Which rechargabele for LED candles?

I am a noob to the rechargeable battery world, working my way up the learning curve.

My wife runs a yoga & dance studio, they have about three dozen led 'candles'. These look like a conventional wax candle, but are actually a small (and not very bright) led powered by a single AA battery.

We have been using disposable Costco (Kirkland) brand AAs, which work fine - but I would like to understand if makes more sense to go rechargeable.

Most the articles and post I have read talk so far are about high drain applications and I have not found good info on a simple, low drain use case (like these LED candles).

Any advice/guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

vellek said:

I am a noob to the rechargeable battery world, working my way up the learning curve.

My wife runs a yoga & dance studio, they have about three dozen led 'candles'. These look like a conventional wax candle, but are actually a small (and not very bright) led powered by a single AA battery.

We have been using disposable Costco (Kirkland) brand AAs, which work fine - but I would like to understand if makes more sense to go rechargeable.

Most the articles and post I have read talk so far are about high drain applications and I have not found good info on a simple, low drain use case (like these LED candles).

Any advice/guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Go to Costco and buy the blister pack of either AA Panasonic Eneloops, or the blister pack of AAs, AAAs and their Eneloop charger and be done with it.

For about $25 for the combo pack and another $20 for the AA pack, you'll have a bunch of batteries to fiddle with.

Your LED candles are most probably low drain devices, so you're more than safe with Eneloop AAs.

If you want to charge up 8 at a time, but two of the combo packs for ~$50 and find a use for the AAAs at home.

You're already a Costco member, so it's a no brainer.

Chris

I use a year as my cutoff for if I should use rechargeables or throwaways. If batteries last less than one year in a device it pays to use rechargeables. If it they last more than a year I don't think it's worth it. It will take too long to recover the cost. Let me also add that I am a senior so for example a ten year recovery may never happen for me. The runtime for eneloops will be about the same as alkalines in a low drain device. The eneloops will last longer in a high rain device. My wife also has probably very similar candle type devices that are Christmas decorations. The single AA in each one lasts about 3 days so they get eneloops for sure.
The Costco near me for a while sold a pack of 10 AA's for about 19 dollars but they no longer have them. I'm glad I bought 3 packs when they were available. I just wish I bought more. Costco's other offering is 6 AA'a, 2 AAA's and a BQ-cc17 charger in a bundle. The included charger is very slow but does work, others on this board are happy with it.

Thanks for the information. They are getting about 4-6 weeks life from the Kirkland AAs, so the move to rechargeables should save some $$.

I checked my local Costco and Costco online and didn't find the Eneloops. I have seen them on Ebay (reputable sellers) and other online sites so finding them is not a problem.

Next question - recommendation for a good charger(s) for charging 8 to 12 batteries at a time?

Thanks.

vellek said:

Thanks for the information. They are getting about 4-6 weeks life from the Kirkland AAs, so the move to rechargeables should save some $$.

I checked my local Costco and Costco online and didn't find the Eneloops. I have seen them on Ebay (reputable sellers) and other online sites so finding them is not a problem.

Next question - recommendation for a good charger(s) for charging 8 to 12 batteries at a time?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

The PowerEx Maha 8xx series of chargers will do 8 batteries at once and the 808M will do them at 2A, or 1A and have individual channels. At abut $100, you're paying for it. Other option is to get a couple of 4 bay smart chargers, like the Opus BT-3100/3400 series, or the Liitokala Lii 500 Engineer, for about that same $100, or perhaps less. The latter chargers, can also do lithium-ion cells and are both analyzing chargers to a degree, so you're good on that front.

I don't see Eneloops on the Costco website, but they've always been in the battery section at my local Costco, so maybe go in and take a gander?

Chris

36 candles x 8 battery changes per year (6 week interval) = 288 batteries per year ~= $72 per year at the price I see Kirkland AAA's listed at.

Rechargeables definitely seem worth it, although be aware that in a low-drain application like this, you will probably get about 3/4 the battery life from Eneloops as you do from alkalines. On the other hand, you'll be throwing away a lot fewer batteries, which is a big bonus if you're in one of the states that forbids businesses from disposing of alkaline batteries in the regular trash.

My local Costco used to have the Eneloop combo pack, but I don't think does anymore.

If nothing else, Amazon usually has a good price on the small combo pack of Eneloops and a BQ-CC17 charger, which is one of the good budget models of chargers. Amazon also have their own brand (Amazon Basics) of rechargeables that generally seem to be good quality, although it is thought that they have changed suppliers a couple times over the years. Last I checked, the Amazon battery + charger bundle, however, included a dumb charger, which can be expected to wear out the batteries faster than a smart charger.

$20 charger + 2x 16 packs @ $40 each = $100.

That's payback in 18 months on batteries that will probably last over a decade.

Actually, you should buy 4-8 extra so you can always have a set recharged, waiting in a drawer for when they're needed.

Go with real Eneloops, it's the best option since they can handle the abuse lights like these probably will have to endure. Also invest in a good charger, it will prolong the cells lifetime.

I use EBL batteries AA AAA batteries from Amazon good batteries.

Eneloops for high drain device, emergency lights, worth it.
But for led candles, get the Westinghouse AA 2000 mAh, on the bay sell them for $25 for 40 AA, cheaper.

One big advantage of switching to Eneloops is no more damaged items due to leaking alkaline cells. Hasn't happened to you yet? It will.

My Costco was out of Eneloops forever but I just noticed that they are back. Keep checking. We use them in our candle lights and they are great.