Lithium AA and AAA

[matt0]

Why is it that Energizer is the only company to make lithium batteries in the AA and AAA size?

Does Duracell or Ray-O-Vac make any and I'm just unaware of them?

 

[ampdude]

Battery Station makes Lithium AA's. I can't recall who else makes them because I've never really been into lithium AA's, but there's gotta be others.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I am not sure battery station sells them any more. Duracell doesn't make them and splittling open their 3v camera lithium batteries yields 2 3v lithium cells.

 

[geek4christ]

I read somewhere that Energizer is the sole patent owner on AA and AAA lithium cells. Don't quote me on that, because I can't find my source, but it's at least a possibility.

 

[Burgess]

Additionally, i'd always heard that a different company,

called UltraLife ( ? ) , holds the equivalent patent for using

Lithium cells in the (rectangular) 9-volt batteries.



Well, just recently, i saw an Energizer photo, which shows

their ( new ? ? ? ) Lithium 9-volt battery, called the L522.


Guess Eveready musta' purchased a Licensing Agreement, eh ?


Anyone else know anything about this ?

:candle:
_

 

[Marduke]

Energizer holds the patent for AA and AAA size lithium cells. The only other manufacturer makes "sketchy" cells for cheap overseas.

 

[MattK]

Yes, Energizer holds the patent and makes the best quality product.

The Energizer 522 was actually being made by Ultralife but Energizer discontinued it a while back so it's a dead product.

 

[Burgess]

Ahhh, i see . . . .


Thank you, MattK.

:thumbsup:
_

 

[baterija]

Having seen L91's out there for a "long time" this finally prompted me to try and find just how long.

I found this link: http://www.batteriesdigest.com/primary_lithium_update.htm

A quote (article appears to be dated in 2003):
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]"As incremental improvements boost battery performance, the long term cumulative improvements are often overlooked. This is the case with Energizer's Lithium primary cells which have been marketed since 1990. In the past 13 years, high rate capacity has gone from a nominal 1,700 mAh to over 2800 mAh, while operating temperature performance has improved to give almost 100 times the run time of a standard Alkaline cell at -200 C."

Any initial patents used on the L91 should therefore have expired, but a battery based solely on that design has significantly less capacity. It will be interesting when one of the big producers can bring a competitive battery to market - both for pricing, and to see what it does to alkaline sales.
[/FONT]

 

[qip]

i thought durracell ultra was a lithium but never seen it sold in actual stores

 

[Marduke]

i thought durracell ultra was a lithium but never seen it sold in actual stores

Duracell Ultra is just an alkaline cell.

 

[qip]

dam duracell..they say their ultra is %40 better than their regular alkalines coppertop they should be selling all those coppertops with ultras special capacity

 

[shadowjk]

If you look at Silverfox's test, you'll see that Duracell ultra indeed performs better...

I'm guessing you'd see a similar difference between Energizer and Energizer Ultimate (not lithium), too...

 

[Brownstone]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]It will be interesting when one of the big producers can bring a competitive battery to market - both for pricing, and to see what it does to alkaline sales.[/FONT]

Well, from a US point of view the only other battery company that matters is Duracell. They would be who I would expect to market an AA lithium to compete with Energizer.

What I wonder is how many patents Energizer has on enhancements since 1990. Would other battery makers be limited because they would be stuck with 1990 tech?

 

[akg7091]

I am holding a duracell ultra m3 in my hand right now, and I can assure you it's alkaline.
I have never seen AA lithiums by any manufacturer here in India

 

[baterija]

What I wonder is how many patents Energizer has on enhancements since 1990. Would other battery makers be limited because they would be stuck with 1990 tech?

I recently saw "Super Heavy Duty" zinc chloride cells still on the shelf for sale at a hardware store. 1990 tech blows that out of the water. It also stacks up nicely against the alkalines that sell huge numbers. If they can get pricing right while maintaining quality, it could be the "value" lithium primary buy. Given the basic tech they may be able to make separate, non infringing, improvements of their own as well.

Should be interesting to see when the first real competitor makes it to market

 

[paulr]

These days lithium AA and AAA have a few specialized uses, but if you're going through a lot of them, maybe it's best to figure out whether your device could use rechargeables instead.

 

[Brownstone]

These days lithium AA and AAA have a few specialized uses, but if you're going through a lot of them, maybe it's best to figure out whether your device could use rechargeables instead.

If you are using L91/L92 cells because of high current draw, then NiMH may very well make sense. But if you are using L91/L92 for their storage life and environmental tolerance, then they have their place.

I think they are an amazing niche technology. I also suspect that over 90% of the people who buy them don't understand what makes them so special.

 

[paulr]

If you are using L91/L92 cells because of high current draw, then NiMH may very well make sense. But if you are using L91/L92 for their storage life and environmental tolerance, then they have their place.

I think they are an amazing niche technology. I also suspect that over 90% of the people who buy them don't understand what makes them so special.

If you're using L91/2 for their storage life, they're sitting around rather than being consumed at a high rate, so their cost becomes less of an issue (a few packs in a drawer costs less than most CPF'er flashlights). Low temperatures is one of the places where they work better than anything else. Also, for some (generally badly designed) devices, their higher voltage is important.

 

[Lunal_Tic]

Just something I ran across over here in Japan. One of the biggest electronics chains in Tokyo has told me that they will no longer be available. To my knowledge they've never had the AAAs and the AAs have been gone for only a short while. I asked why and was told they just didn't sell well. The guy also said that Fuji Film was discontinuing a lot of different sized batteries so maybe that has something to do with it too. I heard the same information from friend of mine the same week as I heard this myself so I may have to check some other places to see if the info holds.

-LT