6,560 FLASH POPS LATER: The Results of "AA" Rechargeable Battery Tests

bumpintheroad wrote in post #16634863
............... Can't help you on the wedding question; when I shot weddings we used battery packs that could go the entire weekend and still be used during the week less critical work. You might want to look at a Bolt Cyclone or Quantum Turbo for wedding work. Not only do they provide all-day power, but improved recycle times to deal with blinkers and speed-walkers.

Bolt Cyclone = Cheetah Lithium battery pack plus about US$180 worth of white paint on the case. Given that Edward Tang was mainly responsible for introducing the product to the Western Hemisphere awareness (with just the tiniest bit of help here from Tetrode :lol with other brands playing "Me Too", I can't see any earthly reason for paying nearly double the price for a bit of white paint that adds nothing to the product whatsoever.

SYS wrote in post #16634726
Well, then, without so many (more) words, get yourself some eneloops and a La Crosse Technology BC-700 charger. Can't go wrong with these.

SYS wrote in post #16634727
Or a MAHA charger...

As good a recommendation as you'll get anywhere, with current (ouch) products.

Nothing actually wrong with the Sanyo Eneloop XX mentioned elsewhere (although you may, I believe, find that XXX refers to something in a different field altogether ). They're nothing special though, in my experience they're piggy-backing on the awesome reputation of the plain vanilla white Eneloop.

POTOMAN wrote in post #16634786
Can you elaborate on how the switch to low self discharge is handy in your situation?

How many cells do you find you require on a wedding day?

It means I can charge batteries for weddings further in advance, and for ad hoc jobs like baby and engagement photos yesterday I don't even need to bother charging batteries.

I have around 60 cells on a wedding day. Four each for my four flashes, eight for each of four battery packs, plus a few spares. The spares are pretty much never used by me, just by my assistants.

I also have a Vagabond Mini Lithium for my AB800s, which I use for some parts of the day.

tim wrote in post #16635849
It means I can charge batteries for weddings further in advance, and for ad hoc jobs like baby and engagement photos yesterday I don't even need to bother charging batteries.

I have around 60 cells on a wedding day. Four each for my four flashes, eight for each of four battery packs, plus a few spares. The spares are pretty much never used by me, just by my assistants.

I also have a Vagabond Mini Lithium for my AB800s, which I use for some parts of the day.

I see you can never be too prepared for those weddings. I'd hate to do a wedding and not be fully prepared and end up on Judge Judy, where she ask me if I am dumb or just stupid - trick ? haha!

I sure wish they develop the C9000 for 8 cells.

You don't need the C9000 for 8 cells often. I use it as a regular charger most of the time, and occasionally use the extra features. The C801 is plenty capable for regular charging.

Yes, you have to be pretty prepared for weddings. That's just my AA cells, I have a fair bit of equipment.

Daleg:

If you want the best of both worlds, just get sets of both types of batteries.

Also, the C9000 is great to break in the batteries and get some additional capacity from the battery. In my experience, I've gotten 5-15% more capacity from the battery existing state of charge when purchased.

I have the Maha C-9000 charger/analyzer... problem is it can NOT charge or do anything else to my Duracell rechargeable 2650mAh batteries. I purchased a couple dozen few months before I purchased the Maha C-9000 charger. Charger works great with my other rechargeables but not the Duracells.

The problem is... (NLee's comment about the charger on Amazon)

"5. DEAD CELL DETECTION:
.....
The C9000 also measures battery internal resistance when a cell is first inserted. If the user inserts an alkaline cell (which has much higher internal resistance), the C9000 displays 'HIGH' and refuses to charge it. This is a good safety feature, except that it also incorrectly rejected most of my NiMH cells bought four or five years ago. So I cannot use the C9000 to charge or recondition those old cells, even though the BC-900 reports that they still have around 1000mAh of capacity left."
...............

My Duracells were only a few months old... not four or five years old as quouted.

Anyway If I had to do it again I'd purchase the La Crosse Technology BC-9009 or the newer model BC1000.

You forot the eneloop "pro"....even more amazing than the regular ones....decreased my recycle time by at least a second

echelonphoto wrote in post #17795457
You forot the eneloop "pro"....even more amazing than the regular ones....decreased my recycle time by at least a second

In 2009 when this thread got started, there was no eneloop "pro."

would be very interesting to update this test with the newer batteries on the market today!

petercc wrote in post #17927359
would be very interesting to update this test with the newer batteries on the market today!

Given how much time has passed since this original test, it may be seem logical that I do an updated test. However, the reality is that battery technology doesn't progress as fast as other technologies, i.e., I haven't found anything in "newer" batteries that impress me enough to motivate me. Believe it or not, I still use the original eneloops, you know, those white ones, almost exclusively. Those are cheaper than the later editions and, in my own experience, more reliable. These that I had used for the original test, I still use them to this day and not one has failed on me, yet!

Hi Sys, I have some questions I wanted to ask you about the testing but I am not allowed to send PMs yet, could you shoot me a PM so I can reply? thanks!

echelonphoto wrote in post #17795457
You forot the eneloop "pro"....even more amazing than the regular ones....decreased my recycle time by at least a second

SYS wrote in post #17929186
Given how much time has passed since this original test, it may be seem logical that I do an updated test. However, the reality is that battery technology doesn't progress as fast as other technologies, i.e., I haven't found anything in "newer" batteries that impress me enough to motivate me. Believe it or not, I still use the original eneloops, you know, those white ones, almost exclusively. Those are cheaper than the later editions and, in my own experience, more reliable. These that I had used for the original test, I still use them to this day and not one has failed on me, yet!

4 years ago I went all in on rechargeable batteries. Bought 72 Sanyo Eneloop white 1900mAh, 12 Sanyo Eneloop XX (Eneloop Pro now) and 16 PowerEx 2700mAh. After 4 years of use the white Eneloops are still going strong, the Sanyo XX are slowing down and the PowerEx are junk! Just ordered 16 of the Panasonic Eneloop white 1900mAh batteries this morning to replace the PowerEx. I like the white because you can write the date you bought them on the side so I will be able to keep track of my new batteries from my old ones.

I do not have the Eneloop Pro's but the Sanyo XX are supposed to be the earlier version. I never could tell any real significant difference between how fast my flashes recycled between the white Eneloops and the XX ones but now 4 years later the white Eneloops are recycling my 600EX-RT and TT685 a 1/2 sec faster than the XX version at 1/1 flash power (TT685 white 2.2 sec and XX 2.8 sec while 600EX white 2.5 sec and XX 3 sec). When you consider that the Sanyo XX version was only supposed to have 500 recharges where the white Eneloops claim 2100 recharges, now after 4 years I believe it. I will probably be buying another 16 more Panasonic white Eneloops as the Sanyo XX die off. My XX batteries also take significantly longer to charge than do my white batteries (3-4 times longer). In my estimation these higher mAh batteries are definitely not worth the extra money for what may be a very insignificant initial decrease in flash recycle times.

I will never buy another PowerEx battery ever. Right from the start all my PowerEx batteries ran hot and charged hot. I could always tell which flash had PowerEx batteries because it was very warm to the touch. 3 of my 16 PowerEx batteries have given up the ghost and out of the other 13 I can not find a combination that would give recycle times under 5 seconds in my comparison testing I stated above. Some combinations gave me longer than 10 seconds. I have tried to do a complete refresh and analyze cycle on them with a PowerEx Maha MH-C9000 Charger-Analyzer with no success.

Conclusion is only white 1900mAh Eneloop batteries for me from now on. No more PowerEx batteries ever but I do like the PowerEx battery cases: http://www.amazon.com …oh_aui_detailpa​ge_o04_s00 They have held up well after 4 years of use. They are compact, positively stay closed but are easy to open, and they are clear to where you can see your batteries. Fresh charged batteries + terminal pointed to outside and when drained I point the + terminal towards the hinge. Battery management is a simple task with these cases and their compactness makes them handy to slip into your pants pockets or into a camera bag.

agv8or wrote in post #17932310
4 years ago I went all in on rechargeable batteries. Bought 72 Sanyo Eneloop white 1900mAh, 12 Sanyo Eneloop XX (Eneloop Pro now) and 16 PowerEx 2700mAh. After 4 years of use the white Eneloops are still going strong, the Sanyo XX are slowing down and the PowerEx are junk! Just ordered 16 of the Panasonic Eneloop white 1900mAh batteries this morning to replace the PowerEx. I like the white because you can write the date you bought them on the side so I will be able to keep track of my new batteries from my old ones.

I do not have the Eneloop Pro's but the Sanyo XX are supposed to be the earlier version. I never could tell any real significant difference between how fast my flashes recycled between the white Eneloops and the XX ones but now 4 years later the white Eneloops are recycling my 600EX-RT and TT685 a 1/2 sec faster than the XX version at 1/1 flash power (TT685 white 2.2 sec and XX 2.8 sec while 600EX white 2.5 sec and XX 3 sec). When you consider that the Sanyo XX version was only supposed to have 500 recharges where the white Eneloops claim 2100 recharges, now after 4 years I believe it. I will probably be buying another 16 more Panasonic white Eneloops as the Sanyo XX die off. My XX batteries also take significantly longer to charge than do my white batteries (3-4 times longer). In my estimation these higher mAh batteries are definitely not worth the extra money for what may be a very insignificant initial decrease in flash recycle times.

I will never buy another PowerEx battery ever. Right from the start all my PowerEx batteries ran hot and charged hot. I could always tell which flash had PowerEx batteries because it was very warm to the touch. 3 of my 16 PowerEx batteries have given up the ghost and out of the other 13 I can not find a combination that would give recycle times under 5 seconds in my comparison testing I stated above. Some combinations gave me longer than 10 seconds. I have tried to do a complete refresh and analyze cycle on them with a PowerEx Maha MH-C9000 Charger-Analyzer with no success.

Conclusion is only white 1900mAh Eneloop batteries for me from now on. No more PowerEx batteries ever but I do like the PowerEx battery cases: http://www.amazon.com …oh_aui_detailpa​ge_o04_s00 They have held up well after 4 years of use. They are compact, positively stay closed but are easy to open, and they are clear to where you can see your batteries. Fresh charged batteries + terminal pointed to outside and when drained I point the + terminal towards the hinge. Battery management is a simple task with these cases and their compactness makes them handy to slip into your pants pockets or into a camera bag.

Where are you finding the 1900mAh flavor Eneloops? All I'm finding are the 2100's. Is there a down side to the 2100s. I didn't see a reference to the 2100s.

eddieb1 wrote in post #17932711
Where are you finding the 1900mAh flavor Eneloops? All I'm finding are the 2100's. Is there a down side to the 2100s. I didn't see a reference to the 2100s.

Minimum 1900 mAh capacity, 2000 mAh typical. 2100 is the projected number of charge/discharge cycles.

http://www.thomasdistr​ibuting.com …ble-Batteries_p_3174.html

eddieb1 wrote in post #17932711
Where are you finding the 1900mAh flavor Eneloops? All I'm finding are the 2100's. Is there a down side to the 2100s. I didn't see a reference to the 2100s.

What was mentioned above. The batteries claim min 1900mAh but the battery is usually listed as being 2000mAh. 2100 cycles is what most people think is the mAh but that is the life expectancy so to speak. When you look at the higher mAh batteries such as the Eneloop pro at 500 cycles and the PowerEx at hundreds of cycles then you start to see that the white eneloops are there for the long haul which my experience points out. Have I cycled my Sanyo XX batteries 500 times or my PowerEx batteries hundreds of times? I doubt it!

I also found over the years that the claim of the white Eneloops to hold a charge is another reason to go with the with them over the higher mAh batteries. The higher mAh batteries would not last very long if I did not recharge them prior to using them where as the white Eneloops had good lasting power no matter how long they had been sitting around. I can not prove it with any data but it seems like I never could get the same life out of the higher mAh batteries that I could out of the white Eneloops and this just got worse as time went by. I spend a lot of time testing different flash products and the higher mAh batteries always seem to be the ones needing recharged more frequently.

You can choose a high mAh battery thinking you'll get faster recycle times which you may at first but, the higher priced, higher mAh batteries will not last and they require more maintenance before using them so that they will perform at their peak. Problem is that peak does not last very long. If you want faster recycle times then buy a battery pack don't go the route of higher mAh batteries as you'll only be wasting your money.

I am passing along this information, of my experience with these three batteries, so hopefully people can be a little more informed when choosing a battery. I read this post thoroughly before making my purchases but the data and information here was only about new batteries not 4 years down the road. I am giving you the perspective of what you'll have 4 years down the road.