AA rechargeable size?

I'm sure this has been covered before, and I swear I google'd, but...

Is there any current data on rechargeable battery sizes?
I bought a couple of well reviewed Sunlabz 2800mah
off Amazon and they fit one of my old AA maglites, but
not the other. Half MM too much for the older of the two,
even without the skin.

I like to keep these little LED converted guys around the house,
am I just to trial and error or has anyone been down this road
recently?

Hmm, I have also run into this issue before. I don't have any figures for you but I can offer a little advice from my own experience.

I have found the standard eneloops to be very compatible with most things although some extremely tight fitting (badly designed) items might have trouble. The standard eneloops definitely fit into maglites just fine though. Eneloop XX's are a bit fatter and may have trouble in devices with a very narrow battery compartment.

To give an example I have a Sanyo 2xAA USB charger, one of the old ones that was sold with a pair of AA eneloops. If you put eneloop XX's in instead, they fit but are a little tight!

If you are after capacity rather than low self-discharge though, I have found that most of the high capacity (2500mAh+) cells tend to be a tiny bit larger than most and have trouble fitting in some devices. I am sure someone else could chime in with some measurements.

The IEC standard has a fairly wide tolerance in the HR6 battery dimensions, so it's not uncommon to see rechargeables tightly fitting devices as the compartments were more intended for primaries originally
From what I was able to find out, the standard Eneloops fit within the middle range of this tolerance, but higher capacity cells probably go up to the maximum dimension limit

The AA Maglite already has a tight compartment to begin with, and it was designed for alkaline primaries to begin with... with the standard Eneloops, it barely fits without having to force the cells in... I don't even want to try Eneloop Pros/XXs in them

Well for what it's worth..

These guys here.. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SK6TFIO/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Are 14.36mm at the widest on my caliper, and 14.25 minus the skin.

My black magmini at the throat of the tail end I read 14.37.

My blue magmini same position I read 14.57.

The skinned AA at 14.25 goes about halfway in and stops, I have not tried to force it
so I assume the tube narrows or is possibly ding'd to a smaller diameter in there somewhere.

My usual bulk buy Rayovac alkaline are 14.03.

I might order some of the Eneloop's and try just for the heck of it.


In my Google'ing, I read a hypothesis that while far fetched isn't completely unbelievable.
The thought was that since Mag supplies the black magmini to various military/law enforcement
the world over (australian army was referenced) that they may well make them tighter to fit the
issued battery and not rattle. Where as the colored "consumer" version might be larger to avoid
complaints from people like me trying to use a fat rechargeable battery.
I haven't looked into any of this but stranger things have occured.

Maybe I'll buy a silver one and see if they fit, I like my beat up old black one though, had it forever.
Works pretty OK with a terralux LED and a glass lens.

wolf_walker said:

The thought was that since Mag supplies the black magmini to various military/law enforcement
the world over (australian army was referenced) that they may well make them tighter to fit the
issued battery and not rattle. Where as the colored "consumer" version might be larger to avoid
complaints from people like me trying to use a fat rechargeable battery.

Click to expand...

That's a really interesting thought. Believable too. The army would be a large enough customer that it would be possible for them to do that...

wolf_walker said:

Well for what it's worth..

These guys here.. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SK6TFIO/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Are 14.36mm at the widest on my caliper, and 14.25 minus the skin.

My black magmini at the throat of the tail end I read 14.37.

My blue magmini same position I read 14.57.

The skinned AA at 14.25 goes about halfway in and stops, I have not tried to force it
so I assume the tube narrows or is possibly ding'd to a smaller diameter in there somewhere.

My usual bulk buy Rayovac alkaline are 14.03.

I might order some of the Eneloop's and try just for the heck of it.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the measurements, wolf_walker!