Duracell 2650 batteries dying

[JimmyME]

Sheesh! I bought a load of Duracell 2650 mAh nimh off Amazon about 6 months back and they are all taking a dive. These are made in Japan.

I've read of another brand and similar problems.

I bought these to avoid the high cost of alkaline AA and now the cost to replace all of these is probably more than I would have spent on alkalines.

What is the most reliable brand of nimh batteries? I don't care about high amp hour ratings, just reliable, long lived batteries. Is it Eneloops?

Thanks for any advice...

JimmyME

 

[LowBat]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I have these same batteries and they're still going strong after about a year now. Maybe you got a bad batch or maybe your charger is the problem. I hope you're not using a simple timer charger.

 

[JimmyME]

I'm using a Maha C401FS

With my luck the batteries are probably Chinese counterfeits!

They won't hold a charge.

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I have these same batteries and they're still going strong after about a year now. Maybe you got a bad batch or maybe your charger is the problem. I hope you're not using a simple timer charger.

 

[BlackDecker]

I have problems with ALL my Energizer 2500mah NiMH AA batteries and use a LaCrosse BC-900 charger at a 500mA recharge current. All of them go dead within a few days of a charge. NONE of my older 2300mah Energizers or older 2200mah Energizers have this problem.

Makes me think the manufacturers have hit a wall on the thinness of the material inside to squeeze out a few hundred more mah.

ALL of my Sanyo Eneloops hold a charge indefinitely and consistently charge to 1950-2050mah charge.

 

[half-watt]

OP,

look into a mid-2-high-end intelligent/smart charger. look specifically for a feature of the charger sometimes termed "revitalize" or "recover" which purports to be able to "bring back to life" batteries "from the dead".

i used one to successfully recover five out of six batteries. the one that couldn't be brought back had some serious "pole reversal" (pos. became neg. & neg. became pos.) and read something like a -0.2xx mv no load output (yes, red lead was on the pos. terminal and the black lead was on the neg. terminal - that's why they call it "pole reversal").

 

[the servents of twilight]

I had the exact same problem with Duracell 2650's I bought off of Ebay. I do not know if they were fakes or a bad batch. Call Duracell - they should give you a coupon for free batteries. I used mine for the Duracell AAAs (no problems so far). I have had good luck with Titaniums and Rayovac Hybrids.

 

[viorel00]

mine are dying too. Made in Japan. Bought from Walmart. About one year old. probably 10 cycles or less. I charged them last week (BC-900), took in about 2.8 Ah each, now a week later they're down to nothing (1.1V), put them back in the charger and so far they took in over 2Ah and they're still charging. This sucks.

 

[Lightingguy321]

I bought a set of Duracell 2650mAh batteries about a year and a half ago and they are still going strong. I got them from Walmart, and they are indeed made in Japan. One of the AAs actually finished its charge at something like 3500mAh. I think either the charger is giving a bogus measure or I just have a very well made cell.

 

[viorel00]

I bought a set of Duracell 2650mAh batteries about a year and a half ago and they are still going strong. I got them from Walmart, and they are indeed made in Japan. One of the AAs actually finished its charge at something like 3500mAh. I think either the charger is giving a bogus measure or I just have a very well made cell.

it doesn't matter how much current goes in, it matte how much comes out. If the cell takes in 3500 mAh but puts out 2600 mAh, I wold say it's a bad cell, and if another cell takes in only 2700 mAh and gives out 2600, then I think that is a good cell.

A good cell has nominal capacity, low self-discharge, low impedance, and high efficiency.

 

[JimmyME]

I called Duracell yesterday about my 16 bad AA NiMH Duracells.

They told me to not buy their batteries off the internet.

They told me to use their (Duracell) charger.

As a "goodwill" gesture, they are sending me coupons for 16 free AA NiMH batteries and a free Duracell charger (if I heard her right).

Just thought I'd post a follow-up...

 

[Lightingguy321]

You have to be fairly (i mean very) careful when purchasing any type of battery online, were these purchased from a trust worthy dealer? Or were they won off of an auction from ebay?

 

[BUZ]

You have to be fairly (i mean very) careful when purchasing any type of battery online, were these purchased from a trust worthy dealer? Or were they won off of an auction from ebay?

What difference does it make, they are all made by Duracell correct?

I have over three dozen aa rechargeable Duracell's that I purchased from ebay and not a single problem yet after two plus years use!

 

[Lightingguy321]

Have you heard of fake cells? Sometimes if you don't watch what Ebay vendor you are buying from, you could end up with complete duds.

 

[macdude22]

It's been theorized that the high capacity NIMH batteries 2400+ are very susceptible to high self discharge due to thin layers within the battery. I have several Duracell 2650s and Rayovac 2500s that seem to have developed increased self discharge. I believe silverfox can explain more but I understand the separator in these batteries is super thin and is easily damaged causing rougish electrons to flow rampantly. I have some older lower capacity 1800-2000 mah Rayovac's that haven't shown problems for years. I currently have been using Rayovac Hybrid's and they seem to be robust and very capable at a reasonable price.

 

[Anders]

The easiest way to find out if you bought fake cells is to weigh them.

I bought earlier "Sanyo" 2500 mAh cells, theese where fake ones, weigh 23,3 gram, real Sanyo weight 30 gram.

But this ones where poor when i got them, only 400-500 mAh.







Anders

 

[JimmyME]

I bought the batteries from Amazon.

I called them back and there is only 1 online merchant they approve of: theessentials.com

 

[Lightingguy321]

Has any one seen any duracell 2650s that are made in China instead of the Made In Japan cells? I am wondering how the made in Chinas will preform

 

[xiaowenzu]

Has any one seen any duracell 2650s that are made in China instead of the Made In Japan cells? I am wondering how the made in Chinas will preform

Not too good unfortunately. My friend in China bought some a few weeks ago, and they ALL died on him when he was taking a hike in the woods, they were brand new but it only lasted a few minutes (when it was suppose to last hours in LED lights) before it went out. He took spares, but they didn't last either.

It's best to buy MADE IN 'any other country except China', because standards in China are very lackluster. I mean look at the tainted pet food, toothpast, lead in Childrens toy and exploding Chinese batteries - these are just the tip of the iceberg of what's wrong with Chinese manufacturing industry. I love my Children and so would never risk anything to harm them by buying Chinese products.