"Juice brand" rechargeable AA batteries, don't get fooled by low price!
CuriousOne
Posts: 931
All know, there are myriads of fake capacity AA/AAA nimh cells on ebay, "BTY", "SOSHINE", "TANGSFIRE" and other bloody names. About a 6 month ago, a new brand, "Juice brand" emerged. They have quite low prices, while looking completely legit, with working website and u.s. registered business address. I bought CR2 lithium rechargeables from them, which I'm using in wireless strobe sync adapters and they worked flawlessly. Inspired by the low price, I've decided to get both AA and AAAs from them. Ordered two blisters of AA and two - AAA. Manufacturing quality of both blister and packaging is quite high, I won't say it's energiser, but say not worse than rayovac. Cells itself also have nice finish quality and adequate weight. But surprises started early. AA cell states - "Made in Canada". Blister says "Made in China", bar code on blister says "Made in USA". For AAA, everything was china, except barcode, which still reads as valid U.S. issued barcode. Got multimeter and started measurements. All cells were fully discharged and reading as 0.55-0.57v. Except one AA cell, which was 0 volts (and which is short circuited, when I applied voltage to it, packaging started to heat and melt, it is made of printed aluminum, and somehow shorts the circuit). Put AA cells into LaCrosse BC-700 smart charger, in capacity measurement mode, and here are the results:
71, 33, 42, 36 mAh !
Instead of declared 2000 !
AAA cells have even lower value, less than 30mAh, instead of 1000.
So, seller will got open case and refund request, all others - take note!
71, 33, 42, 36 mAh !
Instead of declared 2000 !
AAA cells have even lower value, less than 30mAh, instead of 1000.
So, seller will got open case and refund request, all others - take note!
800 x 532 - 124K
Comments
If the batteries are able to short out in the packaging maybe that explains it. It's hard to believe a manufacturer would sink their own ship with QC so bad that many "bad" batteries make it through. It's possible if the packaging was done elsewhere it's not entirely the manufacturer's fault, they might be finding out the hard way as well.
What are a good brand AA rechargeable that won't break the bank?
From the cheapest & best NiMH rechargeables, I can say that JCB ones are great. Price is much lower, and capacity is on par with high end rechargeables. Below are some measurements:
JCB AAA rechargeable - 1000mAh declared - 980mAh average.
Tenergy AAA rechargeable - 1000mAh declared - 350mAh average
Sony CycleEnergy AAA rechargeable - 800mAh declared - 840mAh average
Energizer AAA rechargeable - 1000mAh declared - 880mAh average
I have also data for AA cells somewhere, will post, when I'll find the file.
Sony CycleEnergy 2000mAh - 1940-2080 mAh
GP ReCyko 2000mAh - 1860-1950 mAh
GP 2700mAh - 1530-2560 mAh
Sakar 2000mAh - 1050mAh
Huawei 1500mAh (from cordless phone) 1560mAh
Camelion 2000mAh - 1790-1910 mAh
Rayovac Platinum 2000mAh - 1920-2010 mAh
All tests were made on Lacrosse BC700 charger. Batteries previously had passed at least 10 cycles of slow charge and discharge, to maximize output.
Walter
I love having a charger that tells you the capacity of the charge. It does expose a lot of battery nonsense.
Material consumption is much lower, so is capacity, but price is the same?
Just noticed, Rayovacs are on sale on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rayovac-Platinum-Pre-Charged-Batteries-PL715/dp/B00N9D8WXW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1421298036&sr=8-4&keywords=rayovac+platinum
Generally, that pack is $16.99
But, NiMH being phased out slowly, lithium kicks in. The main slowdown is there are no high quality 14500 (AA size) lithium cells for adequate price. When they will appear, market for NiMH will be considerably shrinked.
BTW, I've ordered this smart charger for lithium too: http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20LiitoKala%20Lii-260%20UK.html
Should be here by weekend, so stand by for review of various Li-Ions too
I use this charger - http://www.amazon.com/ProgressiveRC-PRC-106B-iCharger-106B/dp/B007X45ERK
The "i" prefix was daunting, but I found that its size, price and high output are ideal for my general use and sometimes special occasions where I need to use a dummy load to discharge.
No idea on the price structure, if I understood that stuff I'd probably have a secretary to type this for me.
Juice brand CR123A - 2 pcs, 382 and 365 mAh capacity, 0.225 and 0.228 ohm inner resistance. Tested with 500mA discharge current. Not bad!
Samsung ICR18650-22B - 1 pcs. 2015 mAh capacity, 0.042 ohm resistance, 1A discharge current
UltraFire CR123A 1000mAh rechargeable - 2 pcs. via amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Ultrafire-1000mAh-CR123A-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B009LWNZPA/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&qid=1421531983&sr=8-28&keywords=2+pcs+CR123A+rechargeable) Real capacity is 88 and 86 mAh per cell, 0.25 ohm inner resistance. !
Shenzhen ASO 18650 from compatible laptop pack, 2600mAh claim. Measured 1900mAh capacity, 0.12 ohm inner resistance, discharge current 1A
Currently, Ultrafire 14500 and LG18650 (from bgmicro) being tested.
TrustFire 14500 Protected, 900mah declared, 680 and 720 mAh measured, 0.07 ohm internal resistance, discharge current 0.5A
LG 18650, sold by BGmicro, 2000mAh declared, 1865 mAh measured, 0.05 ohm internal resistance, discharge current 1A
I bought one similar to this but it also came with 8 AAA for the same price. So far so good. They work great in my Toddler.
so typically you will never see the claimed capacity unless you do stuff at the right temperature, discharge
rate and immediately after an over-charge...
Cheap bulk-buy packs of alkaline cells are often low-capacity cells, not the ones sold in blister packs, because
the manufacturer's haven't been forced by legislation to label even nominal capacity onto primary cells
for retail sale - scandalous.
I'd never trust an unknown battery brand without personal recommendation or prior good experience in fact.
Juice Brand CR2 - 221mAh measured, 0.35ohm internal resistance. 500mA discharge current.