Wondering if the current Duracell rechargeable batteries are similar to Eneloops in self discharge, or what is recommended.

AFAIK, Duracell doesn't make a true LSD battery. Like always though, I could be wrong or have old info.

Best bet is always Eneloops.

No, they were always a relabel, at least the Ion Core 2450mAh, of the FDK ‘Eneloop Pro.’  The Pros are in between the standard Eneloops and typical higher capacity NiMH hi-cap batteries like the Sanyo 2700s, the AccuPower 2900s and the PowerEx 2700s.

They are great for short term usage where 20% more capacity is desired, but they quickly develop higher internal resistances in 2-3 years and are pretty much useless in all but remotes and wall clocks.

Chris

Actually yes, Duracell does make them.

They are called StayCharged (used to be called Pre-Charged, but that was bad marketing).  These are not the same as the Ion Core mentioned by the previous poster.

I used to use them in Wii remotes with wireless charging pads.  They worked great, but they only last 400 cycles (in reality we used our Wii alot back then and probably got around that much usage...we replaced them every two years).

I have since converted to Lithiums for just about everything.

Duracell and Energizer have models sourced from China, same with IKEA and Amazon.

Chris

Ordered Eneloops from eBay, after checking the "sold" items for Sellers who have good feedback and have sold a lot of the same battery.

Now I need to see if there are better chargers that the ? Maha chargers that we purchased for the Bird Flu.

Maha/PowerEx are still top notch chargers for most models, so no worries there.

When you get your Eneloops, look at the wrapper and find the seam. Look at the bottom flap of that seam and using a magnifying glass, or jeweler’s loop, see if you can see some embossed numbers in the wrapper proper.

The first two numbers will be the year of manufacture and the second two numbers will be the month of manufacture. The following characters are a production shift code, which are frankly, unknown to me.

I just got a 16 ct. blister pack of white standard caps and the date code is 10/19. For Christmas, I got an 8 pack of their special ‘Botanics’ with colorful wrappers and they’re early 2018, which is fine for me.

Chris

Thanks!

Our 'quarantine' is still a bit away, before I can test batteries. On the list.

ProjectFarm on youtube did an awesome review of most of the rechargeable AAs out there over a year period, strongly suggest his vid. Can't link it from work sorry.

does your second paragraph refer to the eneloop pros or the duracel?

i just bought some eneloop pros, but i have lots of the older white eneloops.

the older white eneloops work great for just about everything i need EXCEPT radios.  when fully charged, my radio thinks they're half full.

i have an eneloop pro charger that came as part of a pack.   any reason not to charge the eneloop pros in an older charger that i use for the white eneloops?  (motivation would be solar charging

I have the white eneloops.  I can't speak to their long term usefulness but so far, I like them.  I use a Maha charger and like it too.

I never found the rechargeable battery's to last very long and if your not constantly messing with them and keeping them charged they either have a partial or no charge left when there needed. Over the years rechargeable batterys have let me down way to many times. A couple months ago I pitched all the battery's I had left and there chargers, stocked up on regular batterys.

Ever used Eneloops? They really are good. I’m gradually switching everything that I have that uses AA batteries to Eneloops. I do a lot of ATV and UTV riding and I carry a Maha charger and a 12 volt cord. I basically have unlimited AA batteries and only need to carry a few sets. I like to carry two complete sets for everything that needs AA batteries. I keep them in plastic AA battery cases and charge as needed. I can charge them while riding or while parked and can charge 4 at a time. Charging 4 AA batteries doesn’t put much load on a ATV battery.

my old white eneloops are still working great.   yes, if you leave them alone for a while, they will lose their charge.   but, i have lots of sources for charging, including 3 different solar setups and a powerpot.

i think the optimal setup, is to keep a handful of normal batteries for initial use in an emergency, and then a bunch of rechargeables that i can endlessly recharge.  both bases are covered.  normal batteries alone will quickly be exhausted

one thing i wish i could solve is a good rechargeable 123 style for flashlights

Have you looked at the K2 Energy LFP123A? Surefire has approved them for use in their flashlights. I have a handful of them

Been using Eneloop batteries for about 5 years. They are solid performers. They hold charge very well and never leak. I use their chargers too. All batteries, chargers and adapters were bought at Costco when they were on sale. It's all I use for AA and AAA batteries. They work well for C battery slots with an adapter.

Rechargeable battery use needs some level of organization and battery management.  I've had plenty of Eneloops last over a year, but I routinely do an annual recharge of all my batteries just to keep them fresh.  ChrisGarrett can chime in as he's far more knowledgeable, but I don't think Eneloop's LSD batteries build up resistance as bad as some of the higher discharge varieties...

I've ironically gone in the opposite direction.  I don't think I've bought an alkaline battery in years.  Everything is either standard lithium, NiMH (Eneloop, etc.), and newer Lithium-Ion varieties.

ROCK6

Sorry for the delay, as I was boarding a flight to L.A. yesterday and couldn’t finish my post.

Basically 3 types of NiMH AAs/AAAs that we care about:

FDK/Eneloop AA standard capacity @ 1900 mAh minimum capacity and 70% after ~10 years. These give the longest life/capacity per dollar spent.

FDK/Eneloop Pro AA higher capacity @ 2450 mAh min. and maybe 70% after a year of sitting and up to 20-25% more capacity. Use them and abuse them, as you’ll only get 2-3 years out of them before internal resistance (I.R.) gets dwanky and they’re ready for the recycle bin.

The rest—2700 mAh, 2900 mAh or 2,000,000 mAh: stuff like PowerEx/Maha, Accupower, or the ubiquitous Chang’s Power Station 3 Trillion, might give us more capacity in the beginning, for a few cycles, but they’ll turd out on us shortly and they don’t hold capacity for more than 60-90 days.

Standard caps for me going forward, as I don’t need the extra capacity at the expense of lifespan.

Chris

never heard of them.  i'll look it up

Back in the day, I seem to remember people here (arf, for sure, and maybe even here in the SF) recommending chargers by La Crosse and Ambient Weather... is that no longer the case? Are they no longer [that] good?

Regardless of the answer to that question, what are some good/recommended models for battery charging?

I’d not even heard of the Maha and PowerEx brands before today, so thanks to Chris for those.    



Edit: Just went back and looked in my Amazon account, and I had the La Crosse Technology BC700-CBP Alpha battery charger in my list, based on several recommendations from here. IIRC, it used to run somewhere between $30 and $40, but I’m thinking they may not make it anymore because it’s currently listed for $100.

I also had the Ambient Weather BC-3000 Universal saved in another Amazon list, lol.

I have been using Eneloop batteries since 2008.   They are nearly all that I use now.   The batteries purchased in 2008 through 2010 are showing less capacity than the newer batteries but are still pretty serviceable.   I have been stocking up in preparation for phasing out the 2008 batteries but so far, I have only disposed a couple of them.  

I typically charge my Eneloops with a Powerex MH-C800S charger.   I have two of these chargers at home and one at work.    The charger is capable of soft charging and conditioning the batteries but I never do it.   I just throw the batteries in the charger and grab fresh ones when I need them.  

For charging on the go I have two MiBoxer 4 bay chargers with cigarette lighter adapters.   One is in my truck and the other is in my camper.   Again, just throw the batteries into the charger and put fresh batteries in the device.   The MiBoxer will charge a lot more types of batteries than just AA and AAA so it is worth having around for that purpose.  

Before Eneloop I user Maha Powerex and they were good at first but seemed to lose capacity pretty quickly.   The Eneloops last years longer.  Before the Powerex I used a number of different types of rechargeable batteries including Energizers and Duracells but nothing seemed to last very long.   Obviously that knowledge is dated but it was part of the journey.   I am pretty happy with the solution that I am currently using.  

2Hut8

I was also disappointed with the Powerex batteries I used years ago but so far, the Eneloops are performing well.

Duracell AA and AAAs that say “made in Japan” and are pre-charged are Eneloops with a Duracell wrapper.

Duracell once marketed Gen. 2 1500 cycle Eneloop standard 2000mAh AAs, but discontinued the practice because 2450mAh can beat up 2000mAh. They opted for the higher capacity ‘higher self discharge’ variant, which ultimately was a mistake for the consumer, since they die faster than standard cap Eneloops.

Chris

My boss hung stockings out for each of us for Christmas, and threw a few things in them. These were in mine:

AmazonBasics AAA Rechargeable Batteries (800 mAh), Pre-charged - Pack of 12
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Rechargeable-Batteries-12-Pack-Pre-charged/dp/B007B9NXAC/

AmazonBasics AA High-Capacity Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries (2400 mAh), Pre-charged - Pack of 8
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-High-Capacity-Rechargeable-Batteries-Pre-charged/dp/B00HZV9WTM/

I haven't done anything with 'em yet, as I don't have a charger.

Would it even be worth it getting a charger for these?

Or should I just throw 'em away (or in a drawer, which is where they are currently), get some Eneloops, and forget I ever saw these?

They seem both too weak and too strong to be of much use.


Edit: Or should I just get a cheap charger for cheap batteries... something like this:
https://slickdeals.net/f/14064554-panasonic-bq-cc75asba-eneloop-individual-battery-charger-with-usb-charging-port-white-8-99

Definitely keep them, as you will get use out of them even if they only last a few years.

As to the charger, if you have $50 to blow, definitely get a 12vdc analyzing charger with 4 independent channels/slots.

This charger will tell you the health of your batteries/li-ion cells by allowing discharge tests up to 1A, do rudimentary internal resistance tests, do cycle/break-in conditioning and work with 12vdc solar/mother batteries and in vehicles with the proper 12vdc cigarette adapters.

For NiMH only, look to the PowerEx Maha C9000 Wizard One, which has served me well for over 8 years.

For full multi-chemistry/voltages (NiMH/li-ion) the Opus BT-3400 v. 3.1 is hard to beat.  I have both the v. 2.2 and the 3.1 and like them a lot.

They can be found on EBay from seller ‘rdana,’ who commissioned that specific model number from Opus—better fan and display toggles on/off.

Chris

My IKEAs are marked 'Japan'
???

Some are, some aren’t. Which is the point.

Are they the higher capacity Laddas—2450ish mAh?

Chris

Thanks, Chris.

And the universe just delivered... found a decent 'deal' (not great, but somewhat) on Eneloop AA and AAA batteries.

The AAAs are at least under $2/battery, so... that's nice.    

The mAh are low (800 mAh), but they're apparently/allegedly good for 2100 cycles.

Where might be a good/recommended place to find the Wizard One? I searched Amazon, but it says it's 'Currently Unavailable'.


Edit: Never mind... the Maha site says:
"DISCONTINUED...NEW MODEL COMING SOON! More details to come, stay tuned."

So maybe I should just wait and see what the new model is all about?

Haven’t heard that the C-9000 is due for an upgrade, but it’s due for a refresh after 10-12 years.

I don’t see any reasonably prices items on EBay, but I’d look to the multi-chem/voltage Opus BT-3100/3400 v. 3.1 charger, since it will do everything (with a hole drilled into the bottom case) that you can throw at it.

Otherwise, just wait for the upgraded C-9000 if you only care about charging up NiMH batteries.

Chris