I’ve bought 3 sets of Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA Batteries this summer (Amazon).
2x 4-pack AA, and one pack of 12 AAA.
They do not look counterfeit.
I put them in 2 indoor home temperature stations (Accurite/2xAA and ThermoPro/2xAAA) in 7/24.
BOTH STATIONS DIED A COUPLE DAYS AGO. Batteries tested around 1.0v.
This is the 2nd time this has happened, so it’s not a fluke.
Expiration for the AA is 2048, and 2049 for the AAA.
I’ve had these stations for YEARS. They will run easily on alkaline for over a year.
They will go 6 months on NiMh rechargeable, but have a low battery warning for months that is annoying.
(The Accurite is a pain to reprogram).
Alkaline batteries occasionally leak, and I didn’t want to ruin these stations.
I put Ultimate Li in them expecting a minimum of a year with no leakage, and hoped for 2+ years as I’ve gotten in other low draw devices in the past.
Anyone else have this experience?
For the premium price, the longevity and performance is completely unacceptable.
HD batteries would last longer.
Not sure I trust them anymore.
Strange. TBH, I don’t run many EUL’s in constant draw devices so can’t really relate specifically to your experience. All mine are loaded in limited use devices or for long-term storage. My single AAA lights all run them. I have an AA installed in my gas grill for the igniter going on 3 years with no problem, and 5 installed in my old Garmin GPS. Our weather station and external transmitter are loaded with Alkaleaks (not my choice), and I don’t think I’ve changed them out in over a year. No idea what the current draw requirement is for it, but it can’t be too much. I’d also think you’d see better longevity from the UL’s…hmmm.
My only experince which bears repeating with them is this: A friend installed a green lazer on my Noveske AR-15 and used one to power it. I’d not had it out for a couple years and when I did, the battery had swollen so bad that I had to use a screw to get it out. Lazer was undamaged, but I’m leery of them now, and am back to Eneloops.
I just recalled I have 2 from the same batch in the home thermostat installed the same time 7/24.
Just checked - 1.74v each. Can’t say I understand that. Duds?
This is a very low draw device. Easy to change the batteries, but I don’t want alkaline leaks to ruin that. It’s easy to forget to check it since it lasts so long with anything in it.
The weather stations are not high draw. I just didn’t want them ruined either.
My wx remotes take 2 AAs each and I feed 'em with NiMH cells. No blinking or beeping, but it does show like 1 bar on the battery status all the time. But they last about a year.
I was debating using a LFP cell with dummy cell to get a constant 3.2V right up to the point it’d fall off a cliff, but it’d be plainly obvious and wouldn’t sit for even a day at low voltage, so that’s not too much of a worry.
I hesitate to use those Li+converter cells, as I don’t use those in series, only as a single cell or possibly in parallel (like in my oximeter).
Those batteries are a crazy faces. For what you are using them, you could not make worse purchase. There are infinitely cheaper alkalins and that do not usually sulfate, that is, damage the unit in which they are installed. Regards.
That has not been my experience. Just a couple weeks ago I had to spend over an hour cleaning up YET ANOTHER alkaleak mess and was glad it did not destroy the entire unit. I have had that happen.
It does not happen often, but when it does it can be anything from annoying, to a minor disaster, if the device is not replaceable.
Personally, I REALLY dislike those things.
I found a old remote from a device purchased 20 years ago. It had alkaline batteries in it for all this time. The acid leaked from the batteries and welded them into the remote. They would not come out.
Needless to say the remote went to the garbage to eventually be part of some landfill.
Its truly unbelievable that they still sell alkaline batteries. Its 50+ year old technology that sucked back then as well.
I’m I correct in assuming these are the thermometer/humidity meter versions that are c.£/$/€15-20?
I’d have thought bulk buying alkalines from a good retailer (£/$/€0.60 a go), and rolling the dice vs. £2/$/€ a refil of Lithium cells would make more financial sense? If the cells leak and spoil the device, it’s not the end of the world to buy another with the money saved from using cheaper cells?
I generally avoid buying things like cells from Amazon as there’s poor traceability for where they’re actually coming from.
If you could tolerate the “ugly set up”, make an external 2S2P AA holder and wire that in. Doesn’t matter if alkalines leak in it as you can just rinse it off…
A few potential issues.
You say this happened twice but you didn’t give examples of the other instance. Unless you mean two different devices.
Did you measure voltage of all batteries before you inserted them?
Maybe there’s something going on in the house or neighborhood that’s on same or similar frequencies that’s causing some interference or excess power usage because of the extra signals coming in. ???
I don’t think you can say it’s a battery problem at this point.
I would say go back to alkalines for a 3 to 6 months trial run and see what happens.
I don’t like alkalines either but the somewhat new Energizer Max make claims about slightly longer storage and protection against damaging devices from leakage. I’ve been using some for a year with no issues yet and I know that’s only one year.
I agree with your questions.
This is my first poor experience with EUL batteries that have had poor service, hence the posting.
I did not take notes on the previous experience since I did think it was a fluke.
I don’t KNOW what is going on for sure.
Yes, voltage checked > 1.76v new.
Voltage after pulling > ~1.0v. With EUL as the battery gets empty it can show decent unloaded voltage but not support much current. The ‘dead’ ones have bounced back to ~1.3v after sitting awhile but they immediately drop on any load.
Outside interference? Maybe with the ThermoPro as it’s relatively new and supports up to 3 sending units. It came with alkaline and those lasted ~6 months. I replaced them with the EUL.
The Accurite is VERY old, still works fine and is not a version that can input from multiple devices so I don’t think it is subject to that. I’ve had that one a long time so am pretty familiar with how long a battery lasts. It has not exhibited a short lifespan for batteries before.
I did not go back to alkaline. I did put EUL back in the ThermoPro (checked and dated), but put a 1.5v lithium rechargeable in the Accurite. I have gotten 6 months using that battery before. I pulled it becasue it didn’t want it to suddenly die, which is what would happen with that kind of cell.
But there’s no easy way to know for sure how much is consumed. Recharging them is pretty approximate. I’m going to let this set go all the way to empty and measure individual cells when I charge so can get some kind of info. I’ve tested them (discharge capacity) so know about what they have. I’ll also know if this kind of cell is acceptable for long term low discharge. Self discharge seems to be pretty variable for them. Quality CERTAINLY is!
I’ve done that “ugly setup” for a few of my motion lights in the basement. Not acceptable for this.
Ironically, when C-Zn cells were all the rage and they would occasionally leak (the can would get eaten-through), alkies were touted as “leakproof” in comparison, because they were. They were a shell-within-a-shell, and built pretty beefily.
Needless to say, to save a penny, they started making those shells thinner and thinner, the seals crappier and crappier, until they found a way to let them leak.
USB Rechargable aa / aaa batteries might be a good fit. They are as leakproof as lipo roundcells, since that’s what they are, and the step down cirquet keeps a constant 1,5V untill ~90% empty so you’d get arround the low voltage warning issue with nimh cells.
Indeed, I have 1.5v AA lithium in the Accurite weather station now. The whole idea was to have a LONG lasting battery that would NOT LEAK. Theoretically the Ultimate Lithium should have done that. They did not. Bad batch? Don’t know.
NiMh gives a low warning signal but does last pretty well with good cells. I just have no idea when its going to go out.
The 1.5v AA lithium does work fine. I have no idea if I’ll get any kind of warning, or just a blank unit sometime.
They are (have been? ) great. Imagine my disappointment at getting some, that appeared to be genuine and recent, that held up about as well as $0.20 carbon-zinc cells. I wrote Energizer, an information message only. I did not ask for any compensation. Their response was kind of “corporate lackluster”. Pretty disappointing.
At least they didn’t leak!
IF AAA lights are equipped with a battery, it’s usual the Carbon-Zinc type. When they go flat, I replace them with Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries. Never had any problems.
Lately I’ve bought some (almost vintage) 4xAA lights and I put Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries in those as well. No problems either. The only thing that concerns me is the price. In 6 months the price for 4xAA in a blister has gone up from € 8.95 to € 11.14 from the cheapest (Dutch) seller I could find on line.
) great. Imagine my disappointment at getting some, that appeared to be genuine and recent, that held up about as well as $0.20 carbon-zinc cells. I wrote Energizer, an information message only. I did not ask for any compensation. Their response was kind of “corporate lackluster”. Pretty disappointing.