Tests and reviews of different batteries to help you find the Right One…
An interesting product from Energizer in the form of rechargeable AAA NiMH batteries that is apparently made wit 4% recycled batteries and that is a world’s first according to Energizer. The 1.2V AAA 800 mAh Energizer Accu Recharge Extreme NiMH come pre-charged and are of the low self discharge with charge lasting up to 12 months in storage. Marketing aside these do seem to be quite good for a mid-range in terms of capacity where higher current may be required and not so favorable temperature conditions are present.
The 1.2V AAA 800 mAh Energizer Accu Recharge Extreme NiMH batteries do manage to show pretty good results in our tests, though at 0.1A (our lowest constant current test setting) they fall somewhat short of the 800 mAh rating. Looking at the numbers and the discharge curves however you can see that increasing the discharge load all the way up to 1.0A the drop in the available capacity is relatively slow, so apparently these can handle higher current requirements pretty well indeed.
The performance of the 1.2V AAA 800 mAh Energizer Accu Recharge Extreme NiMH batteries in our tests:
– 732 mAh at 0.1A load
– 719 mAh at 0.2A load
– 713 mAh at 0.5A load
– 684 mAh at 1.0A load
– 0.931 Wh at 0.1A load
– 0.905 Wh at 0.2A load
– 0.871 Wh at 0.5A load
– 0.805 Wh at 1.0A load
It has been a while since we have tested Eneloop batteries, so we were excited to check out what performance we can see from the latest gen Panasonic Eneloop Pro AAA NiMHs. According to Panasonic the BK-4HCDE Eneloop Pro AAA batteries should be able to deliver minimum capacity of 930 mAh, they come pre-charged and are low self discharge, meaning that they should be at retain 85% of their capacity in a year if not being used after a full charge. The Eneloop pro series is intended for high drain devices, meaning that it should handle better under heavier loads, the batteries are also suitable for use in low temperature conditions (-20 degrees Celsius) and are rated at up to 500 recharge cycles (if properly maintained). Of course the Eneloop Pro batteries are made in Japan and with all of the above said they are pretty expensive compared to other competing products, that is why we have high expectations.
The 1.2V AAA 930 mAh Panasonic Eneloop Pro NiMH (BK-4HCDE) batteries manage to deliver slightly more than 900 mAh at lower constant current loads of 0.1A and 0.2A in our tests and that kind of puzzled us, so we have repeated the tests multiple times just to be sure, however without much of a difference… we kind of expected to see the 930 mAh mark covered. Going up to 0.5A load we got at 888 mAh, a really good result and not much lower compared to the lower loads and then, jumping to 1.0A discharge test we see a more significant drop in the usable capacity at 634 mAh. We were a bit disappointed from the results at 0.1A and 0.2A constant current loads, even though the batteries did manage to perform very well at slightly over 900 mAh capacity in the test, we still expected to see a bit more.
The performance of the 1.2V AAA 930 mAh Panasonic Eneloop Pro NiMH batteries in our tests:
– 903 mAh at 0.1A load
– 901 mAh at 0.2A load
– 888 mAh at 0.5A load
– 634 mAh at 1.0A load
– 1.131 Wh at 0.1A load
– 1.103 Wh at 0.2A load
– 1.051 Wh at 0.5A load
– 0.658 Wh at 1.0A load
TATTU is a newer brand of batteries by Gens ace, a popular name for high quality and good priced LiPo batteries among RC enthusiasts. Here we are testing their regular 1.2V AA 2100 mAh TATTU Enerpro NiMH batteries as the company also offers higher capacity 2700 mAh model that we plan to check out soon as well. We have previously tested AA NiMH batteries from Gens ace under their own brand, you can check the results here and compare with the TATTU line if you are interested. The TATTU Enerpro NiMH batteries are low self discharge ones that retain high percentage of their initial capacity oer longer periods of time even when not being used for long time and are rated with up to 1000x recharge cycles.
The 1.2V AA 2100 mAh TATTU Enerpro NiMH batteries are performing quite well in our tests all the way up to the high 2.0A constant load where the usable capacity shows a larger drop. What we are seeing at 0.2A and 0.5A discharge current is a very similar curve and close mAh ratings, though because of the slightly lower voltage at the higher load the gap in the Wh result is a bit larger. What we are seeing here as well as with our previous tests of Gens ace branded NiMH AA cells is that even at 0.2A load (the lowest we use for AA tests) they are performing a bit under their rated capacity, even though their general performance is very good. In both cases you can say the battery rating should’ve been much better if it was with 100 mAh lower that it is being advertised.
The performance of the 1.2V AA 2100 mAh TATTU Enerpro NiMH batteries in our tests:
– 2034 mAh at 0.2A load
– 2026 mAh at 0.5A load
– 1933 mAh at 1.0A load
– 1543 mAh at 2.0A load
– 2.490 Wh at 0.2A load
– 2.392 Wh at 0.5A load
– 2.238 Wh at 1.0A load
– 1.637 Wh at 2.0A load
– For more details about the 1.2V AA 2100 mAh TATTU Enerpro NiMH batteries…