Got a battery powered: nose trimmer, beard trimmer, 2xAA Sonicare travel toothbrush? Really perks up devices like that, small motors that are kind of laggy, especially as the batteries get old.
The only lights I put them in are small 2XAA or 4xAA motion lights I have all over the house. Some of them that I want to keep brighter and are harder to change out seem to do a bit better with these.
A minor point, but important to me, is that the battery grip in some of those lights is damn aggressive. I can shred the top edges of the cell prying it out, or break a fingernail (ouch!). Some cells I actually need a tool which can cause even more damage. The Tenavolt are a tad smaller diameter, much nicer and harder skin/wrap than any other battery I know (including Eneloops), and slipperier. They go in and out nicely. For a permanently mounted light near the ceiling I like that a lot.
The best cells I had for those particular lights were some REALLY old RayOVac 4.0 and Eneloops. They are getting tired and need replacing anyway. They have hundreds of cycles. Those old ROV have actually been amazing. Manufactured in 08/2011, I beat the snot out of them and most of them are still OK, not great, but still buzzing along. Good enough for stuff like that.
BTW, thanks for the efficiency explanation. Didnāt think about the multiple conversions going on. That would not help out at all.
The Tenavolt cell I took out of a xeno eo3 after it shut off running on high read 0.24V fluctuating wildly to about 0.60V. The tenavolt ran this light more like a 14500 than a eneloop - brighter with a lot more heat and shorter run time. In direct drive lights, the Tenevolts are great. The run at full brightness until they are almost dead when they start to dim and flicker. In most fully regulated lights, Tenavolts seem to run pretty much like standard eneloops.
Oh, Iāve seen āem, but still wish thereād be some kind of warning. Itās a bit disconcerting to be shaving your face and have the beastie just upānādie as if you switched it off. Bad enough NiCd cells would do that over 5sec or so. Having it happen instantly is definitely a āWhoa, what happened??ā moment.
The Xeno just shut off - I think the protection circuit kicked in.
Running tenavolts in a couple of flashlight/lanterns combos, a energizer weatheready 2AA and a life gear 3AA is where I got the dimming/flickeringā¦ā¦thought it might have something to do with the multiple cells, but I had the same thing happen with a inova X1 which suddenly dropped from full brightness to a few lumens and soon started to flicker. Iām not sure what is going on, but this is what happened.
I think there may be some variation in cut-off. Iāve got some that simply go to 0v, and others that do kind of what you are saying. But, when itās flickering, itās done.
Could be chuggle. Ie, voltage under load when itās spent drops too low, the circuit stops functioning, load drops to near-0, voltage rises, it kicks in ever so slightly for a āflickerā, then the cycle repeats ātil the cellās so spent that it doesnāt come back on again at all.
Neighbor whose yard abuts mine has an idiotic spotlight in his yard, where the sensor must be in the beam or at least catching enough light from it. Turns on, sensor thinks, āOoh, itās light out!ā, then shuts off 5sec or so later. Then, āOoh, itās dark out!ā and it comes back on another 5sec or so later. And the cycle repeats.
All.
Night.
Long.
Think of the āflickerā as a very fast and thankfully very transient effect like this.
Is this still accurate for an Xtar X4? I put four in my charger before I read this thread and it seems to workā¦.
I still have the proprietary charger so I can use that if itās warranted.
Sorry for the necrobump
No, it doesnāt work. It mayā¦ā¦seemā¦. to work with ā¦ā¦someā¦ā¦ chargers. You will get some charge, but the chargerās termination capability will be thwarted by the internal electronics. They are in control.
Tried what you are talking about with a number of multi-chargers. Nope.
Works fine with the proprietary charger.
I havenāt been impressed with my set of 4 Tenavolts cells. One would not hold a charge worth anything, and the others donāt provide much longevity per charge.
Wow. I sooo appreciate the info. I put them in the tenenvolt charger and the primary indicator was green.
I assume they are chargedā¦? They will go back into the bathroom radio until ādeadā and then back to the factory charger. Tanks again!
Huhā¦ they work fine for me. You MUST use the come-with charger. They need 5V full USB voltage, NOT 4.2V thatād charge Li cells. The latter almost certainly wonāt charge the internal cell worth a damn.
In my Xeno, an alkaleak will gradually dim to the point of being useless. A Tenavolt will maintain full 1.5V brightness (ie, dimmerān a 14500) right up to the point where it drops dead without warning. Decent runtime, too.
I agree with @Lightbringer. I have a dozen, all working almost continuously for a year+. No, they donāt have mega capacity, most being in the 1600mAh range. They donāt have mega amp output, being limited by the circuitry to ~ 1.5A output. But they do put out a pretty solid 1.5v until they drop dead. That is very useful for āsomeā applications. Mostly not needed though. Understand what you are buying.
Only worth the price on a GOOD sale, which I have not seen in ages. Current price is simply way too high.
I do see the attraction however at $35 for 4 (Amazon,) thatās just too much. Thatās over 3 x as much as eneloop which is already the most expensive rechargeable battery.
Yeh, thatās more in line with what I recall paying for āem.
Theyāre great in things that donāt like eneloops/amaloops, that need that higher voltage.
I recall some remotes that would stop working with NiMH cells. Alkaleaks that were down to 1.2V with no load were pretty much spent anyway, so youād get decent life out of āem (before theyād start leaking), so in that case the Tenavolts would be perfect.
But yeah, no, no way would I pay almost 9bux per cell.