Your usages of rechargeable 1.2V Ni-MH or 1.5V Li-ion AA/AAA batteries?

[Hooked on Fenix]

For AA Ni-MH, I use eneloops in some good lights (4Sevens Quark Pro 2A, Fenix L2D, L1D, L1T, Acebeam H40 headlight, etc.). Cheap loan out lights that cost under $5 get alkaleeks. I use Orbtronic 1100 mAh protected 14500 cells in my Acebeam H40 as well. Don’t have any li-ion 1.5 volt AAs and I don’t see the appeal outside the usb charging ability. Capacity only goes up to around 2300 mAh where 1100 mAh regular li-ions would have closer to 3000+ mAh at that voltage. When my eneloops aren’t used in flashlights, they are often used in a couple iSun Battpacks, 10 battery 12 volt solar power banks used to run 12 volt car fans. Lithium primary batteries are saved for emergencies. Most used lights take 18650 for headlights and 21700 for flashlights. AAs are slowly getting phased out for most uses. It’s hard to find good eneloops these days since they are no longer made in Japan and Costco doesn’t carry them anymore. One 21700 has the power of 7-8 eneloop AAs and good unprotected cells can be found for $5-$8.

 

[xxo]

Comparing with the disposable batteries, we benefit more from the rechargeable batteries. As for AA/AAA rechargeable batteries, many people may choose Eneloop or other Ni-Mh batteries. With technology getting mature, the rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion batteries come into the market, and some people choose them for the high-drain gadgets and electronics, such as racing cars, remote controls, electric toys, etc.

For example, one customer told that he found his 1.2V Ni-MH rechargeable batteries last about as long or longer in lost to medium drain devices. However, he also noticed that anything that depends on the voltage such as motors or flashlights are definitely stronger or brighter with 1.5V Li-ion batteries than with NiMh batteries.

For both of the rechargeable 1.2V Ni-MH and 1.5V Li-ion AA/AAA batteries, what’s your application of them in your life? Thanks for your kind comments!

View attachment 19674

XTAR Light, What is the self discharge rate of these cells?

 

[Limit_hex]

Swimming in AAs. My wife, for reasons that are unclear, buys another box now and then when she feels like it. Every supermarket carries them.

 

[XTAR Light]

XTAR Light, What is the self discharge rate of these cells?

Hi there, pls check more info here: https://www.xtar.cc/product/AAAAA-Battery-41

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Received 1.5V charger yesterday. Their shipping has been prompt; comes from Texas. The 2Amp single bay charger is described by Xtar as intended for 18650 or larger batteries with an appetite for power, or something like that. It looks like the charger spring will not press anything shorter than 650mm (maybe 500mm?).

 

[xxo]

Hi there, pls check more info here: https://www.xtar.cc/product/AAAAA-Battery-41

Hi,

I couldn't find anything on self discharge there, do you have any numbers?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Hi there, pls check more info here: https://www.xtar.cc/product/AAAAA-Battery-41

I don't see any info related to self discharge on that page at all.

Edit: I see xxo beat me to it. I would think that there would be some power drain constantly checking to see if there is a load on the battery to kick in the circuitry that if too high could drain the battery down requiring it to be recharged often to use and in some very low drain devices it may not detect the load and may not supply any power at all.

 

[snakebite]

i use nimh in lots of stuff mostly eneloops.
if a device behaves poorly on nimh and isnt easily converted to li-ion i put it in the garagesale.
the standby losses and rfi make 1.5v li-ion useless to me.
the 2s 9v are fine.
1s with boost converter have rfi issues

 

[Timothybil]

Do they make bidirectional buck circuits? Otherwise one would need one buck circuit to drop USB 5v down to 4.2v to charge, and a second one to buck from Li-Ion voltages to 1.5v for use. Seems to me to not leave much room for the actual cell material to have any usable capacity. I'll just stick with my NiMH, since I haven't found anything of mine that absolutely has to have 1.5v.

 

[snakebite]

its likely a custom chip with some logic and switch mosfets in it.
saves a lot of space.
thickest part is likely the micro usb jack.

 

[Chickensfloat]

For AA Ni-MH, I use eneloops in some good lights (4Sevens Quark Pro 2A, Fenix L2D, L1D, L1T, Acebeam H40 headlight, etc.). Cheap loan out lights that cost under $5 get alkaleeks. I use Orbtronic 1100 mAh protected 14500 cells in my Acebeam H40 as well. Don’t have any li-ion 1.5 volt AAs and I don’t see the appeal outside the usb charging ability. Capacity only goes up to around 2300 mAh where 1100 mAh regular li-ions would have closer to 3000+ mAh at that voltage. When my eneloops aren’t used in flashlights, they are often used in a couple iSun Battpacks, 10 battery 12 volt solar power banks used to run 12 volt car fans. Lithium primary batteries are saved for emergencies. Most used lights take 18650 for headlights and 21700 for flashlights. AAs are slowly getting phased out for most uses. It’s hard to find good eneloops these days since they are no longer made in Japan and Costco doesn’t carry them anymore. One 21700 has the power of 7-8 eneloop AAs and good unprotected cells can be found for $5-$8.

I retired all my alkaline lights, i keep very few around for flashlights for testing, but keep them far away in case of leakage. The antuiqe lights i use i converted to led and use 18650 across the board. All aa and aaa rechargables are used in tv remotes and stuff i use but not often and dont want leaking. Really only keep 9v on hand for smoke detectors and such.

 

[old4570]

Hmmmm , interesting development ! AA / AAA Li-ion .
I have been using Nimh for (?) decades . So it's interesting to see something different .
Certainly Voltage plays a part , as does discharge ..
And the quality of NIMH certainly varies greatly . ( As does output capability )
Most decent NIMH will sit at 1.43v after being charged .. And then will slowly discharge into the 1.2? range , where if they are decent quality will sit for hopefully up to a year and still retain a useful charge .

Decent 18650 will behave in a similar fashion . And again quality / performance varies greatly . So how will 1.5v Li-ion go ?
I haven't tested NIMH in a very long time , so don't remember their actual discharge capability . Some interesting testing ahead me thinks .

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Hmmmm , interesting development ! AA / AAA Li-ion .
I have been using Nimh for (?) decades . So it's interesting to see something different .
Certainly Voltage plays a part , as does discharge ..
And the quality of NIMH certainly varies greatly . ( As does output capability )
Most decent NIMH will sit at 1.43v after being charged .. And then will slowly discharge into the 1.2? range , where if they are decent quality will sit for hopefully up to a year and still retain a useful charge .

Decent 18650 will behave in a similar fashion . And again quality / performance varies greatly . So how will 1.5v Li-ion go ?
I haven't tested NIMH in a very long time , so don't remember their actual discharge capability . Some interesting testing ahead me thinks .

Likely 1.5v lithium ion are natively 4.2v charged and have a circuit board that reduces the voltage to 1.5v and if the circuit is made well it won't allow the battery to discharge below a safe voltage. Likely when the lithium ion cell voltage drops too low the battery will suddenly just go dead with no warning.

 

[old4570]

I will have to research AA / AAA li-ion ... If it really is 4.2v stepped down ? .............................................

 

[old4570]

Your usages of rechargeable 1.2V Ni-MH or 1.5V Li-ion AA/AAA batteries?

For AA Ni-MH, I use eneloops in some good lights (4Sevens Quark Pro 2A, Fenix L2D, L1D, L1T, Acebeam H40 headlight, etc.). Cheap loan out lights that cost under $5 get alkaleeks. I use Orbtronic 1100 mAh protected 14500 cells in my Acebeam H40 as well. Don’t have any li-ion 1.5 volt AAs and I...

www.candlepowerforums.com

So yeah , 4.2v stepped down ..
Advantage = Constant 1.5v voltage ..
Apparently the battery / circuit tries to maintain a constant voltage during the discharge .
Whilst other AA lose voltage , the Li-ion are maintaining voltage ..
So if you have a voltage sensitive device ..
Of course , there is a downside to that as well ... Knowing the state of your batteries ( when to recharge ) ..
Traditionally , folks kept an eye on the voltage state of the batteries ..

Hmmm , Been discharging my Nitercore D11 for about an hour now at around 50% output with a Xtar AA Li-ion and the output has been crazy consistent . I'll just run it till it fails ..

 

[Bimmerboy]

Idea of the rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion batteries are great but due to weak protection circuit, voltage drops to almost 1.2V (under load) which means no advantage to NiMH
So, constant 1.5 Volt is false advertisement.
If they really hold the voltage 1.5V under load of 2~3A, then they will win.
However, they work well on low current devices such as remote control and ...

I'd very much like to have some 1.5V rechargeables that can hold voltage with a bit of load, but when FM says stuff like this, I pay attention.

 

[old4570]

If's N Butt's .............. = Testing / and more testing ...
Certainly in low current situations I can see where Li-ion would be very useful .
In high current applications ?
I have seen poor 18650 fail to maintain much over 1.5A so how these go ?
Certainly I can see a current limitation , but where it is ?
One would need some sort of test rig to watch Voltage and load ( amps ) ....
I dont think my hobby charger will discharge bellow 3v ( hmmm ) I have two .. I will have to check how low they will go .

 

[old4570]

Ok , built a AA battery carrier ... So I can discharge with my hobby charger ..
Re soldered wires to lower resistance as much as possible .

100mAh Discharge ...
Initial voltage sag was around 1.25v but slowly increased to 1.38 volts ...

200mAh Discharge ...
Initial voltage sag was around 1.18v and is slowly increasing ( currently 1.26 volts )

300mAh DIscharge ...

Tried to get it all on video ...
Unfortunately that lighting thing ...
So when I did the 1A discharge I moved the camera just in case there was a lighting issue ( there was )

????????? What to say ...

A) There is voltage sag under load
B) Because the battery is an electronic device , where you apply pressure changes the voltage ... ( internal contact issue )
C) There is little warning in a flashlight as to when the battery runs dry ( just puts out decent output and then kaput )

How it compares to a NIMH ?

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Interesting results, and makes sense given that a AA battery is not very large; not that much capacity given today's technology. So far, an X Box controller is working fine with these cells. We'll see how long they function in this application, but so far, longer than NiMH. Not sure what minimum voltage the controller needs.

 

[old4570]

fivemega say's .........

In fact, you suppose to get 1.5V out so:
3300/1.5=2200 mAh or 2.2Ah

If you test it with 1A discharge, you should get:
2.2/1=2.2 hours
2.2x60=132 minutes