Alkaline Battery Shoot Out

[SilverFox]

Update:

I added the results from some Nuon Powerizer Lithium Iron AA cells that GCBStokes sent me.

Once you get past the big voltage dip at the beginning, they seem to do pretty good. The Energizer L91 cells win in Watt Hours, but cost more.

Tom

 

[SilverFox]

Update:

Once upon a time... long ago...

Archangel sent me some Kirkland AA cells to do some follow up testing with. I was cleaning up my testing files and ran across the results from these tests. I finally got around to posting them.

The seem to have dropped off at the 0.5 amp test, but are pretty close at the 1.0 amp test. The original test was done with 2011 cells, and these were dated 2013.

Thanks Mike.

Tom

 

[abvidledUK]

Perhaps a new thread with 2007 info highlighted ?

 

[hank]

ps56k -- don't know if there's any way to do tabs, I think the forum software is far too helpful about throwing away repeating chars, can't tell what you meant to be in what columns.

Can you try maybe separating with ### or ____ or something that might survive the software reformatting?

 

[SilverFox]

A quick way to get an idea of where a cell ranks is to look at the tables. They are sorted by Watt Hours and give a very compact view of how the cell is holding up in relation to the others.

Tom

 

[GarageBoy]

BTW: the Ikeas are made by Varta and are avail in the US

 

[hank]

Anybody clever with Javascript? Given the power/time measurements, a little calculator to plug in the current retail price of various tested batteries and tell us the best bargain would be a treat.

 

[Calina]

Anybody clever with Javascript? Given the power/time measurements, a little calculator to plug in the current retail price of various tested batteries and tell us the best bargain would be a treat.

Look at post #158 on this thread.

 

[woodrow]

Silverfox, Thanks for all of your hard work. I have not looked at this thread for months and months, but it is still incredibly timely and relavant. I am still incredibly impressed by AA lithiums. Both in cameras and my gps which EATS alkalines especially with the backlight on, but lithiums will last 8 hours. Also in the Nebraska winter, lithiums were the only thing I could use if the gps stayed in the glovebox on a -5 morning.

Thanks for the graphs that help me mentally justify spending all the extra money for them.

 

[filibuster]

Silverfox, can we compare the test and numbers done against the alkaline and lithium batteries here directly with the tests you've done for NiMH and CR123A batteries? I'm wondering if all things are equal in as far as the tests being performed? Were the tests the same across all the various cell types to a point that we can compare the results across them all?

I'm particularly impressed with the AA Energizer Lithium cell compared to the best CR123A Sanyo cell. Am I missing something or does the AA Energizer lithium really perform twice as better as the best 123a (3.484 Ah compared to the Sanyo's CR123a 1.720 Ah) at 0.5 amps? And is it really almost a third better than the best NiMH Sanyo 2700 which at .5 amps comes in at 2.534 Ah?

 

[MorePower]

I'm particularly impressed with the AA Energizer Lithium cell compared to the best CR123A Sanyo cell. Am I missing something or does the AA Energizer lithium really perform twice as better as the best 123a (3.484 Ah compared to the Sanyo's CR123a 1.720 Ah) at 0.5 amps? And is it really almost a third better than the best NiMH Sanyo 2700 which at .5 amps comes in at 2.534 Ah?

but amp-hours doesn't tell the whole story. you need to look at power, rather than just current over time. 123A cells discharge at close to double the voltage of the Energizer lithium AA cells, which kind of makes the whole thing a wash.

 

[TorchBoy]

but amp-hours doesn't tell the whole story. you need to look at power, rather than just current over time. 123A cells discharge at close to double the voltage of the Energizer lithium AA cells, which kind of makes the whole thing a wash.

Energy, in Wh (power over time).

 

[MorePower]

Energy, in Wh (power over time).

right you are. I shouldn't post when I should be sleeping.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Filibuster,

Yes. You can do a direct comparison. The test methods and conditions were the same in each case.

Your best comparison, as has been mentioned, is Watt Hours.

Tom

 

[VegasF6]

Update:

I added the results from some Nuon Powerizer Lithium Iron AA cells that GCBStokes sent me.

Once you get past the big voltage dip at the beginning, they seem to do pretty good. The Energizer L91 cells win in Watt Hours, but cost more.

Tom

Tom, what am I reading wrong here?
I see 3.221 watt hours at 1 amp on the Nuon, and only 1.050 watt hours at 1 amp on the Energizer L92?

Any clue how either of these might hold up at a 2 amp load vs say the eneloop?

 

[MorePower]

Tom, what am I reading wrong here?
I see 3.221 watt hours at 1 amp on the Nuon, and only 1.050 watt hours at 1 amp on the Energizer L92?

Any clue how either of these might hold up at a 2 amp load vs say the eneloop?

It looks like you pulled the 1.050 watt-hr number for Energizer e2, which is an alkaline cell, rather than for the Energizer L91, which is the lithium AA cell.

Energizer L91 came in at 3.738 W-hr for 1.0 amp discharge rate.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Vegas,

I don't have any more of the Nuon cells, so I can't test them at 2 amps.

The Energizer L92 should hold a little higher voltage than the Eneloop cell, and it should last a little longer. However, it is not rechargeable. The Nuon and Eneloop cells will most likely end up at roughly the same voltage, and the Nuon should last a little longer. Once again the Nuon cell is not rechargeable.

Tom

 

[VegasF6]

Hey Tom, thanks for that, I appreciate. Man, if the Nuon doesn't hold it's voltage any higher than the eneloop, then I don't suppose there is much point. I was hoping to source a AA that could handle a Q5 at high current, and I figure I will need at least 2-3 amps from a 1.2V cell. Looks like I will have to settle on a lower current level, or a 14500. I was really hoping to be able to keep voltage at 1.6 or better at 2 amps (give or take) for 15-20 minutes
Chris

 

[batteryboy]

We tested all the batteries in battery powered fans and battery operated tv and found the best longest lansting batteries for the money were the Rayovac D batteries that are offered battery in bulk at wholese prices at Batterysavers. We also tryted them on the smaller battery operated fans and Batterysavers Rayovac batteries also came out on top.

[advertising link removed - DM51]

 

[Closet_Flashaholic]

We tested all the batteries in battery powered fans and battery operated tv and found the best longest lansting batteries for the money were the Rayovac D batteries that are offered battery in bulk at wholese prices at XXX. We also tryted them on the smaller battery operated fans and Rayovac batteries also came out on top.

:welcome:
Welcome to the forums batteryboy. As you can see this forum and this thread present lots of data for the reader to review and make their own decisions. I am glad to see that you also have done some testing. However, if you don't want your post to be viewed as little more than advertising, I would suggest that you start a new thread and post your test data results to back up those claims. In addition, it might be good to describe the testing methodologies and the equipment used so that readers can understand the results. Just a suggestion. Normally I would not be as harsh for a 1st post response, however when someone's 1st post includes links to a commercial site I have to suspect ulterior motives. If I am wrong, please forgive me.