Kurt_Woloch
Enlightened
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2014
- Messages
- 290
Today I've spotted a sale of Austria's discount chain Hofer (branch of Germany's Aldi) selling their Activ Energy LSD AA and AAA cells at € 3,99 for a 4-pack starting next Monday. As you may know if you read some of the threads I was posting in previously, I currently have some problems with the degradation of my older NiMh cells, so I took a closer look at this offer. However, the target devices for these cells would be devices who would only need a recharge 2-3 times a year at most, down to a charge lasting 2-3 years. The question is if these cells are cost-effective for this purpose. One could argue that rechargeables would only make sense if the device needs at least one charge a year. Another argument would be that Eneloops (white) would be holding up for much longer, and in fact for the newest generation of Eneloop I estimate that duration at up to 80 years at light use. In contrast to that, some of the cells I've got problems with are only a bit over 3 years old and have endured maybe 60-70 cycles, but have already degraded to about 70% of their original capacity (if they ever had it, I didn't check back then) and an internal resistance of 400-470 mOhms.
So... I'm looking at the AA size of those Activ Energy LSD cells. I suppose these will be comparable to other budget LSD cells... someone in another forum claimed they would be equivalent to Varta cells and probably to numerous other brands not manufacturing the cells themselves. I'm pretty sure they are made in China, not in Japan. I'd like to know how many years these cells should last if they only get cycled 1-2 times a year or even less. The target devices would be:
- Yamaha PSR-E443 Portable keyboard (basic draw 156 mA but may draw more if turned up loud or a power-hungry USB device gets attached). I can't really predict how much it will get used, a charge could last anywhere from 4 months to 2 years in average.
- Flashlight with tube (draws about 350 mA in operation and will be operated maybe half an hour at a time). A charge would probably last 4-6 months here.
- Portable cassette player for digitizing tapes into the PC. This draws about 120 mA, but only rarely gets used. Could be used up to an hour at a time, but a charge would probably last 2 to even 3 years
- Maybe a wall clock (a charge probably would last about 2 years there)
- Receiver part of a RC car (only gets used maybe once or twice a year for an hour, so I probably wouldn't leave the batteries in there unless there's no reason to put them somewhere else). I don't know how much this draws, but peak currents may go up to 1 amp.
There are the following possibilities:
1. Buy some of these batteries and use them for some of the devices (or all of them). I'm just worried that I'd have to replace them in a few years again
2. I'm currently able to get Duraloops at a 20% discount at the BILLA chain. I could as well buy some of those (but the discount only works up to July 11th) for an end price of € 13,59 for a 4-pack, and they have good capacity, but how long will they last? (Duracell guarantees 5 years minimum in some markets)
3. Buy some regular Eneloops... those will probably last for a long time, but they're not exactly cheap (cheapest local price I know is € 29,99 for a colorful 8-pack at the moment)
4. Buy some Alkalines (just found a new cheaper source where I can get an 8-pack for € 1,59) and use them for some of the devices
5. Continue to use the degraded cells. This gives some problems... the keyboard tends to show "low" even at the beginning of a charge due to the high internal resistance of the cells if I turn it up loud, the flashlight either has to be recharged every month due to high self-discharge or runs very dimly due to high internal resistance, depending on which degraded quad I use for it, and the stereo cassette player has to "steal" its batteries from the other devices when I need it.
I'm leaning towards buying #1, but maybe I make a mistake here. What do you think?
So... I'm looking at the AA size of those Activ Energy LSD cells. I suppose these will be comparable to other budget LSD cells... someone in another forum claimed they would be equivalent to Varta cells and probably to numerous other brands not manufacturing the cells themselves. I'm pretty sure they are made in China, not in Japan. I'd like to know how many years these cells should last if they only get cycled 1-2 times a year or even less. The target devices would be:
- Yamaha PSR-E443 Portable keyboard (basic draw 156 mA but may draw more if turned up loud or a power-hungry USB device gets attached). I can't really predict how much it will get used, a charge could last anywhere from 4 months to 2 years in average.
- Flashlight with tube (draws about 350 mA in operation and will be operated maybe half an hour at a time). A charge would probably last 4-6 months here.
- Portable cassette player for digitizing tapes into the PC. This draws about 120 mA, but only rarely gets used. Could be used up to an hour at a time, but a charge would probably last 2 to even 3 years
- Maybe a wall clock (a charge probably would last about 2 years there)
- Receiver part of a RC car (only gets used maybe once or twice a year for an hour, so I probably wouldn't leave the batteries in there unless there's no reason to put them somewhere else). I don't know how much this draws, but peak currents may go up to 1 amp.
There are the following possibilities:
1. Buy some of these batteries and use them for some of the devices (or all of them). I'm just worried that I'd have to replace them in a few years again
2. I'm currently able to get Duraloops at a 20% discount at the BILLA chain. I could as well buy some of those (but the discount only works up to July 11th) for an end price of € 13,59 for a 4-pack, and they have good capacity, but how long will they last? (Duracell guarantees 5 years minimum in some markets)
3. Buy some regular Eneloops... those will probably last for a long time, but they're not exactly cheap (cheapest local price I know is € 29,99 for a colorful 8-pack at the moment)
4. Buy some Alkalines (just found a new cheaper source where I can get an 8-pack for € 1,59) and use them for some of the devices
5. Continue to use the degraded cells. This gives some problems... the keyboard tends to show "low" even at the beginning of a charge due to the high internal resistance of the cells if I turn it up loud, the flashlight either has to be recharged every month due to high self-discharge or runs very dimly due to high internal resistance, depending on which degraded quad I use for it, and the stereo cassette player has to "steal" its batteries from the other devices when I need it.
I'm leaning towards buying #1, but maybe I make a mistake here. What do you think?