My new AAA energizers seem VERY finicky please help

[fire-stick]

I just got a pack of AAA energizers.. I put them on the charger, hit discharge, and as soon as I hit it they switched over to charge.. (must have been pretty low from the pack)... they charged a little bit.. maybe an hour later.. some clicked over to trickle.. a little while later the rest clicked over to trickle.. I later hit discharge again to get another cycle.. this time they almost instantly switched over to charge..

they dont seem to be keeping any pattern.. and no capacity.. will they come out of this after a few cycles?

 

[VidPro]

probably, can you "form" them with a slow charge then dischage them.

to cycle the chemicals around one time, S l o w charge it
using the .1c 10% of capacity (or less) charge for 12-16 hours,
Make sure they all lifted off of 0v and are actually charging, with a DMM or other test methods

then discharge it slowly too
the discharge you want to be sorta "fuller" so you slow discharge them too to about .9v.
(but not in series, this is a singular operation)

then you should be able to put them on any charger giving you troubles, and they are ready to go, this can happen just because they have been parked or shelved for to long.

they could also be schmuck but "forming" them would give them a chance to get going.

 

[Beacon of Light]

Strange as even the China made AAAs seemed ok for me. The AA's though sucked hard. The Japan made AAs discharged quick too but not like the China made ones.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Fire-stick,

There are times when you can recover cells in that condition, and other time when they are simply crap and you end up recycling them.

It is not unusual to have newly purchased cells be crap cells, but it is not a frequent occurrence.

To try to revive the cell you will have to adjust the discharge rate to enable you to do a discharge without dropping below the cut off voltage. An LED light that uses a single AAA cell is good for this.

The proceedure is to discharge the cell in your charger, then put it under a smaller load and discharge it again. Once the cell is discharged, you can do, as VidPro suggested, the 16 hour 0.1C charge. Now you need to follow this with a 0.2C discharge to check if there has been any performance changes.

If the capacity is increasing, it is worthwhile to do another charge/discharge cycle. If it stays the same or drops, you are about as good as you are going to get.

If the cell comes back to over 80% of its labeled capacity, it should work fine. If it doesn't, it is crap. Save yourself from future headaches during charging and use and recycle it and move on.

Better yet, contact Energizer and ask for some replacements.

Tom

 

[fire-stick]

TOM!! Lovvin the sig line! lol :wave:

ne ways before i left for work this morning i thought id discharge them again.. half of them shut off after 1 hour of 125 mah discharging.. blah

i charged them again and am now discharging them again.. guess ill see if there doing any better..

How do i get a refund from energizer..

What IS a good AAA battery...

Are AAA energizers bad in general or is this just a fluke case?

BTW i plan on using them in my LOD1..

 

[Bones]

...

How i get a refund from energizer..

....

Here's Energizer's contact page fire-stick:

http://www.energizer.com/Pages/enr-contact.aspx

I would suggest calling the 1-800 number on the right as opposed to contacting them by e-mail.

Before contacting Energizer, however, it might be worthwhile to attempt returning the cells to the place of purchase for a refund.

...

What IS a good AAA battery...

....

Eneloops

...

Are AAA energizers bad in general or is this just a fluke case?

....

Hopefully, it's just a fluke case. I have a 1/2 dozen 850mAh Energizers, and they've been performing very well for over three years now.

This is definitely not the case with the higher capacity Energizer AA cells though. They are dismal performers.

Here is a typical thread on the 2500mAh version:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com ... post1950700

For many more threads, you can Google this string:

Energizer "high self-discharge" site:candlepowerforums.com

Incidentally, it would be appreciated if you would post the capacity of your AAA cells in case there is a version which is tending to fail prematurely.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Fire-stick,

I will go along with Bones and say that the Eneloop AAA cells seem to be pretty good.

The AAA cell seems to be a bit of a problem, in general. I don't think they make or sell a lot of them, so the probability of getting old stock is high. It sounds like your cells may have been sitting on the shelf for a long time.

We have had some Eneloop AAA cells that also had some issues at first, but I believe they finely came back into shape. Even with this report of issues with them, I still think they are better than most of the other AAA cells available at this time.

Tom

 

[fire-stick]

Incidentally, it would be appreciated if you would post the capacity of your AAA cells in case there is a version which is tending to fail prematurely.

This is the 1st set ive had but they're not even a week old yet and still cant seem to bring them back to life from sitting on a shelf..

 

[seaside]

5 out of 8 energizer AA rechargables I bought couple years ago went dud in a month, and rest of them went to trashcan less than 3 months. It could be my bad luck though, I stopped believing their "keep goin' and goin" thing after that.

Try return them first. There is no reason for you to hang on with them if they are not working for you. Then, buy eneloop. If you can't find elenoop in local, look for duracel rechargable with white top. Some people report it as rebadged eneloop. If you still can't find either of them, rayovac hybrid has good reputation too.

 

[fire-stick]

...buy eneloop. If you can't find elenoop in local, look for duracel rechargable with white top. Some people report it as rebadged eneloop. If you still can't find either of them, rayovac hybrid has good reputation too.

So.. duracel rechargable with white top or rayovac hybrid..

Are all duracel rechargable with white tops rebaged eneloops..??

 

[Mr Happy]

So.. duracel rechargable with white top or rayovac hybrid..

Personally, I would steer clear of the Rayovac Hybrid in the AAA size. I'm not sure they are very good.

Are all duracel rechargable with white tops rebaged eneloops..??

If they have "Made in Japan" on them like this, they would appear to be so:

The ones I have tested have performed quite well.

 

[fire-stick]

Personally, I would steer clear of the Rayovac Hybrid in the AAA size. I'm not sure they are very good.


If they have "Made in Japan" on them like this, they would appear to be so:

The ones I have tested have performed quite well.

Ohhh!!:drunk: duh... big red truck...

I thought the battery had a WHITE stripe around it (in place of the copper colored one..) I didnt know it was the lil white piece at the very top of the battery

glas i seen that pic i would've been in wal mart for 6 hours looking for that white "top"... hehe

on the other hand.. my AAA's have been dis charging for 2.25 hrs @ 125 mah!!! whoo hoo 281 mah cap..

what is the max cap i should expect from an "850" mah AAA

Do AAA eneloops and the durecell ones charge the same way n-mh do?

 

[seaside]

fire-stick, I too was confused when I heard white top. Now you know "top" means top, right? There's black top version with higher capacity too. That's not eneloop and probabaly is not as good as white top. So, make sure you buy white top that's made in japan.

And, yes. Take a look at the picture again. What you can find? NiMH.

Eneloop has been quite honest about it's capacity. If it said 800mA, you can expect the capacity very close to it. That's another reason why people like eneloop.

 

[Bones]

...

Are all duracel rechargable with white tops rebaged eneloops..??

As Mr Happy and seaside have noted, the key is ensuring they are made in Japan.

Not that long ago, all Duracell Pre-charged with the white insert around the positive post were made in Japan, and therefore all were believed to be re-badged Eneloops.

However, there is now this report of a 'Made in China' version, which I would say is definitely not a re-badged Eneloop:

I checked while buying some of these today. I found both white and black top that said made in China. Did not find any black top that said made in Japan.

Sadly, Caveat Emptor now applies more than ever when shopping for the preferred Duracell Pre-charged.

 

[fire-stick]

As Mr Happy and seaside have noted, the key is ensuring they are made in Japan.

Not that long ago, all Duracell Pre-charged with the white insert around the positive post were made in Japan, and therefore all were believed to be re-badged Eneloops.

However, there is now this report of a 'Made in China' version, which I would say is definitely not a re-badged Eneloop:



Sadly, Caveat Emptor now applies more than ever when shopping for the preferred Duracell Pre-charged.

ahh.. Caveat Emptor = Buyer Beware

well the AAA's are now going on 4 hours @ 125 mah (500 mah!! yay) maybe they'll come into it

 

[fire-stick]

only 1 has switched from discharge to charge (after 5 hrs or 625 mah)

thats only 74% capacity...

looks like some eneloops or dura-japs are in my future..

 

[Hoggy]

Personally, I would steer clear of the Rayovac Hybrid in the AAA size. I'm not sure they are very good.

You could be right.. I had my first missed termination on my C9000 with a AAA ROV Hybrid, charging at 400ma(.5C).
Consequently, I'm not sure about trusting my C9000 to charge my AAA Hybrids. OTOH, it was before I decided to first do break-ins on my all my ROV Hybrids... Soo, I dunno..
They come in out-of-pack at between 691(break-in) to 779(R&A). I don't own any Eneloop AAA, so I don't know how that compares.

The one that missed termination does seem to show capacity loss - at 642 after a break-in - and 689 after a refresh on my BC-900(a known 2 cycles).

I haven't had them for long, but overall the AAA's don't seem to be too bad. ROV Hybrids are all that's available locally, so I don't have to pay for shipping costs.

I bought some AA Eneloops for my camera at the same time I got my BC-900 from Amazon and they seem to be much closer to each other than my ROV Hybrid AA's have been. Nevertheless, the Hybrids were still pretty damn close.

-----

So I would say - try for Eneloops/Duraloops/Hybriloops if you can. Otherwise, just about ANY lsd type will be much, MUCH better than the regular NiMH - for AAA sizes especially.

 

[Black Rose]

I haven't had any issues with the 20 AAA Rayovac Hybrids that I've been using for the last year.

Capacity-wise they come in slightly lower than my AAA Eneloops.
I really wish AAA Eneloops were available separately instead of only in the Costco packs AA/AAA packs.

The only place I know that sells the Duraloops at a decent price now only has the black top AAAs, which I guess would really be Durabrids.

 

[rickd]

The only place I know that sells the Duraloops at a decent price now only has the black top AAAs, which I guess would really be Durabrids.

Try Shoppers Drug Mart for Duraloops. They are standard stock and usually on sale; they were $8.88 for a pack of four just after Christmas .