Thanks. I see a lot of rave reviews for the eneloops. Can those be purchased locally? I keep seeing new energizer and rayovac rechargeables in stores that claim long term voltage storage.
Eneloop are good, the regular ones for long life (They are rated to maintain charge for 5 years) and the XX for higher capacity (They are only rate for 1 year).
If you need higher voltage, look at primary lithium batteries, not lithium-ion (LiIon).
http://www.walmart.com/ip/PowerGenix-Eco-Friendly-Rechargeable-AA-Batteries-8-pack/14277832
That is the kind of stuff that is confusing me. They are rated at 1.6 volt. Never knew about Nizn batteries.
At Costco.
white topped Duracell's that say "stay charged" are re-badged eneloops
things to look for
white ring around the positive nipple on top of the battery
the AA's will be 2000mah
the cell must say ..Made in Japan on it ...not china
the date manufactured on these really isn't that important at all Nimh so a 2005 date code shouldn't bother you.
duraloops were just replaced at lots of the big box stores so I'm guessing the duraloops will be all over your local flea market .. especially since proctor and gamble bought duracell a while ago ..and you're in ohio.
Most flea market guys sell them for 6$ for a 4 pack
In some quantities I pay 4 or 5$ for them ..buck buck and a quarter .
target stores blew them out very cheaply recently (.75) each So there might be a greater amount than normal on ebay ...Ebay can sometimes be a pretty good source for duraloops .
Do a duraloop search on blf as there's lots of threads about them .
Buy more than you need ..they last forever
Thanks for that review.
Their voltage is good, but there has been many complains about very short lifetime of these batteries.
You do also need a special charger for them.
I’m about an hour away from a costco. Any other recommendations? My sister asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I usually don’t give her gift ideas. This time i’m going to ask for rechargeable aa batteries. I have a motion activated led light at my back door. I’m going through aa akaline batteries about every 2 months in the light. It takes 4 batteries and has a motion detector running standby that is always draining the batteries. It only comes on about 2 times per day and shuts off after 30 seconds.
I was also looking for a rechargeable aa that could be used in a sipik sk68 clone.
Interesting. I do have some duracell aa rechargeables that I bought about 8 years ago. I will have to take a peek at them when I get home. Thanks for the tip.
I got my eneloops from Amazon. If you have prime there are several listings for free 2 day shipping along with the cheapest price I’ve seen for Eneloops.
Another vote for eneloops…
I have a bunch of Turnigy AA LSD cells from hobbyking (link )
A couple of weeks ago I decided to test all my cells (except the 5 I can’t find) with my Maha C9000 and after 12 months of use (abuse maybe?) all cells from that order tested over 2200mAh capacity.
The lowest capacity on the second lot I ordered (January) was 2368mAh with 5/9 still over 2400mAh.
I also grabbed 4 AAA in each order and the lowest was 884mAh with the rest above 900mAh and one at 994mAh.
I got these after reading some good reviews about them and they were slightly cheaper than eneloops ($2.50ea Vs$2.30).
I use (Aldi) Top Craft “precharged” and “ready to use”, Tronic Eco (Lidl), Eneloop and GP Recyko batteries.
These are all low selfdischarge batteries, and they all are very good.
The Aldi and Lidl batteries are the cheapest, 4,99 Euro (4 AA or AAA batteries), and they are just as good as the more expensive Eneloop and GP Recyko’s.
The latest Tronic “2300 mAh” batteries have a real capacity of 2200mAh, that is more than the normal Eneloop and GP Recyko’s, for less money.
I use Digimax Industrial AA 2850 mAh Rechargeable Batteries £5.99 for 4 on Amazon.co.uk, might not be available in U.S.A though.
I’ve been using them in a Nitecore MT2A for a year or more and they are good enough at the moment, I’ve got 16 to go at. Two in the light and a four AA case in my pocket is all I’ll need.
I’ll probably buy Eneloops next time, when these no longer hold a charge, but for now I’m set.
Even if you buy Eneloops, I ALWAYS recommend you also get some higher capacity batteries. There are always going to be those situations where you want or need more than a 2000mAH battery, and don’t really want to lug more batteries along. A perfect example here would be a camping trip where recharging batteries is not very feasible. LSD matters little in such situations, as they are typically planned (you would probably charge even LSD batteries before leaving). And even non-LSD batteries of any kind of quality are not going to lose much charge in a week. You could also get the Eneloop XXs or the new Duracell Ion Cores (which are at keast rumored to be XXs). These give you around 2400-2500mAH in an LSD battery. The Duracell Ion Cores appear to be REALLY good batteries, they’re cheap, and (perhaps best of all) they don’t have to be ordered.
i bought these from amazon with a la cross charger…i should be good on aa batteries for awhile…
http://www.amazon.com/eneloop-Capacity-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B0058GZWXQ
Turnigy LSD cells are 2400mAh, are there cells available that genuinely have a greater capacity than that? Plenty on ebay no doubt but wondering if there are any that are legit.
As far as I know, the highest capacity batteries are Powerex 2700s. These typicly test at around 2650mAH. Some people say they don’t last long. But I’m not sure if that’s due to the battery or the use of bad chargers. In any case, even if they don’t last five years, they’re good to have around when you want significantly more capacity than your typical Eneloop and are able to charge them for use (like for work, night hikes, camping trips, hurricanes, etc).
Eneloops. Period. (For me anyway. 8) )
Here where I live they’re not available locally, but our own ChibiM runs an excellent side job selling genuine Eneloops shipped worldwide at good prices directly from their source in Japan.
You may be right StorminMatt. See the link below. The Duracell Ion Core test out at 2620mah. And very similar to the Eneloop XX.
http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-pre-charged-Rechargeable-Batteries-count/product-reviews/B00DP2U43I/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Thanks for the tips everyone. I mentioned a few good recommendations to my sister as a birthday present. We will see if she gets me any batteries at all.