black top duracell pre charged aaa test

[snakebite]

in an effort to grab up as many packs of duraloops as possible during the target sale a pack of the new black top aaa's got in the lot by accident.as good as an excuse as any to test.
datecode 8j24j3.
will post results of out of pack capacity and several cycles.stay tuned.
out of the pack.
1. 505
2. 475
3. 537
4. 543
1st discharge
1. 747
2. 749
3. 734
4. 744
2nd
1. 742
2. 745
3. 729
4. 739
3rd
1. 736
2. 738
3. 723
4. 733
4th
1. 732
2. 734
3. 720
4. 729
5th
1. 725
2. 727
3. 712
4. 714

 

[MarioJP]

What is the difference between the black tops and white tops?? Sides from being made from different brands. Does it really matter?? They are both rated at 2000mah anyway.

 

[smopoim86]

What is the difference between the black tops and white tops?? Sides from being made from different brands. Does it really matter?? They are both rated at 2000mah anyway.

Made in Japan whitetops (duraloops) are the coveted Eneloop. The blacktop (durahybrids) made in china are rayovac hybrids.

The eneloops are incredibly durable and tough batteries.

 

[clintb]

What is the difference between the black tops and white tops?? Sides from being made from different brands. Does it really matter?? They are both rated at 2000mah anyway.

Big difference here is, the OP is testing AAA's, not AA's. Aside from that, the white topped AA's, if made in Japan, are rebadged Sanyo Eneloop. Black topped, made in China, are, I believe, rebadged Ray-O-Vac Hybrid. Eneloop's have proven to be of the highest quality, whereas the ROV Hybrid are marginal.

 

[MarioJP]

Well that's good to hear because I got 8pk of duraloops which I tend to keep as an backup or emergency batteries and all of them are white tops.

I only have 4 duraloops that are black tops which happen to came with the original charger (Durahybrids). The black tops are showing signs of illness lol (which was used in the 15 min charger in the past). My LED Tester only lights 4 out of 5 led's right after full charge. 5 led's lit right out from the charger. Then 4 led lit after 30 minutes sitting there. The duraloops in the other hand are 5 green led's even after a week sitting there

 

[clintb]

MarioJP,

What tester are you using? If it's not a ZTS, I'd be highly suspect as to the accuracy. Even then, a ZTS is a best guess with Nixx cells and needs to be run a few times to get an average.

 

[snakebite]

MarioJP,

What tester are you using? If it's not a ZTS, I'd be highly suspect as to the accuracy. Even then, at ZTS is a best guess with Nixx cells and needs to be run a few times to get an average.

maha/powerex c9000

 

[MarioJP]

MarioJP,

What tester are you using? If it's not a ZTS, I'd be highly suspect as to the accuracy. Even then, at ZTS is a best guess with Nixx cells and needs to be run a few times to get an average.

The way I test these batteries I do multiple times just to be sure. I make sure its making good contact on both ends. The tester I am using is a Delkin self powered battery tester.

http://www.adorama.com/Reviews/pwr/...-Tester-for-AA-AAA-CRV3-CR5-9V-Batteries.html

It is a very good tester. Led's are quite sensitive.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

What is the ending voltage fresh off of the charger, not what the charger reads, but what a DMM would read?

Bill

 

[MarioJP]

Is this when during charging or after the charge has stopped?.

 

[45/70]

The way I test these batteries I do multiple times just to be sure. I make sure its making good contact on both ends. The tester I am using is a Delkin self powered battery tester.

http://www.adorama.com/Reviews/pwr/...-Tester-for-AA-AAA-CRV3-CR5-9V-Batteries.html

It is a very good tester. Led's are quite sensitive.

I've been using one of these testers that I purchased from TD (different brand, but same tester) for a couple years. They put AA and AAA cells under a decent 400mA load and are so much more compact, and easier to use than a ZTS, not to mention, a bit cheaper and, you don't have to worry about the cable eventually breaking off. You are limited to testing AA/AAA/9V/CR-V3 and 2CR5's though.

While these types of load testers are great to use, they can be fooled. For example, if you pull a cell off the charger that is only half charged, they'll usually read 100% because the voltage is artificially high. As you've seen, if you wait a while, it's much more accurate.

If your getting less than 100% from fully charged and rested cells, your cells are suffering from general degradation and/or voltage depression.

Dave

 

[MarioJP]

Good points there. I do two tests. One when the batteries just finished charging to see if the voltage has peaked. This will determine if the cell is weak right away. My previous duracell weaker cells I test them right away once they get pulled out the charger. I only see 3 led lit. If that is the case the cell gets tossed.

Second test because of what you have said "artificial voltages" when the batteries are done charging i let them sit for an hour before I test them. If all the led's are lit then the battery is in good shape. But if i see at least 3 out of 5 led lit. There is a problem with that cell.


Speaking of black top duracell batteries. I think they are showing signs of problems. My mobile phone charger is not operating correctly. I thought it was the charger but when I tried the new white top cells, charger started to work normally.

What I don't understand is I just charged the black top cells but yet they are performing strange. Whenever I plug in my phone to start charging the charger turns off but yet i can turn it back on. Its like if the batteries are suffering from voltage depression.

Anyways I think my black top cells are soon going to be recycled. I am hoping I can squeeze more life out of my black top cells before I start using my new white top cells. Can this be fixed?

 

[MarioJP]

UPDATE: Finally done testing the black top duraloops cells and here are the results

Cell 1 1950
Cell 2 1900
Cell 3 1890
Cell 4 2000 (Exactly as advertised) Wow talking about cells that refuses to die even after being tortured in the Energizer 15 minute charger wow. And this fourth cell had its wrapper melted off from the positive terminal.

My previous tests on these cells reported much lower than these results is due to stopping the charge when the readings hits exactly 2000 which resulted slightly undercharged cells. From now on I am going to let the charger do its thing and wait for it to display full instead of me stopping it lol.

Any input or suggestions would be nice.

 

[snakebite]

these are loosing capacity with every cycle.
not good.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

I know that some of us CPF'ers like to totally evaluate our cells, but what about just using them and not stressing our cells to see how they do. Maybe these cells would be ok under normal use modes. I seldom bring my Eneloop's down to 1 volt then charge them up, and only charge them when I notice that my light is dimming or I check them just for the hell of it. Tom, said, in effect, awhile back that we should just use these LDC cells, (Eneloops, at the time), and charge them up when they need it, and don't be too concerned about conditioning them.

Bill

 

[Lynx_Arc]

the black top duracells LSDs are not called duraloops.... only the white topped ones are rebadged eneloops not the black ones.

 

[MarioJP]

I think the black tops have lost 20-25 percent of its rated capacity. Or if the capacity is there the voltage is not stable but so far they still mange to hold quite a good charge.