Fujitsu NiMH AA 2700mAh?

[apagogeas]

Hi folks,

I came across this type of NiMH battery which I have never seen before. I made a search here and on the net but I can't find any information about it. The guy who gave them to me says that the sellers stated they are excellent for the type of work he is after (wedding photography), so they convinced him to get them. I see this statement with quite a doubt since I can't find any info/comments of other users on these batteries. Definitely non-LSD type and if I have a chance to run a break-in on them I'll post results. Have you experience with this type of battery? Sadly this guy falls for the big capacity numbers once again :duh2:

On top it states "FDK corporation", made in Tokyo Japan, model "HR-3UX".

Here is a photo of these batteries
http://fujitronbatteries.gr/bataries/ni-mh-fujitsu/aa-2700-nimh.html

 

[Mikl1984]

FDK became owner of formerly Sanyo factory (world's biggest about 30% WW production)
You may consider those sell as substitution of Sanyo 2700

 

[Sugarboy]

FDK makes Eneloops for Sanyo.

 

[ecrbattery]

Here is the FDK pdf spec sheet for the HR-3U cell: spec sheet

Compare to eneloop, this battery has higher capacity ( Minimum 2500 mAh; Typical 2700 mAh).
Not a bad choice if you are planning to use the camera daily and recharge the battery after use.

 

[Mr Happy]

The guy who gave them to me says that the sellers stated they are excellent for the type of work he is after (wedding photography), so they convinced him to get them. I see this statement with quite a doubt since I can't find any info/comments of other users on these batteries. Definitely non-LSD type and if I have a chance to run a break-in on them I'll post results. Have you experience with this type of battery?

If, as others suggest, these cells are like Sanyo 2700 mAh cells, then they are not a bad choice for the job. If used for a specific event like a wedding they can be charged up the day before, and a minimum capacity of 2500 mAh compares favorably to 1900 mAh for Eneloops. When photographing a big event it helps if you don't have to change batteries so often.

The downside of such batteries is that they will be less durable and will last fewer cycles before they wear out. For professional jobs such a price may be worth paying for the higher capacity.

 

[apagogeas]

Thanks for the feedback. When I compare the discharge graph of these batteries to the one of Sanyo 2700 AA from the Shoot Out, I see that fujitsu retains the voltage under load better, or at least equally well. They might be worthy cells after all. The only remaining question is their durability. So, even if during the first few cycles can deliver 2500+ mAh, if after 20 cycles or so it goes down to 2300-2400 and/or develops internal resistance then the additional benefit of capacity and performance goes away quickly for such a demanding task. Eneloops on the other end have a quite lower degradation ratio in both aspects. Since these seem to be a new product, I doubt if there is any info on durability. They are on a break-in cycle right now so I'll probably have capacity results tomorrow.

 

[apagogeas]

These are the break-in results (MC-9000):

2563
2553
2496
2531

It would be interesting to see how they'll compare after 2 months of heavy use. Sadly I had to give them back to the owner so no more tests allowed for now.

 

[apagogeas]

It's been around 5-6 months since the initial post about these batteries. I had the chance to run another break-in recently on them. They had a relatively heavy use being in a flash. The results obtained are:

2516
2503
2503
2249

It seems one has suffered, although they have been used the same way altogether. The resting voltage of the lowest capacity one is 1.40V whilst all the others are at 1.44V, soon after the break-in finished. I can't yet comment if these are fragile batteries but those not failing are strong performers, keeping voltage during discharge at 540mAh well above 1.20V. Still looks disappointing that one battery has lost about 250-300 mAh capacity after only 6 months.

 

[Gregozedobe]

More important than the 6 months would be how many cycles of charge/discharge they have been through in that time (and how quickly and deeply they were discharged each time they were used, plus how good his charger is/isn't). As there are only 52 saturdays and sundays in 6 months there weren't likely to be a whole lot of cycles ( unless he is recharging them on the job and/or doing week-day weddings) .

Guess I'll be sticking with my eneloops (absolute maximum capacity isn't so important to me anyway).

 

[apagogeas]

You are right about these points, however I am not living at his house or work with him to know exactly what he is doing. My guess is around 20-30 cycles (Saturday/Sunday weddings), charged on a smart Kodak (-dV) and occasionally at another dumb charger. I think they are used in a nikon SB-600 flashlight and I doubt they have ever been fully discharged. He never invested time to learn about battery care for maximum performance; I'm sure they've suffered from overcharge a few times in the dumb charger.
I just test another set of 4-year Kodak 2500Mah batteries he swears for their amazing durability & performance. I currently dicharge them at 100ma (anything above terminates maha) started at 0.91V and they've climbed up to 1V after 1Ah discharged and keep going. Not sure where these are used but I'm really curious how he've never experienced that huge voltage sag
As soon as I have a bit more info I'll update the post accordingly.