Test / Review: Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA

Oh, thanks! I found this one interesting too:

I’m confused by depending on weak high current of alkalines

These AA Li-ion primary cells are also known in the trade as Energizer Ultimate L91 AA
(check carefully for a tiny ’L91” printed sideways on the mid-cell in the fourth battery picture from the top post).

Confusingly, Energizer is also marketing a cheaper range of look-alike cylindrical, lower mAH capacity,
1.5V primary Li-ion batteries, known as Energizer Advanced Lithium.

Summary of current Energizer Li-ion cylindrical 1.5V primary (throw-away) battery line-up:

Energizer Advanced - EA91 - AA - max discharge 1.5 A continuous
Energizer Advanced - EA92 - AAA - max discharge 1.0 A continuous

Energizer Ultimate - L91 - AA - max discharge 3.0 A continuous (as reviewed here)
Energizer Ultimate - L92 - AAA -max discharge 1.5 A continuous

Mfr Data sheets:

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/ea91.PDF
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/ea92.pdf
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/l91.pdf
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/l92.pdf

Cheers,

__philippe

I’ve tried them against the Chinese “Nice” brand lithium primaries (from FT at about $1 a pop) and for the life of me, I can’t see a lick of difference. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they’re the same battery with a different wrapper.

I keep a good stash of them as well. I hate alkyleakers. Eneloops or lithium primaries for me, please.

Some lights depends on the batteries limiting the current. Lithium batteries has higher voltage than both alkaline and NiMH, even at 1A.

Thanks again for great review HKJ!

I wish more companies made lithium primaries in AA and AAA, is this because Energizer has a patent?

Yeah in things like tv remotes and clocks, these aren’t worth it over alkalines.
But for our lights these things are awesome.

That’s interesting, do those Fasttech ones have expiration dates similar to these lithiums?
I wonder if they are old batches?

how do they limit the current?

No, the “Nice” lithium batteries only have manufacturing date printed on them. They are also physically little different so they are completely different product from the Energizers.

The last batch I got show what appears to be a manufacturing date of Mar. 2013, with the comment “Period of validity 15 years”….“Guangzhou Nice Battery Tech Co Ltd.” They just came in shrink wrapped pairs. I bought both AAs and AAAs - both seem to have run times identical to the Ultimate Lithium cells we get here for a whole lot more money.

Look at the curves for alkaline, when drawing more current the voltage will drop more.

Thanks HKJ. The eleven year life span look impressive. I wonder if different temperatures affects this?

Varta, GP, Camelion, Ansmann, Raver, Philips

As I understand things, this is indeed the case in the US, but not in other countries.

Thanks a lot for the review! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

don`t forget Panasonic and Fujitsu :)

One niche that these batteries can fill is emergency use in high current applications. If you can’t recharge your NiMH batteries, and alkaline batteries just don’t have the oomph, these are a good choice. This is especially true for digital cameras, which are notoriously bad with alkaline batteries (and for which L91 lithiums are actually MUCH more cost effective).

Of course, resistance to leakage is also a good use for L91 batteries as an alkaline replacement. Certain devices may not need the higher current capabilities of lithiums. But if the replacement cost of the device is very high, Energizer Lithiums can be a good choice. A good example here would be expensive multimeters and other electronic instruments. Current demand is low. But the last thing you want is leaking alkaline batteries in a Fluke.

I’ve noticed that the packaging of new Energizer Lithium’s says they have a shelf life of 20-years.

Did they change anything, or is the shelf life realistically better than the 15-years they’ve advertised in the past???

Has anyone tested the Tenergy primaries side by side with the Energizer?
I bought a few AAA’s to do a test vs alkaline, but its a non-scientific test.
However it proved to me that energizer AAA alkaline die quicker than Tenergy Lithium AAA in my GMRS radio.
One set had to be replaced every 1.5 - 2 hours. The other lasted over 4 hours, and still has juice.

Anyone wanna get some solid numbers for a vs like an old member did here for li-ions?

DuraCell Alkalines now advertise a life of 10 years. Not sure if the extra money is worth another decade...I just rotate my stock.