Duracell Pre-Charged AA's

oldvultureface

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 31, 2007
Messages
77
Location
A Northwest Indiana Basement
I purchased a 4-pack of Duracell Pre-Charged AA's this morning at the local CVS. Initial open circuit voltages:
1.308 1.307 1.307 1.307
Will post out of package capacities as soon as the C9000 finishes.
 

UnknownVT

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
3,671
I purchased a 4-pack of Duracell Pre-Charged AA's this morning at the local CVS. Initial open circuit voltages:
1.308 1.307 1.307 1.307
Will post out of package capacities as soon as the C9000 finishes.

Thanks for that - there seems to be very little information about these last time I looked -

Would you mind please telling us what the packaging and/or the batteries themselves might say about the claimed capacity, number of cycles (life), where they are made, and any other info?

Many thanks.
 

WildChild

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
1,424
Location
Québec, Canada
Thanks for that - there seems to be very little information about these last time I looked -

Would you mind please telling us what the packaging and/or the batteries themselves might say about the claimed capacity, number of cycles (life), where they are made, and any other info?

Many thanks.

I posted those pictures in another thread:

img2940nw3.jpg

img2941mn1.jpg

img2942mf4.jpg


They are made in Japan, 2000 mAh capacity, no cycle life written on package. It only says they will last for 100s of cycles.

To me, they look like rebadged Eneloop.
 

UnknownVT

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
3,671
I posted those pictures in another thread:
They are made in Japan, 2000 mAh capacity, no cycle life written on package. It only says they will last for 100s of cycles.
To me, they look like rebadged Eneloop.

Many thanks for that - I found your other thread -
that's from WalMart in Canada, and Can$17 for 4 Duracell Pre-Charged?

ouch! I just checked - the Can$ is worth more than the US$ -
Can$1=US$1.05 - a 5 year high (or low for the US$).

Just for comparison, do you recall the approx prices of the RoV Hybrid and Kodak Pre-Charged?

Thanks,
 

WildChild

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
1,424
Location
Québec, Canada
Many thanks for that - I found your other thread -
that's from WalMart in Canada, and Can$17 for 4 Duracell Pre-Charged?

ouch! I just checked - the Can$ is worth more than the US$ -
Can$1=US$1.05 - a 5 year high (or low for the US$).

Just for comparison, do you recall the approx prices of the RoV Hybrid and Kodak Pre-Charged?

Thanks,

No Kodak pre-charged, RoV Hybrid -> 16$ for 4. Like I said many times, even with the CAD higher, we're being ripped off here... Everything is much more expensive than in USA.
 

WildChild

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
1,424
Location
Québec, Canada
I think the US now has some of the lowest prices for leisure/luxury items in the world (other than maybe a few places like Hong Kong).

The value of the $CAD is nice for us if we want to order things from USA. It's now much more cheaper to order online than it was last year. And last year, it was already cheaper than buying things from here...
 

jzmtl

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 4, 2006
Messages
3,123
Location
Montreal, Canada
No kidding. the 50%~100% markup gets really old. Wish I live in windsor or some other border town, would make buying things much easier. I've yet to drive over and shop thou, so I'm getting a passport to prepare for it (I think it's start in 08 passport is required).

The local walmart only have duracell precharged packed with a charger, I think it's $40. :eek:
 

UnknownVT

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
3,671
The local walmart only have duracell precharged packed with a charger, I think it's $40. :eek:

That does sound expensive.

But just so you guys don't feel too bad -
I went to my local CVS - and the Duracell Pre-Charged were US$14.99/4 - at least this is not too far off the Can$ price.....
still very expensive - considering the Kodak Pre-Charged at WalMart is US$7.88/4
 

divine

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
1,838
Location
Virginia
I got some 2650mAh Duracell NiMH's from Office Max this weekend for $12.99us. I can check the voltage when I get home, I don't have anything to check the capacity... not like you have.

Are you paying more for the precharged? Honestly I don't think there's any added value to precharged. It seems like NiMH's lose about their entire charge after sitting for a month, and it only takes 15 minutes to charge them up.

Link
 

UnknownVT

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
3,671
I got some 2650mAh Duracell NiMH's from Office Max this weekend for $12.99us.
Are you paying more for the precharged? Honestly I don't think there's any added value to precharged. It seems like NiMH's lose about their entire charge after sitting for a month, and it only takes 15 minutes to charge them up.

LSD (Low Self Discharge) show many advantages for the correct application.

For example many on CPF have more than one flashlight - and usually they (all?) have batteries in them ready for use.

With regular NiMH rechargeable batteries (like the ones you just bought) after about 2-3 months they would be flat, or have very little charge left for any real practical use.

Whereas the LSD batteries like the Duracell Pre-Charged would likely still have well over 85% the charge (that's actually about the rating for the level at 6 months to 1 year).

So the maintenance is much lower for LSD's - it is probably advisable to check and charge them maybe once every 6 months (eg: like when the clocks go back or forward - when one changes the batteries for fire/smoke alarms).

15 minute charging is convenient and works well -
however as many have found it can be rather harsh on the batteries and can very occassionally severely shorten the life of them.

Anyway in a power outage - one canNOT charge those batteries.

LSD batteries combine the ability to retain their charge for a reasonably long time, and the economy of rechargeablity.

The crossover point is after about one month where the LSDs show advantage over a regular >=2500mAh NiMH.

Kodak Pre-Charged are @$7.88 4pk from WalMart

RayOVac Hybrids are $8.97/4 also from WalMart.

eneloops (the most well known and popular) can be found for less than $10/4 (see also Eneloops now at Costco!)
 

jzmtl

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 4, 2006
Messages
3,123
Location
Montreal, Canada
That does sound expensive.

But just so you guys don't feel too bad -
I went to my local CVS - and the Duracell Pre-Charged were US$14.99/4 - at least this is not too far off the Can$ price.....
still very expensive - considering the Kodak Pre-Charged at WalMart is US$7.88/4

Damn, and I thought the rayovac hybrid $14/4 was cheap. :sick2:

Eneloop is $30/4.
 

tarponbill

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
84
Location
South Florida
LSD (Low Self Discharge)
Anyway in a power outage - one canNOT charge those batteries.

A 15 minute charger which connects to your car cigarette lighter port works fine. That's how my 15 minute Eveready charger came, with a 'car plug' included. Works fine. In fact this is why I bought the 15 minute version, in an emergency, a quick charger is best to get back in action -- Can't weight all night for battereies to charge back up. Highly recommended.
 

n3eg

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
191
Location
Somewhere west of where you are
I'm wondering what the diameter is. The Kodak ones are cheaper and tested higher than the Rayovacs, but they were "fat" and wouldn't fit in a few devices where the Rayovacs would. Maybe someone could get out the ol' micrometer for the Duracells...
 

UnknownVT

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
3,671
So are all of the LSD NiMHs 2000mAh?

eneloops and these Duracell Pre-Charged are 2000mAh -
other brands including RoV Hybrid, Kodak Pre-Charged, Uniross Hybrio are 2100mAh.

According to Wikipedia at 5.1.1 Low Self Discharge Batteries
"Some brands that are currently available on the market (Sep 2007) are Accupower Acculoop, Ansmann MaxE range, Duracell Pre-charged, Gold PeakReCyko, Kodak Pre Charged, Nexcell EnergyOn, Panasonic R2, Rayovac Hybrid, GE/SanyoEneloop, Sony CycleEnergy, Titanium Power Enduro, Uniross Hybrio, Vapextech Instant and VARTA Ready2use. These appear to be available in AA and AAA sizes only, and have less capacity (2000~2100mAh in AA) than the current generation of high-capacity cells (2800mAh, AA).As there are only two or three manufacturers of these new type of cells (Sanyo, Panasonic, Yuasa-Delta) most of these brands are rebranded OEMs"
 

Marduke

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
10,110
Location
Huntsville, AL
Are you paying more for the precharged? Honestly I don't think there's any added value to precharged. It seems like NiMH's lose about their entire charge after sitting for a month, and it only takes 15 minutes to charge them up.

Link

The "pre-charged" are Low Self Discharge (LSD). They retain up to 85% of their charge for a year, not 70% after just one month.
 
Top