cheap rayovac aa's worth 1$ ea?

[ripit]

I got a bunch (10 4 packs) of these for 4.20+tax ea thinking I got a great deal. There is no marking on the battery for capacity but I later found out they were 1400 Mah?
http://www.google.com/products?q=nm715-4op&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf

http://www.rayovacindustrial.com/assets/pdf/marketing_data_sheets/nm715-opp.pdf

I have never heard of such a low capacity. These are obviously budget cells. When searching for info on them I found someone saying walmart sold them for 6$ at one time.

Does anyone know if they are junk (they are obviously low capacity but are they worth 1$ ea)? I doubt I'll keep all 10 but is it worth keeping some of them?

Also, if part of the issue with high capacity cells is that the separator is too thin, might this have a much thicker separator? I'm wondering if they might have a good life, though the data sheet seems to indicate otherwise I think?

 

[Black Rose]

Since they are lower capacity, they don't self discharge as fast as higher capacity non-LSD cells.

They aren't bad cells. If you use AA cells in low to medium drain devices on a regular basis, they'll serve you well.

 

[ripit]

Thanks. If they last long enough, they might be good for plenty of things I have. Do you have any clue (very rough ballpark, guesstimate) how long they might last (from self discharge). I'm thinking along the lines of will they last a couple/few months for things such as computer mice, remotes, kids toys or electronics that only get used occasionally? I have lots of that kind of stuff.

I'm guessing from your comments that they would not be good for high drain devices like cameras, flashes etc?

 

[Black Rose]

I use them in battery operated toothbrushes.

The cells that are currently in the toothbrushes were charged in September 2009 and the toothbrushes are still working.

These cells probably would not be good for cameras or flashes.

 

[ripit]

Thanks again. If they will last that long, I think I might just keep them all for lower drain devices. You can't really beat 1$ a piece for brand name batteries (at least not with any deals I have seen recently). I recently started trying to recover quite a few old cells (some many years old), and have a charger on the way that can test capacity and recondition, so maybe I'll get a few good ones for my cameras/flashes. Otherwise I guess its 2.50$-3.00$ each for some batteries for the flashes (unless a hot deal pops up but I have been hunting and hunting and haven't seen anything lately).

 

[ripit]

Out of curiosity, what is the problem using low capacity cells in high drain devices? Is it just that they do not last as long, or that they cannot provide high current as well? It wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to change batteries more often since I have plenty of sets, unless the life was drastically shorter under high drain.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Ripit,

Those cells may be very good for low current applications. They are still in production, so it's not like you picked up something that was manufactured ages ago.

You will be disappointed with them if you use them in applications that draw 1 amp. However, they will work great in applications that draw up to 300 mA.

While the claim is 500 cycles, this is drastically reduced at higher current draws. Along with the reduced cycle life goes reduced voltage under load, so performance suffers as well.

In the right application they should do well.

Tom

 

[ripit]

Thanks again for the help and sorry for the delayed response. I'm going to keep at least half of them. I'm still on the fence as I'm not sure how things are going to go recovering my old cells. About the only thing that I can think of that I have, that is high drain are camera flashes and digital cameras, but I have 6 flashes and two cameras, all of which take 4 cells.

I have at least 60 aa rechargeable batteries ranging from a year or two old to as old as 10 years. Unfortunately, many are 2000 Mah or less, and there are many different brands. They have also not been maintained well at all. Some of the high capacity ones are totally dead, and there are plenty where I have only 2-3 or a particular brand and size. Surprisingly, some of the oldest (panasonic 1600 Mah) still work fine, while some of the newest (digital concepts/lenmar) are dead. I'm not sure if its a quality issue or that the dead ones were higher capacity.

I did get a bc-700 charger to help with the job. Now to the task of recovering and matching cells. I guess I'll have to start researching matching cells (maybe start a new thread as its a different topic, after I have found out all I can myself).