Anyone tried the nexcell EnergyON Low Self Discharge batteries?

[cam94z28]

I've found these at a few smaller online battery stores, but most of the big stores only carry the hybrids, eneloop,etc... The Nexcell EnergyON batteries seem to be a little cheaper, I'm wondering if it's worth it considering the Eneloops are made by Sanyo. EnergyON claim 75% retention at 1 year which isn't quite as good as the eneloops, but still twice as much as normal nimh batteries.

 

[koala]

I've found these at a few smaller online battery stores, but most of the big stores only carry the hybrids, eneloop,etc... The Nexcell EnergyON batteries seem to be a little cheaper, I'm wondering if it's worth it considering the Eneloops are made by Sanyo. EnergyON claim 75% retention at 1 year which isn't quite as good as the eneloops, but still twice as much as normal nimh batteries.

Hi cam,
How much cheaper over the Eneloops? How many cells are you looking to buy? Please let us know.

Vince.

 

[Eugene]

I found them when searching but the prices weren't any better than any of the others. I'm trying to find some low price for kid toys so as they get old enough to know how to change and charge batteries they will know theirs are different than mine and won't mix them up.

 

[cam94z28]

Hi cam,
How much cheaper over the Eneloops? How many cells are you looking to buy? Please let us know.

Vince.

They were about $11 for a 4 pack with a free battery holder. Not much cheaper than Eneloops, but if buying many batteries it can make a difference. Eneloops are about $12-14 where I've looked, and hybrio's are also about $11.

The EnergyON's are only rated at 2000mah, but so are the Eneloops, which actually test at around 2100.

I guess a better question would be, are the Uniross Hybrio's or Nexcell EnergyON a better deal for the same price. I think Nexcell has better name recognition then Uniross, but the EnergyON's only claim 75% retention after a year. Has anyone tested actual capacity on these?

I would be starting with 4 to see if I like them.

 

[koala]

They were about $11 for a 4 pack with a free battery holder. Not much cheaper than Eneloops, but if buying many batteries it can make a difference. Eneloops are about $12-14 where I've looked, and hybrio's are also about $11.

The EnergyON's are only rated at 2000mah, but so are the Eneloops, which actually test at around 2100.

I guess a better question would be, are the Uniross Hybrio's or Nexcell EnergyON a better deal for the same price. I think Nexcell has better name recognition then Uniross, but the EnergyON's only claim 75% retention after a year. Has anyone tested actual capacity on these?

I would be starting with 4 to see if I like them.

That's the reason why I asked. If you are going for 4 cells, then the Eneloops. If you need 40 then look in to bulk buy or the cheaper alternatives. It won't hurt to try out the Hybrio's or Nexcells. Both are very good company making better than crap cells. If they don't work, they will probably work as normal NiMh.

Vince.

 

[cam94z28]

Just recently I read several comparisons where the hybrio's actually tested better than the eneloops, in cell to cell consistency(capacity after 10-12 cycles), and self discharge rate. Since they are cheaper than the Eneloops I think I'll try these first.

 

[robm]

Do you have any links to the comparisons of the cells - I haven't seen much about the Hybrios?

I thought the same as you though, and bought Hybrios rather than Eneloops, only to find that the Eneloops perform much better under high current usage - not a problem for 'normal' usage though 🙂

 

[cam94z28]

The first review is from the dpreview forum:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1023&message=22988426
The OP compares Titanium Power Enduro, Eneloop, Hybrio, and a new contender, Accupower Acculoop for capacity and self discharge rate over 4 weeks. They only purchased a 2-pack of those so it's hard to compare. Keep clicking Next >, the final results are farther on in the thread. After 4 weeks, the Hybrios are holding more capacity then the Eneloops, even though they're rated for a 10% faster self-discharge. Obviously that's conservative.


This one is a independant site with detailed graphical .SWF graphs comparing voltage, temperature, and capacity:
http://www.users.on.net/~mhains/Reviews.html
Here, the Hybrio's didnt show as high consistency on capacity as the other review. the voltage chart is all over the place compared to the eneloops. I'm not sure what the precharge graph is showing on the eneloops but I would compare the UBA one, since thats what the Hybrio graph uses. Overall the Hybrios seem to be averaging slightly higher on voltage. While the eneloops drop immediately to the lowest range of the hybrios. The overall runtime in minutes proves this. His tests are done at 10 ohms so i'm not sure what amp draw that equates to.

 

[robm]

:thanks:

 

[Eugene]

Do you have any links to the comparisons of the cells - I haven't seen much about the Hybrios?

I thought the same as you though, and bought Hybrios rather than Eneloops, only to find that the Eneloops perform much better under high current usage - not a problem for 'normal' usage though 🙂

Thats good to know, I'm using some Eneloop to replace NiCad where nicad was originally chosen by the manufacturer for due to somewhat high drain.

 

[cam94z28]

It appears everyone is jumping on the Low Self Discharge bandwagon. Even Digipower, who mostly makes throw in batteries with their cheapy chargers, has created some "Endure Series 1" LSD batteries, and a charger to go with them. They claim 90% retention after a year, which is probably a joke. I'd be curious to see how these perform though. They're only about $7 for a 4 pack online.

http://www.digipowersolutions.com/store/product_info.php/cPath/230/products_id/654

 

[Eugene]

dang, I keep hunting for some cheap lsd for my kids toys but no one can beat the price on eneloop. I;d buy eneloop but I want his toy batteries to be different.

 

[cam94z28]

I'd wait till someone can do some real world tests on the digipower ones before you think about them. Another store i found them listed one of the charger packages that included them as being 2500mah. As far as I know, 2500mah LSD batteries don't exist, and probably won't for a long time, if ever.

Circuit City carries their endure battery/charger packages, but I didn't see the batteries by themselves.

I have an old 4-pack of Digipower 2300 rechargeables I got with a budget charger a couple years ago. 3 of 4 are 1.35 volts after a week, and one is 1.33. I guess thats pretty consistent. I just ordered a Maha C-9000, but don't have it yet. I'll be testing all my old batteries(including these) once I get it. I have two of the gallon size zip-loc bags full, and a couple hard cases.

 

[Bones]

dang, I keep hunting for some cheap lsd for my kids toys but no one can beat the price on eneloop. I;d buy eneloop but I want his toy batteries to be different.

Might I suggest letting the kids ' personalize ' their Eneloops with indelible markers?

If wiped down with a decent cleanser once the markings have set, they should still be safe to handle.

 

[Eugene]

I've tried that before and it wears off pretty quick. Battery labels are pretty smooth so even the best sharpie wears off after a while

 

[InHisName]

dang, I keep hunting for some cheap lsd for my kids toys but no one can beat the price on eneloop. I;d buy eneloop but I want his toy batteries to be different.

I just bumped into an eBay seller, selling energyON at 8 AAA for 12.95 with shipping to usa. Made a small order and will test capacity on my c9000. I'll be tickled if they exceed their minimum of 700. (typ 750) One user said his tests showed standard deviation to be larger than eneloops, but the diff in price is quite enticing.

I'm glad to see one seller pricing based on capacity than by the each. So AAAs are nearly half of AA pricing rather than the same. I think the AA price by this eBay seller is 19.95 ship included for 8 AA.

 

[Mike89]

Anyone still using these now?

I bought 8 of them about a year ago. They have all gone bad. I had bought some Eneloops and Imedions at the same time (all AA) and those two are still going strong. Dunno if I got some old ones to begin with or if they are just junk.

 

[InHisName]

I bought 12 AAA's Jul 2008 and by winter 2010 they were going HIGH in my C9000. I was recharging them about once a week for the duration and so estimate approx. 70-90 cycles. In contrast, I bought 12 AAA duraloops Oct 2008 and put them into same use with weekly chargings. They ALSO started to go HIGH approx winter 2011 and had estimated the cycles to be in range of 90-120. Since I only spent $1.50 each for Duraloops, I might get more NexCels if I found them for <= $1 each.

The FRS radio devices I used had a battery indicator, but when it said half full, the NiMH were nearly empty. I tried recharging them when reaching the 'half-full' mark but usually missed until the lcd faded out. Each walkie-talkie used 3 cells. I figure that reason for early demise is cell reversals. The discharge rate was 17ma for one radio set that I used the NexCels with. The other radio set was 23ma that I used the Duraloops with. For the first 120 cycles or so, the NexCels would last 4 nights or 42 hours. The Duraloops lasted 3 nights or 31 hours. I consider this low current usage. But high frequency recharge cycling.

The capactiy did not diminsh until long into the HIGH condition. This is of course for a low current drain use.