Rechargeable AA/AAA batteries... are they worth it?
- Thread starter slinxy
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I've used the Varta Accu AA HR6 2600mAh Rechargeable Batteries and Varta Accu AAA HR03 1000mAh Rechargeable Batteries. As far as I can tell they are the same Panasonic Eneloop Pro. Ni-MH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) and 1.2v. Yet they are slightly cheaper. And Varta make good car batteries so figured they'd be OK. About £5 a pack cheaper than Panasonic Eneloop Pro (just quick glance).
Quick q for the more knowledgeable, I have some old Amazon Basics 2400mah AA (NIMH) think they are re badged eneloops? but not sure. When charging them, 2 charge at 1.52v at 500mah and 2 charge at 1.41/1.42v at 500mah. Do higher charging voltages indicate higher internal resistance and therefore maybe more worn/bad batteries? I tried googling and saw some posts about max charge voltages being in the mid 1.4v range.
Presumably I should just get rid of these and buy some new ones?
Presumably I should just get rid of these and buy some new ones?
I been using rechargables for years after getting sick and tired of a old Microsoft wireless bluetooth mouse costing loads of money in batteries due to the bad design bluetooth and being not that old at the time then continued to use them in other wireless mice and keyboards over the years since.
When the batteries are in good shape they last weeks in between charging and I have enough to rotate them so I always have a set ready to go unless I forget to charge them. I have a cheep charger the charges each battery independently as the other one would only charge in pairs and unless the pair where in tip top shape they would not charge and this charger would get the batteries very hot to touch.
When the batteries are in good shape they last weeks in between charging and I have enough to rotate them so I always have a set ready to go unless I forget to charge them. I have a cheep charger the charges each battery independently as the other one would only charge in pairs and unless the pair where in tip top shape they would not charge and this charger would get the batteries very hot to touch.
Caporegime
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I relegate old rechargeables to be used in my Apple mouse, if they don’t hold charge for longer than a few days in use they go into the bin. Almost everything else these days have it built in, I’m not sure what’s going to happen with all those products in 10 years besides landfills.
sound like a reasonable quality charger if it is reporting voltage ... obviously won't do a full discharge/charge measured cycle ?
but, I agree sounds like charger is increasing voltage on older, more resistive, cells to maintain a 500mah charge level
( ... still need to identify some aliexpress aaa/aa liion rechargeables for that full 1.5V goodness , for some of my remotes/tado/... that won't work reliably with nimh )
from my experience the Panasonic white eneloop are the best, although the amazon basic are supposed to be Panasonic eneloops in my testing( although limited testing) the white eneloops are better than the amazon basic stuff although not by much. They are better than the Duracell stuff too and better than Ali express stuff too.
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I've still got Eneloops from 2007 in my drawer! I had originally purchased them for my Xblox 360's controller back in the day, and continued using the controller on the PC until I moved away from windows last year!
Cheers, I stuck them on a discharge/charge test cycle (half the charge rate, so 250mah discharge) and has been going for about 3 hours so far and down to 1.13 volts, the charger is a https://www.technoline-berlin.de/manual/icharger_english.pdf so will see what it comes back with as a mah rating/estimate once the test cycle is complete.