I have a few items that use AA batteries and want to be more sustainable. Are Eneloops really the best option for rechargeable or are they just an Ozbargain meme?
If they are a meme, what is a better option?
Are Eneloops Really The Best Rechargeable Batteries?
Lsamyall on 31/01/2022 - 08:59
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The IKEA rechargeable batteries (Ladda) are widely rumoured to be rebadged Eneloops.
And yes they are good, high capacity, low self discharge.
do they stil have the old white laddas i want?
No. They changed the labelling to a light blue.
IKEA is fine except they seem to be wrapped in paper, the wrapping peels off with gentle usage. Eneloops at least have a normal battery wrapping that doesn't just peel off.
I use Ikea ladda cells outdoors in wildlife cameras and haven’t had an issue with them peeling, are you talking about the green and silver ones, the white ones or the newest non-white ones?
The white ones.
@AustriaBargain: Those are the ones I have most of and none of them have peeled, I was expecting you to say it was the new ones. Do you clean your batteries with alcohol or have dorito hands or anything like that? Maybe I’ve just been lucky.
No they're not if you have high voltage devices. I have them. Both of my devices run out of battery quick because they require 1.5v and eneloops are 1.2v so usable battery is like 100%-60% on eneloop on 1.5v devices. On Windows I can check the battery life of my bluetooth mouse when it gets 0% when i put it in the charger it says 60%+.
But are they the best rechargeable batteries? Correct me if I'm wrong but all rechargeables tend to be 1.2V and I agree that this isn't always ideal.
FWIW, I have a mixture of Eneloops and more recently Laddas.
There's 1.5v lithium rechargeable batteries in AA, AAA, 9V and all sizes. It's just a bit hard to sell them as most of it comes from China and the required documents to ship lithium are non-existent within the company..
Hobbyking will ship you LiPo AA's with no issue :)
Maybe I am wrong but I'm pretty sure no device that uses AA or AA battteries requires 1.5v exactly. 1.5V is the max voltage of a AA, as the battery is used, the voltage decreases. It does depend on the device what voltage it requires, but it won't be 1.5v.
Look at this datasheet for a non rechargeable energizer battery. You can see how as the battery gets used the voltage drops in the chart. https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/e91.pdf
Compare that with an eneloop which isn't hugely different
https://eneloop101.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/HR-3UTGB.p…Right, so are you saying both of my devices that don't work when the battery reaches like 60% battery are both faulty? Fully charged my mouse says it's 74%.
It's likely just measuring the Voltage output of the batteries and comparing that to a lookup table (based off an Alkaline Battery) to report the percentage charge.
It may be smarter than that, but seems unlikely, why go to all that bother when a simple lookup table will do?Does your mouse actually stop operating when it reports 0%?
Assuming not, how much longer past the 0% reporting time does it actually stop operating?@ESEMCE: Yeah so when my mouse reports actual 0 it stops working same with the keyboard. When I put the battery within my charger it says 60%+ remaining.
I have no clue why. I have 2 chargers both report the same thing. I leave it on charge for hours and still the same performance.
When the batteries are 100% my mouse reports it's around ~70%.
If I put non-rechargeable batteries it's 100%.
@Boioioioi: I have a steelseries rival 3 bluetooth mouse.
Keyboard monstergear ninja87Charger Yonii D4
@Pikaloo: Are the rechargeables just old and no longer up to it?
For a low power item like a mouse, Voltage really shouldn't be a factor.
@ESEMCE: I bought the batteries last year. I have 8 of them I bought 2x4 packs of AAA. In remote controls for TV/AV they work fine no need to replace them often.
@Pikaloo: Rechargables tend to be succeptable to heat damage. Most of the time this happens when people recharge in a dumb charger and leave them in the charger longer than required. These days, most chargers you see around are dumb fast chargers so they heat up the battery and continue to cook them, especially if people leave them overnight (or even worse, over multiple days) to charge.
Another thing, some devices don't detect rechargables/or aren't suitable for rechargables. When they're looking at the charge left on a battery, they go by voltage. If they assume it's an alcaline, it'll draw more current from the battery, causing more heat and giving you a false level of charge.
@TheBird: The Yonii D4 can detect and it also stops at 100%, I have them in the charger now and they're not hot at all.
One of the devices I use is a Waterpik and its pump definitely gets weaker as the batteries die. Has anyone ever used Eneloops or other rechargeable batteries in a device like that where the voltage influences performance?
I think you'll have the same issue with any battery.
I had a rechargeable shaver which acted like that, it sucked in my opinion. Poor design.
I got a Phillips rechargeable shaver which runs at max power all the way until the battery is completely flat. I reckon it's got a voltage boost circuit inside to compensate for the dropping voltage. Way better!
Yeah, like my Toto portable bidet. But it's the same with alkaline or Eneloops. They all start strong, then water streams become weaker over time.
Good to know. That's another advantage of rechargable - don't have to feel guilty about swapping the batteries early!
Wait, the actual bidet itself is portable? I use rechargeables in my bidet remote, but I've never heard of a bidet actually being battery powered. My bidet is hooked up to mains power.
Have you got a link to your portable bidet? Interested to see this
@Kenb0: It's just a battery powered water sprayer.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/142379748853
I usually get them at around $110 AUD.
@nfr: Ah ok, I thought I was a full toilet seat replacement type bidet, but powered with batteries. Thought might be convenient for people after a fixed bidet, but no power outlets in their bathrooms.
Yes, devices like controllers will get to the point where they just turn themselves off much quicker than disposable batteries.
Especially with the HP Reverb Mixed Reality controllers, they will show as low battery almost immediately even fully charged because of the lower voltage.
True enough. One needs to take into account rechargeable compatibility when purchasing devices if that's how you want to power them.
As a for instance, Blackstar's Fly 3 guitar mini amp which is designed to run at 6.5V DC input even with its wall wart is also perfect vehicle for being powered by NiMH LSD rechargeables. it uses x 6 eneloops, so works fine on their nominal fully charged 7.2v through 6.6v as the cells gradually discharge to 1.1v ea. 2450mAh eneloop Pros offer decent endurance too even with the volume cranked.
These looked like the "more sustainable" option when I looked recently, but not readily available in Australia.
https://www.varta-ag.com/en/consumer/product-categories/accu…Energiser has a small dash of recycled content
https://www.bunnings.com.au/energizer-aa-recharge-batteries-…These are all low self-discharge NiMH, about the same chemistry as Eneloop. Of course there may be minor variations between brands but probably not super important unless using them in a high power application but most of them use Li-ion anyway (quadcopter, torch that is brighter than the sun, etc)
Those Energiser look good, but they appear to be completely out of stock, unfortunately.
use store/stock-checker
im seeing 3/5 near me have available
I've used the Varta batteries in both AA and AAA sizes. They're not very good. About the same as Aldi LSD NiMH batteries. High internal resistance, wildly varying capacities and always well under the nominal capacity. They are, just like the Aldi batteries, just a touch larger in diameter than Eneloops and can get wedged in tight battery compartments. Not recommended.
I have some Varta LSD AA, these are not recent cells maybe 10 years old but only under ~200 cycles. I find them develop high self discharge as they age, to the point it's worse than normal non LSD NiMH. I have proper charging systems. On the other hand, my year2009 Eneloop 2000mah is still a LSD but capacity dropped to 1800mAh. Not sure about the new Varta cell but I prefer my Japan FDK Fujitsu cells these days.
I've had success with Hobby King batteries https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-rechargeable-battery-aaa…
Less than 5 in stock. Good Price !
Those are triple A's, there are plenty of AA batteries…
I concur. Hobbyking's LSDs are indeed very good. I've got some here in AA and AAA that I've used for many years which have proven every bit as solid as eneloops. Two thumbs up. But with shipping now from HK and sketchy AU availability, meh I just buy eneloops when they come up on regular promo instead.
They are among the best, but there are differences between different eneloops. Some versions are better than others. There are a couple of them that are way better than the others, even with age.
As others have mentioned, Lada's are virtually identical to decent eneloops the the additional benefit of being easier to get (Ikea) plus they're typically cheaper.
Long term Varta user household here - longlife rechargeable 2100mAh for kids console controllers and other devices. They do last long and are much quicker to recharge compared to Eneloops, using what now looks to be the previous generation LCD smart charger. Have had the same group of batteries for years, the kids have never complained about batteries not lasting in controllers. I've tried the higher capacity Varta rechargeable batteries but for some reason they're not as good.
But we also have standard and pro Eneloops for other devices, happy with those too.
Are eneloops the best? Best is subjective.
Bottom line. From the days when Sanyo made and marketed the first eneloops they performed reliably, consistently and well and so became THE standard by which all are judged. Factor into that that they are widely distributed so easy to obtain made them the no brainer go to LSD battery. I've bought other brands of LSDs over the years which have performed well too, and so can't and won't knock brand alternatives, but I have a lot of eneloops. Now owned by Panasonic with alternatives of Chinese or Japanese eneloops, their long service life, reliability, being a known (standard), price and availability makes them my go to.
For those unaware, LSD = Low self-discharge. Means the battery looses minimal charge by itself just sitting on the shelf.
Oh… I thought you had to be high to use them.
They are indeed very very good. Get them, or the IKEA rechargeables.