Duracell Ion Core AA & AAA

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I got the 1 pack ion cores for Xmas and I can say they had roughly 1000 mah left in each cell out of the pack, after discharge/refresh on the lacrosse bc700 they came up to 2.60 ah for the highest cell and 2.47 ah for the lowest. The batteries have a black top and say made in Japan on both the pack and the cells, like all other ion cores.

I'm surprised the charge is that low out of the pack. I find regular Eneloops have about 70% capacity out of the package. I don't have any Pros, but I'd be surprised if they were charged less than the regular Eneloops, and Pros shouldn't self-discharge down to 1000mAh.

 

[tripplec]

I think its best to top up any battery LSD even before putting into use unless its been done very recently. I had a pair of Eneloop AA previously charged and sitting for some months. My wifes camera was complaining of the battery so I just swapped them in. It wasn't a lot better so I took the newly placed ones out and put them in my I4 charger (3 level charge indicator LED). I was on the 2nd level charging for a very long time. Some hours later it finished charging. I have noticed this before with other Eneloops as well. They may not be weak but I'd say they're a lot lower than you might think or rather expect.

 

[jwag73]

I got the 1 pack ion cores for Xmas and I can say they had roughly 1000 mah left in each cell out of the pack, after discharge/refresh on the lacrosse bc700 they came up to 2.60 ah for the highest cell and 2.47 ah for the lowest. The batteries have a black top and say made in Japan on both the pack and the cells, like all other ion cores.

I found very similar findings with my ion core's as well. They seem to be a good cell, I couldn't be happier with the purchase.

 

[Grijon]

I'm now using my new Maha MH-C9000 to refresh and analyze my Ion Core AA's, which have around two cycles on them before the R&A (at 1000/500 charge/dischg); they're all showing 2380 +/- 20 mAh so far for 12 of the 16 I have.

I am very happy with mine.

 

[MidnightDistortions]

I think its best to top up any battery LSD even before putting into use unless its been done very recently. I had a pair of Eneloop AA previously charged and sitting for some months. My wifes camera was complaining of the battery so I just swapped them in. It wasn't a lot better so I took the newly placed ones out and put them in my I4 charger (3 level charge indicator LED). I was on the 2nd level charging for a very long time. Some hours later it finished charging. I have noticed this before with other Eneloops as well. They may not be weak but I'd say they're a lot lower than you might think or rather expect.

I read somewhere that Panasonic charges Eneloops rapidly to keep the production line moving so they probably put enough charge in to give it a bit of a charge long enough to be used in a flashlight, cd player or other medium drain device. I don't really understand why some people are upset that they don't get a full charge on their Eneloops or other LSD/precharged battery when they are designed to charge. If the cells are older than a year i'll charge them up first, but usually it's a good idea to charge them anyway to break them in and it takes a couple of discharges before they reach full capacity though with new cells i don't really do a refresh until the 3rd or 4th charge or if they are over a year old. After a few charges and discharges they should have a good charge retention. With that being said i only noticed Energizer and some GoalZero LSD batteries that have lost a bit of capacity but mostly due from sitting in storage or on the shelf for a couple of years. It's always a good idea to test your cells when you first get them as they might need a break in.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I read somewhere that Panasonic charges Eneloops rapidly to keep the production line moving so they probably put enough charge in to give it a bit of a charge long enough to be used in a flashlight, cd player or other medium drain device. I don't really understand why some people are upset that they don't get a full charge on their Eneloops or other LSD/precharged battery when they are designed to charge.

IIRC, they're charged to about 75% capacity at the factory. You can use them right out of the package, but just don't expect something with 100% charge.

 

[MidnightDistortions]

IIRC, they're charged to about 75% capacity at the factory. You can use them right out of the package, but just don't expect something with 100% charge.

You're probably right though when it gets to the store and into your home it's more realistically that they only have 50% charge left but it varies. It's that some people i think expect them to work well right out of the package before considering maybe they need to charge them and use them several times before they assume the batteries are no good. There's some Amazon reviews on both Eneloops and Eneloop Pros saying that they receive a shipment of dead batteries without actually recharging them and using them several times before they reach peak capacity.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Well, I've only ever tested regular Eneloops. And out of 196 cells I've bought so far (AA and AAA), they all came charged at least 70%. Perhaps a third I tested by discharging, the rest I estimate based on initial voltage. I can't speak for the high capacity Eneloops, or Duracells, as I don't own any. I just find it odd that they'd be so different.

 

[UserName]

Are the duracell ion core like the old duracell precharged, in that within the same sku# they could be made in japan, or made in china?


I bought two packages of ion core (aa and aaa) at walmart, and thus far I'm satisfied with them, and fairly convinced the AAA's are rebadged eneloops, and the AA's eneloop pros, as is widely believed. Can I safely order some of them online and not have to worry about a package showing "made in china" when it arrives, and thus not being what I was intending (rebadged eneloops/pros)?

 

[tripplec]

I ran a test on a brand new set of Duracell Ion-Core AA. I did a the "Charge Test" cycle on my IQ-328 and by morning it came back with capacity of 2.43, 2.40, 2.40, 2.5Ah as per the positions in the charger. The center two cell came back slightly lower. These are light years better than the previous NON ion-core I bought previously. Truly a high capacity cell.

 

[JerryM]

In my quest for the best bang for the buck, I used an Ultrafire Sipik clone, and ran the following test. The batteries had all been charged within the last 2 weeks, and my selection was random as I do not segregate the batteries that closely.
Here are the results on High.

Eneloop 2nd gen 1hr 57min
Tenergy Centura 2hrs 0min
Duracell Ion-Core 2hrs 24min
Tenergy Premium 2hrs 40min

The Duracells are obviously a good choice, especially for those who buy from local sources instead of the internet.

Regards,
Jerry

 

[UnknownVT]

IIRC, they're charged to about 75% capacity at the factory. You can use them right out of the package, but just don't expect something with 100% charge.

This may be so for the regular eneloops - which were factory charged to about 70% - at least when they were Sanyos -
I do not know now since Panasonic took over.

The eneloop XX and these Duracell Ion-Core AA (re-badges) seem to be around 50% capacity when tested by ChrisGarrett and myself reported in this thread - as well as NLee the Engineer over at Amazon.

I have not seen any reports of initial remaining capacity even approaching 75%.

 

[SaraAB87]

In my area rechargables aren't exactly hot sellers so unless a store pulls their stock for a new package of rechargables or a new generation I would expect that cells sit on the shelves for 1-2 years at the least possibly 3-4 depending on how long it's been since the store restocked. Most people here buy their batteries at dollar stores because they just want the cheapest so target, Walmart etc don't restock too often. This would lead me to believe half capacity for an LSD cell out of the package would be completely normal especially since I assume they are not charged to 100% at the factory.

 

[night.hoodie]

Compared to the new Panasonic eneloops, I've discovered the Duracell Ion Core have a better, more resiliant wrapper. You can't find eneloops locally in the US, AFAICT. And locally, Ion Core seem to be twice as much as prices online. But at least they're on the shelves when needed, at the drug store, at the grocery store, etc. I can't get enough of them.

 

[chazz]

You can't find eneloops locally in the US, AFAICT.

I have purchased them at Ritz/Wolf Camera stores, FWIW.

 

[SaraAB87]

They sell eneloops at Costco in the USA but Costco isn't everywhere, we don't have one here. You can also buy them online at Target and Amazon and a million other online retailers.

 

[C.M.S]

I just invested in some AAA's Ion core . It's good to here that these are good cells , I wondered if these are any good and reading through it seems that these are a winner , love the fact you can use aftermarket chargers unlike the Energizers , and the Duracells can be found pretty much anywhere .

 

[magellan]

We think that Eneloops leave the factory at a 70% charge, so you lost about 26% if that's correct. It could be even less than 70%.

Do a break in and see what you see.

My first four out of the pack read 1.298v, 1.298v, 1.297v and 1.297v. Using a 200mA discharge, I got 1158mAh, 1155mAh, 1150mAh and 1147mAh. After breaking in, I got 2502mAh, 2473mAh, 2455mAh and 2486mAh.

For my second quad, I failed to record the initial voltages, but got 1104mAh, 1096mAh, 1086mAh and 1091mAh, so a bit less than the first quad.

After breaking them in, I got 2486mAh, 2462mAh, 2432mAh and 2461mAh.

This last quad has been sitting for almost 11 months and I'll do a discharge on 1/5/15, at the year mark to let everybody know what amount was lost over that year.

Chris

I just bought four AA's and got similar capacity numbers, except one got to 2599, interestingly enough, and that was on the first charge. This was on a SkyRC 2500 charger/analyzer.

 

[L_D_Allan]

Sam's Club has a "bundle" of 8 AA and 2 AAA for $20 ... seems like a good (not great?) deal.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/dura-r...arch_page.rr1&campaign=rr&sn=SolrSearchToView&

2400 mah Long Life Ion Core ... Eneloop clones?

 

[gallon]

Sam's Club has a "bundle" of 8 AA and 2 AAA for $20 ... seems like a good (not great?) deal.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/dura-r...arch_page.rr1&campaign=rr&sn=SolrSearchToView&

2400 mah Long Life Ion Core ... Eneloop clones?

Have you troubled yourself to read this Duracell Ion Core thread?