Quantum Ni-Mh Rechargeable AA Batteries 2500mAh 4-Pack $12.25 @ Woolworths

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Woolworths

• 

  KingPhil on 22/04/2023 - 22:09

  +4

  Made in China so it's a gamble.
  Recommendations are to only buy rechargeable batteries from Japan (Eneloop or Ikea's Ladda).

• 

  rumblytangara on 22/04/2023 - 22:15

  +9

  You 100% want LSD batteries. iirc old-school NiMH looses something like 10-20% of charge in the first week, just sitting there doing nothing.

  • 

    Russ on 23/04/2023 - 10:45

    The pack does say "extra long lasting" and "partially pre-charged", so it appears they're not "old school NiMh", but it sounds like they're not as good as eneloops or IKEA's rechargeable batteries.

    For anyone who uses batteries all the time, they could be an acceptable alternative.

    • 

      rumblytangara on 23/04/2023 - 10:56

      +1

      Yeah, nah. I've been around too long to trust ambiguous marketing language. It's like air purifiers and "HEPA like" filters.

      They might be okay, when Eneloops say something like "remains x% charged after 1 year of storage" or if candlepowerforums tests the crap out of Ladda batteries, they remain the trustworthy sources. The Ikea ones are the same price plus a couple dollars shipping to metro areas.

      These ones might be okay, but why be the guinea pig.

      • 

        Russ on 23/04/2023 - 11:22

        +2

        plus a couple dollars shipping to metro areas.

        You can't get the IKEA batteries delivered. I'm in inner-city Brisbane, and IKEA says shipping is "Currently limited to large orders". I also tried postcodes 2000 and 3000, same story.

        So unless you're buying furniture in the same order, there are no delivery options for IKEA batteries.

        why be the guinea pig

        Because for many people, IKEA is a long way away, and travel time plus walking-through-store time is quite long, for me they combine to over an hour. Whereas the Woolies batteries can be picked up during my weekly grocery shopping run, adding maybe two minutes to my shopping run.

        For me, the convenience outweighs the risk.

        • 

          Lucille Bluth on 23/04/2023 - 12:10

          +1

          @Russ:

          For me, the convenience outweighs the risk.

          In that case just get Eneloops delivered. They aren't that much more expensive, and at least you know for certain you are getting quality batteries. Or wait for a deal on them which is frequent.

          I picked up no-name random rechargeable batteries from Colesworth deals before and I can vouch for Eneloops everytime even at double the price. You really do get what you pay for in this specific case with batteries. Some of my Eneloops are 10+ years old. I doubt these Quantum ones have comparable charge/discharge cycles.

        • 

          rumblytangara on 23/04/2023 - 13:05

          @Russ: Huh, weird. I am getting the AAAs as available for delivery, but not the AAs.

• 

  bamzero on 23/04/2023 - 15:46

  +3

  OK, I'll be the guinea pig. Production date is 121222 (on the card, nothing printed on the battery itself)

  First thing I noticed is they look remarkedly similar to some I've bought from Aldi before, except they were either $6 for a 4 pack or $10 for an 8 pack.

  Out of the pack the no load voltages were 1.18V, 1.23V, 1.25V and 1.25V.
  I discharged the 1.18 and 1.23 at C/5, the 1.18 is completely unusable out of the pack, 1v after 26mAh. The 1.23V discharged 448mAh to 1V.
  The last two 1.25V I didn't bother to discharge, I've just dropped them straight into a refresh and analyze cycle. So far still in the charge cycle, at 1.41V with 1850mAh gone in so probably 1/5th pre-charged too.

  Will update with full discharge capacity once it's done, but safe to say these are not "ready to use" from the pack. Can't say for sure about their self-discharge rate but not looking promising given the 4 months or so since production unless they were not shipped fully charged (though if you could, why wouldn't you).

  Given this is the "special" price not seeing the value in them. At Aldi prices, maybe.

  • 

    Russ on 23/04/2023 - 20:01

    That's the same as "original recipe" nimh batteries. At their typical discharge rate of roughly 1% per day, they would be down to 26% capacity after 132 days, and that's roughly what you're seeing.

    So rumblytangara's instincts were correct, these aren't comparable to LSD NiMh.

    • 

      bamzero on 24/04/2023 - 12:46

      +1

      Even worse, initial discharge at C/5 after first full charge only giving a capacity around 2200mAh (much like I saw with the similar Aldi ones that were supposed to be 2500mAh too now that I think about it)

      • 

        Russ on 24/04/2023 - 18:42

        +2

        Thanks for doing the testing!