Removing HP 50g battery warning box?

[TravisE]

I don't know of a way to disable the warning (other than hacking the system ROM or perhaps with SysRPL/ASM code). Going with rechargeable batteries isn't a bad investment if you go through more than a few sets per year; I did this many years ago and haven't looked back.

I recommend the low-self-discharge or “pre-charged” type, as you can charge them up and leave them ready to use on the shelf, and they will self-drain very little even if they sit unused for several months. There doesn't appear to be any real advantage in using conventional NiMH cells of the same capacity anymore; low-self-discharge seems to be the way to go whenever possible. A lot of people seem to swear by the Eneloop brand, and these are what I use. They seem to last roughly the same length of time on a full charge as ordinary alkaline, though as others state, there tends to be less “grace time” for the low-battery warning. However, the 50g still gives a reasonable amount of warning time for most NiMH, in my experience (normally enough for a least a hour or two more of usage). Usually I use the batteries until the warning first appears, then I'll swap them out for a freshly-charged set at the first convenient opportunity.

I tend to stay away from rechargeable cells claiming extremely high capacities (more than about 2400 mAh for AA or 800 mAh for AAA), as they seem to have service life and/or self-discharge characteristics compromised in return for only a modest increase in per-charge runtime.

Of course, these AA/AAA rechargeable batteries are useful in almost any other device using that type, so if you have other such devices, you can save more money there. Usually they work fine. I've come across a few occasional devices that are very picky about voltage and don't work well below 1.5 volts, meaning NiMH/NiCd cells don't work well. These devices are very poorly engineered, though, because even a brand-new alkaline drops well below 1.5 volts pretty quickly, which means a lot of available energy goes to waste with such devices. Properly-designed devices are supposed to operate normally as low as around 1.0 volt per cell, and the 50g does this well.