Testing AA Batteries: Dollar Stores vs. Major Brands
- Thread starter PopUpSteve
- Start date
Have to factor in cost.
And , i will add my own 2 cents. Some things, high end, or more technical spacific, have specs for batteries. So, only certain professional grade batteries xan be used. Yea, thats atually a thing. Now , i am thinking its more about leakage and heat retention. So , our SCBAs at work require a certian battery, still AA , or they void the warranty. The company that does the warranty works go further, to limit it to one type, as the other is more prone to leakage.
![[LOL]](/smileys/smile_lol.gif "Laugh Out Loud [LOL]")
Amazon has "Amazon Basics" batteries that are supposed to have a 10-year shelf life. From a price standpoint it's a no-brainer. Twenty-eight AA Duracells are about $21.50. One hundred AA Amazon Basics are $27.64.
I bought some for a couple flashlights and my bait bucket bubbler. So far so good.
I bought some for a couple flashlights and my bait bucket bubbler. So far so good.
Last edited:
Just watch there 9 v , mine didn't fit in the smoke detectors. Hope they fixed it by now.
curt86iroc
Member
- Sep 28, 2020
- 51
in this day and age, there is really no need to buy single use batteries. name brand rechargeable AA and AAAs are a good investment and last for 100s of cycles...
jmkay1
2004 Fleetwood/Coleman Utah
I tried rechargeables many years ago but found they never lasted as long as regular batteries and was constantly changing batteries out way more than I would. Also even had a couple devices not work at all with rechargeables. Grant you batteries have come a long way now hopefully they work better then what they did. I'd be curious to see if someone did a test with rechargeables vrs regular.
curt86iroc
Member
- Sep 28, 2020
- 51
i've had fantastic luck with EBL batteries! https://www.eblofficial.com/collections/aa-aaa-batteries
Yep. Even maglite has it's warranty. It will only warranty it if you used Duracell and enegizier alkaline. Once the battery leaks it's kaput. Can't get it out of the cylinder.
There are basically 4 types now .
Nicad (most durable but likes to be deep cycled, actually kinda hard to find). Low capacity. Surprisingly good for solar ornamental lights. Mostly replaced with nimh.
Nimh: basically two flavors. High drain/high performance: use for things like big flashlights, motors, fans, etc. Typical self discharges in a few months.
Low drain/low discharge types are good for about a year or so. Good for things like remotes, head lamps, etc, and kids low drain toys.
The problem with the low drain is cost. For a pack of 4, you can get like a dozen brand name AA. For things like remotes, it's a high upfront so that you can charge every... 8 months? However they don't leak... Which is a big deal!
I've been seeing some lithium ion
NLB
Active Member
Like jmkay said, tried em years ago. Never could keep up with the kids usage. Maybe now that it’s just me I’ll give recharging another try.
curt86iroc
Member
- Sep 28, 2020
- 51
they make special chargers that can manage this for you...
Don't work because it's not the charger. It's leaving it in some random device where the battery drains to zero for an extended period of time. I know about re awakening batteries, but even after a full charge they won't hold, or the charge in a min or two. Their goners. I capacity test mine with a lilokala engineer with cooling cycles in-between for the nimh, it don't matter. Some just become toast. Trick is to get them out and recharge them periodically.
Lug_Nut
Active Member
NiCd have fewer discharge-recharge cycle lifespan than other rechargeables. They're cheap because they are in less demand due to fewer cycles, less run time and not much of a cost savings than others.
NiMh have more cycles and usually more mAh. These have become more prevalent due to these two main reasons, and aren't all that much more than NiCd.
Li Ion have higher capacity (mAh), but require a specific charging protocol so are more common in electronics that are programmed to monitor and regulate the charging process (cellphones, laptops and such.
I've found that alkaline cells, the type that can't be re-charged, CAN be filled up. I've put nearly dead alkaline AA and AAA batteries into solar charged walkway lamps and have brought those back to a "good" reading when using my Sperry battery tester. Once charged they last seemingly as long as new alkalines in flashlights, head lamps, bicycle flashers and such.
That has prompted me to use a USB powered 'dumb' charger at work for the thrown-away alkalines I'm now using in my cordless mouse, desk clock, wall clocks, test meters, laser pointer. A 'smart charger' with selections for NiCd or NiMh won't even begin to charge alkalines, but a dumb unit works.
The alkalines aren't supposed to be rechargeable. They are supposed to bulge and leak and cause all kinds of havoc if re-charging is attempted.
Please don't tell them that or they might quit.
NiMh have more cycles and usually more mAh. These have become more prevalent due to these two main reasons, and aren't all that much more than NiCd.
Li Ion have higher capacity (mAh), but require a specific charging protocol so are more common in electronics that are programmed to monitor and regulate the charging process (cellphones, laptops and such.
I've found that alkaline cells, the type that can't be re-charged, CAN be filled up. I've put nearly dead alkaline AA and AAA batteries into solar charged walkway lamps and have brought those back to a "good" reading when using my Sperry battery tester. Once charged they last seemingly as long as new alkalines in flashlights, head lamps, bicycle flashers and such.
That has prompted me to use a USB powered 'dumb' charger at work for the thrown-away alkalines I'm now using in my cordless mouse, desk clock, wall clocks, test meters, laser pointer. A 'smart charger' with selections for NiCd or NiMh won't even begin to charge alkalines, but a dumb unit works.
The alkalines aren't supposed to be rechargeable. They are supposed to bulge and leak and cause all kinds of havoc if re-charging is attempted.
Please don't tell them that or they might quit.
Disagree about the lifespans. Nicads when cycled properly was in the thousands, as long as they didn't develope memory.
Nimh are almost the same price as you mentioned and they don't deal with the pesky cadmium part.
Didn't buddy L have an alkaline charger? I think they performed best when like the battery was at like greater than 60 percent...
Nimh are almost the same price as you mentioned and they don't deal with the pesky cadmium part.
Didn't buddy L have an alkaline charger? I think they performed best when like the battery was at like greater than 60 percent...
