Tenergy: QC and general mysteries

[808]

Last couple of years I've made sporadic purchases of Tenergy cells, AA, AAA, 18650, C and D. I also upgraded my charging world to something that wasn't the cheapest available, and it at least SEEMS like it's got great charge-monitoring, so hopefully also the rest of the under-hood works are good ('MiBoxer' four-slot with LCD display that scrolls through all charging slots). It performs consistently on the 18650s that I charge most often - both the Tenergy and the robbed-from-laptop-pack variety. Thus, it's with more than a little dismay that I found that my recent (Amazon) purchase of a 24-pack of the light-blue Tenergy AA's seems to have revealed that...they're just crap. By which, that is, I mean that I charge them overnight, see that the charger reports 100% charge on all cells...I remove them, set them aside for even a minute, then re-install them in the charger, and see charge-percentages reporting like 67%, 75%, etc. So of course, those that I charged a few WEEKS ago are commensurately worse, eg after sitting for a couple of weeks, they're now 30-something% charged. Can anyone weigh in on this?

Amazon is grudgingly letting me return this batch (I'm slightly past the return-by date), so now I'm wondering if the many unused AAA's that I bought a bit longer ago are going to be dumpster-fodder soon, too.

Also:
What IS the difference between light-blue, dark-blue, and white versions of Tenergy cells, and why is this at least seemingly such a secret and source of speculation?
Is it just me, or do many notice that the positive crowns on their Tenergy 18650 cells get smashed down far too easily (even without being dropped, in or out of a flashlight?) It's like the flashlight's spring-pressure alone does this.

Mahalo...

Dave

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

Buy Eneloop if you have the money as they cannot be beat.

If i need a load of battery`s i buy the cheap Tronic brand sold by Lidl, I must have like 50 mixes of AA, AAA and D and i have been buying them for over 10 years and i still have 8 RED label Tronic AA 2000mah that are 10 year old and still give over 1900mah, I have them in emergency torches and they keep their charge really well.

Test the real capacity and return the ones that fall short of the rated capacity, I bought 16x2800mah EBL AA from Amazon on special and they only tested as Approx 2500mah, So i returned them all.

One word of warning do not buy Tronic LCD Chargers as i have has 3 blow up on me, I live next to a Lidl so it`s easy for me to return stuff, The chargers can charge 6xAA or AAA at once, But if you put the battery`s in and then plug in the charger BANG sparks and smoke, I had two blow one after the other, so much for German Quality.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Last couple of years I've made sporadic purchases of Tenergy cells, AA, AAA, 18650, C and D. I also upgraded my charging world to something that wasn't the cheapest available, and it at least SEEMS like it's got great charge-monitoring, so hopefully also the rest of the under-hood works are good ('MiBoxer' four-slot with LCD display that scrolls through all charging slots). It performs consistently on the 18650s that I charge most often - both the Tenergy and the robbed-from-laptop-pack variety. Thus, it's with more than a little dismay that I found that my recent (Amazon) purchase of a 24-pack of the light-blue Tenergy AA's seems to have revealed that...they're just crap. By which, that is, I mean that I charge them overnight, see that the charger reports 100% charge on all cells...I remove them, set them aside for even a minute, then re-install them in the charger, and see charge-percentages reporting like 67%, 75%, etc. So of course, those that I charged a few WEEKS ago are commensurately worse, eg after sitting for a couple of weeks, they're now 30-something% charged. Can anyone weigh in on this?

Amazon is grudgingly letting me return this batch (I'm slightly past the return-by date), so now I'm wondering if the many unused AAA's that I bought a bit longer ago are going to be dumpster-fodder soon, too.

Also:
What IS the difference between light-blue, dark-blue, and white versions of Tenergy cells, and why is this at least seemingly such a secret and source of speculation?
Is it just me, or do many notice that the positive crowns on their Tenergy 18650 cells get smashed down far too easily (even without being dropped, in or out of a flashlight?) It's like the flashlight's spring-pressure alone does this.

Mahalo...

Dave

At least for their Cs and Ds, the blue wrappers are their basic offering, their white labels are their semi-low self discharge Centuras and then they have their premium batteries with whatever color they're using now.

Chris