A couple of months ago I bought some cheap (4 for ~$4) rechargeable AAA NiMHs from Lidl to use in toys, remotes and such.
When they ran out of juice the first time after being used in my Logitech M525 remote I put them in my XTAR VC4. All 4 charged to over 1000 mAh - one even to 1108 mAh. They are specced to 900 mAh.
IDK these cells,butI know that Lidl can sell quality stuff for decent prices, it is actually the only sote I look through their folders because of this
Lidl sells lot of good stuff, most often that is. Got 16 rainbow colored AA a while back and they perform very poorly, too thick and to short to work in some appliances.
I believe the VC4 is recording the total amount of energy it has put into the batteries to include lost energy, no? My VC4’s meter shows a final charge figure on the display as very much in excess of what my batteries are rated. I think the only way to really know the actual capacity is to perform a discharge test.
that’s correct.
If you read some of the HKJ reviews with some chargers in particular conditions sometimes on old weared cells he managed to transfer a couple of thousand more mA in a cell rated for 1/3 of what it did charge in it. It all goes into heat…
I have some Tronic “Energy 2300 ECO” ready to use batteries, they have a higher capacity than the wihte Eneloops.
The real capacity (according to the Maha MH-C9000) is 2210mAh - 2276mAh - 2244mAh - 2257mAh (for a set of 4).
But sometimes Lidl sells the “normal” nimh batteries (not low selfdischarge), you have to be carefull before buying nimh batteries (don’t buy any non low selfdischarge nimh’s because they dont last very long).
CHARGING on ANY NiMh charger is simply not accurate……period.
The only way to determine capacity is an appropriate discharge with a decent analyzing charger.
I seriously doubt your new batteries are anything better than OK, and could be worse. It is near impossible to get a decent AAA with that kind of claimed capacity. Probably pure marketing BS.
If you really want to know what is going on you need a dedicated analyzing charger like the Opus. The XTAR is not an analyzing charger. It is a good charger. I have one and like it but outside charging it is pretty limited.
As said, charge energy is meaningless. However LSD Tronic cells can be very good, but without the ability to survive as many recharges as Eneloops, and their siblings. Some Tronic cells are pants.
I use Tronic (Lidl), Top Craft (Aldi), GP Recyko and Eneloop (low selfdischarge cells) for more than 5 years now, and they are all still working perfect (no more than 5% capacity loss after 5 years, even for the Top Craft cells).
But i don’t have to recharge these cells every day, some only have to be charged once a year (if those cells only last 100 recharges, then i will be dead for a long time before they are recharged so many times).
If you have to charge the cells every day, then the white Eneloops will last longer, if they have to be charged only once a month, the cheaper Tronic and Top Craft cells will also last for a very long time.
Just make sure that you only buy low selfdischarge cells, because standard nimh cells did not last for more than 1-4 years here, low selfdischarge cells are much more reliable (even the cheap ones).
Some Lidl stuff is fine & some is rubbish.
I bought a Lidl 2.1 amp USB wall charger this week & the most I can get out of it is .60 amps (tried several different USB leads & several different items to charge).
In very small writing on the back of the package it does say up to 2.1 amp so I suppose .60 amps is within the specs
