I noticed that the LADA batteries state that you can charge them….“up to 500 times”.
Now the HarborFreight AAA batteries says “can be used up to 1000 times”
500 more cycles is significant. Is there anything to that ?
Should it be assumed that HarborFreight is fudging the truth and Ikea is not?
LADDA Rechargeable battery IKEA
Rechargeable battery
$6.99
Key features
- You can use these batteries for all types of products. Batteries with a high energy capacity (high mAh number) are particularly useful for products with a high energy consumption, such as MP3 players, cameras, toys, flashlights and game controllers.
The battery is ready to use.
>>>>> You can recharge these batteries approx. 500 times. <<<<<
Voltage: 1.2V.
Battery capacity: 900 mAh.
Life: approx. 5 years.
500 chargers vs. 1000. People seem to get caught up in that spec.
If you used them hard enough you had to charge them every week, you’d get 2 years out of them. Pretty much no one does that. If you did you wouldn’t need LSD type anyway.
Mostly they die of old age, neglect, and various forms of abuse. In that case a quality LSD like Eneloop is far more likely to last.
Capacity is one metric, charge cycles another. I think possibly the most critical characteristic for me is real world longevity, which is about impossible to measure in a useful way. By the time you’ve acquired that information THAT particular battery, even if it has the same name and wrapper, is likely no longer made.
Ok.
So do you think I’m just as good with the HarborFreight batteries given the constant low drain use I have in mind and that they will be recharged every two to three weeks?
You are an experiment in progress. I don’t know, I’m working entirely off reputation, and even reputations change. Japanese Eneloops were pretty much the leader of the pack….now there are Chinese Eneloops which don’t seem to be as good. Come back in 2-3 years or when the batteries croak.
Of course by then the HF batteries will likely be from a different source. No biggie, we’re talking a few bucks here in a rolling experiment.
FWIW, I had been eyeballing a dozen of those Amazon Basics AAA for $13 but the reports weren’t great. So, instead I bought 24 Tenergy Centuras for $20. They seem to have about the same general reputation….all over the map but mostly positive. Guess I’ll find out. I do have some Eneloop (genuine, Japanese) AAA and I’m not entirely enamored of them, but maybe that’s just AAA. It’s kind of a poor size as far as I’m concerned, but I got a bunch of things that need them.
Yeah. I guess you’re right. After all the dust settles it’s probably hit or miss, 6 - 1/2 dozen or the other as they say.
For all I know the Ikea LADDA’s might not be the same quality as the ones HJK got from where ever he got those.
And by the time I drive way over to Ikea to get them they’re gonna cost me about $14 a pack of 4.
I have a 25% off coupon for HarborFreight that puts the 900mAh batteries at $5.20 per pack of 4
I think I’ll just get another set of those and stop fussing over it haha.
If ever I’m at Ikea for furniture of something else, then I’ll pick some up.
What you’ll see on chinese crap is it will look pretty impressive right out of the box .
And what you can absolutely guarentee is that they will be DOA or so bad in two years that you;ll be chasing appallingly low capacities and high resistance and regret ever buying them.
The flip side is After 5 years you will still be using eneloops/duraloop /amazon/fdk or ikeas …probably more like 15 years
Every time someone buys junk batteries……A puppy dies
I’m NOT recommending them but I’ve just got done charging some Energizer NiMh C’s. They are dated 2004, have nearly new capacity and low IR. I’ve had Radio Shack D’s that lasted over 10 years with regular weekend cycling at about a 2A draw to 3/4 of their capacity. I’ve also had ‘no-name’ batteries with better marketing specs that were on their way out in 2 years.
Most (decent) batteries don’t die by cycles. They die by user abuse and neglect. How long the new LSD cells will last is still up for grabs. Since the time frame can be REALLY long for good cells, and the use history about impossible to determine, there is no way to guarantee anything. Pretty much everyone is their own experiment. Throw LOTS of experiments into the mix and you can get some kind of idea what the [general] outcome will be.
Good advice.
I should start putting dates on my batteries. Maybe I have some that are that old and still going?
Ya know, it’s possible now that I think about it. I do have some batteries that have been around for a LONG time.
Just never really thought about it. Time flies.
The cycle count is determined by the manufacturer with testing equipment I assume. No idea how, or if, they can actually test cells with thousands of theoretical cycles. That would take a LONG time, so long that specific chemistry and/or manufacturing technique might be outdated by the time they got done.
I bought a package of the HF AAA batteries and am comparing run times with the 800 mAh Duracells; which I find about like eneloops. So far it appears that the HF batteries are exceeding the Duracells by at least 25%
I am using Singfire 348 and a Tank 007 E09.In the past I did some run times with various NiMH batteries and on high the batteries did not run over one hour. The test with HF just now ran 2 hours.
The HF batteries may be sleeper, depending upon the longevity.
So it appears the HF are high capacity, which seems to be at odds with LSD, at least in current chemistry.
Set a couple charged ones aside and test them in 6 months maybe. See what the self discharge is like.
Use the hell out of the rest and report back in 2 years. Then we actually know something.
Are you kidding?? At 84 I don’t plan that far ahead.
I just finished a comparison of the Duracell and HF in my Tank 007. The Duracell burned 43 minutes and the HF 1 hr 58 min. A previous test with eneloop showed the eneloop burned 40 min. A little difficult to accept the difference. Doesn’t make sense to me, but that is what happened.
Jerry
I’ve found them to be an overall darn good value for the buck myself. Hopefully very few will buy them so there’ll always be plenty for you and me haha!
If they get too popular, they raise the price and get hard to come by.
I for one don’t really care if they last more than a year. 2 years would be exceptional.
For $5.45, I can afford to replace them once a year or two.
That said, I do believe I have some HF batteries still going strong after about 5 years of infrequent use.
Hope it ok to post re HF AA.
I used a Sipek 68 using eneloop and HF batteries.
The HF burned 3 hrs 30min, and the eneloop 2hrs 45min.
I must say that I am impressed with the Harbor Freight NiMH batteries. Hope the longevity is satisfactory.
Jerry
Just got back from IKEA and picked up some LADDA AA’s and AAA’s
Since I bought them within two weeks of buying the Harbor Freight AAA’s I can see how the two do over time.
The LADDA’s are all at about 30milli-ohms IR and the Harbor Freight AAA’s about 33milli-ohms
However, in my alarm remote application - nothing so far beats the NiZn AAA’s. Not eneloops, not Alkalines….
Reason being, the remotes require 1.5v and have the 1.3v cut off built in and everything else drops to 1.35 VERY quickly.
If you have a low drain, 1.5v single battery device that has a built in voltage cut off at or above 1.2v, I can recommend the NiZn batteries.
Just charge them to 1.8v instead of 1.9v.
For that particular application they shine like a searchlight.
At 84 I don’t plan that far ahead.