Another possibility if higher voltages are needed is NiZn. This battery is actually quite similar to NiMH and Nicad in many of its characteristics (ie stable output voltage, high current capacity, etc). But it maintains a voltage of around 1.6V rather than 1.2V. They admittedly are not the most reliable cells in the world, and tend to develop problems like high self discharge and reduced capacity. And the high voltage can be damaging to some devices. But for applications NEEDING a hugher voltage, they can work quite well. Of course, unlike lithium primaries, they have the added benefit of being rechargeable (albeit with much lower cycle life compared to NiMH or Nicad).
I'm almost exclusively a Pacific Crest Trail hiker, and I've been through part of the Sierras. Yeah, finding lithium AA's isn't guaranteed, but I can pass through a few trail towns before I need new ones, and I'm fine with throwing away AA's that still have juice left.
I'm trying to remember towns that have lithium AA's. I'm pretty sure Mammoth and Wrightwood did.
If it got really tough to find, I'd just throw them in mail drops that I already use. For those that don't know, mail drops are packages that I mail to myself at various post offices along the trail.
Solar sucks unless I'm camping out for a long time. I wasn't joking about that pack train. Aside from a couple hikes in 2010 to see if using a solar charger would fit my hiking style, the only time my solar charger has been on the trail was when I had pack support. I'd leave the charger sitting on a boulder in camp all day.
Solar works better for north bound PCT hikers than on most other trails, but the weight and hassle isn't worth it even when they charge quickly. Weight-wise it's better to carry more batteries, especially if you have a phone with a removable battery. As far as battery use, my gps works for weeks because I only turn it on long enough to write down the coordinates and then remove the batteries to avoid parasitic drain. My cell phone is only turned on in town, and I bring a charger to charge the battery externally because of a broken usb port.
The secrets out leaftye. Do you have a blog or what on earth are you doing. Sounds interesting.
I always buy my AAs at Costco, their house brand alkaline AA works well, and the Eneloops are cheapest there too.
Oh, and HKJ, thanks for the reviews!!!
I have a source for disposable Li-SOCl2 14500’s rated to 2450mAh @ 3.6v, I’m wondering if these wouldnt be good for daily use in my SC52 giving me the capacity of NiMH and the ~500lm’s like on Li-ion 14500’s (at the expense of one-time use) HKJ do you have any experience with any brand of these? If I sent you a couple could you do some tests? The brand I ran across is “ultralast”, not sure if there are others.
Thanks HKJ, this comparison concurs with my findings, I only use Eneloops and keep the lithiums as backups due to long shelf life.
Good read.
I believe that these batteries can only deliver a low current, i.e. they are not good for flashlight usage.
At the current time I will not say yes to test them, I have way to many batteries in queue.
Guys, do lithium 1.5v AA batteries need any special charger to charge? Is Nitecore I4 suitable to charge them right?
They are not rechargeable, you will have to buy a new battery when it is empty.
Oh, I didn’t know. Thanks.
There are Lithium primaries (which these are) and Li-Ion rechargeables.
Li-Ion in AA size are sometimes called 14500s. They are 3.7V (fully charged 4.2V) and they need a proper charger designed for these voltages.
Sometimes people get confused between the two types as they sound similar.
Most of the time, you can also get 3.2 volt (3.6 volt charge voltage) 14500 cells.
Here I have some data of primary lithium (NICE, ENERGIZER.)
Thanks for clarifying this. I just thought for some reason that there are also rechargeable lithium 1.5v AAs, but now I see that there still are only NiMH )
Very useful info! This should be a sticky IMO.
Thanks for doing this comparison.
Thanks for the comparison chart. In my place, alkaline and lithium batteries dominate the stores. I don’t bother which one is best to use for certain devices. As long it works well.
Very nice visual here, Thanks HKJ!
Thanks HKJ.
While it is online, I thought I would post this link to an 18 page pdf from energizer. It has some comparisons to alkaline and nimh.
That is an excellent write-up on lithium batteries. The comparison curves do (of course) look very much like the curves I have published (See bottom page 6).
The article does also include performance at different temperatures.