degarb
Flashlight Enthusiast
What is capacity of those cheap green lable nimh AA by rayovac?
Cheapo Walmart Rayvac AA nimh
- Thread starter degarb
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Pellidon
Flashlight Enthusiast
If they don't publish a capacity on the cell like the ones I saw they are low, under 2000 for sure. I think they are 1700's from what I researched a few months ago.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Actually I think it's more like 1400...
alfreddajero
Flashlight Enthusiast
I have those cells and they are at 1400mah........they work well if you plan on using them in devices that dont require a lot of power. Dang Mr. Happy beat me too it.
degarb
Flashlight Enthusiast
Wow, not much better than AAA! At such a low capacity, is there an upside, like are they hardier or work better with a 15 minute charger or low self discharging by comparison?
Black Rose
Flashlight Enthusiast
I use low capacity nimh for a lot of stuff here. back when 1800mah rayovacs were mainstream costing $15 a pack I got a bunch of nimh generic flat tops and modified them for regular use. They cost me anywhere from a nickel to 33 cents each vs $3 and even though I have a fair amount of LSD cells I still prefer to use these in some things because if they are overused and damaged I can throw them away without grimacing.
jasonsmaglites
Enlightened
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2007
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- 980
as i recall from the aa battery shootout (search it) the rayovac hybrids did fine and tested out around 2000-2100, they just wont discharge a high load like eneloops or last for quite as many cycles. but initially in a 1amp flashlight, you cant tell the difference.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
OK, but this thread is not about Rayovac Hybrids, it is about another kind of cheaper, low capacity reachargeables that Rayovac sells.
This sounds like retro engineering to me. Why would Rayovac go through all the trouble of creating a NIMH battery that lasts almost half as long as their competition? Shouldn't the capacity of these cells get higher as technology improves? I have seen these cells also, and they are the same price as some of their competition, or close to it. If they are 1400 Mah, I will not bother with them.
degarb
Flashlight Enthusiast
Huh? Sound like the ultimate cheap cell. I think we all have low drain stuff we could use 33 cent rechargeable batteries for, like kids toys.
Is there a thread on this? I would like one off topic post telling us how to do this.
Black Rose
Flashlight Enthusiast
These are pre-Hybrid cells.
I bought a set of these at least 6 months before the Hybrids showed up here.
I took nimh battery packs and harvested the cells from them and soldered blobs on top to use them in things. I was once very poor and couldn't afford expensive chargers and nimh were about $3-$4 each years back. I still have a bunch of 1600mah flattop nimh cells I harvested and never used because I finally came into enough money to buy some LSD cells
Probably because Walmart asked for a cheap NiMH cell to get non-techie consumers to buy and try out rechargeable cells.
Higher capacity = Higher self discharge, reduced cycle life, and higher cost.
At the price these sell for, I can't understand why people think they'd be getting super high capacity, top of the line, cutting edge technology.
swampgator
Enlightened
I bought an 8 pack a few months back for about $7 or so. They're great for all the kids toys that require AA.
qwertyydude
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
- Messages
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Sometimes it's better to have multiple cheap cells than one good cell. That way you can have surplus, one that's freshly charged while you use the ones in the device.
45/70
Flashlight Enthusiast
Good point, MorePower. A lot of people get all caught up with the "bigger is better" trend. For a lot of applications, these type cells get the job done and outlast their higher cap brethren, considerably.
I have some 1200mAh NiMH's that are coming up on 10 years old. They still hold a charge well and have seen several 2200+mAh batches of cells come and go. For non demanding devices, these low cap cells are hard to beat, as far as value goes.
Dave
Don't bother. I bought some and they discharged almost instantly. charged them and put them in the camera about two days later and the low battery indicator was on....also the capacity is probably very low. just get the "digital" brand that they have too....those are acturally decent for the price.
VidPro
Flashlight Enthusiast
i dont know if these are the same, but they are low capacity ray-o's bought eons ago, back when 16-1800ma was something to own.
i just pulled some of these Yellow Ray-O-Vac with the green lightning bolt Ni-Mh out of retirement.
They are 8+ Years old , 5 years since retirement , and after 1 year of being parked from the last charge, they still had some power in them (nothing to write home about).
after 1 recharge/conditioning
At a .5amp draw they (still) hold a voltage of 1.0+V
and put out an amasing capacity (for an old goat) of 900ma ( i could probably get that up to ~1200 in a few cycles and full topping).
that is pretty good for a ni-mh of that age, but i think i should have tossed them out long ago.
i just pulled some of these Yellow Ray-O-Vac with the green lightning bolt Ni-Mh out of retirement.
They are 8+ Years old , 5 years since retirement , and after 1 year of being parked from the last charge, they still had some power in them (nothing to write home about).
after 1 recharge/conditioning
At a .5amp draw they (still) hold a voltage of 1.0+V
and put out an amasing capacity (for an old goat) of 900ma ( i could probably get that up to ~1200 in a few cycles and full topping).
that is pretty good for a ni-mh of that age, but i think i should have tossed them out long ago.
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I still use cheap nimh cells in some stuff because they tend to have LSD characteristics. I have a 3AAA headlamp I put some cell phone 650mah generic nimh in and I use it once a month and charge it once every 4-6 months if even that. I don't have to tie up some duraloops in it for an occasional use nor worry about leaking alkalines ruining it 6 months from now.
