Archive for the ‘NiCd/NiMH Batteries’ Category

1.2V AA 2700 mAh GP NiMH Battery Tests

30, Oct 2013

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The 1.2V AA 2700 mAh GP NiMH batteries are the largest capacity NiMHs offered by the company and we are expecting to see good results from them. With GP’s batteries we’ve seen quite interesting results in our tests, some models are a bit disappointing, others are surprisingly good, but since we’ve seen varying results with the highest capacity NiMH batteries from different brands we are hoping that GP did not make any compromise with their top model at least.


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Starting the test of the 1.2V AA 2700 mAh GP NiMH batteries as we normally do with a low constant current discharge rate of 0.2A and the result was 2664 mAh as capacity which is great result for a battery rated at 2700 mAh (typical capacity), we can say that it is perfect. Furthermore increasing the constant current discharge rate at up to 2.0A the batteries continue to perform great offering great useable capacity levels. We can say for sure that the 1.2V AA 2700 mAh GP NiMH Rechargeable batteries are really good choice and are true to their ratings, unlike the not so well performing 2500 mAh model that we’ve tested some time ago that got us a bit disappointed.

The performance of the 1.2V AA 2700 mAh GP NiMH Batteries in our tests:

– 2664 mAh at 0.2A load
– 2527 mAh at 0.5A load
– 2404 mAh at 1.0A load
– 2223 mAh at 2.0A load

– 3.329 Wh at 0.2A load
– 3.082 Wh at 0.5A load
– 2.801 Wh at 1.0A load
– 2.436 Wh at 2.0A load

1.2V AA 2700 mAh Xcell NiMH Battery Tests

25, Oct 2013

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The 1.2V AA 2700 mAh Xcell NiMH batteries seem to offer a large capacity at a first glance, but we need to check if you actually get that much as hitting levels of 2700 mAh and being able to actually provide them in real conditions is something that the top battery brands are still struggling to do. Another thing to note with the higher capacity NiMH batteries is that they do have a faster initial self discharge, so they loose more of their capacity the first day they are charged than lower capacity NiMHs, unless they are from the LSD type. Anyway, lets us see what will these Xcell batteries be able to offer…


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We have started the test of the 1.2V AA 2700 mAh Xcell NiMH batteries as we normally do with a low constant current discharge rate of 0.2A and the result we got was 2191 mAh as capacity and that is way too little for a battery rated at 2700 mAh, disappointing us a bit. Going further by increasing the constant current load at up to 2.0A, these batteries do manage to provide good results, so they are handling well higher loads, it is just that the useable capacity you get is less than advertised. We’ve repeated the tests multiple times just to be sure that this is really the maximum we can get from the AA Xcell NiMH batteries and in the end we would recommend to choose different 2700 mAh batteries if you are in need of higher capacity.

The performance of the 1.2V AA 2700 mAh Xcell NiMH Batteries in our tests:

– 2191 mAh at 0.2A load
– 1885 mAh at 0.5A load
– 1714 mAh at 1.0A load
– 1650 mAh at 2.0A load

– 2.758 Wh at 0.2A load
– 2.329 Wh at 0.5A load
– 2.029 Wh at 1.0A load
– 1.816 Wh at 2.0A load

1.2V AA 3000 mAh VTEC Ultra Capacity 2 NiMH Battery Tests

16, Oct 2013

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The 1.2V AA 3000 mAh VTEC Ultra Capacity 2 NiMH batteries are being distributed by LRP and NOSRAM, popular names in the remote control models and are supposed to be of high quality and true to specs. So if these guys say that the batteries from their VTEC brand are supposed to offer a given capacity you are expecting them not only to meet it, but also exceed it. Now, these VTEC batteries are being sold as 3000 mAh capacity (clearly written on LRP and NOSRAM websites), though on the batteries themselves only 3000 is written and not a single rating mentioning capacity in mAh. Anyway, let us see if these batteries are able to offer the performance they are supposed to or not…


1-2v-aa-3000-mah-vtec-ultra-capacity-2-nimh-battery-capacity

Starting our test of the 1.2V AA 3000 mAh VTEC Ultra Capacity 2 NiMH batteries as we normally do with a low constant current discharge rate of 0.2A and the result we got was just 2178 mAh as capacity. As we’ve already mentioned the VTEC brand by LRP/NOSRAM is supposed to be offering high quality products that do not come at a very affordable prices, so we repeated the test multiple times with different batteries, but the result was pretty much the same. And we are sure these are not some fake Chinese batteries branded as VTEC as we got them form an official distributor of NOSRAM. Getting less than 800 mAh capacity at lower discharge rate than the supposed capacity is a real disappointment, we really expected a much better result. Even if we take into account that the higher the capacity of NiMH batteries goes the faster they self-discharge in the first day after being fully charged, loosing so much in terms of capacity is just a few hours is way too much to be considered an option. And while the performance remains good when increasing the constant current discharge rate at up to 2.0A in our tests, these batteries clearly should’ve been labeled as 2200 mAh and not as 3000 mAh. Again, these VTEC batteries have shown us really unsatisfactory performance and have disappointed us quite a lot, so there is no way we would recommend them as there are much better alternatives.

The performance of the 1.2V AA 3000 mAh VTEC Ultra Capacity 2 NiMH Batteries in our tests:

– 2178 mAh at 0.2A load
– 1967 mAh at 0.5A load
– 1839 mAh at 1.0A load
– 1805 mAh at 2.0A load

– 2.729 Wh at 0.2A load
– 2.407 Wh at 0.5A load
– 2.179 Wh at 1.0A load
– 1.938 Wh at 2.0A load


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