Which currently available Eneloop battery do you prefer, and why?

[mactavish]

"StorminMatt": Don't want to go off topic, but since you use the Tenergy Centura 8000 LSD "D" batteries, if you get a chance I left a question regarding charging them in a post, not getting much love as of yet. Thanks.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...continuation&p=4231339&viewfull=1#post4231339

 

[SaraAB87]

I don't use a lot of C or D, the ones that I do use need to be replaced on average once every 2 years at the most.

Batteries discharge more as they get older but I think LSD cells are somewhat better in that respect, some of my older cells just died, they got down to like 50mah. I have some older LSD cells and that did not happen ever.

I would say the most I would need a cell to last would be 3-9 months at the very most, I am not expecting to be able to leave a cell for 3 years and still have power, but I do expect that it won't discharge fully in a week or a few days which is something I experienced with older batteries.

I do still have a few older HSD cells, I have a pack of Duracells that I got at target a couple years ago for $5, they are 1000 mah and they work fine. I also have a set of 2 Duracell 2650 which from what I understand everyone hates and hates some more, but they are working great for me! I also don't know the prior use pattern of the 2650 because I found them in a toy I got at a yard sale completely flat, I ran a refresh on my BC700 and they have been perfect ever since.

 

[Vortus]

Be nice if they made a true C and D cell eneloop. Ill go with the cheaper eneloops. Do not need the bigger ones, if needing power I use C/D or lithium ion. My wife prefers the glitters. She doesn't care about the capacity.

 

[jasonck08]

Number of cycles is more important than people think. Just because it prints "500 cycles" or "1500 cycles" doesn't mean you'll see 1/2 or even 1/4 that in real world use. These cycle tests are in a lab environment with a regulated temperature, perfect charging and discharging conditions, and over a short period of time. Cells age because of a number of factors but here are a few main ones:

1) Temperature they are stored and discharged in
2) Charging method
3) Charging current and discharging current
4) Being overcharged or overdischarged
5) Age

Let's say the cells undergo some "rough" cycles. In the case where they are often discharged much under 0.8v, and stored in high temperatures like in a car glove box, etc, the 500 cycle cells may only see 100-200 cycles, where the 1500+ cycle cells may see 300-600 cycles.

You also have to consider what happens to the cell as it ages. For the 2500mAh XX eneloops, after 100 charge cycles is the resistance higher than the 2000mAh eneloops after the same 100 cycles? I'd rather not have to worry about a cell aging to the point of it being rendered useless in the life that I own it. (probably 10 years or so max before it gets lost or something).

I had some Sanyo non-LSD 2300-2700mAh AA cells and 800-1000mAh AAA's. They probably had no more than 50-100 cycles on them (rated at ~500 cycles likely). Yet after about 5 years, they were useless even after trying to restore them.

In short I'd opt for the 2000mAh cells rated at 1500+ cycles because of primarily the robustness, and the fact that they have proven themselves over years, where the 2500mAh LSD cells are more new, and we don't know how they will age with time and cycle life in "real world" applications. Also these 2000mAh cells are 1/2 the price compared to the XX's in USA.

 

[markr6]

I had some Sanyo non-LSD 2300-2700mAh AA cells and 800-1000mAh AAA's. They probably had no more than 50-100 cycles on them (rated at ~500 cycles likely). Yet after about 5 years, they were useless even after trying to restore them.

How many cycles did I get out of my Rayovac ic3 batteries? About 40...LOL! Yes I used the 15-minute cooker.

By the way, I love how they state "Worlds Best Rechargeable System" on the packaging. WOW! Marketing team was smoking crack at the time.

 

[Bumble]

How many cycles did I get out of my Rayovac ic3 batteries? About 40...LOL! Yes I used the 15-minute cooker.

By the way, I love how they state "Worlds Best Rechargeable System" on the packaging. WOW! Marketing team was smoking crack at the time.

LOL ... probably the same team who come up with the figures for cr*pfire flashlights...batteries + chargers.

 

[StorminMatt]

Speaking of cycle life between higher and lower capacity batteries (like the Eneloop and Eneloop XX), one thing to consider is that, with a smaller capacity battery, you inevitably NEED for available cycles. The quicker a battery drains, the more often it needs to be recharged for a given amount of use. I realize that, in the case of the Eneloop 2000 vs Eneloop XX, this isn't proportional to the capacity of the battery. But when given the calendar life of the battery and the fact you will probably NEVER cycle a battery more than a few hundred times, this is certainly something to consider.

 

[apagogeas]

Its all about what we value mostly. XX/Pro have the benefit of more capacity (for as long as it is there anyway). Regular eneloops excel in everything else except capacity to begin with. If the application truly benefits from the increased capacity, then XX is the way to. For anything else, I see regular Eneloops fit the bill better due to their better overall characteristics.
Also, indeed someone might not use all the available cycles - it will be unrealistic for most applications anyway. As correctly stated, cells will degrade possibly well before that indicated cycle so I treat this cycle indicator as a direct measurement of what the battery can withstand in terms of abuse, since most batteries die prematurely due to abuse and not by normal usage. Higher capacity cells are simply more fragile to begin with. Finally, if we want to compare the total cost between regular and XX, we have to take into account that e.g. a regular one will be replaced let's say after 500 cycles whilst an XX probably sooner i.e. at 250 cycles, also taking into account the more capacity per cycle for XX. That means, when we buy our 2nd set of regular eneloops, we'll buying our third set of XX's. This wasn't taken into account at the initial post so the cost difference results might not be that trivial but I honestly don't think the case is the overall cost, it is mostly the reliability aspect and XX's don't have that long history yet to indicate they are at least close to regular eneloops robustness.

 

[jonathanluu2]

I value capacity most. I like having the extra runtime between battery changes, even if it is a smaller percentage. I got the XX's as a birthday present (you can imagine the odd, eyebrow raising when I asked for a particular type of rechargable battery. Or perhaps not, if your light addiction is well established with your family.)

I use them in a AA headlamp around the house. Should a catastrophic cell failure occur, i have 3 more sitting on a shelf ready to go. I do not quite see the significance of robustness as a discerning factor, as any Panny will excel above any other rechargable, regardless of type. But perhaps comparatively speaking, the regular, eneloops are more robust than the XX's. I suppose my XX's are robust enough for my use.

Valid point on the cycles. There are definitely fewer available for the XX's. But birthdays and Christmas come once a year, and i think that will be enough to keep my inventory fresh.
:santa:

 

[StorminMatt]

Valid point on the cycles. There are definitely fewer available for the XX's. But birthdays and Christmas come once a year, and i think that will be enough to keep my inventory fresh.
:santa:

Good point. And when it all comes down, even if you have to buy your own batteries, they're pretty cheap in the grander scheme of things. I'm certainly not going to be distraught because a set of AA (or any other size) batteries lasts only two years instead of four (if higher capacity batteries like the Eneloop XX or Tenergy Premium truly are this short-lived). It's not like they cost $200. As stated, there are times where you can't recharge your batteries and capacity REALLY matters. For situations like these, spending a few bucks for batteries that might not be usable in four years is worth it. And that's assuming these batteries really are as bad as people say they are.

 

[bwm]

Shortly after the XXX eneloops came out I bought a 4 pack to use in my Zebralight headlamps. I had previously been using the regular eneloops. Well, over the course of a year charging each battery roughly once every three days I had 3 of the 4 batteries fail to charge in my Maha C9000 charger. I definitely got longer runtimes with the XXX's but my 2006 manufacture date eneloops are all still reliable after having them for about 6 years.

What I noticed was that the internal resistance of the XXX's would increase with time.

 

[N8N]

Shortly after the XXX eneloops came out I bought a 4 pack to use in my Zebralight headlamps.

Talk to me about these cells... are they the 151 proof version or are they the ones without wrappers? Either way this is pertinent to my interests :0

 

[chucku]

Firstly I would like to thank you all for the thoughtful posts on this thread (and forum). As a result I have decided to standardize on the 2000mAh Eneloops.

There is one other factor that I thought was important in my decision that has not been brought up in this thread yet. That is the benefit of standardizing on exactly one type of battery instead of "horses for courses", e.g. XX for high drain and normals for normal and even Lites for remotes etc. I have a couple of devices that use 8 & 10 AAs each (a telescope and an antenna analyzer for those that need to know (like me )). Clearly you want all the cells to be of the same type and ideally pretty close to each other in measured capacity. If you want to ensure that you have spares ready to go you are suddenly talking about a substantial inventory of cells at least if you have to keep to a budget like me .

Is this an issue that other people have come across?

 

[N8N]

Sort of, I have a Fenix TK41 which uses 8xAAs which is a substantial portion of my AA collection...

right now I have 8x Maha Imedions in it, just 'cause I wanted to try something different... but all my other batteries are regular Eneloops... I just put the last of the AAAs in the charger this morning, I've bought 20 of them so far and I have *NO* spares! and I'm a guy who tries to avoid battery powered gadgets whenever possible, this is all just flashlights (only one AAA), clocks, remote controls, and a laser distance finder that I used to use for my last job. I think I only am using 13x AAs at last count, 8 of which are in my TK41.

 

[mactavish]

I just had an odd issue pop up. All my Eneloops are the latest 1800 mAh AA/AAA versions, until the Panasonic branded 2100's are more available. Anyways, I just bought a new air conditioner, it's a Friedrich, same brand and kind as the one in my bedroom, which is 3 years old, that one has a little remote that takes TWO AA bats. The Eneloop AA's work fine. This new AC for the living-room, while a bit larger in cooling power and runs off of 220 volts, is the same design, except they changed the "remote", it now takes a SINGLE AA battery.

The AC manual for both units say, "do not use rechargeable batteries". Not sure why, it does not say, but again, the TWO battery remote works fine. The NEW remote had NO range with the "single" Eneloop's AA in it. So I decided to try an Energizer Lithium in it, and NOW it has the proper wireless range. I have always "assumed" a remote control is a low powered, low draw device, but perhaps in this case, the voltage of 1.2 of the Eneloops versus the 1.5 of the regular Lithium Energizers is the difference, doubt the mAh difference would matter. Wondering if the Eneloop XX versions would make a difference in this remote or not? Just an odd ball thing I guess.

 

[Curious_character]

"Don't use rechargeable batteries" seems to be a pretty common qualification, and I'm not sure why. The 1.5 vs. 1.2 volt issue isn't usually the reason see http://eznec.com/Amateur/1.5_vs_1.2_Volt_Batteries.pdf. LED Maglites for example say not to use rechargeable batteries, but they actually work better with rechargeables for reasons explained in the referenced document. I have some expensive aviation headsets with the same limitation, but have been using Eneloops in them with just fine performance and battery life. So the only rational reason I can see for the limitation is that average consumers might try to use old or defective rechargeable batteries or fail to charge them properly, then blame the device manufacturer when it doesn't work well. Or maybe the device manufacturer has some kind of deal with Duracell or Energizer?

I do have one low current device (an indoor/outdoor thermometer) that craps out at around 1.27 volts, but that's unusual and a lousy design. I've been using "1.5 volt" lithium cells in it because of their even higher voltage so I can get some decent battery life from the thermometer.

c_c

 

[mactavish]

Yeah, that's why I say it's "odd", I just got into the whole Eneloop deal, for a few flashlights, but more to avoid battery leakage "energizer/duracell" etc., in all my remotes, and I have too dam many. All the other remotes seem to work fine from the same distances as before with Eneloops in them. Perhaps the main issue in this case, is the first remote, now 3 years old, had two AA's, and perhaps to save money they changed it to a single AA battery (can't imagine they saved much in "plastic"), though the voltage would still be the same, maybe the two battery remote, is able to drive the emitter better. I have no clue, but am certain that the range test I did was about a 50% loss in the effectiveness in the distance it would work, or control the AC unit. No big deal, it is the only remote I have to put standard batteries in, just thought it was strange.

 

[pfwag]

Anybody have any data or experience on the low temperature (-25C) operation of Enerloop batteries, or any NiMH batteries for that matter?

 

[N8N]

I will this winter, I'm using them in the remote temp sender for my weather station. Right now, they are working fine in *hot* weather, but it's only been a month or so.

 

[bwm]

Talk to me about these cells... are they the 151 proof version or are they the ones without wrappers? Either way this is pertinent to my interests :0

They have wrappers. The model number is HR-3UWXA