Mixed results with Ikea Ladda 2450mAh AA NIMH batteries

[skyhawk]

Reminds me back in the day when Hyundai was putting out TV commercials that their models were just as good as Toyota's but at greatly reduced prices. Well, that turned out to be a lie.

My Eneloops, I bought 2/3 most of them online. 1/3 at a large chain Pharmacy. Buying online is just easier, more convenient.

Welcome to Canada, where buying Eneloops online will literally cost me **three times** the money of the LADDA batteries, which have so far done absolutely fine by me, other than the charging complications with the 2450, which seem to be more charger and settings related than battery related.

Unless the made-in-Japan LADDAs are going to leak on me, there's no reality in which Eneloops are worth three times the price.

 

[Monocrom]

Fair enough.
Thankfully no cost prohibitive issues in America.

 

[alpg88]

It's about 2x as much in USA, but the problem with eneloops, there are lots of fakes, you never know who sells real or fake. No such issues with Ikea's ladda.

 

[dc38]

No worries about that. One of the main things that's been keeping me away from rechargables is an easy way to verify that the batteries actually do what they say on the label. I love the discharge testing capabilities of this thing, they let me quantify that the batteries are actually good.

In my case, I almost *never* replace alkalines because they're discharged, I'm almost always replacing them because they're leaking - hence my interest in completely getting rid of them.

I do have some lithium-ion batteries, mostly for use in flashlights, and the Opus charger should be great for those as well. I'll look into acquiring one of these BQ-CC17 chargers. Thanks for the pointer.


I should have clarified that I'm in Canada. Most of the deals you're referencing are not available in this market.

I'm in the process of testing some Olight branded NiMH. So far, for general constant usage and recharging, theyre testing well. I have 24 of them, and a control group of 8, which I have fully topped off once then fully drained and charged, and am letting them sit for a year, after which I'll top them off and record how much they topped off at, then I'll drain them and fully recharge them and test again. -my poor man's LSD (LOL) test.

I'm from the "olden NiMH break in days", but I'm sure with their factory testing they've PROBABLY been broken in.

12 of the cells have been drained multiple times and fully charged. Their out-of-package top off values were an average of 870mAh, out of a 2500mAh rating. Their full charge values all exceeded 2500 mAh, with an average of 2562mAh +40/-31.

The unscientific drain test was to use specific flashlights with known amperage draws, then letting them run until measured voltage was around 1.1v, a few as low as 0.9v. Some of the lights didnt have a termination/low voltage cutoff, so I had to set a timer to avoid killing the cells.

In short (or long), I'll have an idea as to whether or not they are low self discharge in a year, and we will see how the cells hold up to intermittent use vs. Every day hard use. As they're only rated to a few hundred charges, we will ALSO know within a year (likely a few months) just how many charges it takes until the performance begins to degrade. I've been running the battery (heh) of tests since I got them roughly a week ago, and have been doing it for about 12 hours a day, so each cell gets a fixed set of tests a day.

They have a "special offer" for members, it's like $7 for 8 cells. Also, I'm testing a couple pairs in a couple of wireless outdoor cameras, and while they show "low charge", they seem to be providing enough current to run them for now. I'll also keep you guys posted on that situation.

 

[Claypole]

Is it possible these LADDA 2450 cells are maybe defective?

I’ve only tried a pack each (AA and AAA) of the high capacity ones, and was not impressed.

The 2450 AAs don’t hold a charge over time as well as my old Eneloop Pros, which is fine, but one of the cells doesn’t t appear to have much in the way of LSD properties at all, and is as good as useless.

The 900mAh AAAs developed high internal resistance after just a handful of charges over a few months.

I also have a couple of packs of the regular capacity LADDA cells, and they seem to work OK, but I'm won’t bother with the high capacity ones again.

 

[dc38]

Is it possible these LADDA 2450 cells are maybe defective?

I've only tried a pack each (AA and AAA) of the high capacity ones, and was not impressed.

The 2450 AAs don't hold a charge over time as well as my old Eneloop Pros, which is fine, but one of the cells doesn't t appear to have much in the way of LSD properties at all, and is as good as useless.

The 900mAh AAAs developed high internal resistance after just a handful of charges over a few months.

I also have a couple of packs of the regular capacity LADDA cells, and they seem to work OK, but I'm won't bother with the high capacity ones again.

I know that NiMH lose their LSD capability when banged around a bit, like drops, impacts, that kind of thing. They also don't like to be cooked (trickle charged for long periods of time). They also don't like to be overdrawn, nor do they like to be charged when sub freezing. As tough as they are, they are still susceptible to the errancies of humans, especially during transit, if you catch my drift...I'll probably go to Ikea soon to grab some Laddas, I'm curious as to how well they'll stack up against the eneloops and olight cells

 

[aznsx]

I've got a brand-new Opus BT-C3100 charger

Good choice / value for the money;-)

 

[Schokokeks]

I should have clarified that I'm in Canada. Most of the deals you're referencing are not available in this market.

Okay, this explains everything.

Are Eneloops better? Yes. In the U.S., a four pack of Laddas are like $10, and Eneloops are under $15, so it's worth it to just get the Eneloops.

IF I had to pay 3X the price and/or rely on not getting fakes from Scamazon? I'd just stick with Ladda batteries.

I could SORT OF see more restrictions on shipping Li-ion across the border, but I'm surprised you can't get Eneloops shipped to you from the U.S.

Maybe just STOCK UP the next time you're visiting in the states, hahah.

 

[NiOOH]

Price difference aside, last generation of Eneloop and Ikea Ladda are not the same cells. They don't measure the same. Most probably, the Laddas are mode to some old(er) spec or generation of Eneloops, at the same factory in Japan. You get what you pay for. Ikea Ladda, are, undoubtedly, the best value in today's NiMH AA and AAA cells though.

 

[N8N]

I haven't been in IKEA in years but the last time I was, they'd stopped selling high capacity AAAs. Has that changed? I've bought my more recent NiMHs as "Amazon Basics" don't know if they're better but have had no issues. IKEA isn't worth it since they started charging for "click and collect" now I would have to wait half an hour in the checkout line for just a couple packs of cells.