Amazon Basics "rechargeables" issue & an Eneloop question

LetThereBeLight!

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Back I guess in March or April I ordered AA and AAA Amazon Rechargeables from Amazon (described as fully precharged) and this was based on what seemed to be a very credible review from an engineer with many reviews of electronic products who assessed and tested them and concluded they were rewrapped Eneloops.

I already own some Eneloops so I thought I'd verify the claim and I needed more rechargeables.

Well, on Thursday I finally broke them out of the plastic and was "surprised" to see that none of them had much more than 3-5% charge according to my new Xtar VC-2Plus charger!

So I fully charged each and tested an AA in a battery driven clock I own after its Eneloop ran its course and its Amazon replacement lasted barely a third of the time of the Eneloop!

First question: does anyone really believe these are rebranded/rewrapped Eneloops?

(No, I do not plan to reorder the Amazon Basics.)

Second, has anyone used or gotten better results from rechargeable Amazon Basics?

Lastly, I plan on ordering more Eneloops but am hesitant to order the Eneloop Pros and the reason is actually silly: I really prefer the white/blue color of the earlier generation!

So when there is a power outage, will using the Eneloop Pros in some of my lights requiring AAs or AAAs produce a statistically significant difference?

Thank you in advance to all follow-up posters.
 

ChrisGarrett

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Back I guess in March or April I ordered AA and AAA Amazon Rechargeables from Amazon (described as fully precharged) and this was based on what seemed to be a very credible review from an engineer with many reviews of electronic products who assessed and tested them and concluded they were rewrapped Eneloops.

That's Lee The Engineer who does a lot of testing and we've had conversations about the Duracell Ion Core (in the beginning) and on whether the LaCrosse family of chargers test out higher in capacity, than the Maha C9000. He knows his stuff.

We can only speculate that some Amazon NiMH rechargeable AAs and AAAs are rebadged FDK NiMH AAs and AAAs, as Amazon (retailer) and Eneloop (trade name) don't actually make anything.

We can make the leap based on discharge curves that people like HKJ make. If you overlap them and they're practically identical, then we can make an educated guess, but all bets are off with Amazon, as one never knows, where the supply chain leads, for any particular item.

Fujitsu owns FDK and FDK owns many of the newer patents, the factory and the technology for what we call Eneloops, which is the trade name that Panasonic kept, when it had to divest itself of either the former, or the latter.

Fujitsu and Eneloop Japan (some are made in China,) are pretty much identical and we know that for sure. Everything else, is just speculation.

Chris
 

LetThereBeLight!

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Thank you, Chris!

Chris, so you own the Eneloop Pros and if so do you find a significant difference in output/performance?
 

ChrisGarrett

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Thank you, Chris!

Chris, so you own the Eneloop Pros and if so do you find a significant difference in output/performance?

No, I don't own any Eneloop Pros, or XX, as they were known if their infancy. I do own some of the Duracell Ion Cores and the Fujitsu Hi Caps and they've been fine, so far, in limited use.

Some of us have found that the Hi Caps haven't lasted as long as the Standard 'Eneloops,' but we're not talking about apples to oranges, so just live with them, is my thought on the matter.

Whether the Amazon Hi Caps last as long as the Eneloop, or Fujitsu Hi Caps, I can't really say, as I don't have any of the Amazon batteries, whether Hi Cap, or Standard batteries, to compare them to.

Chris
 

CuriousOne

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That guy on Amazon gets items for review for free, and he even gets paid for that, so I would not consider his opinion as credible one. I asked him of couple "unpleasant" questions, and he simply refused to answer, showing his lack of knowledge.
 

ChrisGarrett

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That guy on Amazon gets items for review for free, and he even gets paid for that, so I would not consider his opinion as credible one. I asked him of couple "unpleasant" questions, and he simply refused to answer, showing his lack of knowledge.

A lot of people here on this site are sent products samples for free, to review, that they can then keep, so that's compensation anyway you stripe it. The real question is whether that fact is put forth at the beginning of the review and two, whether the reviewer in question tempers his/her biases and tries to be objective, despite having biases, as all people do.

The fact that you're vague with your accusations is telling and your comments should probably be left unvoiced, without more specific details.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no 'Lee The Engineer' fanboy, or cheerleader. I just found him in an Eneloop ad over on Amazon and we conversed in the 'question section' a couple of times, a few years back.

Chris
 

StandardBattery

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I will say Lee knows the basics pretty well and probably quite a bit beyond that. He has had a review or two get a few things wrong, and one I think he just removed and replaced with some other text as it had several mistakes, but he put a different spin on it. Definitely worth reading his reviews for information and references to other similar products. As always learn from what is written, use your own brain, user other brains, and make your own decision. Overall he does more good than harm so he's OK in my book.
 

Kurt_Woloch

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@LetThereBeLight: Do you have a photo of the Amazon Basics you got? Amazon sells different lines of batteries, and it would be good to know which line they came from. Also, do they say "Made in Japan", and what capacity do they have (or rather should they have) (if it's not clear from the photo anyway)?
 

CuriousOne

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You can check his "review" of NiZN batteries, and my questions about them - he even does not knows, what is saturation voltage of a semiconductor, and how vital it is. I have talked to that person and I do have my own experience about him, and I shared my opinion, that's all.
 

ChrisGarrett

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You can check his "review" of NiZN batteries, and my questions about them - he even does not knows, what is saturation voltage of a semiconductor, and how vital it is. I have talked to that person and I do have my own experience about him, and I shared my opinion, that's all.

I wasn't commenting on the veracity of your opinion of him, rather the lack of info in your post, while castigating him. It just seemed more of a cheap shot.

Personally, I don't know what the saturation voltage of a semiconductor is, but I do know something about batteries, cells and chargers, is all.

As an example, I don't mind people calling me an idiot, but I'd like to hear from them as to why, exactly, they 'feel' that I'm an idiot. I can then live with their opinion.

Chris
 

CuriousOne

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Well, not going deeply into details and exact terms, saying very roughly, say at 1.2 volt, semiconductor device (say, transistor) will pass only 40% of current thru it, but at say 1.6 volt, it will pass 80%. This means, operation efficiency of certain circuits, when using NiZN batteries, will be twice better, then when using NiMH.
 

LetThereBeLight!

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@LetThereBeLight: Do you have a photo of the Amazon Basics you got? Amazon sells different lines of batteries, and it would be good to know which line they came from. Also, do they say "Made in Japan", and what capacity do they have (or rather should they have) (if it's not clear from the photo anyway)?

I checked them today and they say made in Japan. I'll bring one home so I can answer your other questions. It was a very busy day, sorry!
 

18650

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Back I guess in March or April I ordered AA and AAA Amazon Rechargeables from Amazon (described as fully precharged) and this was based on what seemed to be a very credible review from an engineer with many reviews of electronic products who assessed and tested them and concluded they were rewrapped Eneloops. I already own some Eneloops so I thought I'd verify the claim and I needed more rechargeables. Well, on Thursday I finally broke them out of the plastic and was "surprised" to see that none of them had much more than 3-5% charge according to my new Xtar VC-2Plus charger! So I fully charged each and tested an AA in a battery driven clock I own after its Eneloop ran its course and its Amazon replacement lasted barely a third of the time of the Eneloop! First question: does anyone really believe these are rebranded/rewrapped Eneloops? (No, I do not plan to reorder the Amazon Basics.) Second, has anyone used or gotten better results from rechargeable Amazon Basics? Lastly, I plan on ordering more Eneloops but am hesitant to order the Eneloop Pros and the reason is actually silly: I really prefer the white/blue color of the earlier generation! So when there is a power outage, will using the Eneloop Pros in some of my lights requiring AAs or AAAs produce a statistically significant difference? Thank you in advance to all follow-up posters.
From my memory, the specs and features on the battery page had exactly the same numbers as Eneloops (capacity, % charge after x years) and it also said made in Japan and charged by renewable energy before leaving the factory. What other battery could it be?
 

Black Rose

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I've purchased the Black labelled AmazonBasics AA High-Capacity Ni-MH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries and have had no issues with them to date.
I expect they will eventually fail like my Eneloop XX cells are starting to do after a few years use.

I see the latest versions on Amazon have new labels, but still are Made in Japan.

I don't think I tested them to see how much charge they had when I unwrapped them.
I have a set of 4 that are still in their wrapper that were made in 2014, and 8 more that were made in 2015.
I'll toss them on my C9000 and do a 500 mA discharge to see how much charge is in them when I open them.
 

Black Rose

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I've purchased the Black labelled AmazonBasics AA High-Capacity Ni-MH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries and have had no issues with them to date.
I have a set of 4 that are still in their wrapper that were made in 2014, and 8 more that were made in 2015.
I'll toss them on my C9000 and do a 500 mA discharge to see how much charge is in them when I open them.
Just to follow up, I put a brand new set of four October 2014 AmazonBasics AA High-Capacity Batteries in my Maha C9000.

I discharged them at 500 mA; 3 cells had capacities in the low to mid 1400 mAh, the 4th cell was low 1500 mAh.
 
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