Test/Review of Amazon Basic AA 1900mAh (White)

[size=+3]Amazon Basic AA 1900mAh (White)[/size]



Official specifications:

• Typical capacity: 2000mAh
• Minimum capacity 1900 mAh
• Nominal voltage: 1.2V
• Low self discharge (LSD), 80% capacity after one year, 70% after 3 years

Maximum temperature raise at different discharge currents: 1A:+1,5°C, 2A:+3,8°C, 3A:+6,6°C, 5A:+12,4°C, 7A:+18,2°C, 10A:+23,6°C
Amazon has two types of NiMH cells with about 2000mA. The whites are rated for 3 years LSD (The black only 1 year). They are manufactured in Japan, the black in China.











The discharge curves looks fine, but the capacity is not that high (Common for long life LSD cells).















[size=+3]Conclusion[/size]

The cells has very good performance. The capacity is slightly less than the Amazon black 2000mAh, but it has a promise of better LSD ability.



[size=+3]Notes and links[/size]

How is the test done and how to read the charts
Compare to other AA/AAA batteries: Alkaline/NiMH/Lithium

Thank you for your review as always!

Thank you for this very interesting test from here in Austria as well. I almost considered ordering an 8-pack of these cells too because I thought they would be rebranded Eneloops, but at a much lower price. Well, seems like that's not exactly the case. If you compare the discharge curves with those of real Eneloops, you see that these white Basics have a higher resistance and a slightly lower capacity than Eneloops, even though they're probably made at the same factory. In fact the black AmazonBasics made in China give a better performance than these white ones, though as you say they may not be as good in terms of low self-discharge. The discharge curves of these white ones are in fact close to those of the black Chinese AmazonBasics than to Eneloops. So it might pay off to get real Eneloops over these cells based on this test. However, there are some unknown factors, especially cycle life and calendar life.

Generally speaking, difference is mariginal, so is the price difference, in 2-3 years you going to throw them away anyways, so wasting so much time on seek and comparison is really profitable in long term use? I don't think so.

For example, the best of eneloops vs average rayovac/jcb/other non fake rechargeables, gives about 5-10% (barely notcideable) less recycle time in camera strobe and about 10% more flashes from one charge. Price difference is not so much initially in terms of raw $ (Less than $10 per 4 pack), and considering that this amount is spread along average lifetime of cells, it is not high anyways, so just get what's works and waste free time (if any) on something more pleasant than battery fondling

Can we do long time cycling with these? 500-1000 cycles please

kreisl said:

Can we do long time cycling with these? 500-1000 cycles please

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You have the fancy charger, so why don't you do it?

CuriousOne said:

Generally speaking, difference is mariginal, so is the price difference, in 2-3 years you going to throw them away anyways, so wasting so much time on seek and comparison is really profitable in long term use? I don't think so.

For example, the best of eneloops vs average rayovac/jcb/other non fake rechargeables, gives about 5-10% (barely notcideable) less recycle time in camera strobe and about 10% more flashes from one charge. Price difference is not so much initially in terms of raw $ (Less than $10 per 4 pack), and considering that this amount is spread along average lifetime of cells, it is not high anyways, so just get what's works and waste free time (if any) on something more pleasant than battery fondling

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I don't think you understand what drives some of us battery geeks. This is a battery forum. You should expect people here to want to analyse, optimize, and tinker with batteries, getting the absolute most out of them.

If you went over to the LED flashlight forum, and said, "Hey guys. Flashlights are pretty much all alike. Maglights are good enough, who cares if they aren't the brightest or most efficient? You only use a flashlight a couple of times a year, so stop wasting your free time and do something more pleasant than flashlight fondling."

That's what 99% of the general population thinks, but why would you say it in a flashlight forum?

WalkIntoTheLight said:

I don't think you understand what drives some of us battery geeks. This is a battery forum. You should expect people here to want to analyse, optimize, and tinker with batteries, getting the absolute most out of them.

If you went over to the LED flashlight forum, and said, "Hey guys. Flashlights are pretty much all alike. Maglights are good enough, who cares if they aren't the brightest or most efficient? You only use a flashlight a couple of times a year, so stop wasting your free time and do something more pleasant than flashlight fondling."

That's what 99% of the general population thinks, but why would you say it in a flashlight forum?

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+1!

Thank you, HKJ, truly appreciated!

The main and key difference is that flashlights and LiIons are really all different, made for different tasks, with different specs. Unlike them, NiMH are much more like each other, with subtle difference, so my remark was about NiMH only.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

I don't think you understand what drives some of us battery geeks. This is a battery forum. You should expect people here to want to analyse, optimize, and tinker with batteries, getting the absolute most out of them.

If you went over to the LED flashlight forum, and said, "Hey guys. Flashlights are pretty much all alike. Maglights are good enough, who cares if they aren't the brightest or most efficient? You only use a flashlight a couple of times a year, so stop wasting your free time and do something more pleasant than flashlight fondling."

That's what 99% of the general population thinks, but why would you say it in a flashlight forum?

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Someone should confirm this but Eneloops (and rebrand Eneloops) have good overdischarge (doesn't reverse charge weaker Eneloops) protection compared to other brand cells. That to me is a major benefit of having good cells. Not that i don't buy some cheap cells on clearance or whatever, but usually it takes a bit extra to care for them compared to Eneloops. You could probably use Eneloops in any device and not worry about cell reversal and those cells would last longer than a set of NiMH cells you picked up from a bargin bin that'll probably give out in 5 years.

Besides that i prefer investing in good quality cells with the longest lifespan. I don't like buying junk .

Well, I'm not going to throw mine away in 2-3 years because they last much longer than that. I did have such a poor life on my first NiCd cells, though because I ran them down completely everytime (I suppose that was the reason) but most of the NiMh's I have now proved to be much more durable than that. Even most of the primaries I have are older than that (in part because I try to avoid buying new ones). However, I think you're right in that it's not really profitable. But that's what HKJ's, Silverfox's and Power Me Up's tests are good for... they give a guideline on which cells may be better and which may be worse. And there are some cells, confirmed by Power Me Up's cycling testing, that last for 5 times more cycles than others. And if this is the case, those cells might still be worth it even if they cost much more than others. Doing such kinds of tests only for myself, however, is not profitable, I'm with you here. But as a group effort it does make sense, I think, and it does make sense to look at those tests before buying new batteries. You're right that 5-10% more or less recycle time or flashes would be barely noticable, but the effects are sometimes more severe than that. For instance, my father's digital camera takes 2 AA's and draws about 1 amp in average. He bought some discount NiMh batteries for it, and they work, but they never managed to show "full" on the battery meter, there's always one bar missing. What's worse, even though they are supposed to be low self discharge ones, after resting for a few months they will reach a state where their internal resistance is so high that they only will keep the camera alive for a few minutes, then it will shut down even though the batteries still show a resting voltage of about 1,27 V. I bought him some Japanese Eneloops, and those manage to show the full battery meter, and I suppose they will work better after sitting for a few months as well. So I think that in some respects there's a difference between different NiMh batteries that's much bigger than 10%, not only in price.

CuriousOne said:

Generally speaking, difference is mariginal, so is the price difference, in 2-3 years you going to throw them away anyways, so wasting so much time on seek and comparison is really profitable in long term use? I don't think so.

For example, the best of eneloops vs average rayovac/jcb/other non fake rechargeables, gives about 5-10% (barely notcideable) less recycle time in camera strobe and about 10% more flashes from one charge. Price difference is not so much initially in terms of raw $ (Less than $10 per 4 pack), and considering that this amount is spread along average lifetime of cells, it is not high anyways, so just get what's works and waste free time (if any) on something more pleasant than battery fondling

Click to expand...