Question Tell me about rechargeable lithium ion AA batteries

[Brainaddict]

I've never got on well with nimh AA batteries after spending loads on batteries and good chargers and still having their power tail off within months, so I found myself wondering why I haven't seen rechargeable lithium ion AA batteries around. A look on amazon suggests that all the brand names are still just doing nimh batteries, while there are lithium rechargeable AAs available but from unknown chinese factory brands and the like. So what's going on? Why aren't the brand names doing them? Is there something bad about them? Does anyone have some good lithium rechargeables?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

All rechargeable give up after a few years. I have found Uniross to be excellent though, my current AAs have lasted for at least five years (probably more) and still seem to be going strong. The last set I bought are still working, but not as well.
A good range for various power levels.

All other brands I have found to give up the ghost quite quickly.

 

[danski]

I’ve found EBL pretty good but they aren’t lithium ion

 

[Brainaddict]

If no-one is using lithium ion AAs, why is that? Has Big Battery just refused to innovate and do the obvious thing?

From what I can tell you ideally want a dedicated charger for Li-on batteries but you can use the same charger as nimh, so the only initial outlay is the new batteries, which are more expensive - but will last much longer.

 

[Brainaddict]

All other brands I have found to give up the ghost quite quickly.

This is part of my puzzlement, an entire industry producing crap rechargeables, and lithium ion are right there.

 

[platinumsage]

I thought it was a voltage problem which prevented the direct replacement of regular AA with Li-ion AA.

 

[Brainaddict]

I thought it was a voltage problem which prevented the direct replacement of regular AA with Li-ion AA.

It might be! I'd like to know. But then why are there lots of no-name li-on AAs on amazon? Will they blow up my devices?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

This is part of my puzzlement, an entire industry producing crap rechargeables, and lithium ion are right there.

I seem to remember Uniross doing a massive rechargeable battery explanation on the front of their website. . . but that was years ago before you could get high output nimh rechargeable batteries.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I use nimh-hybrio 2700 (which are great and have lasted me for years, still achieving good results in mid drain products) but uniross do have lithium rechargeable batteries too.

Lithium - UNIROSS

www.uniross.com

 

[Brainaddict]

Oh yes, interesting. Maybe uniross will get me back to rechargeable batteries.

 

[MickiQ]

I've been using the Amazon own brand rechargeables for 2 or 3 years now and haven't found any noticeable difference between them and EverReady or Duracell ones tbh. We have a lot of solar powered lanterns and such like in the garden and during winter they don't get enough charge from the sun so I swap the batteries by hand. We've also got some electric candles in the house that run off them.
Plus with Xmas season approaching Mrs Q will be getting out the twinkly tat soon and that will need batteries as well.
For things like remotes where I want long life, I'll use non-rechargeables anyway.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I also did a google with your initial question . . .

"The prices for these materials fluctuate based on availability and demand. Example of lithium-Ion battery cells. Customer demand for lithium batteries to power high-performance electronics and electric vehicles has caused shortages of these metal materials. Global sources are expected to dwindle by 2050"

I think they are just too expensive, and most rechargeable battery consumers don't need (or don't think they need) a high drain rechargeable battery.

Oh yes, interesting. Maybe uniross will get me back to rechargeable batteries.

Honestly, uniross outstrip all the major brands on performance, and it's only their really old nimh hydro that have totally failed on me (15 years?). I popped some five year old ones in a high drain voice recorder the other day (some brand new rechargables don't even have the power output to switch it on) and it worked just fine.
The web info used to be excellent, it seems to be less consumer friendly, but you can see the info in the technical details.

 

[newme]

I've been using the Amazon own brand rechargeables for 2 or 3 years now and haven't found any noticeable difference between them and EverReady or Duracell ones tbh. We have a lot of solar powered lanterns and such like in the garden and during winter they don't get enough charge from the sun so I swap the batteries by hand. We've also got some electric candles in the house that run off them.
Plus with Xmas season approaching Mrs Q will be getting out the twinkly tat soon and that will need batteries as well.
For things like remotes where I want long life, I'll use non-rechargeables anyway.

Yeh it's some other main battery companies ones unbranded iirc. Have a bunch of aa, aaa and D from them since rechargeable sounded better than replacing the damned things all the time and finding how to dispose of them properly. I have a combined charger that does those and lithiums, including some high output aa's I had for nerf modding.

 

[platinumsage]

uniross do have lithium rechargeable batteries too.

Lithium - UNIROSS

www.uniross.com

They're 3.7V which is a big leap from the expected 1.5V of an AA, so I'd expect them not to work with everything.

 

[Brainaddict]

I use nimh-hybrio 2700 (which are great and have lasted me for years, still achieving good results in mid drain products) but uniross do have lithium rechargeable batteries too.

Lithium - UNIROSS

www.uniross.com

Thanks for your replies everyone, maybe I'll just get these uniross nimh ones and give them a try.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Thanks for your replies everyone, maybe I'll just get these uniross nimh ones and give them a try.

Just as long as you are not using them for a super high drain digital flash camera I think they are OK.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

They're 3.7V which is a big leap from the expected 1.5V of an AA, so I'd expect them not to work with everything.

Yes, that's quite a big difference. It surprised me. Probably more than most AA appliances will ever need.