best AAA nimh batteries?

[don.gwapo]

Eneloops are still the best IMO. I got 10 aaa eneloops on my lights and using them everyday for quiet a while now and they never let me down since day one.

 

[Tuikku]

Are my NiMh batteries bad on capacity, bad in giving enough current, both, or is this a normal feature?

Obviously I have a set of terrible batteries!!
They weren´t even close as cheap as Eneloops via Amazon.



...but let´s not be too negative.
I bought my first EDC AAA light to carry it around at work. It gave decent light only for very short time ( now I know it was batteries, not the light). So I proceeded to different light hoping that I don´t have to use primaries.

First I was a bit frustrated. Now it feels this is just the beginning... :rock:

 

[OCD]

I bought my Maratac AAA in late February and bought a 4pk of white-top AAA Duraloops to go with it.

I burned through the 1st battery in one week from playing with and showing off my new light.

I still have the 2nd battery in the light and its still going strong. That still leaves two spares that I haven't even charged yet. At this rate, I'll probably only be charging them twice a year or so.

I would not hesitate to recommend the Duraloops to anyone (and in fact I have...UPS should be delivering my dad his Maratac and I told him to get the Duraloops) and if the Eneloops are as good or better, you can't go wrong!

 

[mcnair55]

I use a brand called Instants here in the UK,have done since 2005 and have no issues what so ever in AA or AAA,they power everything nearly I own,my highest drain item is my DAB radio and I charge the Instants up every Friday after work.I have just bought a batch of the 2010 range of Duracell ready charged in AAA for stock so not got round to using any yet.

 

[fishinfool]

When doing a C9000 Refresh and Analyze on AAA eneloops, what charge and discharge rating do you guys use?
Do you use the default ratings?

Thank you.

 

[rollcage]

I have bought soshine, eneloop and Gsyuasa Enitime, I found that enitime are very good, and LSD, and if you want non-LSD 100mah go for Soshine.

Gsyuasa Enitime @ DX not priced too much should be a good buy.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19278

I dont know if there is any good charger at DX thought! havent bought any, anyone know which one? I have 2 dumb chargers, one is EveryReady and other is Sanyo I think. want to replace those

regards

 

[Monocrom]

Only B&M shops where I can buy eneloops are the ones where you have to buy a membership in order to shop there.

Generally, the so-called savings aren't worth it. I found the next best thing. Yup, rebadged eneloops . . . Duracell cells with White Tops, Made in Japan. Found them at Rite-Aid.

I keep three AAA Duraloops in my Princeton Tec EOS headlamp, in my car. Keep another AAA Duraloop in my Maratac model.

 

[McAllan]

I would hardly call the Eneloop AAA cell horrible, but they also don't seem to be as robust as their AA sized sibling.

It's been speculated that this is simply a consequence of their significantly smaller size and the fact that some chargers aren't optimized to charge AAA cells. However, since this applies to AAA cells generally, I believe the Eneloop still ends up being the best AAA sized cell as well.

For what it's worth, a set of four I put into service in late 2006 are still going very strong.

I believe the reason for AAA not to seem as robust as the AA might have to do with what charger people use.
Over the years I've had many rechargeable AAA's. While a charger such as the C9000 is very fine for AA it seems to me a bit rough on AAA. Especially the Ri check. Many non high current cells which works perfectly fine in many other chargers and non high drain applications are refused by the C9000. They might work fine while new but just a year old or so and they're refused.
The cells I've been forced to charge with my Conrad Charge Manager 2010 (bought around 2000) generally seems to last and perform much better. It doesn't do a violent Ri check and charge pulses are much faster - and still rejects alkaline etc.
Even many cheap chargers seems to be more gentle to the AAA then the C9000. Of course the problem is to pick the right one as there's much junk in that price segment.

Had some ancient Varta 200 mAh NiCd cells which I've just recycled - or actually I still have them in my "recycle box" - Just for fun I measured the capacity with the CCM 2010 and they were still over 200 mAh not much below when they were new - and that's even with 0,5 C discharge as it's the lowest the CCM can do.
Also recycled some GP 850 mAh AAA which are being notoriously rejected by the C9000 - but charged fine in a cheaper charger such as my Tecxus TC6000. Can't remember the capacity the CCM stated but just remember they actually wasn't that bad considered the age and C9000 "high" reject. But they and the Vartas got recycled of convenience as I wanted to replace them by LSD cells.

 

[Ozgeardo]

When doing a C9000 Refresh and Analyze on AAA eneloops, what charge and discharge rating do you guys use?
Do you use the default ratings?

Thank you.

I don't think anyone has answered your question yet, however there are some comments that the C9000 is too "robust" on the AAA's :thinking:
Note: the default settings on Refresh and Analyze (1000/500 mAh) I believe are default for typical AA batts not AAA (someone correct me if I am wrong)

FWIW : I have had considerable success using eneloop AAA's and my C9000

For Refresh and Analyze with Eneloop AAA's I charge at 400 mAh and discharge at 200 mAh (roughly 1/3 of that of AA per manufacture instructions if I have calculated them correctly). As I have previously mentioned I use my AAA's in mission critical equipment. They have not let me down yet. I have 5 x 10 day trips coming up in the next 6 months and I will use my Eneloop AAA's charged on my C9000 with every confidence. Any problems and I will be the first to post back on here. (The AAA's I will be using have all been used on 20 plus x 10 day trips over several years).

I am currently keeping a record of all charging cycles and usage of my field batts and hopefully at the end of this year I will have some very detailed results.

 

[aim54x]

I vote Powerex Imedion AAA or Sanyo Eneloop AAA.

I am using Powerex Imedions and they just keep going in the Fenix E01 that it they are being used in.

 

[shark_za]

I have had good results with Duracell active charge "duraloops" as well as Uniross Hybrio LSD's,

Also get good mAh out of Uniross "performance" cells rated at 1000mAh.

Again if I know I'm going to use the light a lot and drain them in a day or two then I use the Uniross 1000's.
If they are going in my lanyard iTP A3 or E01 then its a Hybrio or Duraloop for maximum capacity after a few weeks.

Had bad luck with Energiser 850mAh rated AAA's they are dead flat after 2-3 weeks.

 

[LeifUK]

This link might be of interest:

http://translate.google.com/transla...=N&start=30&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&twu=1

It's a test of some AA and AAA LSD NiMH cells.

 

[fishinfool]

I don't think anyone has answered your question yet, however there are some comments that the C9000 is too "robust" on the AAA's :thinking:
Note: the default settings on Refresh and Analyze (1000/500 mAh) I believe are default for typical AA batts not AAA (someone correct me if I am wrong)

FWIW : I have had considerable success using eneloop AAA's and my C9000

For Refresh and Analyze with Eneloop AAA's I charge at 400 mAh and discharge at 200 mAh (roughly 1/3 of that of AA per manufacture instructions if I have calculated them correctly). As I have previously mentioned I use my AAA's in mission critical equipment. They have not let me down yet. I have 5 x 10 day trips coming up in the next 6 months and I will use my Eneloop AAA's charged on my C9000 with every confidence. Any problems and I will be the first to post back on here. (The AAA's I will be using have all been used on 20 plus x 10 day trips over several years).

I am currently keeping a record of all charging cycles and usage of my field batts and hopefully at the end of this year I will have some very detailed results.

Thank you very much Ozgeardo! I'm very new to all of this and still ask newbie questions every now and then. Those rates are what I'll use on my AAA'a from now on.

I also like your idea of 'keeping a record of all charging cycles and usage of my field batts' and would like to know how detailed your records are so I can base mine on it. Thanks again!

 

[vali]

In the "everfast" thread I put a link to a spreadsheet I use to track my cells. I dont know if it will be useful to you, but take a look at it if you are interested.

 

[fishinfool]

Thanks vali, I'll check it out.

 

[blkcamarozr28]

I vote Powerex Imedion AAA or Sanyo Eneloop AAA.

I use both the Imedion and Eneloops for my headlamps and they been working great. I tend to stay way from the non LSD batteries as they tend to always be dead when I need them. :twothumbs

 

[TakeTheActive]

Newbie 'Questions & Answers'...

When doing a C9000 Refresh and Analyze on AAA eneloops, what charge and discharge rating do you guys use?
Do you use the default ratings?

...I'm very new to all of this and still ask newbie questions every now and then...

You find lots of Newbie 'Questions & Answers' in my Sig Line LINK. Take a look!

...I also like your idea of 'keeping a record of all charging cycles and usage of my field batts' and would like to know how detailed your records are so I can base mine on it...

For example:

Maintenance: Labeling Cells and Keeping Records​

 

[ampdude]

For those that aren't doing this, I think you'll have the best luck with AAA's in the C-9000 if you charge them at 500ma, instead of the default 1 amp setting.

I have some cheap Rayovac NiMh AAA's that I use in my Sunlite Slim 3AAA and they work well, but none register in capacity above 750mAh, they range from about 690-740mah.

 

[alpg88]

imo, the best aaa would be lithiums, but they are not rechargable

 

[ampdude]

To me AAA lithiums are very special use. And I haven't yet found a use for them. I'm still trying to figure out what to use my few AA lithiums for. The best thing I've come up with is backup to my camera's regular NiMh batteries, but I usually have a spare set of those as well. A four pack of AAA lithiums is as expensive as a four pack of decent rechargeables, but if every ounce counts, or you don't use the device that often (emergency EDC or something like that) I say heck yea.