Sanyo AA Industrial Grade 2700mAh

Thomas Distributing describes the Sanyo AA Industrial Grade 2700mAh batteries as:

New Breakthrough from Sanyo - SUPERLATTICE ALLOY TECHNOLOGY
Advanced NiMH Technology - Holds a charge longer, with slower self discharge than other NiMH Rechargeable Batteries Made in Japan.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Is the 'slower self discharge' anywhere near that of the Hybrids or Eneloops? If not, are they significantly better than the typical NiMH?

sflate,

New Breakthrough from Sanyo - SUPERLATTICE ALLOY TECHNOLOGY
Advanced NiMH Technology - Holds a charge longer, with slower self discharge than other NiMH Rechargeable Batteries Made in Japan.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Is the 'slower self discharge' anywhere near that of the Hybrids or Eneloops? If not, are they significantly better than the typical NiMH?

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Of all the batteries that I or any of my research team members have used, the Sanyo 2700 mAh NiMH AA & Titanium 2700 mAh NiMH AA's are hands down the very best batteries we have ever used, hands down! We use Prinection Tec Apex Headlamps and we get about 4 hours (Most of the time over 4 hours) of runtime on the high 3 watt setting, about 30 minutes better then any other battery we have ever used. As far as capacity goes, I'm 100% sure you can not buy a better NiMH battery. They are truly amazing!

As far as the "slower self discharge," Silver Fox or someone else with the proper tools could better answer that question. I do know that they won't match the Eneloops batteries as far as "slow self-discharge" goes, but the Eneloops don't come close to matching the Sanyo 2700 or Titanium 2700 NiMH batteries capacity for much longer runtime in headlamps or flashlights and you'll get many more pictures with you digital camera. I can tell you that the Sanyo or Titanium 2700 batteries will hold a good charge for weeks. I have a set of Titanium 2700 batteries that I charged over 7 weeks ago, and after two weeks the test at 80% on my ZTS MBT-1 Battery Tester, and it was 7 weeks to the day two days ago (this Thursday) that I charged them and they still test at 80%! I haven't seen how well the Sanyo 2700's hold their charge, but I know they will be just as good, if not better, then the Tatanium batteries.

I would say that the Eneloops would be better is you use them in a device that you seldom uses, and it goes 3,6 or 8 months between uses. But if you use the device often, or within a few weeks, or if capacity is more important, the Sanyo 2700 NiMH Batteries are un-surpassed in performance.

I hope this helps you out. Best of luck with your pick.

Thanks! That's a lot of very good info. I was hoping the Sanyo would hold their charge more like the Hybrids I'm using for seldom used devices, but it sounds like for almost everything else I'm better off with the Sanyos. The way I figure it, if I fully charge Hybrids and Sanyo at the same time, and don't use either for a couple of weeks, the Sanyos still probably have more charge left in them.

Thanks again.

sflate,
I have eight Powerex 2700's which are made by Sanyo. On a Cadex 7400ER battery analyzer at work, it gave me results of 82% capacity after 2 months of sitting on the shelf. The test was done with all the batteries in a 9.6V pack and after the initial discharge test, I ran another cycle. After the cycle they returned 97% capacity so the self-discharge is really low.
Keep in mind that the batteries are only five months old so take it for what it's worth. Although I am very impressed with the Sanyo 2700's, my future purchases will be Eneloops since they should keep the low self-discharge feature over the life of them.

Are you sure that Powerex are made by Sanyo? I've never heard that before. Now I don't know whether to get the Sanyo or Powerex 2700's. My older Powerex 1800's were some of the best batteries I've owned. Always held their charge well and never had one go bad. (Unlike the Energizer 2500's which are crap!)

So Powerex or Sanyo 2700's? (or are they both the same?)

I thought Energizer 2500s were Sanyo-made also, and supposed to be very good.

A lot of us (including me) have had bad luck with the Sanyo and Energizer 2500's, bad enough that I'm leery of the 2700's. The 2500's work great when you first buy them and test them. After a few cycles a lot of them develop very rapid self-discharge, like 100% discharge within a few weeks. One theory is that to get such high capacity they used thin and fragile separators. Lately I've been buying Eneloops, which have lower capacity, in the hope they're made more conservatively and will be more reliable.

I've had the same experience with the Energizer 2500's.

So IS Maha Powerex made by Sanyo then? I'm leaning towards the Powerex.

Hello Sflate,

I had problems with some of my PowerEx 2500 mAh cells as well. When I contacted Maha they wanted to replace them with 2700 mAh cells. When I pressed them for 2500 mAh cells, they informed me that there had been some bad batches of 2500 mAh cells that are available under several different brand names. I asked them if they could find any "good" 2500 mAh PowerEx cells, and they said they would look into it. I received some replacement 2500 mAh cells. Time will tell if they are "good."

My experience so far:

Out of 8 Energizer 2500 mAh cells, 8 have gone bad.
Out of 16 Sanyo 2500 mAh cells, 8 have gone bad.
Out of 16 PowerEx 2500 mAh cells, 4 have gone bad.

I have no idea if they were all made by Sanyo...

Tom

At least some of the Sanyos have "HR" stamped on the bottom. I probably learned that from you.

I have also had a few Energizer 2500Mah batteries that had problems with fast discharge rate. I still have 8 Energizer 2500Mah that are 2 years old are are still going very strong. I have had very little trouble with my Powerex 2500Mah batteries. I do know by reading these post there are some bad batches of batteries out there.
Dan

sflate,

I've had the same experience with the Energizer 2500's.

So IS Maha Powerex made by Sanyo then? I'm leaning towards the Powerex.

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As I said in my first reply, the Sanyo 2700's are unsurpassed as far as capacity goes. The only other battery that I have used the can compair with them in capacity is the Titanium 2700 Batteries. Both even out perform the Accupower 2900 mAh NiMH AA's. I have 8 PowerEx 2700 Batteries and the are good batteries, although they don't come close to the Sanyo 2700 and Titanium 2700 as far as capacity goes. You should also consider that the PowerEx 2700 come with a 30 day warranty, the Titanium 2700 come with a 1 Year Warranty and the Sanyo 2700's come with a 5 year warranty! With the highest capacity giving longer runtime and having a 5 year warranty, it's very hard to go wrong with the Sanyo 2700.

The PowerEx 2700's are made in Japan, but I was told that they are not made by Sanyo, and that Sanyo does not make AA/AAA NiMH Batteries to ware other labels, but Panasonic (Japan not U.S.A.) does. From what I was told is that Panasonic has plants in Japan and the U.S. Panasonic Japan makes AA/AAA NiMH Batteries for other companies, and Panasonic U.S.A. makes CR123A for other companies, such as SureFire for one. Now I don't have anything to back this claim, other then my friends word, and the word of some other dealers who sell these batteries.

I have not posted the test results yet, but in my Apex Headlamps I'm getting just about 3 1/2 hours runtime with the PowerEx 2700 AA's in my Apex Headlamps. That's very good runtime. However, with the Sanyo 2700 and Titanium 2700's I'm getting more then 30 minutes more runtime. And the price between the Sanyo's, Titanium's and PowerEx 2700's are all just about the same, but with the Sanyo's you have a 5 year warranty and the Titanium's a 1 year warranty. Both far better then the 30 day warranty you get with the PowerEx.

Battery warranties are practically useless, given the hassle needed to identify the failed cells out of a big batch, sending them back to the vendor and getting equally unreliable replacement cells, etc. I'd rather have 100 batteries with no warranty and a 5% failure rate per year so I occasionally have to buy replacements, than 100 batteries with lifetime warranties and a 50% failure rate that I have to keep testing and sending back to the vendor, which is approximately my situation with the darn 2500 mAH cells. So I really don't care whether the 2700's have higher real capacity than the 2500's at this point. What I want to know is whether they're more reliable. Is there a significant medium or long term experience base with the 2700's yet? Given what happened with the 2500's, I'm inclined to say that capacity measurements of brand new cells means nothing. It's how the cells work (including self-discharge) after they've been used for a while that matters.

Great discussion and just what I was looking for.

Sanyo, AFAIK

Any company that isn't already a huge retail name making these parts would be out of their minds not to allow them to be rebranded with common retail names. Energizer and Duracell are infinitely more well-known than Sanyo for batteries, even though they don't make all their batteries.

Is there a significant medium or long term experience base with the 2700's yet?

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I don't know if this is possible at this point in time, do to the fact that the Sanyo 2700 are relatively new and not many people have had a set for more then a few months. Regardless of what brand of batteries you buy, there are going to be some problems/defects. But as a whole, the Sanyo line of NiMH batteries have be well know as one of the very best and most reliable lines of NiMH Rechargeable Batteries. This is again information that I've received from sources online, and from dealers. As far as I know (And I've looked), there is no longer-term reliability data base to refer to regarding NiMH Rechargeable Batteries. If someone has information regarding such a source, please post this it on this forum, it would be very useful.

I can tell you that I have personal experience with the Titanium Brand 2400 and 2600 mAh NiMH AA's. Between my research members and myself, we have 12 sets of 4 2400 mAh AA's and 8 sets of 4 2600 mAh AA Titanium Batteries. Some of these batteries are over 3 years old now and have been charged hundreds of times each year and they are just now getting to the point where they are only holding their charge for a week or two and only charge to about 60% capacity. From personal experience, from many other sources and from what I've read on this forum, the Titanium Line of NiMH Batteries have been very consistence and reliable. I have hear and read nothing but very good things about these batteries always.