Ni-MH so closer to $2 each and they work fine in my PS2.  Don't see that kind of pricing today though...

Here's what I use, if you're paying more than this, you're paying too much.

EBL 9V Rechargeable Batteries NiMH Everyday 280mAh 9V Battery for Smoke Alarm Detector, 4-Packsm $13.99, that's $3.50/ea shipped free.

I've bought a lot of tools and other things at Harbor Freight Tools over the years.  Some of it good, and some of it not so good.

But as far as batteries go, I'll only buy Thunderbolt batteries as wedding gifts for people I don't like.  

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Truthfully, while I have no hard evidence to back this up, I strongly suspect that the high initial current draw of a BCR may be hard on the charging circuits when contrasted by the much smaller charging current of a true battery.

That is the conclusion I came to after smoking a resistor on a PS-1 board when installing a BCR.