Test/review of Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA 2019

Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA 2019







Official specifications:

  • Nominal voltage: 1.5V

  • Chemical system: Lithium Disulfide (Li/FeS2)

  • Storage temperature: –40° ~ 60°C

  • Operating temperature: –40° ~ 60°C

  • Maximum discharge current: 2.5A

  • Maximum pulse discharge current: 4A (2s on / 8s off)

  • Shelf life: 20 years at 21°C

















Being lithium batteries means they maintain close to 1.5V until they are nearly empty. It looks like this battery has some sort of over current protection.







Discharging at low current (10mA) shows the higher voltage (1.7V) from these batteries, but there is no extra capacity to be gained.





Conclusion

These battery are the best primary batteries around, but also rather expensive and some equipment may have problems with the high voltage.



Notes and links

How is the test done and how to read the charts
Compare to other AA/AAA batteries: Alkaline/NiMH/Lithium

Wow those do look nice for 1.5v primaries. Thanks HKJ!

Thanks for testing those.

These go in all my auto flashlights, because they hold up well in varying temperatures - and have a long shelf life. I also put them in all my remotes, because I know that leaking is rare.

I've done a few runtime graphs on various lights with these and compared their runtime with Panasonic Eneloop pros. In general, you will get about 1.5 times the runtime.

Thanks for the test, they seem to perform great! 5Wh in a AA cell is just insane.

The only downside is they’re extremely expensive compared to alkalines.

Yes, nice batteries, but insane prices where I live. They cost $2-$3 each. At that price, I can get Eneloops for about the same cost.

It’s interesting that the Energizers are only good up to about 2 amps. I guess that’s plenty, but still not enough for high-demand lights like a Zebralight SC5. I guess Eneloops still rule as far as power goes, though not in capacity.

The only time I could justify the price of Energizer Lithiums, is if I was using them in weather below –20C. Eneloops start to suffer below that temperature. If the Energizers are good to –40C, they’d have value in extreme cold.

Thank you for the test

I use the AA ones for the small torches (like SF10) i gift to "non technically inclined" people.

At least there is a decent chance it will still work and won't leak after being tossed in a purse or glove compartment and left there for monthes/years

Has anyone used these cells in DMM devices yet? I want to use them in my Aneng AN8009 multimeter but I'm not quite sure about the higher voltage of these cells and if there's a risk to damage the DMM or that measurements will be wrong due to too high input voltage.

The Aneng probably uses a DTM0660 chip and these are rated for 3.6V, that means 1.8V for each battery, i.e. it is fine to use lithium-iron batteries. There is a reference both in the chip and the meter that will keep the meter correct independent of supply voltage.

Tak for oplysningerne Henrik! :+1:

Concerning this, does the cell dies if the protection trips in? I.e., does the protection self-resets?

I will assume it do, it is most likely a PTC.