IKEA kills off LADDA NiMH made in Japan

I have Japan made AAA laddas working perfectly since 2017. No issues. Eneloop style…

2450mAh LADDAs are 500 cycles only for AA. Are they worth it at $2 a piece?

Most definitely! They are similar to Eneloop Pros, more capacity but less cycles. However they still outlast all other NiMH batteries I’ve used.

Just finished charging up the dark grey Ladda’s (2450mAh ones). Bought 3 packs (12 batteries) on 8-10-21. Yes, they are marked as “Made in Japan”. These all had an embossed date code of 2103. I’m taking that as March 2021. So, if this is correct, and assuming worst case…,(end of March), that is around 4 months of sitting around…actually being shipped from Japan to where ever to southern California to the IKEA store I purchased them from. Here are my findings so far. They may be about 1mm longer than the white ones. I have not measured them, but they seem to stack differently and slightly tighter than the white ones. Just an observation. After the first discharge/charge cycle in my AccuPower IQ338XL charger, set to the non changeable default discharge of 500mAh and the charge setting of 700mAh, these came in with a residual charge of 1789mAh to 1934mAh discharge out of the box and 2616mAh to 2886mAh taking some 4 hours 16 minutes to 4 hours 43 minutes to charge, with 15 to 21 milli ohms of internal resistance on the 1 cycle. I did all 12 batteries. Then after the first 12 discharge/charge cycles were accomplished, I put them all in the charger to do them 1 more time. After the 2nd discharge/charge cycle, the discharge ranged from 2462mAh to 2669mAh. They all seem to discharge over their rating of 2450mah. The charge cycle ranged from 2586mAh to 2884mAh taking some 4 hours 13 minutes to 4 hours 42 minutes to charge with 15 to 30 milli ohms of internal resistance. They seem to behave just like the white Ladda’s so far. I have quite a few of those that I have been using and testing for the last 2 years. The test AA’s AAA’s (12 of each) have shown to be above their ratings and the shelf life are still above 85% of listed capacity at 15 months of sitting on the shelf, which I believe to be fantastic. Will try to update in a year to give you’al some feelings into the low self discharge of the new style batteries.

Confirmed to be made in Japan.

Just assume that they’re legit Fujitsu/Eneloop HiCaps.

Just assume that as such, you’re get between 2-3 years of life out of them before their I.R.s rise to the point that your AccuPower charger will reject them.

Just use them and abuse them.

I no longer buy HiCaps for the above mentioned reason, but in certain apps, they can be worth the scratch.

Just don’t expect 5-10 years out of them.

Just remember that chargers aren’t uniform across the board. My LaCrosse BC-700 reads about 10% higher than my Maha C9000 on NiMH and that charger is similar to your charger.

My two Opus BT-4100s read about 5-10% higher than my Maha.

Chris

Someone should change the title of this post, the new grey Ladda’s are still MIJ. No MIC grey Laddas have been spotted.

https://www.fdk.com/denchi-e/

Fujitsu
Fujitsu, on the other hand, currently owns the factory. This single factor is the only one capable of producing these low self-discharge nickel-metal hydride batteries, and it supplies many brands such as Amazon, Fujitsu, Panasonic, and… IKEA.

Truth Be Told……

The white LADDA batteries were not that good long term.

I have empirical data from tests which proves that LADDA (At least the NiMh AAA did not do so well long term.

They tend to lose their capacity more so than comparable NiMh rechargables over time. Consistently.

It’s not a great difference, I would say they lose 20% more of their capacity than some comparable NiMh AAA’s.

Most likely due to their chemical composition. I have a plethora of LADDA’s and I compare them with a number of other brands through a rather
exhausting set of tests.

That said, the batteries they are being compared to are “COMPARABLE”….meaning, they are from the same circa dates as the Ladda.
I cannot speak for later batteries from LADDA (Ikea) or from competitive brands.

Bottom line……it’s not a great loss…and there are BETTER substitutes in the same price range. Some of which would surprise most people I suspect.

My white Laddas are still going strong. Best value for money NiMHs I’ve used.

What’s your recommendation for NiMh AAs and AAAs? I need to get some more, but don’t need eneloop quality (and price).

I have 3 of those IQ338XLs along with my MC3000’s and various other chargers / discharge testers.

If you want 4 different results from any of those batteries, just repeat the test in a different slot.
BTW, 127milliohms is as high as the IQ338XL will read, regardless of the batteries actual IR

I can’t.
Since 2017 I’ve bought hundreds and hundreds of batteries and haven’t needed to buy new NiMh batteries lately. In more than a year actually.
I’m just using up the old stock until the capacities are too low to continue using them.

The batteries that were “best” last year may not be this year. Factories change. Materials change, manufacturing processes change etc etc.
I can only speak for the batteries I’ve had and used / tested over the last 4 years.

IKEA still sells the 2450 and now the 1900. Wrapper says Japan, imported through IKEA Mexico. Wrapper is now brown. I’ve been wanted ikea priced rewrapped regular eneloops and it appears this is it.

Good to know. The next time I’m in Chicago I’ll have to stop at IKEA and stock up.

Very sad to hear !

Our local IKEA here in Germany still has plenty of those made in Japan. :slight_smile:
AA in Pro (2450 mAh, 6,99 Euro / 4pc) and standard (1900 mAh, 3,99 Euro / 4pc ) and AAA in standard (750 mAh, 3,99 Euro / 4pc).
Pretty cheap. :slight_smile: I will post some pictures later.

If I should send some to anybody, anywhere, let me know ! (At cost price + shipping.)

Edit, linkservice:

All the new ones are made in Japan.

It's just the white ones, and the tan/brown ones that stopped selling in most places. Still interesting to see that you guys still have the white ones.

Those grey 2450 should be the same as the white 2450

Yes - the white ones can still be ordered online and are in stock in a few locations in Germany.

I was in a US Ikea and found that they had 3 of the 4 new batteries in stock.

AA - 2450 - These are like the old white ones - Now in dark gray wrapper. Made in Japan. $7.99 for 4 pack. Seemingly like Eneloop Pro. Ikea Website

AA - 1900 - Light gray wrapper. Made in Japan. $5.99 for 4 pack. Seemingly like regular Eneloop. Ikea Website

AAA - 900 - Dark gray wrapper - not in stock. Seemingly would be like Eneloop Pro. Not sure if product actually exists yet.

AAA - 750 - Light gray - Made in Japan - $5.49 for 4 pack. Seemingly like regular Eneloop. Ikea Website

So IKEA seems to be selling the basic light gray AAA (750mAh) for $5.49 per 4-pack.
Amazon has the Eneloop AAA 8-pack for $15.

Does the LADDA have the same charge life as the Eneloop? (something like a 2,000 charge cell life).