Long-term test Contour NiMH

Not yet. Nor will there be soon. The quickest way of getting conclusive proof would be to check the business press to see about the details of any deals between Contour Energy (A US firm who own contourenergy.co.uk) and Sanyo/Panasonic. Since I rapidly lose the will to live when looking at biz press releases, I’m not the guy to do this. There are probably SEC public record filings as well.

But there probably is a public record of Contour Energy (?Systems) doing a deal with Panasonic (Who own Sanyo).

I can only produce indicative stuff depending on the relative performance of some of these against a smaller number of genuine Eneloops from the same generation. (16 Contours & 8 Eneloop Tones (2G))

My opinion is they almost certainly are 2G Eneloops, but I have no data to back this up. Since I can only discharge one set of eight a day, and they are still in their first couple of cycles, it’s going to take a while to get the data.

The limiting factor is the Maha C808M I’m using to charge them - for maximum charge the cells need to spend 24 hours in it.

I could change the regime and use a hobby charger to charge all 16 at a time but that would rather invalidate the previous results. I’ll have a think about charging regimes while I’m on holiday in about an hour from now.

Chicken drumstick -
Having both sets here to compare myself all I could say is the physical characteristics,similarities in the end caps, same size, colour and appearance in grain effect of steel they look pretty close, it isnt scientific conclusion however at £3.99 pack delivered was worth a risk.

They also say made in japan

B

Cheers. Well pay day is next Thurs, so hoping to order then as I’m in need of 6 packs of the AA’s and 3 of the AAA’s.

I presume people are also assuming the AAA’s are also re-branded Eneloops?

If they also say Made in Japan then it’s highly probable.

This may be relevant.

http://www.contourenergy.com/news/press_releases/20110621-2.html

Gem is a wholly owned subsidiary of DCC (www.dcc.ie) who don’t mention Sanyo/Panasonic anywhere…

The way I read it DCC acquire companies and brands, doesn’t look like the make anything themselves more a service provider with no manufacturing facilities.Contour doesn’t actually say (cant find) they have own mfg facilities beyond Test and R & D facilities i’m bit pushed for time to wade through pages of stuff.

My monies on from Panasonic/sanyo they provide OEM services for others, they look so similar to me, although there is a raft of other known manufacturers such as Sony Fujicell, Yuasa,Mitsubishi,Hitachi.

Would the bigger japanese players be cloning other competitors products ? I’m out on that one

B

It’s a little simpler than that. Would you, if you were Sanyo let someone call their batteries ‘the worlds best battery’ unless they had your cells inside?

Marc.

I wouldn’t take too much notice of the ‘world’s best battery’ thing. That’s just an advertising puff.

As far as I can see this is a good deal, and I’m happy with the calls. Besides, I’m giving them away to my nephew, so it’s his problem lol.

They work fine in my nitecore EA series, hold out much better under hight drain than my ageing enerloop’s

For the money I’m not complaining 8)

B

Just discharging the second eight for their third cycle. The eneloops await charging.

Contour ?Gen 2 eneloops
Initial Initial Initial
Voltage Discharge Charge Run 1 Run 2 Run 3
Cell 1 1.306 1,529 2,086 2,008 2,148
Cell 2 1.306 1,538 2,094 2,019 2,159
Cell 3 1.306 1,529 2,096 2,016 2,154
Cell 4 1.307 1,498 2,070 1,986 2,090
Cell 5 1.307 1,472 2,032 2,078 2,073
Cell 6 1.307 1,486 2,043 2,091 2,094
Cell 7 1.307 1,477 2,056 2,078 2,076
Cell 8 1.307 1,459 2,006 1,900 1,878
Cell 9 1.307 1,520 2,183 2,200 2,126
Cell 10 1.308 1,529 2,244 2,253 2,174
Cell 11 1.308 1,524 2,235 2,205 2,151
Cell 12 1.306 1,502 2,232 2,187 2,096
Cell 13 1.307 1,479 2,154 2,128 2,221
Cell 14 1.307 1,489 2,149 2,117 2,216
Cell 15 1.307 1,484 2,109 2,117 2,213
Cell 16 1.307 1,455 2,189 2,029 2,186
Av. 1.307 1,498 2,187 2,107 2,097 2,084

Yes, but what I mean is the fact that they would not be allowed to call them the ‘worlds best battery’ unless their competition agreed with them. Or supplied said cells of course. Sanyo eneloops are generally considered the best, therefore so are Contour. To me without them actually being eneloops they could not make that statement without a very large court case.

Marc.

eneloop can’t be the best batteries in the world if they don’t say so on the packaging. :~

I’ve asked nicely and some high discharge rate tests will be done. Just don’t hold your breath.

Thanks HKJ! You’re a star!

Think Carlsberg.

Marc.

I always thought it was (probably) the best cat’s output in the world. Yellow beer is what happens after beer.

:bigsmile:

Marc.

I’m with Woody, i don’t think a marketing slogan can be read too far into. After all, why are Eneloops the best? They certainly don’t give the best capacity. Not a dig at Eneloops they are my fav NiMh but things can be easily spun :wink:

I will hopefully get some internal impedance readings soon, properly done with a dedicated industry standard, calibrated meter.

IMHO i’d say its to do with quality of materials used and processes involved, battery manufacturers can make good stuff if the market place dictates.

just my 2 cents B

Yes but, you would be hard pushed to find a better battery than eneloop. So imagine what would happen if contour came along with a cell and said ‘it’s the best in the world’ Sanyo would have them in court quick smart. However if they were Sanyo then they could do nothing. But the point I am making is that to make that claim they be Sanyo. I can’t think of a better battery. That’s one of the reasons I suspected they must have been eneloops.

Marc.

I’m with you on that Marcl, I’ve not heard any reports of a better quality battery than sanyo’s own enerloop.

You would think maybe likes of Samsung might come out with something they’ve got some pretty hefty R & D

B