Thought these were fascinating, what do you guys think,
Check out this product on Alibaba App New Technology 1000mAh 1.5V USB Charging Li-ion Lithium Cell Batteries 1.5V AA USB Rechargeable Battery
> what do you guys think
I dont see a need. I use Eneloop with a USB charger
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it lets me use USB to charge both LiIon and Eneloop.
What do you think?
It’s just like the Tenavolt (?) offerings from a few years back and should work in some apps, where the inherent voltage of NiMH triggers DEFCON 1.
Chris
I had a battery of this same type and ot had an its output current was limited by 2 amps so protection just shut it down. Some flashlights tend to draw more than that. And it is always at 1.5 volts so you cannot really tel how much charge is left. Some devices do not work with NiMh because of lower voltage. Maybe it can be useful in such cases.
1000 mah from a AA seems pretty bad .
About the same as a AAA instead of 2500+ from a normal NIMH AA
They’re not meant for high drain devices, much like a hammer isn’t the right tool for screwing in screws.
Chris
Look great will have a look for similar, cheers
A completely useless novelty to me.
I use similar EBL cells in a few devices that won’t operate at NiMh voltages. The wife’s insulin pump and a few remote controls. I don’t use em in high drain flashlights. I don’t think that is their intended purpose.
They work great but, when they go dead, they go dead. No gradual decrease in performance. Either full throttle or dead in the water. Carry a spare if necessary.
Yep, depends on the application. The 1000mAH is likely for the 3.xV/4.xV internal cell (ie, 14430), not the 1.2V mAH-age of a 1.5V output.
If you have a doodad that works fine with a NiMH cell, leave it. If it shows/acts like it’s suffering a low battery with NiMH, these are great. They hold a flat 1.5V at all loads, unlike alkaleaks that drop in voltage with load and age.
And yep, when they croke, they do so with zero warning, so best to keep a spare cell or just make sure to top off every now and then.
Where that’s not too much of an inconvenience (eg, wireless mouse, nightstand light, etc.), you get a better and consistent voltage from start to finish, and it’s easy to plug in and top off (go grab lunch in the meanwhile, and it’s done). And they’re great where you can recharge easily and on the go, ie, just plug in with an ubiquitous cable, vs having to carry around a separate NiMH charger.
I also got the equivalent 3V ’123s for my KL02s, ie, a nice regulated 3V supply and constant brightness, vs 4.2V down to 2.whateverV with a cheap “regulator” (ie, chip resistor) and always decreasing brightness from overdriven to barely-glowing.
So yeah, these regulated cells have their niche, for sure, but it’s up to you whether/not you need them.
I actually have a pair in a wireless mouse and they last much less than alkalines. They are either half dead or maybe step down converter losses are not proportional to load (like there is a fixed cost of conversion) so all the power gets lost in conversion. Not sure what is going on there.
Upd: So I ran a quick test. I discharged a battery in a flashlight wich draws 0.52 amp. The runtime was 1h6minutes which gives something around 600mah. Not that bad compared to NiMh (which have a slightly lower voltage).
It depends on how much power you’re using.
Energizer Max AA is rated for over 3000mAh at 0.025A but only 1500mAh at 0.5A
Your wireless mouse might use as little as 0.012A when active and much less while asleep so it gets huge runtime on alkaline.
Rechargeable lithium doesn’t change capacity like alkaline for high/low current so 600mAh at 0.52A is probably the same for lower current also.
So it’s 600mAh from the usb lithium AA vs 3000mAh from a good alkaline AA battery at very low current.
NiMH AA can be 2600mAh so that’s also much much more runtime than the usb battery. Also more runtime than alkaline if the current is not tiny.
One of my wireless meese doesn’t play nicely with NiMH, so I thought I was condemned to alkaleaks ’til I got those doodads. They still last seemingly forever, just a shorter forever than alkaleaks (which I could completely forget about ’til the moose would actually stop working, and I’d likely have a salt-block and dissolved springs/contacts in there instead).
They work quite well for me, and I don’t care if I have to recharge them after 6mo vs swapping an alkaleak at 1yr, and before it’d start leaking.
The mouse runs on AAA alkalines. They are usually rated at something around 900 mah. 50% more than usb lithium, but it feels like alkalines last at least 3 times longer. It does not make any sense, something must be wrong with this mouse.