AccuEvolution D Cells quality gone!

AccuEvolution D Cells quality gone! (New info see post #57)

I have previously acquired six AccuEvolution D cells and been very happy with their performance. They seemed to retain charge well setting on the shelf as voltage would measure around 1.37V after a month.



My wife got me six more for Christmas. I seemed to be getting greatly reduced runtime when using the new batteries. Upon checking voltages the new cells where only coming hot off the charger around 1.4V, sometimes less. Cycling the cells gave little to no improvement.



The original cells on the same charger are still charging to 1.47V.



I charged up the new cells and two of the old cells. After setting on the shelf for a week the old cells were reading 1.37V and the new cells were all down around 1.3V (range 1.29 - 1.33).



I even charged some standard Nimh D cells and they were at 1.35V so these things appear to have no LSD properties.



I'm getting ready to send these back. Anybody else notice a drop off in new AccuEvolution D cells?

That's great to know, I just ordered some AccuEvolution D's from battery junction.
I'm having nothing but trouble with some energizer 2500 and decided to pay a little more and get the accuevolutions.
I'll do some testing when they come and see if they are any better then what you are experiencing.

Hopefully you get some good quality ones. My first batch was great, this batch is garbage.

Have you used them some or did they go back?

I did use them and that is when I realized there was something wrong. They were not lasting even half as long in my 6D ROP HI. The light didn't seem as bright from the get go either. A few voltage measurements and tailcap current measurements showed me the cells were not holding voltage under a load near as well as the first set. Then I started checking them off the charger and realized some weren't even getting to 1.4v which is a sure sign of weak cells.

Several cycles and they seem to be getting worse. Battery Junction washed their hands of it because it was past 30 days even though they were a Christmas present. The company has not responded to any of my emails or the web contact form I filled out.

I need to call them and see if I'm stuck with these defective cells.

Thanks 357mag1 for bringing this to everyone's attention. I have some AccuEvolution D cells that I bought 2 or 3 years ago and love them, so I would really hate to hear their quality has changed for the worse. In fact I was thinking about buying some more but I will hold off now. Hopefully you were just unlucky and got faulty cells. Sorry that you have to go through this grief but thanks for alerting the rest of us.

bigwad1, it looks like you are our other canary in the coal mine. Thanks for being willing to test your cells when you receive them and share the results with us. I am anxious to see what you find.

That is the beauty of this forum, information sharing. I was quite disappointed with Battery Junctions lack of help. I've literally bought thousands of dollars worth of stuff from them. They haven't received an order since refusing to help. It is so much easier for the vendor to handle returns of this nature.

I tried contacting Accupower USA as Battery Junction stated was my only recourse. No answer from my original web form. The telephone goes to voice mail anytime I call and today when I tried to send another web form it kept giving me errors stating I needed to enter required information even though all mandatory blocks had been filled.

I left a voice mail message. We will see it this gets me a call back. At this time my recommendation is to avoid this product or buy from a reputable vendor that will take the defective products back. If you decide to use Battery Junction make sure you get your testing done within their 30 day limit.

A Message from AccuEvolutions Products Inc:

We are concerned that one forum member is experiencing quality issues with the AccuEvolution batteries. We are committed to providing high quality products and we take customer dissatisfaction very seriously. Please contact us at [email protected] and we assure a quick response.
Customer Service - Accuevolution Products, Inc.

Having recently purchased almost $200 worth of D, C & AAA AcuuE's, it would be nice to know the outcome of this problem. Is it only a bad batch or worse? I had the very same problem of decreasing capacity of new NiCd "Titanium" cells from BJ. I lost $15 in return shipping of a large order.

Hopefully the new AcuuE LSD's will prove to be good cells because it's quite difficult to test 30 cells and ascertain their quality before the seller's warranty expires. I've given up on anything "Titanium" including their flaky hi-cap charger, so I bought the Accus because of Previous CPF recommendations.

Just an update folks. I did get a return call today from Arnando at Accupower and he seemed genuinely concerned about my problems with the new batch of D cells. He stated he would send replacements and a UPS pickup for the bad cells. I will let you all know how it goes.

I'm not sure why I didn't get any response initially but things are looking up now.

I hope things clear up. I've had plans for purchasing a small quantity (4-8) of "AccuE" D cells for some time. My 5 year old Powerizer D cells are showing signs of age. Their self discharge is still very low, as it always has been, however they're showing signs of voltage depression associated with age. Not a big deal, for my particular applications, but it's time for some new cells.

Dave

357mag1 said:

I'm not sure why I didn't get any response initially but things are looking up now.

Click to expand...

Seems like damage control, but hopefully they're better than that. I need to buy a few D and C size, so I'm watching.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the possibility of counterfeits yet. That was my first thought when I read 357mag1's description of the huge difference between his older cells and the new ones. Product quality usually slides slowly if they decide to cheap out or somesuch, rarely do they fall off a cliff like that.

Dang, I'm awaiting an order of a goodly number of these C and D cells from Battery Junction. Very disappointed to hear of the lack of customer support on the part of B.J.. Starting to think maybe I should have stuck with Thomas Distributing. Even more worrisome is the potential counterfeit issue.

Are there any visual indications that these might be fakes? Is Accupower asking for samples of the defects?

Disappointing news. I've had such great results from these cells in the past.

I'll have to test my new batch of ten D & C AccuEvolutions which I broke in and charged 6 -8 weeks ago. They've mostly been idling in unused lights. They all met rated capacity at three cycles a couple months ago.

Keep in mind that a few bad cells don't indicate anything for sure, until further info and testing is available. I'll post my results when the cells are retested, but at only a month or two may not give the same readings as testing after 6 - 12 months.

I purchased 30 AuucE's from Bearwobble.com for less than Thomas Dist. The Bear's shipping is high, but lower cell cost more than made up. Bearwobble seems to carry an odd variety of better quality products in their respective fields.

Let's keep each other updated regarding high capacity NiMH D & C (LSD) cells.

My AccuEvolution contact called me on Thursday to see if my replacement cells had arrived. I was on vacation and couldn't tell him. Last night when we got home they were setting with the rest of the mail my daughter had deposited inside the house.

Now for the depressing part of the story. So far the first two cells appear no better than the previous batch. I have the other four charging on the Accu-Manager charger which takes longer than my Titanium MD-3000. After two cycles the highest voltage reading for these two cells hot off the charger was 1.385 so it isn't looking good.

Before going on vacation I charged all of my D cell batteries so I could check voltage when I got home. All batteries were charged on the 15th and checked last night (25th) so they have been setting 10 days. Here are the results:

1. Six original AccuEvolution D LSD - five read 1.364v and one 1.357v
2. Six new (not the replacements just received) AccuEvolution D LSD - 1.300v to 1.331v
3. Two Nuon standard Nimh D cells (3000mah rating, I suspect using a Sub C cell) - 1.34v
4. Two Tenergy 8000mah LSD D cells - 1.34V

As you can see if the AccuEvolution cells are no longer quality cells the options don't look very good. I will keep working with AccuEvolution as long as they are willing to resolve the issue.

Is about 1.45v or higher what you are looking for? My batch of these AccuE's have been sitting on the shelf for 60 days and now read ~1.35 - 1.38v. That also equals a 100% reading on the ZTS & ~10> "flash amps." IIRC, they we're ~ 1.42v right off the charger, two months ago.

I'm going to let these sit, retest, and check run time ... sometime. I checked the cell's capacity three times since they we're new, last January. Both, D & C sizes we're within 10% of rated capacity, using a light, .2C load.

So far, it doesn't seem like I have a problem, unless they'd quickly deteriorate or lose their LSD qualities. 357mag1, do you plan to test run-time? Could some of your cells still be good? Is a hot off the charger open circuit voltage test convincingly accurate or might a load and capacity test after a couple months be a truer test? I'm not 100% sure, which is why I'm asking.

In my experience if they aren't reaching 1.45v coming off the charger they are lower quality cells that don't tend to hold a charge well. If they can't get to at least 1.4v during the charge cycle then they are probably garbage. Keep in mind the way I noticed these cells had a problem was much reduced runtime in my lights particularly if the batteries had set around for a few days.

I'll have to pay closer attention the next time I recharge my Duraloop and AccuEvo cells to check their top charging voltages. Regardless of that voltage, so far, all my LSD cells are providing near rated capacity. The Accu's are too new to know anything for sure about longevity, but the Dura's are between 2 & 4 years old, and have retained LSD qualities.

I've cycled all the replacement AccuEvolution cells about six times and now have them setting on the shelf. Hot off the charger voltage read from 1.408 to 1.431v on the 28th of March.

I will let them set a few days and see how they measure. Hopefully they hold a charge better than the cells I had to return.