Author Topic: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?  (Read 15219 times)

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Offline typo

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Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« on: Thu, 12 November 2020, 06:11:14 »
I just happened to see this. Some time ago a professional reviewer compared two thumb balls. The Logitech MX Ergo Plus which is $100. Vs. a $30 Elecom Thumb ball. The Logitech in his opinion outscored the Elecom 86 to 82. That is not exactly a fair comparison. If they were to compare the Elecom M-XPT1MRXBK to the Logitech. The high end Elecom would slaughter the Logitech. The Elecom now can be had for $25 less than the Logitech. Logitech is much more mainstream so a lot more of those are going to sell nonetheless.

I did have a question though. Do you folks think it would be better to use a nimh or a lithium(non rechargeable) AA in my Elecom? I am looking for maximum runtime without removing the battery.
Thank you

Offline yui

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 13 November 2020, 07:29:29 »
NiMH will always have less capacity than a proper alkaline cell, but if you want even more power into a AA form factor there now exist usb rechargeable Li-ion AA battery with a step down converter to 1.5V, but i do not know how well they can handle low power draws like a mouse
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Offline typo

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 13 November 2020, 19:53:05 »
Thank you yui. I appreciate this. It caused me to read up on AA LI-Ion technology. Interestingly they all have conversely  low MAH. To the tune of the highest ones being about 2300MAH. The other very interesting issue is they have very poor LSD. LI-Ions generally have very good LSD. As in an 18650 for instance. So these are no go for a Track Ball. The Eneloop Pro is 2550MAH. The Energizer Ultimate lithium is 3000+MAH. It has outstanding LSD. In case anyone is not aware LSD=Low Self Discharge. I have a source which I cannot divulge, to get the Energizers pretty inexpensively. So I just decided to stick with those. I have mouse acceleration software so that the Elecom can be set on low. These batteries should last for month's in it if not over a year.

Offline Leslieann

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 13 November 2020, 20:29:29 »
The easy way to get good low static discharge cells is make sure they're made in Japan.
There's apparently only one factory in Japan who makes them and they supply Eneloop, Amazon Basics (the good ones) and a few other well known brands (Ikea has some as well). The MAH may be up or down a little, ignore it, that's  companies trying to cover their butts or get a competitive edge (or possibly binning) but it's all the same model pretty much if it's from that one factory.

Just beware, some brands like Amazon have some models from Japan and some models from China, you can get good ones from China but you can also get garbage.
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Offline yui

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 14 November 2020, 06:02:39 »
Thank you yui. I appreciate this. It caused me to read up on AA LI-Ion technology. Interestingly they all have conversely  low MAH. To the tune of the highest ones being about 2300MAH. The other very interesting issue is they have very poor LSD. LI-Ions generally have very good LSD. As in an 18650 for instance. So these are no go for a Track Ball. The Eneloop Pro is 2550MAH. The Energizer Ultimate lithium is 3000+MAH. It has outstanding LSD. In case anyone is not aware LSD=Low Self Discharge. I have a source which I cannot divulge, to get the Energizers pretty inexpensively. So I just decided to stick with those. I have mouse acceleration software so that the Elecom can be set on low. These batteries should last for month's in it if not over a year.
the AA Li-ion have bad self discharge compared to a 18650 because they have active circuitry inside to step the 3.6V to 1.5V, and to be honest i never checked eneloops but when i used NiMH in my cameras the maximum i found at the time was 1600mAh, and they were very expensive, but that was 10+ years ago.
And stop with the "Source i cannot divulge" ****, it makes you look arrogant, no one would have asked and if they did then you can politely answer that or just ignore the question, will make you look much better.
vi vi vi - the roman number of the beast (Plan9 fortune)

Offline typo

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 16 November 2020, 03:56:43 »
I forgot about this. until, now.
I am sorry yui. I did not know that was rude. I just figured it meant I can't tell. My bad.

So Japan is not the key anymore either. I just got 16 Eneloop pro. only one was a little above 2500MAH. 15 were over 1000MAH off.
Elecom states the trackball averages 301 days with usage of the computer 8 hours a day. Of that 8 hours, 5% of it being utilized by the trackball.
Then I happen to find out that they came to that conclusion with a 900MAH generic Chinese dry alkaline primary.
So I feel that all considered, the Energizer ultimate Lithium is the best all around choice for this device. It "should" last around 3 years based on that math.

That is of course with the trackball set on low.
It is working fine for me because I am using third party mouse acceleration software.
It does not add the kind of acceleration that we don't want. it just speeds up the cursor.

I really appreciate that the two of you have been nice to me. Once again, I apologize for my misguided statement. Thank you.

Offline yui

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 16 November 2020, 05:30:27 »
I am sorry yui. I did not know that was rude. I just figured it meant I can't tell. My bad.
there is no problem, just trying to help you to not look like an arrogant ****head, enough peoples already hate you, no need to feed them further.
vi vi vi - the roman number of the beast (Plan9 fortune)

Offline typo

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 16 November 2020, 14:24:47 »
Don't worry. I will not be visiting here often. Thus, leaving them "hungry".

Offline typo

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 27 December 2020, 08:42:32 »
Well, it has been a while. Running this on a battery is fruitless. An AA of any type simply does not hold enough energy to run it more than a few day's.

Offline Surnia

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Re: Poor Trackball review seen,>Q:Batteries-Trackball?
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 21 February 2021, 10:22:02 »
I forgot about this. until, now.
I am sorry yui. I did not know that was rude. I just figured it meant I can't tell. My bad.

So Japan is not the key anymore either. I just got 16 Eneloop pro. only one was a little above 2500MAH. 15 were over 1000MAH off.
Elecom states the trackball averages 301 days with usage of the computer 8 hours a day. Of that 8 hours, 5% of it being utilized by the trackball.
Then I happen to find out that they came to that conclusion with a 900MAH generic Chinese dry alkaline primary.
So I feel that all considered, the Energizer ultimate Lithium is the best all around choice for this device. It "should" last around 3 years based on that math.

That is of course with the trackball set on low.
It is working fine for me because I am using third party mouse acceleration software.
It does not add the kind of acceleration that we don't want. it just speeds up the cursor.

I really appreciate that the two of you have been nice to me. Once again, I apologize for my misguided statement. Thank you.

Do you have a higher end charger/analyzer for the NiMH? the Pros are supposed to have a higher discharge and shorter life than the standard Eneloops, and there was a short time when Eneloop quality dropped off due to some government regulation problems about monopolies on the battery markets.

I'd cycle those Pros a few times on a good charger to see if they stay 1000mAh below the mark (which is highly unusual for an Eneloop, even the Pro variety).


Also with the high drain you're seeing anyway, I'd probably assume the Elecom may be defective and in need of a warranty replacement. I don't think many users have seen such short life before...

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