Duraloops

[rjr104]

The other day I bought from an eBay vendor (yeah I know - first mistake) some rechargeable Duracell AA that were advertised "made in japan". The package and the battery do indeed say made in japan on them, but they have black tops. They were pretty run down (.8 v) - old I suppose (date code 8J02J1) but seemed to snap back when conditioned with my Powerex MH-C808M. Anybody buy black top made in Japan duraloops? Do yours hold a charge?

 

[Bones]

I'm afraid the odds are against them even being low self-discharge cells rjr104. Does it state 'Pre-charged' on the package?

 

[Mr Happy]

Do the batteries have copper tops like alkaline Duracell batteries?

 

[rjr104]

No, they have a green top. They say Duracell, Rechargeable, 2600 mAh AA/HR5/DC1500 NiMH/1.2v. I went to wallyword today and they had some white top AAA (made in Japan) that had the copper-top on them, but their AA were black top and did say made in China. I can't really get upset with the eBay vendor - they buy their resale crap from a crap wholesaler with the idea of making a buck. What a world...............

Sorry Bones - didn't mean to ignore you. No, the package does not say pre-charged.

 

[Bones]

Regrettably, you ended up with a regular Duracell NiMH cell. However, they are made in Japan, and this fact is often emphasized as a desirable trait, so unless the vendor indicated that they were low self-discharge (or pre-charged), it doesn't appear that you were deliberately misled at least.

For others that are still not that familiar with the difference, here's an ad hoc checklist for identifying the preferred Duracell Pre-charged NiMH cell, also known as the Duraloop:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com ... post2996692
.

 

[rjr104]

Ohwell - isn't the first time - won't be the last. Thanks for the link - provides a bunch of useable information. I just read somthing somewhere recently that says the eneloop has such a low discharge storage rate beacuse of a built in limiter (cause I don't know what else to call it) but it limits the battery to 2000 mAh capacity. Guess that's another useable hint. If they exceed 2000 mAh be careful. Thanks for the info guys. I no more needed these than a hole in the head - I use eneloops and Elite 1700's pretty much exclusively - just got curious about trying somthing else. I'll give these to the kids for all their little gizmos.
RJ

 

[Mr Happy]

I just read somthing somewhere recently that says the eneloop has such a low discharge storage rate beacuse of a built in limiter (cause I don't know what else to call it) but it limits the battery to 2000 mAh capacity. Guess that's another useable hint. If they exceed 2000 mAh be careful.

It's much more than this. The Eneloop performs as it does because it has a whole set of improvements in the design and chemistry that were researched and developed by Sanyo. These batteries are only manufactured in Sanyo's factory and all of them have the exact same specifications.

Some batteries have been found that look like Eneloops in a different wrapper (like Duracell-Pre-Charged-copper-top-white-insulator-made-in-Japan-2000 mAh "Duraloop" cells) but these are unusual and have to be carefully identified.

Another way of saying this is that being labeled Duracell doesn't make it a "Duralooop"; having a capacity of 2000 mAh doesn't make it a "Duraloop"; and being made in Japan doesn't make it a "Duraloop".