Review: Power Genix NiZn AA Cells

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
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Power Genix NiZn AA cells

Today, we’re going to have a look at the Power Genix NiZn AA cells.
These were supposed to be a competitor to the NiMH with its high voltage of 1.6V, comparable to that of Alkaline cells.
Thus, they were supposed to power electronics that were used to alkaline’s high voltage for a longer period of time, compared to NiMH’s 1.2V.

Here’s the official specs:

Datasheet: http://www.powergenix.com/files/powergenix/docs/pgx_nizn_aa_datasheet.pdf

I got these cells from FastTech here: http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/1189301

They came in a solid 4xAA case:

The cells were wrapped in twos with shrink wrap.

The top:

The bottom:

Weight of the package:

Weight of the cell:

Comparisons with a Sony LSD cell:

Comparisons with a Duracell:

I’d say the size is pretty average. It shouldn’t have any length or diameter issues with any appliances.

And I finally got to play around with my charger and got some discharge graphs:

Extra credit: Does anyone know how to combine the voltage together in Excel?
My data looks like this:

The x-axis of capacity isn’t uniform, so I’m having some issues…

Anyways, one thing to note is that NiZn cells should be measured in terms of Wh, instead of mAh/Ah since they have a lower capacity due to the high voltage. That’s why I’ve included the Wh measurement as well.

Thanks for looking, and I’ll try to add some real world applications.
Please feel free to ask any questions. :slight_smile:

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Yeah these are great until they spontaneously fail. No matter how careful, they will quickly die. They are fun in single cell AA for a small lumen boost if you don’t mind them dying once in a while.

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Yeah, I’ve heard about them magically failing.

How many cycles do you think it would take?

4

I probably got 30-50 out of a couple, but less than 10 out of others. I got mad and quit using them, but I still have a few.

5

Interesting, I’ll do a torture test with infinite cycling.

I’ll let you know when it dies.

6

Cool, maybe it died because I overdischarged it. I don’t think they like that, and because of the unique voltage it is extremely easy to do.

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need a specific charger?

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Yes, these won’t work with NiMH (different algorithm) or Li-ion (different voltage) chargers.

I just use a constant voltage power supply and set it to 1.9V to charge them.

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These cells work great in 2AA direct drive lights… All SOLD - 2AA Maglites "Flag Light" Nichia 219, Carlco TIR -

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15 months ago, I bought a set of 4 NiZn batteries of the same type and capacity in another brand (Conrad Energy) and one of them died after only 7 charges. I remember they’re supposed to stand overdischarge.
I quit using NiZn until I hear they are reliable.

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I bought eight of the PowerGenix AAs and charger some years ago; now down to five batteries, and those hold a charge only for a few days.
I’d have one, two, or four of them in a light til it quit lighting up, then try to recharge them and one would fail to take a charge — didn’t kill them in the charger.
I recharge the ones I have the same day if I plan to use them that evening, but I wouldn’t count on them for anything longer.
Too bad, I liked the idea.