Energizer Ultimate and Advanced Lithium AA

[Brlux]

I was shopping for Energizer Lithium AA cells at target the other day and noticed that they have some new offerings. I could not find much information on them here at CPF or on the web so I got some to test.

The Energizer Ultimate seem to be the new Premium Lithium cells and are branded with a claim of lasting 8X longer than the Energizer MAX Alkaline cells in a digital camera? I guess this is a step up from the last version of the Lithium AA which was touted as 7X. Whether this is a marketing scheme, they actually managed to cram in more power, or the MAX Alkaline cells decreased in power has yet to be determined. The Ultimate cells had an expiration date of 2023, so these must be rated for a 15 year shelf life. (edit shelf life)

The other new player is a lower priced Lithium cell called the Energizer Advanced which claims to last 4X longer than the Energizer MAX Alkaline cell in a digital camera. They have the same temperature ratings as the Ultimate cells -40 to +140 deg F. The Advanced cells had an expiration date of 2018, So these must be rated for a 10 year shelf life. (Edited because I can't subtract)

The Ultimate cells were $9 something per 4 pack of AA and the Advanced were $6 something per 4 pack of AA. I wanted to see how they compared because I use Lithium's in a Canon A570is digital camera that I fly on a weather balloon that can reach 100k feet which is very near space and temperatures can get below -40F so the temperature rating was important to me. Here is a picture from my last flight.

I ran the 8X Ultimate and the 4X Advanced through my CBA-II with a .5A constant discharge and the results are closer than I was expecting.

Red = Ultimate Lithium 8X cell, Black = Advanced Lithium 4X cell

At roughly 2/3 the price of the Ultimate cells the Advanced look to be a good option for some situations. I will be flying them on my next balloon flight in a few weeks.

I hope this information is useful to someone.

 

[Oddjob]

Thanks for the info. The advanced are 2/3 the price but do not look to give 2/3 the performance. Nice pic BTW.

 

[etc]

Nice pic.

What do you up there?

 

[ltiu]

I was shopping for Energizer Lithium AA cells at target the other day and noticed that they have some new offerings. I could not find much information on them here at CPF

4sevens gave Chevrofreak some but we have not yet seen the results.

The Energizer Ultimate seem to be the new Premium Lithium cells and are branded with a claim of lasting 8X longer than the Energizer MAX Alkaline cells in a digital camera? I guess this is a step up from the last version of the Lithium AA which was touted as 7X. Whether this is a marketing scheme, they actually managed to cram in more power, or the MAX Alkaline cells decreased in power has yet to be determined.

If you read carefully, the original Lithium packaging states: "lasts up to 7x longer ... vs leading ordinary alkaline".

The new Lithium reads" "lasts up to 8x longer ... vs Energizer max".

Energizer max is not the leading ordinary alkaline.

It's been known to underperform vs other alkaline batteries:

http://lights.chevrofreak.com/runtimes/AA cells.png

I ran the 8X Ultimate and the 4X Advanced through my CBA-II with a .5A constant discharge and the results are closer than I was expecting.

Red = Ultimate Lithium 8X cell, Black = Advanced Lithium 4X cell

At roughly 2/3 the price of the Ultimate cells the Advanced look to be a good option for some situations. I will be flying them on my next balloon flight in a few weeks.

I hope this information is useful to someone.

Yes, the info is very useful. Thanks.

 

[Brlux]

Your math sucks man! or are you living in 1998?

The 90's were a sweet era, but the real answer is yes my math sucks as does my spelling.

Sorry.

 

[ltiu]

the Advanced were $6 something per 4 pack of AA.

Costs around $13 for a pack of 12 AA at Sam's Club.

 

[odessit]

Give him a break! His math is fine. Didn't you know that time slows down as speed goes up? Some Einstein dude though of this.
Anyway, cool pic, please share a photo with us of your ultra high flying super fast flying apparatus (can't really use your affectionate term "balloon") !

And thanks for the battery test, nice to have an alternative.
10% weaker, but 30% cheaper batteries are a good value in my book.

 

[Brlux]

Here is a website that has pictures from all our flights.

Here is the camera

And here is the launch.

If you live in the South Western US and are into Amateur Radio or have a police scanner you can try checking out our next flight. We have a cross band repeater that goes up on each flight. It is 2m up and 70cm 445.525Mhz down. line of sight form 100K feet is quite far. We also use APRS (GPS data being relayed over amature radio transmision) to track our payloads and get real time flight data (ground speed, altitude, position). It is like the ultimate geo cash where the cash is moving nearly 100 miles and you try to guess where it is going to stop.

 

[odessit]

Cool, Thanks!

 

[Kilovolt]

About two years ago Energizer started selling lithium primaries here in Italy and from the beginning they were marked 'Ultimate Lithium' . They look like the left ones in Brlux pics. Initially there was a '7x' claim on the packing that recently has disappeared.

The batteries are marked 'made in USA' . The latest I bought have an expiry date 03-2022.

 

[David_Campen]

10% weaker, but 30% cheaper batteries are a good value in my book.

Hmm, how did you get the 10% number? Just eyeballing the graph, the difference in power (Volt*Ampere*hours) appears like it might be more than 10%.

 

[Burgess]

To Brlux --


Thank you for this interesting and informative thread.

:thumbsup:


We've had an existing posting on this subject for perhaps
a month. Maybe someone can provide a Link to that.



Oh, BTW, i really loved yer' photograph !



I think i can actually see my house from up there.


_

 

[David_Campen]

Here is the other thread:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=204807&highlight=advanced

 

[nerdgineer]

Brlux, do you have a graph of the current L91 lithium AA to compare to the new cells?

 

[odessit]

Hmm, how did you get the 10% number? Just eyeballing the graph, the difference in power (Volt*Ampere*hours) appears like it might be more than 10%.

Just that - eyeballing the graph.
[ugly flashback] Maybe somebody wants to refresh their Calculus skills, probably the areas of two graphs would be useful? [/ugly flashback]:thinking:

 

[Burgess]

uhmmm, Calculus . . . .


Was that the same thing as Algebra ? ? ?



How can ya' add X's and Y's ?



Heck, i even have trouble with 3's and 8's.


_

 

[David_Campen]

I did the integration by printing the graph and cutting out and weighing the curves on a scale sensitive to 0.01 gram. I got 1.07 gram for the Ultimate Lithium curve and 0.82 gram for the Advanced Lithium. So according to this the Advanced Lithium delivered 77% as much power as the Ultimate Lithium (0.82/1.07 = 0.77).

 

[Burgess]

Nice work, David !

:twothumbs



Definitely above and beyond the Call of Duty !

:goodjob:
_

 

[ltiu]

I did the integration by printing the graph and cutting out and weighing the curves on a scale sensitive to 0.01 gram. I got 1.07 gram for the Ultimate Lithium curve and 0.82 gram for the Advanced Lithium. So according to this the Advanced Lithium delivered 77% as much power as the Ultimate Lithium (0.82/1.07 = 0.77).

Hey, why didn't I think of that back in calculus class!@#$%?! I could have passed on the first take!

 

[MorePower]

Brlux, do you have a graph of the current L91 lithium AA to compare to the new cells?

The 8x Ultimate are the same as current L91 cells. The 4x is, in reality, better than 4x, but Energizer needed to give consumers the idea that there was more differentiation between the 2 products than there is. It's all about marketing.

That is based on standard ANSI testing, of course, rather than 500mA constant current.