PKcell "Pre-charged" quality? And recommended charger

I am in a search to widen our portfolio of some cheaper yet better-than-ordinary GP (or even no-name) Ni-MH crap, next to Fujitsu's/Eneloops as a quality standard we already have, but for many uses they are still pricy. I just got some samples of the PKCell "Pre-charged" Ni-MH accumulators. They offered me 2600mAh AAs etc., I went for 2000 (but 1000 AAA which are on the high side so I can actually compare how they will go) as I know all these el-cheapo batteries usually hold such high capacity for a short time only, if ever. What I am particularly interested in are their 9V and maybe C/D as Fujitsu is not making those. Got 350mAh 9V sample.

Any experience with these cells? Are they worth it if they cost for example 1/2 of the Eneloop/Fujitsu?

And what charger would you recommend for such testing (some cycling, capacity measurement). Maybe some USB/serial connectivity would be nice so I can watch how it goes…

So I at least tried to find how many cell the "9V" is. Reads 7.55 V, which would only count to 6cell, so I carefully cracked it open and it has 7 small cells (like tall button-cell). One of them is already dead. I think I am not interested in such quality so no 9V from PKCell. I'll save money on charger for that matter. I guess there is no chance to resurrect it? It reads 0.02 V.

The AAs and AAAs seem fine, one of the AAs is slightly more discharged but we'll see after couple tens of cycles.

I bought PKCell NiZN AAAs - died very quickly. Can't say for any other cells.

I had some Rayovac rechargeable alkaline battery`s years ago and charger, the battery`s are long gone but i still have the charger, are these NiZN a new technology.

John.

Cant comment on the cells sorry so no use there, spending a little more on eneloops will most certainly save you longer down the line

Buy once, cry once(thanks chris) Tbh i think they are good value for the money, the amount of charges compared to other rechargeable cells is very impressive.

Trouble is we all try and save a few $ but it usually ends up costing more in the end as its a waste..............loops are proven!

As Ven pointed out, buy once, cry once.

Eneloop branded low self discharge NiMH cells in their 4 generation are supposed to be good for 2100 recharge cycles. They (the AA versions) are only 2000 mah rated. There are Eneloop Pro's which are 2450 mah, but only 500 or so recharges.

I keep watch for sales on Eneloops as at times you can purchase a dozen for around $27, and $35 with one of their chargers. Costco has the kits on sale a few times a year also.

The best thing is no more leaky alkaline battery mess to ruin your electronic devices.

You don't have to tell me about Pannies, I think I clearly stated we have them in our portfolio, together with Fujitsu.

But with all those Tronics and other cheap whatever, I can as well go and close the shop soon. Ppl are OK with 500-1000 cycles, they cannot imagine ever going to 2100, but when it's for half the price, it's clearly winner.

Plenty of non-brands on the market which work perfectly well for me such as Tesco(own label) 7dayshop(own label) Hybrid(Maplins own label) Poundland.

The only brand I have had no luck with but others have been the Lidl tronic thingies.

Rayovac works just fine, and costs less than Eneloops or Amazonbasics.

CuriousOne said:

Rayovac works just fine and costs less than Eneloops or Amazonbasics.

Click to expand...

Thanks, another pair of makes to try.

What country is Rayovac from?

Also any good C, D or 9V there? Though D might not be a problem too soon. Until now, the problem was with those Eneloop adapters, using even Pro with about 2.5 Ah for 9-10Ah D cell was way too low. But recently I found chinese adapters from 3 AA cells to single D which gives 6-7.5 Ah, that's good enough with low self-discharge cells.

For testing / analyzing, the canonical favorite is the Maha Powerex MH-C9000 charger.

You may also want to look into Tenergy cells. Centura's are the lsd type, and they have TWO versions of regular nimh, the "premium" and the even less expensive "blue" everyday cells.

I'm running the Centuras in an application that doesn't demand Eneloop performance, and are likely to be abused / aged by the owner. I'd hate to see the Eneloop pro's being left to die in their hands. So far, so good, even the 8ah Centura D lsd cells.

Plenty of fun out there...

I've been looking at the Soshine H2, it is old, but may be a good start for me…can get it pretty cheap locally. It even charges 9V batts, though I have no idea if it also provides some advanced function for that. And I think it only charges 7cell version.

CPF member HKJ reviews the Soshine H2 charger and says he cannot recommend it.

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Soshine H2 UK.html

John.

Behemot said:

I've been looking at the Soshine H2, it is old, but may be a good start for me…can get it pretty cheap locally. It even charges 9V batts, though I have no idea if it also provides some advanced function for that. And I think it only charges 7cell version.

Click to expand...

I had the feeling I've seen the v2 review and it was OK? But cannot find it now, the page is terrible, may be good to introduce some search or at least some list of those reviews. Its 2016, not 1996…

Yeah found it here when I let Yahoo on that http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Soshine H2 V2 UK.html

Hi.

I did not know the V2 review existed as Google search gave me the V1 review, I have asked HKJ to make this known in the V1 review.

John.

Behemot said:

I had the feeling I've seen the v2 review and it was OK? But cannot find it now, the page is terrible, may be good to introduce some search or at least some list of those reviews. Its 2016, not 1996…

Yeah found it here when I let Yahoo on that http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Soshine H2 V2 UK.html

Click to expand...

Behemot said:

I had the feeling I've seen the v2 review and it was OK? But cannot find it now, the page is terrible, may be good to introduce some search or at least some list of those reviews. Its 2016, not 1996…

Yeah found it here when I let Yahoo on that http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Soshine H2 V2 UK.html

Click to expand...

You already have a (page) search function in your browser, if you uses that on my charger index page ( http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html ) it is very easy to find.
Using plain html pages means very fast page load times, even from the rather cheap host I use.

This is the problem mate. Most people consider the first page as index: http://www.lygte-info.dk/ Compare to http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html, it is no way index; it is different folder on the server! And there is no link to this page from any review! See for example here: http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Varta Plug UK.html I can see none! Now you see why I feel the navigation is somewhat…well, incredibly difficult there? If I end on some review page, I have absolutelly no chance getting anywhere else if I do not already know where to go. Well, I can guess different adresses for another 5 years in a row, but…

Add links to those review pages at least and it wil be better. Or start using some CMS (Joomla, WP, some of the new light ones). It will be much more user-friendly. Really. It's 2016. Plain HTML pages are gone for 15 years. Your reviews are on very good level, but the presentation is killing it. Do you review for some media or you just run your own show?

Behemot said:

This is the problem mate. Most people consider the first page as index: http://www.lygte-info.dk/ Compare to http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html, it is no way index; it is different folder on the server! And there is no link to this page from any review! See for example here: http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Varta Plug UK.html I can see none! Now you see why I feel the navigation is somewhat…well, incredibly difficult there? If I end on some review page, I have absolutelly no chance getting anywhere else if I do not already know where to go. Well, I can guess different adresses for another 5 years in a row, but…

Add links to those review pages at least and it wil be better. Or start using some CMS (Joomla, WP, some of the new light ones). It will be much more user-friendly. Really. It's 2016. Plain HTML pages are gone for 15 years. Your reviews are on very good level, but the presentation is killing it. Do you review for some media or you just run your own show?

Click to expand...

I am sorry that you have trouble with the navigation, learning to use your browser will make it considerable easier to get around on my website. You basically need to know the search function and the back button to get around on my website. Then you start from the main page and select what category you want, then you can use the find function to select specific products. When you have read about a product, just hit the back button and you are back to the index.
Plain HTML still works, is fast and I do not have to spend time upgrading or switching product and backup is very easy.
It is my own show and my website is designed to require as little maintaining as possible.

OK mister, now you are making an idiot of me. OK, lets play your game!

Hit this link http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Varta Plug UK.html and than tell me where do you go with that back button of yours, I am dying to find out!