Every time I go on Ebay to look for some interesting AA battery , I have to sift through the Chinese AA offerings , you know the ones , 3000mAh capacity claims and such.
Well , I thought it time to put the CLAIMS to the test .
So having procured a small test sample of the HIGH CAPACITY CLAIM BATTERIES , I set about charging them , and then discharging them to see just how close , if at all , they come to the claimed capacity that has been so provocatively printed on the label .
I must admit that , these are attractive batteries , but looks only account for so much !
Using my Powerex MH-C9000 AA charger [ very nice for testing batteries ] , I set about doing a 500mAh discharge on the cells procured for this little test . [ testing for claimed capacity ]
Lets start wit the Blue Baby [ geez what a name for a battery ] , anyhow !
Claimed capacity on label is some 2600mAh , now that is not an outrageous claim for an AA battery , unless you fall far short , how short = Try 413mAh for tested capacity !
Holly Indian Cow, Batman ! Thats some 2200mAh shy of whats printed on the label !
Next , the Go Green , with a claimed capacity of some 3000mAh , yeah thats a lot to claim , I guess BS knows no bounds .
And just how much BULL was there ? Well about 2258mAh of bull, for a tested capacity of 742mAh .
The GODP [ surely offensive to Christians ] also has 3000mAh printed on the label , but fell far short of the mark , how short = some 2272mAh short for a tested capacity of 728mAh
And last but not least [ in capacity ] we have the generic yellow cell with 3000mAh printed on the label .. Generic or geriatric , that is the question .
This battery tested out to some 745mAh , only falling 2255mAh short of the claimed capacity ..
So lets put that in perspective shall we , these AA batteries are having trouble keeping up with decent AAA batteries , in fact you might be better of buying AAA batteries than these ebay AA's ..
Now , these batteries litter ebay something awful , and I cant believe for a moment that ebay is not aware that [ can I say fraud ] these batteries dont come close to the claims .
What amazes me even more is that these batteries have been sold for years , and every year the claimed capacity seem to increase ..
And nothing seems to have been done about it .
Anyhow , here are some test results for those that are interested :
I must say , worth the $4 to put this little test out there :
Batteries = junk / Test = priceless
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
Eneloop, try the rest, then use the best.
My PayPal address: oldlumens (insert the @ sign here) gmail.com
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Awesome test, thanks for biting the bullet on this one. I'll stick with my Duraloops.
I am already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
That's too bad but not surprising. I bought a dozen of these BTY 3000mah AA nimh batteries at one of the local village markets here and none of them were not even close to 3000mah. I did a break-in on all of them with my c9000 and they were all around 595mah.
They look just like these:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/120736630832?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y&cbt=y
Don wrote:
"But as I said long ago, you are more likely to be killed by a dead fish dropped by a seagull in the Sahara Desert than by a lithium ion
Not to talk down on "Chinese" sellers, but ebay has been forever a place for sellers from anywhere to sell products with claims of "better than" specs available in local stores or other online dealers. There are some really good sellers on ebay that make sure to some extent that the product they offer is close to the quality they claim.
I will say this...
Some of those items shipped from China ( someone will bite me on this) are capitalist from the western world using China as a conduit. Nothing against capitalism ( i am one), but this is the truth. I know.
Anyhow we know our batteries and to take these claims/ads with a grain of salt until tested by this community and others. Thanks old4570 and to all the others that expose/bite the bullet on ebay or anywhere else batteries of interest are sold.
The Giggle Loop
My PayPal address: oldlumens (insert the @ sign here) gmail.com
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No, not mfg in the US. There are "people" that have invested here in the US in companies overseas enough to mfg. This is was not to be limited to NiMH producers. that particular I do not have on hand ATM. My statement was as general as general gets
The Giggle Loop
I, embarrassingly, purchased a crap pot just chock full of those POS's and destroyed a nice Energizer charger in the process due to battery leakage. I then decided to give them the old MAHA c-9000 break-in at the advertised capacity (I know it was a bad idea after destroying a charger already).
I found them to be at about 650mAh after testing 8 of them. After negotiation with the dealer, I got 75% of my money back. I recycled the batteries and got to keep the nifty cases at least.
Wow. Now THAT'S taking one for the team...
http://wardogsmakingithome.org/index.html
War Dogs, Making it Home - Rescue Dogs for Returning Vets
these are worse than the ancient AA nicads that I robbed from a box of portable phone battery packs
well....the worst are 600mah...
I wonder if you'd find a AAA inside one. I ripped open an (old nicad) sanyo D and found an unwrapped sub-c w/ tabs.
Thanks for testing these, I always assume no brand cells are utter junk but nice for it to be confirmed
Yeah, I've read about some of the budget AA-rechargeables being re-wrapped AAA cells underneath...
http://www.howtospotapsychopath.com/2010/03/01/dont-buy-bty-batteries/
Keepin’ the “B” in BLF
Thanks for testing! I know these batteries all over ebay are POS but now I know how much POS they are.
Also just for sharing AA sized batts, today I received several Trustfire blue 14500 from BIC and they tested at 260mAh (rated 900mAh)! So skip them in case you're looking for one. (and also the AAA size 10440 TF blue tested 170mAh from 600mAh claimed).
Anyhow, I think it's a good estimate to say these chinese no-name batteries would have 25% of claimed capacity.
Piers said " ....but who wants enough light, when you have the option for far too much "
& life goes on... Shut Up Justin!
Sorry Old, for crapping up your thread.
Carry on.
My PayPal address: oldlumens (insert the @ sign here) gmail.com
My YouTube Flashlight Video Channel
The BLF Modding Links Thread
Reminds me of the King of the hill episode, where hank is throwing batteries at the mega-lo-mart, and remarks at how many batteries you could get for the money!
I must say, that after old-lumens remark about eneloops, I will now no longer buy anything else. I went away at Easter, and took 6aa batts with me for my compact camera. 2 x AA GP recykos, and 4 x AA Eneloops. Now, I thought the GP batts were pretty good, but the camera spat them out before I could take a shot. I put 2 Eneloops in, and they are still in there now. Both sets of batts were freshly charged and less than 6 months old.
I got some Zeikos 2900mAh batteries with a charger that was free when I bought a flashlight from a US dealer (not one normally used; this was my first real flashlight). Those batteries were total crap. 500-700mAh, so the 2900mAh might have been right for ALL FOUR batteries combined. I did break-in charges, did some number of cycles, anything I could think of to maybe bring them around and nothing worked. It is outright fraud. The problem is most people can't test the actual capacity of their batteries and maybe don't use them often enough to know just how horrible their batteries really are.
There are decent batteries out there besides Eneloop, but be careful.
Thanks for the great test. Now did you buy these batteries? If so did you try to get your money back?
Since I knew I was buying rubbish , I got what I was buying ... So how do I justify asking for a refund .. ? [ To myself ]
+ Its simply worth it for the search engines to pick this up [ priceless ]
These results were not a surprise at all , I would have been surprised if they carried over 1000mAh , now that would have come as a shock I tells you ...
This entire test was just to put out some hard data ... Some truth amongst the bull so to speak ...
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
I remember when I needed NiMh's for my camera and I knew nothing about the batteries I got cheap BTY smart charger and bunch of 1200mAh AAA and 3000mAh AA cells, I complained to seller regarding AA cells and got my money back, dont remember if I did so with AAA tho.
Its truly strange that nobody has done anything substantial to remove these false claims from listings.
Just a quick opinion about the 3000 mah batteries. Yes, they are probably junk, but something to think about: I purchased 4 nicads from Wally world, and they cost me almost $11.00. These are about $0.50 each, so four would be about $2.00. I needed them to replace the ones in my solar ornamental lights, that have lasted about 15 months, and now are beginning to die. They are only listed as 300mah on the battery. Yes, I said 300. If these will last as long, and keep the led going overnight, I will be money way ahead. Time will Tell.
I think you may find that the Nicads will work better in the solar products as they don’t have enough amperage to properly charge the Ni-MH.
Been my experience anyways.
Thanks,
Keith
The difference between Hoarding and Collecting is the illusion of Organization
.
.“I will get one of flashlight from patrol car”
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes,” Mark Twain
…
After the Apocalypse there will be only 2 things left alive, Cockroaches and Keith Richards
BTY stands for ..
Batteries that yak
Brother thats yucky
best that you ..... got
been there ...yuck
before they Yexplode.
..........
just like the GTL batteries
God they leak !!!
gave tiny light
get the law
got to learn
got ten lumens
Amazing that every newb buys junk batteries ..Oh how we all want to believe a lie ..
Duraloops are a buck and a half on ebay ..all day every day
υμεις εστε το φως του κοσμου ου δυναται πολις κρυβηναι επανω ορους κειμενη
Dc-fix diffuser film >… http://budgetlightforum.com/node/42208
I got some NiCad AAAs from eBay, because of their higher draw capacity, to try with my LED torches. Although rated at 450mAh they only tested at 300mAh.
(I understand NiCads are more robust for garden lights).
Here is a link to the seller I bought the first two red ‘generics’ from http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-x-Case-4-AAA-Ni-Cd-450mAh-rechargeable-battery-Red-/150902980302?pt=US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item232284bece
I bought a pack of 4 from another seller for $3.27 – they tested the same 300mAh. You get a case for just a few cents more.
PS: I did complain to the seller about their low capacity; but it wasn’t worth the hassle to return, and I did get a few dollars value out of testing with my AAA torches & checking the battery capacity. On reflection 2/3 of advised capacity for a generic 50c cell doesn’t seem too unreasonable.
If I am reading your review correctly, the Generic Yellow ones are the Winner of the group.
Makes sense as they didn’t have to spend money on fancy graphics and were able to put that money where it counts, in technology
Moral of the story, Generics Rule in a sea of wannabe’s.
Later,
Keith
The difference between Hoarding and Collecting is the illusion of Organization
.
.“I will get one of flashlight from patrol car”
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes,” Mark Twain
…
After the Apocalypse there will be only 2 things left alive, Cockroaches and Keith Richards
Is it worth building a "sticky" thread that can name and shame the sellers and brands that fall into this category? Its all well and good to just accept that we know these cells are crap, but that doesn't help the vast majority of the great unwashed out there who don't know any better. After all, we are not just talking about mildly exaggerated claims here but cells with less than 30% of claimed capacity.
As long as we have people like old4570 and others who can accurately test cells we should be able to take some follow-up action. Isn't this supposed to be one of the great benefits of the Web?
I'm not suggesting we just post in at random with comments like "these cells didn't last long in my camera/flashlight" or "they seemed weak" but where someone has taken the time to do controlled tests it seems a bit of a waste not to take the next step.
User HJK over at CPF has a thread on Li-Ion cells and it is very useful, but I've never seen anything done on NiMH AA and AAA cells.
I don't know if there is some unwritten rule about not naming crap products or sellers here, and I know it could grow to be a very big list but I really think this info is worth preserving. It seems a shame that this thread will eventually drop off the radar and the cycle will have to repeat.
I do also have a few threads about LiIon here.
My website with reviews of many chargers and batteries (More than 1000): https://lygte-info.dk/
B.T.Y. stands for
Been there ...yuck
Best trashed yesterday
GTL means :
Gonna trash light
Gimme the loot
gives tiny lumens
υμεις εστε το φως του κοσμου ου δυναται πολις κρυβηναι επανω ορους κειμενη
Dc-fix diffuser film >… http://budgetlightforum.com/node/42208
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Sorry bout that HJK, haven't subscribed to your threads here yet, still relatively new to BLF.
Full of good info they are too folks.
Hey, gadabout. Uh, it is ‘HKJ’ FYI. Imedion (made by MaHa) is as good as eneloop at same price point but with much higher capacity. I use both.
Keith
Thanks for that correction; must be old age 'cause up 'til now I've never had dsyxelia
I have some Imedion 2300s in addition to my eneloops and the C9000. I've also found them to be high quality cells.
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