1500x eneloops at Amazon!

[Chrontius]

I bought the pack of 8 light/dark blue AA and 4 light/dark green AAA plus charger at Costco about a week ago - $26+tax. I have not opened them yet.

Any test that anyone wants to see using maha 9000?

(I think it is 'funny' that they are and are advertised as pre-charged and then the first thing that I may do with them is run a discharge cycle to see how much was in them (and more importantly to prep for a BI as a test))

Has anyone bought Eneloops and actually used them directly out of package?

My AAAs went straight into a TI-86. I still haven't charged them, and they seem to be holding up fine, better even than the Energizers in my other one (which have leaked, twice!); these don't get used, so it's mostly down to self discharge and a trickle of voltage to maintain the calculators' RAM contents.

 

[noisebeam]

As I noted earlier I picked up the pack from Costco. As I use my C9000 regularly it will take a long time to perform a discharge test and BI all the cells (If I do all. I may not as it is not really needed, only for fun)

These are the results from the first AA pair direct from package:
N5: ICV: 1.53, D@500: 1404
N6: ICV: 1.53, D@500: 1402

Then I ran a BI@2000 followed by an IC:
N5: 1976, ICV: 1.62
N6: 1978, ICV: 1.61

 

[thedeske]

Guys - search eneloop color on the auction site - a seller has the set(s) for 19.99 +6

Too bad I don't need more AAs right now ;)

 

[fishinfool]

Guys - search eneloop color on the auction site - a seller has the set(s) for 19.99 +6

Too bad I don't need more AAs right now ;)

That's a very good price compared to what I paid for mine. :( Too good to be true? :thinking:

 

[Wrend]

Sure, but note that the "charge cycles" used by the industry are not what you and I call charge cycles (full discharge followed by full charge). They are some complex system of partial cycling designed to replicate "real world usage".

Also, 75% after three years is much the same as the original Eneloops. (Original Eneloops hold their charge to about 85% after one year, 80% after two years and 75% after three years.)

No, those are not the listed self discharge rates for the first generation Eneloops. The gen1 ones are 80% after one year and 70% after two years, not 85% after one years, 80% after two years, and 75% after 3 years that the new ones are listed as being capable of. :thumbsup:

 

[Mr Happy]

No, those are not the listed self discharge rates for the first generation Eneloops. The gen1 ones are 80% after one year and 70% after two years, not 85% after one years, 80% after two years, and 75% after 3 years that the new ones are listed as being capable of. :thumbsup:

Here we are:

First generation Eneloops, type HR3UTG. See what the packaging says. ;)

Note that when I quote the 3 year storage capacity, I have actually tested Eneloops that were stored for 3 years. It is something I have verified for myself.

 

[Notsure Fire]

Looks juicy. I think that's a good deal.

 

[Wrend]

Here we are:

...

First generation Eneloops, type HR3UTG. See what the packaging says. ;)

Note that when I quote the 3 year storage capacity, I have actually tested Eneloops that were stored for 3 years. It is something I have verified for myself.

Interesting. They must have either reassessed their self discharge rate, or previously posted different values on their website. It's my understanding that the older Eneloops self discharged to 70% to 75% after 2 years, not after after 3 years like the new ones are supposed to be capable of.

 

[Mr Happy]

Unless your use case is exceptional, it is highly unlikely you would store Eneloops for more than a year without recharging them. So the self-discharge out to two or three years seems to be of little practical significance.

 

[noisebeam]

Outside of the rare couple week vacation when I was not home, the longest I've stored my rechargeables is about a week before use. Although I use them in constant draw devices for ~3mo.
But I just bought 12 new eneloops so I suspect many will start remain in storage for longer than 1wk. That is good as I will not have to plan ahead the use of the four bays in my C9000 so carefully anymore, I'll be able to run some R/A and BI without loosing essential charging capacity or temporarily pilfering them from slow drain devices.

 

[Wrend]

Unless your use case is exceptional, it is highly unlikely you would store Eneloops for more than a year without recharging them. So the self-discharge out to two or three years seems to be of little practical significance.

Except for using them in things like IR TV/DVD player/Receiver remotes and some clocks that only use a very small amount of the 2000mAh, and might last a few years on one charge.

But yes, there probably isn't going to be a huge difference for use in most applications, but it does look like there is a difference. I looked up some older info on Eneloops, and it appears that they did list them as holding up to 85% after one year (such as you showed from their packaging as well), but also 70% after two years instead of 75% after three.

What I'm curious about is if the newer ones discharge as well as the older ones under high loads. But, I do like the idea of using the new ones in my remotes and clocks.

 

[Mr Happy]

My testing of Eneloops has shown that when freshly manufactured they have about 1700 mAh of charge, and after three years on the shelf they have about 1300 mAh. That would work out at a charge loss of about 130 mAh per year in storage, or about 6% per year once past the initial few months of rapid discharge.

(If they started out fully charged I suspect they would end up with about 1400 mAh after three years, which would be about 70%.)

 

[noisebeam]

I've test discharged four of the new AA eneloops on a C9000. They were purchased this Sept.10th in the 8xAA/4xAAA+charger mulitpack at costco. I think they have a (manufacture/date?) code of '1 0 -05LF' stamped on them. All four when discharged at a 500ma rate have given between 1398-1404mah.

 

[Mr Happy]

I've test discharged four of the new AA eneloops on a C9000. They were purchased this Sept.10th in the 8xAA/4xAAA+charger mulitpack at costco. I think they have a (manufacture/date?) code of '1 0 -05LF' stamped on them. All four when discharged at a 500ma rate have given between 1398-1404mah.

That doesn't seem very good. Here's my reference for the 1700 mAh:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=201449

 

[noisebeam]

That doesn't seem very good. Here's my reference for the 1700 mAh:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=201449

Hmmm. See my BI results for two of them in my post above - ~1980 mah. Two more just started a BI this morning. I set the break in capacity at 2000 on the c9000. These are the light blue & dark blue wrapped cells. Is that a date code that is stamped on them? Could it be May-2010? What does the stamped code mean?

Also if you look at the other parallel costco eneloop thread there are reports of initial discharge and BI values consistent w/mine

 

[Mr Happy]

Hmmm. See my BI results for two of them in my post above - ~1980 mah. Two more just started a BI this morning. I set the break in capacity at 2000 on the c9000. These are the light blue & dark blue wrapped cells. Is that a date code that is stamped on them? Could it be May-2010? What does the stamped code mean?

Also if you look at the other parallel costco eneloop thread there are reports of initial discharge and BI values consistent w/mine

Perhaps they have started putting a lower charge on them at the factory? I have always found the original Eneloops to have at least 1650 mAh on initial discharge.

The stamped code should be YY-MM, so 10-05 would be May 2010.

 

[levi420]

Thanks for the info. I love eneloops. I had no idea there are newer ones. I am still planning on using my old ones for years.

 

[noisebeam]

Well of course there is no reason to upgrade! Not if the only improvement is 500 extra charge cycles and your existing loops still have enough capacity to satisfy.

I believe Sanyo also claims better performance at lower temps. If this is validated it could also be a reason to upgrade if that helps ones application.

I just C9000 tested two AAA cells fresh out of the package (date code 10-05LK), first IC, then discharged at 200ma and the tested IC again with these results:

L1: 1.59, 607, 1.56
L2: 1.56, 602, 1.58

 

[noisebeam]

Wow, much better BI capacity for the AAA relative to advertised typical vs. the AA's in same package.

L1: 809mah
L2: 813mah

Both had an IC of 1.75V post burn in (fully charged vs. proper method)