Just curious, we have all read all about ‘duraloops’ and duraloop sales but has anyone actually proven or e-mailed duracell and confirmed the white top cells are rebadged eneloops?
How about the new ion core ones?
I have been running the ion cores in all sorts of devices around the house. These japanese cells are going strong and not self discharging fast enough to notice. I have them in motion activated led lights that get used every day,remote controls,kids toys,sk68 clone. Its been 4 months now and i havent had to charge them yet. ,
I think I remember someone posted discharge curves for the white-tops vs. eneloops that looked like strong evidence.
I read from N. Lee the Engineer on Amazon that the AA Ion Core's are in fact Eneloop XX, because they read about 2500-2600mah, and the AAA Ion Core are 3rd generation regular Eneloops. As you notice, they market the Ion Core as guaranteed to last 5 years. Well, we all know only 1 battery on the market (Eneloop) has proof that their batteries last 5 years with a charge, so I am pretty certain, as in 100%, that the Duracell Ion Core are just re-badged Eneloops.
I had googled that question a few months back. I want to say that I read that there was a slight difference between the two batteries. Wish I had saved that link. I came away thinking that it had something to do with the fact that they are produced by the same manufacture, but at different facilities with slightly different processes. Kinda like not all Eneloops are exactly the same.
Similar capacity can be found among many brands, i have old energizer 2500s that if rebadged and capacity tested on my BC700 you could not distinguish them from eneloop. Also guarantee does not mean same manufacturer, they may have invented their own lsd NiMH or they may be exaggerating or tested for a short time and extrapolated.
I would be interested in voltage sag, internal resistance and even a few hundred cycle testing.
Its proctor and gamble we are talking about here. They probably wanted the best and most reliable nimh so they went to japan for the best aa and aaa nimh battery manufacture for private label cells. Then they lowered the mah numbers and year cell life a little bit to make it more difficult to decipher.
This isnt a company that wants to deal with a bunch of returned cells
Unfortunately you can’t use logic to decipher what cells they are, i can make the counter argument:
“This is Procter and Gamble we are talking about, they aim to maximize profit at the least cost, they sell commodity items and like any commodity manufacturer they would look for per unit savings at each point of the production chain. If they found a cheaper alternative then they can either buy and rebadge them, or build their own cells (eliminating the middleman and associated cost). With reduced unit costs the level of returns can be calculated to maximize profit, if high quality means 1 return per thousand units and low quality means 10 returns per thousand but the profit margin is sufficiently increased for the cheaper units, then they are the more profitable item to sell.” - I am not talking about them as a company, but since they make the cells we are discussing i am using them to provide a counter point
Both pieces of logic have precedent (lower quality seems to have more lately), so it comes down to which one did the company adopt?
They dont make the cells inside. Their label is shrink wrapped over cell inside. If proctor and gamble cared more about profit versus quality then they would have used chinese cells.
Don`t trust that N Lee engeineer guy.. no proof at all
if you take this as proof, take it:
Quote: and you can notice that the two brands have identical-shaped positive and negative terminals, down to their 'vent holes' and how their wrappers overlap. Therefore to my best guess, the Duracell 'ion core' precharged AA cells are just rebranded Sanyo XX cells. End Quote.
Not saying that they ARENT, just saying that his tests "results" are not worth trusting at this stage!!!!
Many cells LOOK the same, but still aren`t eneloops.
If he just said 'best guess', not proof, he seems pretty trustworthy. You'll likely never get proof.
No one has so far posted any "Ah-Ha!" failing in the Duracells indicating they're not re-branded Eneloops so they're at worst very good cells. So if you can get them much cheaper than Eneloops, buy them and find something else to worry about.
Its not worry but if i am going to draw 3A from the cell in an away from civilization application i would like to know if i have the best cells or not, if not then i won’t buy them
If you only get it by those tests...So to called discharge test and looking of the batteries, than more can be badged: relabeled eneloops.
Again, not saying these are bad batteries. They actually seem to be good batteries looking at some numbers.
But it's just annoying when there is a new battery,and all the sudden everybody assumes they are eneloops, without proof.
Fair enough, let's just take 'Duraloops' to mean the Duracell tagged cells made in Japan to differentiate them from the ones made in China.
Well lets search nimh battery manufactures in japan. How many options would proctor and gamble have? I dont know, just throwing it out there. How many companies are there in japan that make low self discharge cells?
Isnt hjk the one on blf that is good at testing batteries and chargers. I will spare 2 duracell ion cores for testing. Who wants to give up 2 genuine eneloops?
Good point.
HKJ already tested eneloop XX in the past, now waiting for the ion cores to be tested.
Who is going to test them?