Are the Ikea Ladda batteries just as good as Eneloops?

[busseguy]

My Eneloop batteries are getting old and I was planning on buying the Eneloop kits from Costco but for some reason they discontinued them.

I found the IKEA Ladda batteries and they are supposed to be about the same MAH rating.

Are they just as good as Eneloops? I figured I would try them out since they are cheap enough and I have an ikea near me.

 

[bcm00re]

https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/CommonAAcomparator.php

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

It depends. No, I don't think Lladas are identical to Eneloops. Certainly the high-capacity ones are not the same as Eneloop Pros. But the regular versions of both seem to be quite similar. Reports seem to indicate the quality control might not be as good as Eneloops, but they're cheaper, and so even if some are not great you'll probably still save money.

You're right about Costco not selling them any more. Pity. I normally do an order from costco.ca every summer when they go on sale. Oh well, I have way too many (around 400, IIRC), so probably I should just use what I have over the next few years. I'm still using Eneloops from 2006, so they do last forever. If you can get Eneloops, I'd recommend them over Lladas. But if you can't, then the Lladas are a decent choice too.

 

[HakanC]

It depends.

+1

​

I don't think Lladas are identical to Eneloops. Certainly the high-capacity ones are not the same as Eneloop Pros.

There are a few tests that indicates that the differencies are quite small

From:
https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Eneloop AA BK-3HCC 2450mAh (Black) UK.html
and
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Ikea Ladda AA 2450mAh (White) UK.html

And also this lifespan test

Score	Cell	Capacity	Cycles
534	IKEA LADDA 2450​	2353	227
369	Panasonic eneloop pro​	2394	154

From: Cycle count tests of AA batteries http://aacycler.com

 

[HarryN]

I have been studying the graphs at aacycler.com. (very useful work BTW)

The sample size is only 2 cells, but it is interesting that some batteries had a fairly wide spread on the measurements, while others had quite tight results.

The Lada has a greater than 50% spread in results vs the enloop pro results are fairly consistent. The akku polarcell is remarkably consistent. (based on the 2 cell testing) Not sure where to buy those in the US.

The other fascinating thing is the reverse association of capacity vs cycle life. The standard while enloops appear to have nearly 2x the cycle life of the pro version.

If a person doesn't have a battery capacity tester, they might be better off buying based on consistency of results vs other factors.

Nearly all of them are shot after 3 months of heavy daily use.

 

[nqhzdkdf]

Just look at the manufacturing country. China eneloops are also bad. Just japan eneloop but also japan ikea ladda are great. In japan there is just one company building LSD nimh cells and thats FDK.

https://eneloop101.com/batteries/rewrapped-batteries/

Quote: "Made in Japan definitely indicates FDK factory, as there is only one LSD NiMH factory in Japan."

 

[busseguy]

Just look at the manufacturing country. China eneloops are also bad. Just japan eneloop but also japan ikea ladda are great. In japan there is just one company building LSD nimh cells and thats FDK.

https://eneloop101.com/batteries/rewrapped-batteries/

Quote: "Made in Japan definitely indicates FDK factory, as there is only one LSD NiMH factory in Japan."

Thanks for the link.

 

[chillinn]

Looking at Ladda. Thinking hard about them. For the price of a quad of AA Panasonic Eneloop Pro, you get nearly 12x AA Ladda 2450. For the price of an octopack of Eneloop Pro, you get 20x Ladda 2450.

So Eneloop Pro are slick to beautiful and Ladda are plain to ugly. But no one sees your batteries. Image is nothing. Capacity is everything.

Edit: Pulled the plug. I ordered 4 quads of Ladda 2540, total with ship: $34.44
That would be $71.82 before ship for 16 Eneloop Pro in two octopacks from one eBay seller with typical prices.
Less than a week ago, I ordered 2 octopacks of Eneloop 1900mAh in the green, light green, silver and brown variety, $47.36. I always wanted those, and all my white label Eneloops and Fujitsus are old and abused, need to be retired and recycled. But only one octopack arrived. The invoice has the correct amount and information, how hard is it to look at the invoice before packing and shipping?!? :hairpull:
Wrote seller, haven't heard back. Big seller, may take a day or two to get this sorted out. But I am a little bummed.

 

[chillinn]

I thought I saw something strange earlier, and I made a mental note. Went back to find it... took me awhile. It was not in the product page literature; it is printed on the cell.

Standard charge: 245mA for 16hrs.

What is up with that? Is charging at .1C really recommended? Not 1C, instead?

Digicharger D4 owner here. (There are better chargers, but few as braindead simple.) I'll be charging at 750mA when I don't have too many to charge, and 375mA when I have too many to charge.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

If you need Eneloop Pros, the Laddas are close-enough and far cheaper. It makes more sense to get the Laddas. With Standard's, I'd stick with Eneloops though.

As for 0.1C charging, that's one method of "dumb charging". 16 hours at 0.1C gives you a full charge. But you should charge from empty, to prevent too much overcharging. Probably still harder on the battery than a proper smart charge.

 

[chillinn]

With Standard's, I'd stick with Eneloops though.

I bought a quad of Energizer "RECHARGE" 1300mAh a couple years ago from WalMart, about $12 with a dumb charger. I have had good luck with them. They do not have the capacity of Eneloops, but they are ampy, though easily damaged with just a single overdischarge. I just swapped one out of my SC5c, at 1.28V, but the Zebralight meter still gives 4 flashes. Maybe if I had a better charger the two I damaged could be refreshed. But I guess they're no cheaper than Eneloop standards, so why bother with them? Because WalMart doesn't sell Eneloops. Makes me curious about the Energizer RECHARGE Power Plus, but they are just as expensive as Eneloop Pros. Little point unless you need them in your hand today.

I have imagined a dime-shaped passive electronic device, much thinner in the middle, just a membrane, thicker around the edges with microelectronics, that you stick in the battery tube with cells, that will cut off the circuit when voltage gets low, configurable to either 1V or 2V, or 3.5V or 7V, depending on chemistry or whether it is one cell or two. The idea, or course, is to make lights without low voltage protection safe for forgetful flashoholics.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I just swapped one out of my SC5c, at 1.28V, but the Zebralight meter still gives 4 flashes.

Just FYI, the Zebralight battery indicator on their AA lights is bascially worthless. It's not much better than a random-number generator between 1 and 4 flashes. (The indicator on their 18650 lights is much better.)

I think it's just because accurately determining remaining capacity based on the voltage of a NiMH battery is basically impossible. Still, I think they could do a better job than what they did. Their voltage-reader must be awful, because 1.28v is nowhere near full capacity.

 

[chillinn]

Just FYI, the Zebralight battery indicator on their AA lights is bascially worthless. It's not much better than a random-number generator between 1 and 4 flashes. (The indicator on their 18650 lights is much better.)

I think it's just because accurately determining remaining capacity based on the voltage of a NiMH battery is basically impossible. Still, I think they could do a better job than what they did. Their voltage-reader must be awful, because 1.28v is nowhere near full capacity.

I thought it had something to do with amps. But now I write that, I see it doesn't make sense.

I thought there might be something off with my new Eneloops, cell at 1.38v giving one flash. Which I thought had something to do with active electronics never letting the cell rest.

Well, that blows. Silver lining is it is less likely my new Eneloop is garbage.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I thought it had something to do with amps. But now I write that, I see it doesn't make sense.

I thought there might be something off with my new Eneloops, cell at 1.38v giving one flash. Which I thought had something to do with active electronics never letting the cell rest.

Well, that blows. Silver lining is it is less likely my new Eneloop is garbage.

Yeah, ignore the Zebralight battery indication feature on the SC5. Just put in a freshly charged Eneloop whenever you use the light much. The good thing about Eneloops is they don't mind being fully charged and sitting around waiting to be used, and they hold that charge well. So, there's not much point in trying to manage your Eneloop batteries. Just keep them charged up and ready to use all the time.

Lithium-ion is a different story. You really don't want them sitting around at full charge all the time, especially if you're not using them.

 

[325addict]

Let me say this, and that should tell you all: a LOT of really professional ENG people here in the Netherlands have embraced the Laddas and are using them every day. So I took a package as well and charged 4 to the brim and discharged them all in series, over my battery capacity tester. They all had very tight tolerances, throughout the discharging cycle all cells nearly kept the same voltage. They ended over 2400mAh. And as many of these professionals use them on a daily basis without problems, in their transmitter beltpacks drawing quite some current, they cannot be bad! I stored them after my test in my 2D Mag with 6AA to 2D cell adapter for more than 6 months, after that I switched it on and.... I was blinded. Enough said.

 

[chillinn]

So the next question sort of remains hanging unanswered (yeah, for all intents and purposes, they're just as good... but are they actually Eneloop Pro?) Ladda 2540 testing makes them almost almost appear to be Eneloop Pro. It is close enough that many have said they are Eneloop Pro, but all the testing I have seen leaves that tiny room for doubt, because they seem to always test with just slightly and negligibly less capacity than Eneloop Pro.

If they are manufactured at FDK in Japan, they're definitely Eneloop Pro. Though it is within the realm of possibility if they are manufactured elsewhere, they're still Eneloop Pro. Anyone happen to know where they are manufactured? Or the country of origin?

LADDA batteries are LSD batteries (Low Self Discharge), Made in Japan. The only Japanese factory that manufactures LSD batteries is the FDK factory.

Source: comment to the review here

Shame j888www did not cite his source, but if true, Ladda 2450 cannot be anything other than Eneloop Pro.

another claim of "Made in Japan"

claim IKEA 1000 used to be made in Japan, now made in China

Last one concerning, but someone says "the brown 1000 were always made in China," and "The white 2450mah are still labeled made in Japan."

I, for one, am satisfied that IKEA Ladda 2450 are Eneloop Pro.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Nobody knows for sure, unless Ikea or Panasonic officially comes out and states it one way or the other. All I've seen is speculation. Though, the testing seems to indicate they're extremely close, so likely may be made to the same standards and/or the same factory. Perhaps the quality control off the line is different, though.

 

[chillinn]

My conjecture is, because the label says "Made in Japan," and at least one insists there is only one NiMH factory there, FDK... I think that they are not quite Eneloop Pro rejects... nearly good enough for the Eneloop Pro label, but missing the mark by a mere 50mA of capacity. But then again, Eneloop Pro hedges with "up to 2500mAh" of capacity, and doesn't promise "at least 2500mAh" of capacity. So there ought to be some Eneloop Pro that stubbornly charge only to 2450mAh, and I am sure there are going to be some Ladda 2450s that do have 2500mAh of capacity and more. At any rate, I would assume FDK labels their best tested AA cells that show near 2500mA as the premium labels, Eneloop Pro, Fujitsu 2550... probably a few others we don't see too often, and any that test almost as near might become Ladda 2450. Or maybe they are all completely identical, and there is some agreement with IKEA to only advertise 2540mAh, or maybe IKEA finds FDK's capacity estimate too liberal.

It may be obvious, I am anxious to find out myself, yet I have no way to accurately test cell capacities. I ordered 9 days ago, and tracking says IKEA is still preparing the order, and I should not expect their arrival for another day and 2 weeks. Excruciating, yet they are just decent and very reasonably priced batteries, not worthy of a Revere-like rallying cry, "give me Ladda 2540, or give me death!"

 

[chillinn]

I think this is interesting, IKEA sells a wallwart 4 bay charger called KVARTS for about $9. Navigate under "Product details," then "Assembly & documents," there is a link to the manual. On Page 7 of the manual it reads:

· Charge is terminated by individual
minus delta or zero delta voltage
sensors (-dV/dT or 0dV/dT).
· Safety by separate safety timer and
temperature sensor.

Q: Doesn't having charge termination using this method technically make KVARTS a "smart charger" (albeit a slow one)? (Charge time for 4 Ladda 2450 is estimated about ~8 hours in the first pages of the manual)

By request, it appears HKJ reviewed this charger, but here it is called "Ikea Ladda YH-990BF." It is slightly different, requires a cable for power, doesn't appear to have the individual status LED windows above the channels. Maybe the KVARTS is slightly more advanced?


There are at least a few compact wallwart Eneloop/Panasonic branded smart and/or smart and fast chargers (and a number of dumb ones), but none of them (I have seen) are $9, though they can be had for less than full price ($18-$28) by purchasing with included Eneloop or Eneloop Pro cells (while paying a premium for the Eneloop/Eneloop Pro labeled cells).

Until very recently, I did not know any of these compact wallwart 4-bay chargers could be smart... thought they all worked only with timers, often blasting full cells with low amps. I am intrigued by these style wallwart chargers because they travel better than the usually larger spring-loaded smart chargers that require a power cord. Also, gifted, I would assume it is less daunting for the recipient.

 

[Celest]

I think this is interesting, IKEA sells a wallwart 4 bay charger called KVARTS for about $9. Navigate under "Product details," then "Assembly & documents," there is a link to the manual. On Page 7 of the manual it reads:



Q: Doesn't having charge termination using this method technically make KVARTS a "smart charger" (albeit a slow one)? (Charge time for 4 Ladda 2450 is estimated about ~8 hours in the first pages of the manual)

By request, it appears HKJ reviewed this charger, but here it is called "Ikea Ladda YH-990BF." It is slightly different, requires a cable for power, doesn't appear to have the individual status LED windows above the channels. Maybe the KVARTS is slightly more advanced?


There are at least a few compact wallwart Eneloop/Panasonic branded smart and/or smart and fast chargers (and a number of dumb ones), but none of them (I have seen) are $9, though they can be had for less than full price ($18-$28) by purchasing with included Eneloop or Eneloop Pro cells (while paying a premium for the Eneloop/Eneloop Pro labeled cells).

Until very recently, I did not know any of these compact wallwart 4-bay chargers could be smart... thought they all worked only with timers, often blasting full cells with low amps. I am intrigued by these style wallwart chargers because they travel better than the usually larger spring-loaded smart chargers that require a power cord. Also, gifted, I would assume it is less daunting for the recipient.

Yes, technically that makes it what is known as a "consumer-grade" smart charger, and not an "industrial-grade" (or as I call it, "nerd-grade") one like the Opus BT-C2400 that I have or the BT-C3100 that is more popularly discussed here on CPF. It is "dumber" but not dumb.