For 1.5V AA/AAA rechargeable Li-ion battery, many users like its 1.5V constant voltage output advantage, which helps to improve the devices’ performance. For example, it lasts longer in some devices like the Xbox Wireless Controller, and it could make the RC toy car go faster for better playtime, or the battery operated screwdriver rotate quicker…While, some people think the constant voltage might be a disadvantage too. It’s constant so battery gauges don’t work. The battery in the devices might drop from 100% to 0% without any reminder, then suddenly power off.
To solve this, we released the updated rechargeable XTAR 1.5V AA & AAA batteries with power indicator function. Unique built-in voltage control IC enables the devices which have lower power indicator function to remind users in time when the power is insufficient. Matching with the new LC4 charger, it’s convenient to charge these batteries.
Why the rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion battery is rated with mWh instead of mAh?
mWh and mAh are related. The mWh is the result of multiplying mAh by the voltage of the system. You may find the rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion battery is rated with mWh instead of mAh. Because the voltage of this battery remains constant 1.5V until it’s almost completely discharged. It means that the energy stored in a rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion battery is proportional to the product of the voltage and the capacity, which is expressed in mWh. As for other types of rechargeable batteries, such as 1.2V NiMH batteries, have a variable voltage during discharge, which makes it more suitable to express their capacity in terms of mAh.
Some people compare the capacity and discharge time of the rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion AA/AAA batteries & 1.2V NiMH AA/AAA batteries. They may think the 1.5V Li-ion batteries are not so preferable to NiMH batteries. But the 1.5V Li-ion batteries keep constant 1.5V output. The discharge voltage of the NiMH batteries continue to drop during usage. So we can’t do a simple formula conversion and make comparison. The overall performance is more important.
For devices that require a steady and stable high-voltage output over a long period of time, they are definitely stronger with 1.5V Li-ion batteries. Such as, RC cars, VR controllers, digital cameras, blood pressure meters, some smart household appliance etc. They may consider 1.2V NiMH a low or dead battery, and constantly need to replace new battery. The 1.5V Li-ion batteries can maintain more stable performance.
Most use cases for AA nowadays are low power devices from clocks to remotes, multimeters, etc, etc. What makes typical “li-ion+buck converter” batteries entirely useless for such devices is high parasitic drain/self-discharge.
So it would be really useful to see estimates of remaining charge after a given time (1 month, 6 month, 12 month for example) and how that compares to LSD ni-mh (eneloop is claimed to maintain 70% charge after 10 years, but somehow i doubt even mentioning 10 years here would be realistic).
Without such info this batteries are not interesting at all.
Then there is the issue of limited current the converter is capable of. Which makes them unsuitable for high-current applications either.
Also as a side note - enegy density of li-ion and ni-mh is pretty close. Using nominal voltage (3.6v for li-ion, 1.2v for ni-mh) for calculations 0.8 Ah 14500 is 2.88Wh, 2.5Ah ni-mh AA is 3Wh. Given any such “li-ion+buck converter” AA is going to use smaller cell to fit converter+charger it is not going to have longer runtime than ni-mh. In fact assuming conversion efficiency between 80% and 90% amount of energy effectively stored by such battery becomes noticeably lower than ni-mh.
So yeah, very, very niche product only useful in some very specific scenarios (devices with medium draw which do not tolerate 1.2v).
I disagree. We have a multitude of devices that can benifit from the higher voltage and medium draw. We use enough aaa and aa batteries that we have them on amazon subscribe and save.
I also disagree with the low power device argument being these are rechargable. Disposable, yes, but being rechargable there is an immensly minor impact to replacing batteries once a year.
As we go through a bunch of energizer lithium batteries im very interested in these.
Well, try it, may be it’ll work for you. Did not for me. Low capacity and extreme self discharge make them a hassle to use. Yes, they can be recharged, but having a device which more often than not has dead batteries when you need it is so annoying it does not matter.
Not sure how bad self-discharge is on specific ones, and that’s why i would like this outlined in specs by manufacturer. Ones i tried generally were empty within a month. Which is understandable - they have to keep dc-dc converter always on, can not disable it when not in use like most power banks and such do.
Also devices that have trouble with 1.2v are extremely rare nowadays. Yes, some stuff does not drain ni-mh completely, but even then it often lasts longer on ni-mh assuming moderate use because of dramatically lower self-discharge.
Funny, but literally an hour or so ago, I had to recharge a pair of AAA 1.5V Li cells for my pulse oximeter. Same dealy, worked perfectly last week, completely dead today.
An AA cell similarly died unceremoniously in my E03 when I used it. Unnerving to go from full output to total darkness in my basement, with zero warning.
Curious to see how the low-capacity function works…
The problem with those cells, no reputable manufacturer makes 14450 cells, which are used in 1,5v li ion AA. Who makes those is unknown, the quality is a lotto at best.
I also noticed while testing several brands, they ALL do not hold steady current under load, it constantly jumps up and down, not by small margin, the spread could be as high as 300-400ma. enough to see my T4 flicker slightly
As a flashlight enthusiast, may we know if anyone has used the rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion batteries in some testing instruments such as, Fluke multimeters, illuminometer…?
Btw, for both charging 1.5V Li-ion and 1.2V NiMH AA/AAA batteries, we released the xtar BC8 charger. If you name this charger, what do you think is proper? For example, Pioneer BC8? Thanks for your kind comments!
What brand did you use for the weather station? I’ve got one and it gives me a 1/2 battery indication almost from the start on NiMh. I get ~ 8 months, then it starts losing the external sensor and gets dim.
I JUST had another alka-LEAK in a clock, so I’m further resolved to never go there anymore.
I haven’t tried 1.5 lithium for long-term/low draw yet other than some cheap AAA in remotes and they don’t go all that long. Swapping them out is easy though, vs reprogramming the weather station, which is annoying.
The “pulsing” voltage at low loads can/might/would interfere with sensitive measurements and electronicals.
I have a clock/thermometer/hygrometer, and when I use these cells in the “clock” part (the other separate part is for the backlight only), it’ll turn on and start counting, but none of the buttons work anymore, ie, I can’t even set the time.
Put back some alkaleaks, and it works fine, all buttons work, and I can set the time, date, alarm, everything.
With that low capacity those hold up?
Unfortunately the [Soshine] is OOS. I have some of their NiMh ‘C’ cells. They’ve been OK, so it’s a brand I have some experience with.
Ah, since they are NOT 1.5v lithium with a buck driver they do ‘taper off’ a little so there is some warning?
I know LFP cells have a pretty flat discharge curve, so there inherently isn’t much warning anyway.
They have a slight peak right off the charger, keep a pretty flat voltage for like 98% of its SOC, then drop off pretty fast. But it’s not like a buck-driver type which just cuts out suddenly without warning.
