Lidl red Tronic battery test

[mcnair55]

After buying them a couple of years back and using them, they are ok but i will not be buying any more would rather spend the extra on Eneloop.

 

[Jos90]

I also recently bought some of the (new?) Lidl Tronic Eco LSD batteries that are shown in Tinderbox's post above; I got a pack each of AA & AAA. As I couldn't find any testing on them I thought I'd have a go, as I've been helped a lot by similar tests here & elsewhere in the past. Although by the time I've finished Lidl will probably have sold out! I must stress I'm no expert, so please be gentle with comments! Also not sure if this warrants a whole new thread?

I have an AccuPower IQ-328 charger which I'm still getting used to (incidentally does anyone know if there's a way on this unit to just measure how much juice a battery has left without actually dis/charging?) so again you'll need to bear with me as far as technical info goes.

So the AAAs first...

The pack states 950mAh, and that "Batteries require approx. 5 charge cycles to reach full charge capacity", as I said I don't know how to just measure existing / initial power, so ran them through a discharge / charge cycle at 250 / 500 mA. When the unit displayed 'Full', the results showed:

Battery 1 - 900 mAh
Battery 2 - 955 mAh
Battery 3 - 984 mAh
Battery 4 - 944 mAh

Now as a novice I was a bit surprised at these results - they sound a bit too good to be true? But I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts...

I carried on with three more discharge / charge cycles, to see how the results progressed, and there were a few oddities...

Battery 1 - 889 / 845 / 896 mAh
Battery 2 - 978 / 1007 / 994 mAh
Battery 3 - 1057 / 1300* / 994 mAh
Battery 4 - 942 / 982 / 962 mAh

So you can see that some went down then up, some went up then down, and one (marked with a *) showed no sign of stopping, just kept rising until I decided to pull the plug - I'm guessing this was a random charger glitch, rather than a cell issue...?? At no point were they showing any signs of overheating, in fact they were all just room temperature.

I'll run some more cycles, and try to use them in some devices, and post more findings soon. Also will do the same with the AAs (rated 2300 mAh), just running first cycle now and the results so far are -

Battery 1 - 2300 mAh
Battery 2 - 2510 mAh
Battery 3 - 2600 mAh (and still rising...)
Battery 4 - 2420 mAh

Cheers - Jos

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

I had to do three charge discharge cycles in my Maha C9000 before i could get the 8x AA Lidl Eco 2300mah battery to even get above 2200mah.

John.

 

[mcnair55]

I also recently bought some of the (new?) Lidl Tronic Eco LSD batteries that are shown in Tinderbox's post above; I got a pack each of AA & AAA. As I couldn't find any testing on them I thought I'd have a go, as I've been helped a lot by similar tests here & elsewhere in the past. Although by the time I've finished Lidl will probably have sold out! I must stress I'm no expert, so please be gentle with comments! Also not sure if this warrants a whole new thread?

I have an AccuPower IQ-328 charger which I'm still getting used to (incidentally does anyone know if there's a way on this unit to just measure how much juice a battery has left without actually dis/charging?) so again you'll need to bear with me as far as technical info goes.

So the AAAs first...

The pack states 950mAh, and that "Batteries require approx. 5 charge cycles to reach full charge capacity", as I said I don't know how to just measure existing / initial power, so ran them through a discharge / charge cycle at 250 / 500 mA. When the unit displayed 'Full', the results showed:

Battery 1 - 900 mAh
Battery 2 - 955 mAh
Battery 3 - 984 mAh
Battery 4 - 944 mAh

Now as a novice I was a bit surprised at these results - they sound a bit too good to be true? But I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts...

I carried on with three more discharge / charge cycles, to see how the results progressed, and there were a few oddities...

Battery 1 - 889 / 845 / 896 mAh
Battery 2 - 978 / 1007 / 994 mAh
Battery 3 - 1057 / 1300* / 994 mAh
Battery 4 - 942 / 982 / 962 mAh

So you can see that some went down then up, some went up then down, and one (marked with a *) showed no sign of stopping, just kept rising until I decided to pull the plug - I'm guessing this was a random charger glitch, rather than a cell issue...?? At no point were they showing any signs of overheating, in fact they were all just room temperature.

I'll run some more cycles, and try to use them in some devices, and post more findings soon. Also will do the same with the AAs (rated 2300 mAh), just running first cycle now and the results so far are -

Battery 1 - 2300 mAh
Battery 2 - 2510 mAh
Battery 3 - 2600 mAh (and still rising...)
Battery 4 - 2420 mAh

Cheers - Jos

It is all very well doing tests but nothing like using them in real life and to be honest they are not worth the money as there length of working service is dire.

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

I have been using the RED Lidl rechargeable battery`s for a few years now, and have had no problems, hopefully these ones will be the same, Eneloops are more than double the price of these in the UK

John.

 

[mcnair55]

I have been using the RED Lidl rechargeable battery`s for a few years now, and have had no problems, hopefully these ones will be the save, Eneloops are more than double the price of these in the UK

John.

Lucky you mine have been junksville but ok for alarm clocks etc.

 

[Jos90]

It is all very well doing tests but nothing like using them in real life and to be honest they are not worth the money as there length of working service is dire.

I completely agree, but as these will only be on sale for a limited time I thought charging tests / results would be the only quick way to get indications of capacities. And my curiosity has been raised by these initial figures - if they'd have come up at 500 mAh I'd have dismissed them as the cheapo rubbish I suspected they'd be...

By "length of working service" do you mean useable life i.e. after a certain time (weeks? months? years?) the capacity declines and they need to be binned, or just how long they last (days? hours? minutes?!?) in a given device before they need recharging?

If it's the former do you have some examples, and if so are they exactly the same model, as it would appear from this thread that they have changed over the years (although maybe only in looks?)

I'm going to try some 'real life' tests too, nothing scientific just try to compare how long they power a certain device (flashlight?) against hybrios or recykos.

Cheers - Jos

 

[RetroTechie]

After buying them a couple of years back and using them, they are ok but i will not be buying any more would rather spend the extra on Eneloop.

Unfortunately, that tells us something about those cells bought a couple of years back, not about what Lidl is selling now.

It is all very well doing tests but nothing like using them in real life and to be honest they are not worth the money as there length of working service is dire.

Same thing: either you're talking about cells that were on the market years ago (which doesn't help to determine how good/bad currently sold cells are). Or you're talking about currently sold cells, read: you can't make a fact-based statement about their service life - yet. Unless it's so bad it shows after just a few cycles.

I bought a pack of AAA's (rated 950 mAh) and 9V block (200 mAh), and 3 packs of the 2300 mAh AA "Tronic eco" shown above, especially to replace alkalines in rarely used / low-drain devices. Like the myriad of 1x AA quartz clocks in our house. If they are indeed LSD cells (looks that way ), and @ just 1 Euro/cell, very few recharge cycles would do to start saving money. And no need to run out & buy new pack of AA batteries all the time! For that purpose they've done fine so far. Given their price I don't expect much, so (to me) any other uses for which they proof suitable are a bonus. I've also got a pack of non-LSD AA's which Lidl sold recently (different color labeling/packaging), which I only bought for comparison and tbh expect to be utter trash. :devil:

Some months ago there were similar looking LSD NiMH's for sale at Lidl. Which IIRC had slightly lower mAh ratings, and some very minor differences in the labeling. All of these "Tronic eco" cells that I've seen, have a production year/month printed on them. These 2300 mAh AA's have the name of a German company on them (EURES GmbH), which I suspect is just rebadging/packaging cells produced by a 3rd party. So it's anyone's guess who produced the actual cells. :thinking:

Funny thing is, none of these Tronic cells fit into a 2x AA flashlight I also bought @ Lidl recently... :hahaha:

 

[mcnair55]

Unfortunately, that tells us something about those cells bought a couple of years back, not about what Lidl is selling now.


Same thing: either you're talking about cells that were on the market years ago (which doesn't help to determine how good/bad currently sold cells are). Or you're talking about currently sold cells, read: you can't make a fact-based statement about their service life - yet. Unless it's so bad it shows after just a few cycles.

I bought a pack of AAA's (rated 950 mAh) and 9V block (200 mAh), and 3 packs of the 2300 mAh AA "Tronic eco" shown above, especially to replace alkalines in rarely used / low-drain devices. Like the myriad of 1x AA quartz clocks in our house. If they are indeed LSD cells (looks that way ), and @ just 1 Euro/cell, very few recharge cycles would do to start saving money. And no need to run out & buy new pack of AA batteries all the time! For that purpose they've done fine so far. Given their price I don't expect much, so (to me) any other uses for which they proof suitable are a bonus. I've also got a pack of non-LSD AA's which Lidl sold recently (different color labeling/packaging), which I only bought for comparison and tbh expect to be utter trash. :devil:

Some months ago there were similar looking LSD NiMH's for sale at Lidl. Which IIRC had slightly lower mAh ratings, and some very minor differences in the labeling. All of these "Tronic eco" cells that I've seen, have a production year/month printed on them. These 2300 mAh AA's have the name of a German company on them (EURES GmbH), which I suspect is just rebadging/packaging cells produced by a 3rd party. So it's anyone's guess who produced the actual cells. :thinking:

Funny thing is, none of these Tronic cells fit into a 2x AA flashlight I also bought @ Lidl recently... :hahaha:

I will buy the latest pack and give them a try,will always do for alarm clocks etc.By the way i am jist about to bin a Lidl 3 mode Led torch,silly thing is starting to flicker and i cannot be bothered to try anything else than cleaning the contacts etc and with over 50 in the collection i am sur another Lidl will come along at the right price soon.

 

[Jos90]

Update on AAA 950mAh and AA 2300mAh

Fifth & final discharge / charge for AAAs came in with -

AAA1 - 978
AAA2 - 933
AAA3 - 1022
AAA4 - 980

I also tried three of them in a fairly powerful cheapo LED flashlight (which is marked as CREE XML-T6 but, yes, I'm aware it almost definitely isn't!) and it lasted all day without dimming (at which point I put them through another dis / charge cycle).

And a couple more discharge / charge cycles for the AAs -

AA1 - 2480 / 2470
AA2 - 2380 / 2310
AA3 - 2530 / 2420
AA4 - 2340 / 2440

I also tried them in a DAB radio and they lasted all day, plus half of the next day before I put them through another dis / charge cycle.

Well I hope this has helped, as I said in my first post I just thought that as these particular 'edition' of Lidl LSD Eco Tronics didn't appear to have been tested or reviewed that I would have a go.

So it would appear (to me - I appreciate it's subjective...) that their capacity & performance is satisfactory / good , and they're significantly cheaper than Eneloops, Hybrios, ReCykos etc., but as others have commented the lifespan may be an issue. Unfortunately that is something that only time will tell - if I remember I'll try to come back in a few years with an update, by which time the technology / capacity / colour scheme will have changed again...!

Cheers - Jos

 

[RetroTechie]

Another data point concerning Lidl's "Tronic eco" AA 2300 mAh: (the green/black labeled ones, pictured earlier in this thread)

So far they've worked fine for me capacity-wise. BUT... some time ago my gf had a pair in a digital camera, and it wouldn't power up (or rather: showed "replace battery" when done so). At the time I ignored it as 'probably forgot to charge before use'.

But today I saw the same thing with a pair of these Tronic eco's, which I know had been charged about 1 month ago, and sat unused since then. A pair of Eneloops charged around the same time, worked fine. Also (afaict) these Tronic eco's do hold their charge in the low-self-discharge sense.

Conclusion: seem to be okay so far capacity and self-discharge wise, but high-current capability might not be good. Sorry... can't be bothered to try and do some measurements on this. Just giving you peeps the heads-up.

P.S. There's also 2100 mAh's out there, which might not be the same thing. And ehm... don't confuse with the red Tronics - totally different beast.

 

[RetroTechie]

And ehm... don't confuse with the red Tronics - totally different beast.

My earlier suspicion confirmed... A pack of the red Tronics I bought for comparison (2500 mAh), were shelved fully charged. Just 3 weeks later, less than half charged. So self-discharge is annoyingly high on these red Tronics.

In the charger they got very hot, which is a bad sign as well. Otoh, they did power up fine in that digital camera mentioned earlier.

Of course things can only get worse as the cells age. So from what little I've seen so far, I decided to waste no more time on them, and discard / give 'em away. Imho, only useful to power stuff that goes through a set of batteries a day, such that even rechargeables are treated as consumeables. Children's toys come to mind... For any other use: utter crap.

The "Tronic eco" ones seem perfect for what I bought 'em for (wall clocks, remotes etc), and that camera is on Eneloops now.

 

[SaraAB87]

I just had my camera reject my trusty and surprisingly working Duracell 2650's. They were right out of the charger too. These batteries work fine in anything else I put them in. Perhaps cameras are unusually sensitive. My camera works fine with eneloops, Duracell 2450's and duraloops. But it wouldn't power up with the 2650's.

 

[Vandrovec]

Another data point concerning Lidl's "Tronic eco" AA 2300 mAh: (the green/black labeled ones, pictured earlier in this thread)

So far they've worked fine for me capacity-wise. BUT... some time ago my gf had a pair in a digital camera, and it wouldn't power up (or rather: showed "replace battery" when done so). At the time I ignored it as 'probably forgot to charge before use'.

But today I saw the same thing with a pair of these Tronic eco's, which I know had been charged about 1 month ago, and sat unused since then. A pair of Eneloops charged around the same time, worked fine. Also (afaict) these Tronic eco's do hold their charge in the low-self-discharge sense.

Conclusion: seem to be okay so far capacity and self-discharge wise, but high-current capability might not be good. Sorry... can't be bothered to try and do some measurements on this. Just giving you peeps the heads-up.

P.S. There's also 2100 mAh's out there, which might not be the same thing. And ehm... don't confuse with the red Tronics - totally different beast.

I just had my camera reject my trusty and surprisingly working Duracell 2650's. They were right out of the charger too. These batteries work fine in anything else I put them in. Perhaps cameras are unusually sensitive. My camera works fine with eneloops, Duracell 2450's and duraloops. But it wouldn't power up with the 2650's.

Digital cameras use 3.7 V Li-ion cells. NiMH recharchables have a nominal voltage of 1.2V. It would be pretty surprising if your camera ran on those.

They may look the same, since both sorts are of the AA size variety, but are really different.

Registered here just to point this out, you people made me a huge favour. I'm buying those Lidl batteries tomorrow to use with a battery powered guitar amp and could not find cheap quality cells anywhere, also got duped by cheapo chinese 800 mAh "3100 mAh" cells like a sucker.

 

[apagogeas]

I have both Tronic Energy 2500 and Tronic Energy Eco 2100mAh for more than 2 years each. Bottom line:
Tronic Energy 2500 were 1300mAh out of the box (I assume these were wrongly labeled to begin with) and after 2 years they register around 900+mAh each (none reaches 1000mAh) thus I consider these crap from start to the end.
Tronic Energy Eco 2100mAh fair better and they are true LSD ones but they also lose capacity easily over time as well. From the initial 1900mAh they delivered (2100mAh is really an exaggeration), after 2 years of normal use they climbed down to 1750-1800mAh top.
For the price, Tronic Energy Eco 2100mAh can't be beaten and may worth the purchase. I cannot recommend Tronic Energy 2500 under any circumstances however.

 

[__-_-_-__]

http://www.tronic.com.hk/English/ProductList.asp?SortID=175&SortPath=0,136,175,&Page=2

 

[__-_-_-__]

just bought 4x AA tronic eco lsd 2300mah for 3.29€!! that's 0.83€ each!!! that's unbeatable! gonna run some tests on them. they also had C, D and 9v but they don't seem so good. The D's are just 2xAA inside.
I'm not doing any advertising here but for the price it seems amazing. certainly they are not eneloop but they are pretty good and for the price...

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

I bought four packs of the AA 2300mah at £2.99 a pack last Thursday, they are dated 07/2015

Lidl only sell these a couple of times a year, so I grab them when I can.

EDIT : I bought the same cells two years ago, dated 07/2013, and I tested the capacity last week and out of four AA 2300, three out of four were still over 2300mah and one just below, but I could have got that one over 2300mah with a couple more discharge cycles.

John

 

[__-_-_-__]

I'm new to this things. I've bought +30 cells. I've a bt-3100 v2 charger, what is the best way to test them???? any specific things you want me to check?
I've noticed that the package has changed which indicates a new batch. I hope it's good news. how can you check the battery date?

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

I would fully charge them at 1000ma and then discharge them at 0.2C which is 460ma , but 500ma is fine and see what capacity you get, though it can take 3-5 cycles to get full capacity as the battery`s can take a few charges to full wake-up.

According to the review below, you just need to do an "DISCHARGE REFRESH" which does 3 charge and discharge cycles and then it will most likely show you the capacity of the cells, use 500ma for the discharge rate if you can.

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Opus BT-C3100 V2.1 UK.html

John.