6 months LSD Ni-Mh test results (many batteries, more to come)

There's a short thread about the Harbor Freight batteries here:

Thanks. I don't go over to CPF. I believe the HF batteries are a pretty good value when on sale.

IMPORTANT UPDATE

Dont buy the PISEN AA batteries (unless you are going to use them on low load applications).

I dont know if my 2 units are bad or what happens exactly.

All my tests on all batteries where done at 500mA, both charging and discharging.

Today, I charged these batteries at 500mA (as in the tests) and then made a discharge test, this time at 1.0Amps instead of the 500mA of the tests (to test them at 1.0Amps to see how they perform)

Results were more than dissapointing.... I have no words.

Measured capacity: 2mAh on one battery and 5mAh with the other battery.

I mean, when you put a load of 500mA to them, they perform very good. They hold the voltage and the voltage decreases over the time very slowly (is normal, as the other batteries I have tested)

But, when you put a load of 1000mA to them, the voltage drops from 1,4volts to below 0,8volts in less than 10 seconds!!!!!

This behaviour is not present in any other of the batteries I have. So the PISEN AA that I have seems to be designed for low load applications (or they are defective...)

I am not a battery specialist, but.... seems that they have a high internal resistance.

And the problem is not the charger, because I took a BTone 2100 and discharged at 1.0Amps and the behaviour was normal (the voltage didn´t dropped so fast).

OK, only that. You are warned. Removed temporarily from the "good batteries list".... until more tests are done

Have you done 1000mA discharges of the others as well?

Yes, 1A discharge on the AA ones. The AAA have been discharged up to 800mA (1C). None of them has shown that horrendous behaviour

Added two more batteries to this test:

GENUINE Sanyo Eneloop 2nd gen (2000mAh typ 1900mAh)
Manufactured on June 2011. Received on June 2012.

By this moment I ONLY have discharge test, LSD test results will be ready on 6 months (December 2012)

First discharge (charged in the factory about 1 year ago)

Cell 1 - 1327mAh @500mA discharge

Cell 2 - 1318mAh @500mA discharge

(what? they really charge the batteries to 100% in the factory? After 1 year they still have ONLY? the 69% of the capacity left?)

Ok, let´s do 5 full cycles, test capacity and wait 6 months to see what happens…

FAKE eneloops from DinoDirect

only to see if they are LSD batteries or not and how they perform.
Currently testing…………………

Today I bought 4 AA “ready to use” Activ Energy 2300 mAh from Aldi store for 4€. When surfing for some tests I found this site: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=\_t&hl=sl&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ledstyles.de%2Fftopic17286.html and the results look pretty darn good to me. Ok self discharge after one year is a little high, but very high initial capacity of ~2700mAh means that even after one year in a drawer the capacity is still more or less identical to eneloop . Anyone else tested these?

I prefer not to use non-LSD batts any more, no matter if they are 2700mAh or even more…

In my opinion, non-LSD is recomendable when you need… let´s say 2700mAh and you are going to use the batteries the next day after charging, or the other… not 1 month after…. obvious….

Always LSD proven batts, and if $$$ permits, eneloop.

just found this and related threads this morning, thank you very much for the thorough reviews, I'm off to get some BTone's :)

Sometimes, LSD is not really desirable. I find this to be the case mostly with AAA batteries. They are low in capacity to begin with. This means that (1) you will drain them completely in a short time in anything that can be considered high drain, so LSD is kind of superfluous, and (2) you generally need all the capacity you can get. For high capacity AAA batteries, I have had good luck with the dark green top, Japanese made, 1000mAH Duracells. Yes, they need to be charged before use. But given the low capacity of any AAA, you would probably want to ‘top off’ even LSD batteries if you need maximum runtime (especially if they are used in something used intermittently).

Thank you for your measurements from your post - which you’ve basically ignored SINCE MAY 2012 - ? (a coupla’ posts in Oct. and then now?)

[quote=StorminMatt]

Yes, and PLEASE give us BLF’ers some pic’s of your dmm measurements fran82, ok? :slight_smile: and also please let us click on:

“This post/thread ”may” contain referrals, a little contribution I “earn” in form of points ONLY if you buy the item. The purpose is to redeem items using the points+my cash when neccesary, and then making reviews of them in the forums to share info about them. It will not cost you anything. I dont “earn” anything if you ONLY click the link.“

Hehe, flash.light wont give up :D!

Ok, fran82, do you have some fresh data to share with us, Id be curious to see how those cheapo LSD’s hold up with time!

Hi, vêer. hmmm….

About the cheap LSD (BTone) no more tests, I did 6 months LSD tests and I have been using all of them, I will not test any more of the BTone ones… they are good at least for 6 months, more than 6…. I will prefer Eneloop for that.

However, the only batteries that I have for LSD testing in this moment are the Genuine Eneloop 2nd gen.

I have 2x AA eneloops which in a few days they will have been 6 months without use. (exactly on 16-dec it will be 6 months)

I have been monitoring the voltage, and the Genuine eneloop are performing much better than the BTones. But just measuring the resting voltage.

I have a total of 6x AA genuine eneloops, and I was thinking into taking 2x of them and doing a 6 months LSD test, then another 2x more to do a 12 months LSD test and the other 2x for a 24 month LSD test… because I dont use the eneloops, I use the Btones…

I dont have data about the remaining capacity, because, for doing that, I have to take the Imax and discharge them.

However I have been measuring the resting voltage…. do you want it?

2x Genuine eneloop AA. Last time charged: 16-06-12. Voltages:

Recently charged: BAT1 - 1.445 BAT2 –1.451
After 1 week: …… BAT1 - 1.368 BAT2 - 1.366
After 1 month: …. BAT1 - 1.354 BAT2 - 1.355
After 2 months: … BAT1 - 1.336 BAT2 - 1.334
After 3 months: … BAT1 - 1.330 BAT2 - 1.331
After 4 months: … BAT1 - 1.327 BAT2 - 1.326
After 5 months: … BAT1 - 1.323 BAT2 - 1.325
After 6 months: … Still not measured (16 december will be 6 months)

I was thinking into doing that, 2x 6 months, the other 2x 1 year, and the other 2x 2 years…

Where in the US are you located?

Ok, a little update, I was very busy…

I finally measured the resting voltage of the 2 first genuine eneloop after 6 months (ok, this is not the way to measure the LSD capabilities, only FYI). The final voltage measurement finish as this:

2x Genuine eneloop AA. Last time charged: 16-06-12. Voltages:

Recently charged: BAT1 – 1.445 BAT2 –1.451
After 1 week: …… BAT1 – 1.368 BAT2 – 1.366
After 1 month: …. BAT1 – 1.354 BAT2 – 1.355
After 2 months: … BAT1 – 1.336 BAT2 – 1.334
After 3 months: … BAT1 – 1.330 BAT2 – 1.331
After 4 months: … BAT1 – 1.327 BAT2 – 1.326
After 5 months: … BAT1 – 1.323 BAT2 – 1.325
After 6 months: … BAT1 – 1.321 BAT2 – 1.321

Now, I will do the discharge test to see what is the remaining capacity. Results tomorrow at noon….

ok. I updated this info in the first post of this thread.

Finally the 6 months LSD test of the GENUINE Sanyo Eneloop second generation has been done.

The results, make me think 2 things. The first one, that the old Eneloop I have, or they are not Genuine, or they are first gen, because they show higher capacity and better LSD results than the Genuine second gen. The second thing, is, that BTone batteries are not bad at all, at least if you want them to retain the capacity on the six first months. I have not tested the BTone for more than 6 months, but, I think that above 6 months, the Genuine Sanyo Eneloop 2nd gen will perform a lot better.

The results are:

8 ) Genuine Sanyo Eneloop 1900mAh (second gen)

link - ebay USA seller

FYI, no load voltages were:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months (1.355v, 1.336v, 1.331v, 1.327v, 1.325v, 1.321v)

Measured capacity

Cell 1 = 1785mAh
Cell 2 = 1794mAh

Remaining after six months

Cell 1 = 1582mAh
Cell 2 = 1590mAh

So it has about 88.6% of it´s capacity still available after 6 months.

My (perhaps) premature conclusion: BTone 2100mAh, has higher capacity than the genuine Eneloop 2nd gen. But on LSD, the Eneloop seems a bit better, at least after 6 months. I beleive that, above 6 months, the Sanyo Eneloop will be better than the BTones.

I will leave another 2x genuine Eneloop for a 12 months LSD test and another 2x Genuine ones for a 24 months test

Today I received more batts to test

This time Genuine Sanyo Eneloop XX (pack of 4) from DX. I think they are genuine, they have the sanyo hologram sticker and the positive and negative pole are similar from what I have seen over internet.

http://dx.com/p/genuine-sanyo-2500mah-ni-mh-rechargeable-aa-battery-black-4-pack-134945?Utm_rid=43033281&Utm_source=affiliate

I still have not opened the package. Still to do the discharge test from factory + the 5 cycles + the LSD test (6 and 12 months)

Will update asap :wink:

I just did a refresh cycle on three of my 2700 mAh Sanyo's, and I got 969, 1576, and 962. I should discard these as their self discharge is so high that I can only trust them if I use them straight out of the charger. They're worse than my 12 year old Rayovac's.

wow!. I think that they will be ok only for “testing flashlights”… I mean, imagine you receive a new flashlght and you want to test it… so take them, recently charged obviously, and you have it…

another issue: due to the age and heavy usage I think you have forced them, I think that not only the capacity will be low, also the “ability” to deliver high currents… making flashlights dimmer than they should be… who knows…

Hi, sorry for the late reply, I was busy…

Finally, I have the capacity results of the genuine Eneloop XX . I was especting good results, but not as good results as the white eneloop, as I have read in other sites…

http://dx.com/p/genuine-sanyo-2500mah-ni-mh-rechargeable-aa-battery-black-4-pack-134945?Utm_rid=43033281&Utm_source=affiliate

Manufactured on June 2012. Tested on March 2013 (9 months since the factory charge)
.

Voltages (no-load) from factory

Cell 1 - 1,289v
Cell 2 - 1,289v
Cell 3 - 1,289v
Cell 4 - 1,289v

First discharge (charged from factory), down to 0.9volt @ 0.5A discharge

Cell 1 - 1039 mAh
Cell 2 - 1009 mAh
Cell 3 - 983 mAh
Cell 4 - 1010 mAh

(I was especting these low readouts… the XX eneloop are not as good as the white eneloop in LSD and voltage sag)

Now second charge/discharge, charged 0.5A and discharged again, down to 0.9volt 0.5A discharge (as always)

Cell 1 - 2339 mAh
Cell 2 - 2335 mAh
Cell 3 - 2328 mAh
Cell 4 - 2330 mAh

Now I will try to do 2 cycles more, but I think I will not get much better improvement…
Then, 6 months later, the first LSD test from 2x of them, and 12 months LSD test from the other 2x cells.

My preliminary conclusion is, that, they are not as good as the white eneloop if you want a good LSD battery, and the XX have a big voltage sag under load than the white eneloop.