Looks like a fake. I cannot say why, but something looks off to me while watching the images…
Would also explain the really bad performance. Are you able to measure the draw current of this water leak sensor?
Where they were purchased from is a better indication of whether they are fake or not.
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In my situation I need low temperature performance and longevity. Some of my sensors are difficult to reach and time consuming (five TINY screws to remove and reinstall) to change cells. The lithium ultimate cells give me both of these. I have tested, and I typically get almost double the runtime for my outdoor sensors with the EUL cells over NiMH cells and they keep things running at at least 20F colder temps. I use them in my indoor sensors as well, for the runtime. No idea why the OP cells flaked out on him so quickly. I have never seen that in all of the years I have been using the lithium cells.
I do hate the expense and that they are single use. But they just happen to be the best tool for the job. I run NiMH cells9I probably have 100+ Eneloops around here) wherever they will do the job that I need to do.! I have started to use the 1.5V lithium cells in some low drain applications. Last cycle they lasted fine in a few clock between time changes. (Standard/Daylight)
I could not measure the current draw. Don’t have the proper tools for that low.
Got them from Amazon, October 19, 2019, awhile back. Not the most reliable site for batteries (and other things), I know…now. I think it’s gotten much worse in the last few years. I avoid them now if at all possible.
I don’t have @Mandrake50 extreme demands, but I do have a couple outdoor sensors and some other devices I want to ‘just work’ and not have to mess with them. This is the first time I’ve had these batteries unexpectedly fail on me.
Oddly, some of the other cells in the batch are doing fine…so far.
I guess I’ll put it in the bad luck department.
I’ve got Eneloops in that water alarm now-dated and I’ll see how well that does.
I’ve also got some 1.5v Li AAA, but most of them are ‘cheap experiments’ (amazon of course) that didn’t do well on straight up capacity tests, so I doubt they would do well in a long time frame current draw. They last adequately in remotes, but that is minimal hassle for battery exchange.
I have had reasonable success with some ‘top tier’ 1.5v Li AA (Tenavolt) in low draw devices. That’s still an experiment in progress.
I use them for my outdoor Blink cameras on the farm. Put them in 18 months ago, and they’re still well into the green when I pulled one of the cameras down and put them in a battery tester recently.
If they were put in a low-drain device and only lasted a month, I have to assume that either they’re fake, or that the device is malfunctioning and drawing way more than it’s supposed to.
Amazon is reliable if they are sold and shipped from Amazon.
If they were sold and shipped from Amazon, its guaranteed they are authentic and have a fresh date stamp.
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That black bar is the expiry year, so it should be 2036. I dunno, it still looks kinda off to me…the only other thing I can think of is you mentioned a previous leak inside the device, and these cells are draining like crazy in it. Something could be causing a short somewhere, like residual electrolyte, etc.
The scale measurements seem pretty consistent with the generally accepted weights…Does the same issue of fast drain occur with NiMH? And if you have a multimeter, could you check the resistance of the circuit sans battery? If it’s suspiciously low, there very well could be a short somewhere.
ALSO…could you take a picture of the top of the cells at a skewed angle, a.k.a. the positive terminal?
Here’s one each of mine, AA and AAA, guaranteed authentic.
I hesitate to say that you got fake ones, because if it was sold AND shipped by amazon, they are pretty much guaranteed to be authentic as they likely buy wholesale straight from the source.
And as you’ve said, so far it’s just a few of them that have gone bad out of the pack, perhaps a more “i dunno what went wrong” approach to the Energizer CS would illicit a more appropriate response? Just tell them the truth, that they only lasted x amount of time, and you’re not sure what happened, and if you coud have someone help you troubleshoot. Many times, even the bigger corporations will have individuals who really want to help, and if they can’t successfully troubleshoot, they’ll probably compensate you for your time and effort.
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There doesn’t seem to be any current leakage. The leak was minor and appeared to clean up OK. It was 2 years ago and I did use NiMh until I got the Ultimates and swapped them out. I’m going to see how long fresh Eneloops will last. Then maybe check with 1.5v Li
I could have phrased the title and the approach to Energizer more tactfully.
I think this may have just been an anomaly.
The vent holes look legit, lol…please keep us updated!
I have used these in weather station sensors and they seem to last around 2 years and sometimes longer.
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Regarding to the weight of the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries (I only buy these from Amazon).
On electronic kitchen scales with a definition of 1 gram they weigh (per 4, no package)
AA (ult. date 12-2049): 60 gr.
AAA (ult. date 12-2042): 30 gr.
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As I began to read this thread, I was wondering if the weather station had some sort of over voltage protection, or other circuit which starts drawing higher current above 1.6V. But when you reported that two different types of battery using devices had the same problem with the same batteries, it seems much less likely. Too bad you don’t have a DVM with current measuring capability, it would be interesting to see if the alkies draw less current than the Li for some reason.
My first suspicion would be that an unscrupulous Amazon 3rd party seller repackaged and sold salvaged cells as if they were new, which could mean you have a range of states of charge in the package. Lithium primaries are tricky about this, because their rest voltage recovers to a very high level, even if they are mostly discharged.
The individual below tested numerous batteries, and didn’t see any empty batteries measure 1.74V, but be aware that even good multimeters can have an accuracy of around 0.5% of the reading + 2-3 points of the last digit shown (2nd link discusses meter accuracy):
From the above testing, clearly recovery time has a significant effect on open circuit. According to Energizer, temperature also has an effect. Taken all together, there are several layers of uncertainty in trying to gauge the state of charge of lithium primary batteries from open circuit voltage:
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I noticed that. A “recovered/removed” UL battery that has failed in service may have a reasonable appearing resting voltage, but won’t power much of anything when tried.
Too bad there’s not a rechargeable lithium 1.5v that is NOT full of electronics and regular lithium chemistry.
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