Great AA Alkaline Battery Test (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: Great AA Alkaline Battery Test (2016)

#191

Post by stavros » Fri, Jan 14, 2022, 9:59 AM UTC

watersb wrote: post #189

stavros wrote: post #157

I built a similar test rig from a $15 plane controller to test some VTC6 batteries I bought: https://notes.stavros.io/maker-things/battery-discharge-curv... It was a lot of fun!

I actually learned a lot from your reports when I geeked out on flashlights and battery formats that were new to me, the 27xxx size. Thanks very much! (It was sometime in the past 18 months, in which all time sequences have been shredded in a lockdown blur.)

No problem, but are you sure it was me? My battery measurements are pretty recent.

Re: Great AA Alkaline Battery Test (2016)

#192

Post by adenner » Fri, Jan 14, 2022, 8:45 PM UTC

TrainedMonkey wrote: post #118

adenner wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a bit of feedback, for safety equipment like smoke and CO detectors, standard guidance is to replace the battery at least once a year. (Unless you have an integrated 10 year battery that will last the life of the detector) If you live in an area that follows Daylight Savings time, doing it then is best so that you remember. Otherwise doing it during the Operation Edith drill for Fire Prevention Week is the ne…

Does this guidance apply to both battery backup and battery only situations?

It is the safe option. At the least you should be up there validating that it works and as long as you are up there...

Re: Great AA Alkaline Battery Test (2016)

#193

Post by fouric » Fri, Jan 14, 2022, 10:13 PM UTC

dragontamer wrote: post #9

I think the main issue with AA Alkaline is the proliferation of cheap low-self-discharge NiMH cells (aka: Eneloop, but also Energizer and other brands have good LSD NiMH available). A huge number of appliances seem to be designed for the 1.35V NiMH chemistry now. Perhaps a random TV-remote still prefers Alkaline but most seem to work fine with NiMH. ----- Buying a pack of 20 NiMH cells and rotating your collection be…

How do you find good cheap low-self-discarge NiMH cells? I couldn't find any research on them (like the post article but for NiMH) because of SEO spam, and Amazon reviews are (of course) worthless.

Heck, I'm afraid to even buy NiMH batteries because of counterfeits. I bought a few batches of Amazon Basics batteries a year ago and 3/8 are dead already, but even if I purchased something labeled "Eneloop" on there, how do I know it's Eneloop?

Re: Great AA Alkaline Battery Test (2016)

#194

Post by zoomablemind » Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 6:23 PM UTC

raihansaputra wrote: post #171

zoomablemind wrote: post #74

Chiming in, I just recently was wondering how two seemingly equal by chemistry and size batteries just from different mfgrs could be so much incomparable by practical life-times. On so many occasions Panasonic or Sony (Japan made) batteries which come included with devices (like remote controls etc) would last years (!) (in some odd case I had Sony AA battery functional after more than a decade), yet any recent repla…

"By Chemistry" seems to be the keyword here. AFAIK Alkaline also have several chemistry differences, and batteries especially OEM would be matched to the use (low energy-long storage for remote). General purpose/OTS battery seem to optimize for power for ease-of-use. Avoid the scenario of "Oh this toy doesn't work with this battery brand so I'll avoid it". Have you tried specific long-use batteries? Non-alkaline or A…

> ...Have you tried specific long-use batteries? Non-alkaline or Alkaline branded as such?

What is "long-use" in this case?

Most of the batteries are advertized on the packaging as "long-lasting guaranteed!". Sure, there're lithium batteries, and LSD rechargeables, but alkaline kind are normally just touted as "Alkaline!" or highlighted to that effect.

Just fetched some of those old OEM batteries, Panasonic one is labeled Ultra Hyper (Costa Rica made) UM-3UHS/R6, Sony is Super Red (Japan made), R6P(SR) - this one is labeled 03/98, I kid you not, still measures 1.4V.

I sure haven't seen these on shelves here, well, not currently, at least.

Re: Great AA Alkaline Battery Test (2016)

#195

Post by raihansaputra » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:31 AM UTC

zoomablemind wrote: post #194

raihansaputra wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"By Chemistry" seems to be the keyword here. AFAIK Alkaline also have several chemistry differences, and batteries especially OEM would be matched to the use (low energy-long storage for remote). General purpose/OTS battery seem to optimize for power for ease-of-use. Avoid the scenario of "Oh this toy doesn't work with this battery brand so I'll avoid it". Have you tried specific long-use batteries? Non-alkaline or A…

> ...Have you tried specific long-use batteries? Non-alkaline or Alkaline branded as such? What is "long-use" in this case? Most of the batteries are advertized on the packaging as "long-lasting guaranteed!". Sure, there're lithium batteries, and LSD rechargeables, but alkaline kind are normally just touted as "Alkaline!" or highlighted to that effect. Just fetched some of those old OEM batteries, Panasonic one is la…

The Sony one is advertised as `low-current` use battery, so I'm not surprised that it lasted long. Well 1.4 is no joke though.

Interestingly I can't find any listing for any low-current battery on Amazon. I swear I've seen them in my local stores a few years ago, advertised specifically for remotes. Maybe they're not profitable so people stop selling them. Bummer.