I have three different versions of XTAR 1.5V Li-ion AA cells.
White and blue. No indicator for charging.
Green. There’s an indicator light while charging near the top side.
Dark blue. There’s an indicator light near the button top. I think this drops from 1.5V to 1.1V to indicate low voltage.
I have a few chargers that support them:
XTAR BC4 with LED indicators.
XTAR LC4 (old version, like BC4)
XTAR MX4 (new, reviewing)
Use cases:
Toys involving motors that need a constant voltage (e.g. trains).
Wireless keyboards. This resolved intermittent Bluetooth dropouts at 3 metres as Ni-MH gradually drops.
Aircon remotes. I can’t see the LCD when NIi-MH drops.
Situations where I wouldn’t use them:
AM radios where there’s too much radio interference.
My teevee remote takes AAs, and using eneloops at 1.2V, first, I can’t see the backlight as it’s hardly lit, and second, range sucks. With the 1.5V Li cells, the backlight is nice and bright, and rather than having to use a sniper-scope to aim precisely at the receiver on the teevee, now I can even aim it at the ceiling, the wall behind me, etc., and have bounce trigger the teevee.
I’ve used them in lights like my Xeno where there’s a visible difference between 1.5V and 1.2V. They’re brightest with the 1.5V Li cells, as alkaleaks drop proportionately in voltage under any load whereas these puppies will struggle as needed to maintain 1.5V no matter what until it’s just too much.
LC displays will look faded as the crystals don’t “twist” as much under lower voltage. My clock/thermometer will work great with fresh alkaleaks but then fades as they age, and will start out “faded” even with fresh eneloops. It’ll be full “brightness” with 1.5V Li cells, even though the RFI will mess with its ability to use the set buttons.
The biggest most badass reason to use them instead of alkaleaks if at all possible is that Li cells won’t crap the bed and ruin the entire device when they do it, like alkaleaks will. If youse want to replace an entire remote, or clock, or whatever, go crazy. Me, I’ll use these Li cells even if I have to charge them monthly vs swapping out alkaleaks after a year. Only I don’t have to charge them monthly as even if they get half (vs a tenth) the lifetime of alkaleaks it’s well worth it.
When you say [night photography] what do you mean more specifically?
As L37 points out the voltage converter can choke output, making them work poorly or not at all in some demanding flash applications.
In my limited tests there is a LOT of variation between the few brands I have tested.
If you mean, simply putting them in generally lighting, their advantage might be keeping the output up, as long as the current requirements aren’t too high for the converter. The downside is reduced capacity compared to NiMh.
my minimag 2aa and zl-h53 work fine with EDL brand 1.5v li ion AA,. thou visually zl runs brighter off duracell optimum,
I also have 6 D cells also EDL i used them in 6cell maglite, but it burns bulbs pretty quick, they do not sag the way alkaline do, i probably need to use 7 cell bulbs with these cells
I wouldn’t call it misleading. It’s the correct way to do it. Mah is incorrect, it’s just become the standard. Since the voltage is different than nimh, it would be incorrect to use mah as they’re not relatable
I get that. OTOH, the way I use them is mAh OUT when I test them. I could just as well use mWh, but mAh is the reference I’ve become accustomed to.
Either way these 1.5v Li almost NEVER EVER come up to their claimed capacity. 2/3 is not unusual, and 1/2 is unfortunately not uncommon, especially with the AAA.
Personally I’d be less disappointed/annoyed if the correct specs were marketed. But…this would sucker less people in that don’t have the tools to test.
Oh, I get that. Don’t have any of these. I would never buy a cell that has any type of electronic circuit on it. I guess except for Olight cells, But that’s only because there are no other options. Eneloops Work for anything that I would need. And I don’t have to worry about current draw with them like I would, with one of these. I do believe I have a couple of XTAR ones coming, but that is only because they are providing them with the review unit of the new MX charger they sent me. But there seems to be a mail delay as I still have not received it.
If they used mwh for all cells it would be fine, but when they use mah for some cells and mwh for others ordinary consumer gets confused, Xtar rates their latest cell in both.
Real capacity depends on current draw, if brands rate it at 50ma draw, than it could be close to rated. but draw at 200, or god forbid 500, you get half
Ahh, so you have noticed some ill-effect(s) likely due to RFI. That’s good to have a confirming data point on (although I’m not ‘happy’ to hear it). Few if any users have mentioned such, and at least one manufacturer seems reluctant to discuss it (or provide specs), although the potential / likelihood of such is rather obvious, and has been one reason I’ve not yet tried any of these cells. Anyway, thanx for confirming that this goes beyond simply the theoretical realm, which does not come as a surprise to me.
Technically, I probably could just stick a cap across the cells to smooth the voltage the doodad sees, but to me that’s just extra leakage current, and probably awkward. Also, no idea if that added cap would cause oscillations by yanking the control-loop to be unstable.
@Lightbringer - Roger that. I guess perhaps it figures it might affect the I/O in the little gadget first. I always consider RF - it’s an old habit from my youth. I wish I still had access to all the test equip I used to - I’d answer my own questions, but I don’t. After all, these things are not ‘our father’s dry cells’, they’re little power supplies; albeit self-contained. Where I come from, power supplies have specs, and they include ‘noise’. These mfgrs. are trying to cross over the line and dip their toes into power supplies, but without playing by power supply rules. I consider that either irresponsible or clueless, take your pick. It doesn’t help when they ignore my questions, either.
That said, it may not stop me from trying them - with caution. There’s a zillion times more RF around in this world than in the past. Whether it’s ‘wi-fi’, BT, my headphones, or my A/V remotes, it’s everywhere. We’ll see. Even though some (XTAR) are dealing with the ‘sudden death syndrome’ thing of going flat line at low voltage threshold for the basic cell without warning, which has almost made me decide to try them, I think the jury’s still out on the RF thing.
(I wonder if the FCC has anything to say about these?)
yea, it did not for him, works for me, depends on a device, unless you try it in your particular device, you will not know for sure, i would think different brands of batteries may act differently as well, rightfully noted, they are complex devices vs simple dry cell.
I like that the XTAR ones have a 1.1v low mode before shutting off. There’s even an indicating led by the positive nipple. I mean, it’ll probably be in a light and you’d be unable to see it, but neat none the less. And a 2A cdr. Not bad. Not a big fan of the………interesting downsides XTAR claim that nimh have. Like memory and poor discharge graphs, but they may have a usable advantage in low draw devices. I’ll do a runtime test and see how they do
This can an advantage, or it can be a disadvantage.
Good if device still works with 1.1v, but if used with a device which does not work with ni-mh it is highly likely that 1.1v will be too low and device will simply turn off immediately once converter switches to 1.1v. Which means still no useful indication and even lower usable capacity…
I found there’s some current limiting going on too here as the light was too dim to be at 1.1v. So I don’t think there’s much capacity left by the time it steps down.
