ultrarunner2015
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 57
Hi;
I have two handheld radio transceivers for use in the amateur band (2m & 70cm). Either radio can draw a maximum of 1600mA in high power (5W) Xmit mode.
Until now, I have been using either the OEM (Yaesu) battery pack (6 AA cells rated at 1400mAh) or 6 AA Eneloop (Panasonic BK-3MCCA).
The majority of my use of these radios is for receiving, which draws 125mA when listening to an active channel, and 45mA while scanning or sitting with no signal (and therefore no audio out).
I have had fairly good results using the regular Eneloops, but as I stated, I don't do all that much transmitting, so most of the current draw from the batteries is at 125mA or lower.
I use a MAHA MHC-9000 smart charger to recharge these batteries, and have been running the 'Refresh & Analyze' cycle on them every few months.
Most of my Eneloops are now fairly old; the newest ones purchased in Jan 2016, and many of the older (as old as 2010) are reporting as 'HIGH' - which indicates the internal resistance of the battery has gone too high for it to accept a charge - on the charger.
In July 2016, I purchased 8 Powerex (black) AA cells, thinking these would last longer at high drain rates, but never used them in the radios. I used these only in an LED headlamp, and was quite disappointed with their performance. Those Powerex batteries are already reporting 'HIGH' on the MHC9000.
So now, I'm ready to order some new Eneloops from Amazon, and thinking perhaps at least some of the batteries I buy should be the black Pro 2400mAh model instead of the white 2100mAh for the radios. For everything else, I see no reason to go with anything but the regular Eneloops.
I am a bit confused by Amazon's pricing on the Eneloop (white). One listing is for 16ea AA Eneloop BK-3MCCA @ $34.17, shipped and sold by Amazon, and another listing is for 'Newest Version Panasonic Eneloop 16 pak AA', sold by their 3rd party sellers at $46.99 + $3.11 shipping. I have had some poor experiences buying from Amazon 'partners' before, so I would tend to buy the ones sold and shipped by Amazon itself.
Also, the package of 16 regular Eneloop say that the batteries may be white or blue. From a Google search, I read that the blue ones were sold by Costco, but Amazon has been flooded with them. There was mention of the mfg date (on the blue ones I think) being 2016. I really do not like buying batteries that were made 3 years ago...
In any case, is there a newer version of the regular Eneloop, and what is the latest version of the Eneloop Pro?
BTW, I see the Pro sell for about 2X the cost of the regular, and from what I have been reading here in Candlepower, the Pro's are probably not worth the extra cost.
The only reason I am even considering the Pro version is that they may give me more Xmit time at high power from my radios. Of course that extra power may not actually be there when I need it, if I come to need the radios at a time when the batteries have had some time to self-discharge.
I don't know about the Eneloop Pro's, but the Powerex do not appear to be LSD batteries. That is the biggest reason I never used them in the radios.
Thanks for your advice
Ultrarunner
I have two handheld radio transceivers for use in the amateur band (2m & 70cm). Either radio can draw a maximum of 1600mA in high power (5W) Xmit mode.
Until now, I have been using either the OEM (Yaesu) battery pack (6 AA cells rated at 1400mAh) or 6 AA Eneloop (Panasonic BK-3MCCA).
The majority of my use of these radios is for receiving, which draws 125mA when listening to an active channel, and 45mA while scanning or sitting with no signal (and therefore no audio out).
I have had fairly good results using the regular Eneloops, but as I stated, I don't do all that much transmitting, so most of the current draw from the batteries is at 125mA or lower.
I use a MAHA MHC-9000 smart charger to recharge these batteries, and have been running the 'Refresh & Analyze' cycle on them every few months.
Most of my Eneloops are now fairly old; the newest ones purchased in Jan 2016, and many of the older (as old as 2010) are reporting as 'HIGH' - which indicates the internal resistance of the battery has gone too high for it to accept a charge - on the charger.
In July 2016, I purchased 8 Powerex (black) AA cells, thinking these would last longer at high drain rates, but never used them in the radios. I used these only in an LED headlamp, and was quite disappointed with their performance. Those Powerex batteries are already reporting 'HIGH' on the MHC9000.
So now, I'm ready to order some new Eneloops from Amazon, and thinking perhaps at least some of the batteries I buy should be the black Pro 2400mAh model instead of the white 2100mAh for the radios. For everything else, I see no reason to go with anything but the regular Eneloops.
I am a bit confused by Amazon's pricing on the Eneloop (white). One listing is for 16ea AA Eneloop BK-3MCCA @ $34.17, shipped and sold by Amazon, and another listing is for 'Newest Version Panasonic Eneloop 16 pak AA', sold by their 3rd party sellers at $46.99 + $3.11 shipping. I have had some poor experiences buying from Amazon 'partners' before, so I would tend to buy the ones sold and shipped by Amazon itself.
Also, the package of 16 regular Eneloop say that the batteries may be white or blue. From a Google search, I read that the blue ones were sold by Costco, but Amazon has been flooded with them. There was mention of the mfg date (on the blue ones I think) being 2016. I really do not like buying batteries that were made 3 years ago...
In any case, is there a newer version of the regular Eneloop, and what is the latest version of the Eneloop Pro?
BTW, I see the Pro sell for about 2X the cost of the regular, and from what I have been reading here in Candlepower, the Pro's are probably not worth the extra cost.
The only reason I am even considering the Pro version is that they may give me more Xmit time at high power from my radios. Of course that extra power may not actually be there when I need it, if I come to need the radios at a time when the batteries have had some time to self-discharge.
I don't know about the Eneloop Pro's, but the Powerex do not appear to be LSD batteries. That is the biggest reason I never used them in the radios.
Thanks for your advice
Ultrarunner
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