Good NiMh replacement cells for 3xAA outdoor solar motion light?

The three OEM NiMh AA cells are three or four years old now. When triggered, the light isn't bright enough to do much good any more, but the brightness doesn't diminish during the preset one-minute timed run.

Looks like 150 COB emitters spread across three heads. The motion sensitivity is limited to only trigger from activity directly underneath, which is infrequent.

The light itself containing the 3 cells is completely shaded under the eaves, so heat is limited to ambient air temp. only, as well as cold. It seldom drops below 0 deg. F. here & not for long when it does. The remote solar panel is mounted to receive direct sun from mid afternoon until sunset all year. Charging time has not been an issue.

Light is mounted ~20 ft. up; the upper limit of my extension ladder. It's a PITA to access.

I'm looking for recommendations, please, for NiMh AA cells suited to very intermittent, short-run outdoor use in a solar-charged light with a bias toward longevity.

Thanks.

slmjim

Eneloops for the win!

Thanks for the response.

Regular Eneloops, or Eneloop LSD cells? Are either version more tolerant of wide outdoor temperature swings?

slmjim

Regular Eneloops ARE LSD cells. LSD cells are ‘supposed to’ not take well to constant charging, like phones or solar charging. HOW true, and how bad that is in the long haul I have no idea. I’ve never tried a good LSD cell in that kind of application. That’s where I put my beater, non-LSD old NiMh. They are generally way better than those pathetic 600mAh NiCads that often come with them.
For an experiment I put a alkaline AA cell in a small/cheap solar light and let it suffer a whole spring>fall season. It worked fine, and surprisingly did not leak. I was surprised and it must have been cycled. 100+ times. I used to have one of those old chargers that would charge alkaline batteries. Those things are a disaster with deceptive marketing.

I’m hoping HJK might shine some light on this. I wonder if a decent non-LSD, or a good NiCad (vs the cheap ones), might be a better long term option?

Eneloop lites are made for frequent cycling and constant charging.

AAcycler tested them

Much better longevity compared to standard eneloops/fujitsu

You might want to see the tests done by Project Farm too. He used solar lights to test how rechargeable batteries held up over time. There is more than one video.

Looks like you have Menards there in Louisville. Have you thought about getting these: Performax AA Solar Rechargeable Batteries.

I bought some last year on sale along with some AAAs. They both have 800 mAh. I’ve put them in remotes and clocks and they seem fine for inexpensive low capacity NiMHs.

Yeah I wouldn't waste an Eneloop for something that gets charged poorly and always charging .Any cheap non low self discharge cell seems to make sense here . this is kind of like the cordless phones sitting /cooking away on a charger 24/7

I have cordless phone that uses 4xAAA NiMh, the original ones that it came with do not hold charge well anymore (call will drop after a few minutes). Since they sit in the cordless phone cradle/charger most of the time, I would think it’s not a good idea to use LSD NiMh - any idea which non-LSD NiMh may be good? I suppose they would be similar to the ones suggested for the 3xAA outdoor solar motion light…

if you have to order the batts get eneloop lites or the brown ikeas.
nicads work well for these too. the ebl 1100 aa i got checked out good.
much more abuse tolerant than nimh.
as for less demanding solar lights here they get the rejects the c9000 flags.
even the most worn out junkers work a few years in a cheap solar light.
obviously this is not an option for the o.p as that light pulls over 1a when on.
i have one like it.