Test/review of Altizure AA 1200mWh LiIon (Brown) SQ00F3

HKJ · 2019-07-16T16:56:21.000Z

Altizure AA 1200mWh LiIon (Brown) SQ00F3

Official specifications:

Typical capacity: 650mAh
Minimum capacity: 630mAh
Nominal voltage: 1.5V
Standard charge: 325mA
Rapid charge: 2.6A
Standard discharge: 325mA
Rapid discharge: 6.5A
Lifetime at standard charge/discharge: 20000 cycles
Lifetime at rapid charge/discharge: 10000 cycles
Temperature: Charge: –20°C ~ 60°C, Discharge: –40°C ~ 60°C, Storage: –20°C ~ 50°C
Self discharge: 1.9% first month then 0.5 - 1% monthly

This is a new type of battery: Low voltage LiIon, they can handle very high charge current and many cycles.

The two tested batteries matches nicely, the capacity is fairly low and the voltage fairly high for AA cells.

I also did a discharge at low current to see if voltage and capacity changed. The voltage is about 1.85V (Lithium primary is 1.7V).

Their charge algorithm is similar to other LiIon batteries, but at other voltage levels, this means a special charger.

Charger BC-L01A

This is a charger designed for these batteries, it cannot charge other types of batteries.

The box is a black cardboard box with some specifications on it.

The box contained the charger, four batteries, USB cable and a instruction sheet.

The charger is USB powered.

There is a led for each slot, it is red while charging and green when done, with no battery in the slot it is off.

The charger uses the common two level slots for AA/AAA sized batteries, but do not put NiMH batteries in it!

Measurements

Power consumption when idle is 35mA from USB.
Charger will discharge batteries with about 4mA when unpowered.

The charger uses about 2.5A current and charges to 2.4V, this takes slightly above 15 minutes for one cell.

THe 3 other slots looks similar.

With four cells the charge time is increased to about 1 hour, the charger uses less than 1.5A from USB.

The charging is pulsing the current, probably to measure the voltage.

With more cells the same charge circuit is doing time sharing between the cells.

I noticed a current spike in the USB current.

It is rather high, but also a short pulse. This will probably prevent the charger from working with some USB supplies.

Conclusion

This battery do not have any electronic circuit in it, but is a special LiIon type battery with a voltage near primary Lithium-Iron batteries.
The capacity is rather low, but it is fast to recharge the battery and according to the specifications it will last for many many cycles. It can also be used in cold weather and even charged in cold weather.

I am not sure how useful loose AA sized batteries are (More capacity and a bit lower voltage would make them more useful), but battery with fast charge time and many charge cycles can be very useful in some products, even if they have fairly low capacity.

The supplied charger is not ideal, the fast charge is impressive with one cell and mostly disappears with four cells. I am missing a warning not to charger NiMH in it, that ought to be a very visible warning on the charger.

Notes and links

The batteries was supplied by Altizure for review.

How is the test done and how to read the charts
Compare to other AA/AAA batteries: Alkaline/NiMH/Lithium

LumenHound · 2019-07-17T00:23:22.000Z

Thanks for testing these interesting cells HKJ.
They are certainly a niche market product.

1332332331 · 2019-07-17T02:03:31.000Z

It seems like these could be useful for devices designed for alkaline batteries that don’t like the lower voltage of NiMH batteries. I have a remote control that never indicates more than 1/2 full batteries when using NiMH. I guess it’s really just a cosmetic thing, but I’d like them to show full.

Superstocker · 2019-07-17T04:18:03.000Z

Thanks HKJ! These are interesting cells.

Barkuti · 2019-07-17T06:09:09.000Z

Interesting. Maybe for toys or related stuff with relatively high power demands.

≈2.4V cut-off voltage? Yikes! That's a pretty high figure for a “1.5V nominal” battery. I'd say the cell would be fully charged with a bit less voltage, maybe 2V tops. Pretty sure.

:-)

antonkochubey · 2019-07-17T10:47:48.000Z

Wouldn’t these be great in 1xAA flashlights that cannot run off 14500’s? The higher voltage at high currents (vs NiMH) would give significantly higher brightness.

For much shorter time, though. But maybe some applications value brightness over battery life

Barkuti · 2019-07-17T12:57:52.000Z

Shadowww:

Wouldn’t these be great in 1xAA flashlights that cannot run off 14500’s? …

What flashlight? There are many 14500 flashlights, and most single cell units can run on standard 14500 li-ion too I believe.

Shadowww:

… The higher voltage at high currents (vs NiMH) would give significantly higher brightness.

…

A single AA flashlight driver will need to boost the voltage of this cell anyway. It would get an efficiency benefit due to the much higher voltage, but the cell capacity and energy is quite low.

Now, a dual in series AA flashlight may be something to look at. I mean, the flashlight driver would either blow up or could become a lot brighter. Just could.

Cheers :-)