This website has some limited tests on various Eneloop competitors including
the Sony and duracell cells.
As Chuck mentioned, apparently Duracell has gone to Chinese made cells now.
http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/low_self_discharge.html
These tests do not compare high rate capacity, but even at these rates the
Eneloops demonstrate lower internal resistance/higher voltage as demonstrated
by the mWh being a bit higher than the competitors.
So we might guess the Eneloops would have a bigger advantage at high discharge
rates in comparison to competitors in this group.
tim Hughes
--- On Tue, 12/1/09, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [OM] question for Dr. Battery
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 12:36 PM
Maybe there are two sets of Duracell specs. The scuttlebutt I found on
the web said Duracell was sourcing from Sanyo with Japanese made cells
but also from China. What I found was only from China. However, the
capacity still matched that of Eneloop at 2000 mah.
Chuck Norcutt
Tim Hughes wrote:
> The Eneloops are generally the best that I have looked at, because
> they are rated to deliver a higher current than the competition's
> cells.
>
> EverReady has just come out with some precharged low self discharge
> cells, but I have not got my hands on them or seen full data sheets.
> I believe Sony has also come out with some, but again I have not seen
> specs or evaluated. I have not looked at Duracell specs either.
> These are credible vendors , so if somebody wants to search web for
> data sheets and post urls, I will be happy to compare specs.
>
> Some of the Chinese generics are much lower current rated and have
> higher internal resistance (voltage drops more with increase current)
> and some have higher self discharge and also spec smaller # of
> cycles, so not as good. Rayovac, Hybrio,Ultralife etc all seem not
> as good as Eneloops.
>
> Remember deep discharging these cells, is exactly like doing that to
> regular NiMh and it will likely greatly shorten life. Particularly
> in a long string of cells where the weakest cell then gets reverse
> charged and damaged by venting.
>
> Tim hughes
>
> --- On Tue, 12/1/09, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [OM]
> question for Dr. Battery To: "Olympus Camera Discussion"
> <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 4:40 AM
>
> I'll second Moose's opinion on the batteries and would also recommend
> a charger that handles each cell individually. I have a couple of
> Maha chargers that charge 4 cells in pairs. That's better than
> charging all four at once but, as some of my older NiMH batteries
> aged and started to fail, I would discover that a pair would be
> extremely slow to charge or never reach full charge at all. Trying
> to discover the bad cell means mixing different pairs until you
> narrow down on the culprit. On the other hand, given the high price
> of single cell chargers and the low price of NiMH batteries it might
> possibly make more sense to replace all the batteries of a given
> purchase group when one gives an indication of being weak. When I
> buy rechargeable batteries I mark them in groups with a ring of
> colored tape to identify them as part of a group based on when they
> were purchased. When I use the batteries I use all of the same
> group. If I had a group of 8 that were two years old and one was
> giving signs of weakness I'd have no qualms about trashing all 8
> since the other 7 are probably not far behind.
>
> As to low discharge NiMH I also highly recommend Sanyo Eneloop. I've
> been using 8 of them for a couple years. All 8 still charge up
> equally and still provide plenty of power in a flash the only gets
> used maybe once every 3 to 4 months or even longer. For heavy duty
> shooting I'd more likely buy the highest capacity NiMH I could find
> (are they at 2700 mah now?) and charge them just before the event.
> That is, if I was shooting a wedding with NiMH batteries.
> Personally, I would more likely use my high voltage lead acid battery
> packs for shooting a wedding. NiMH have plenty of capacity but can't
> recycle a flash from a full dump in 1.5 seconds. This is like a
> Quantum Turbo battery at 1/3 the price.
> <http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/294330-REG/SP_Systems_SPDCBPRC_Power_Pack_for_SP.html>
>
>
> I recently added a set of 4 Duracell low discharge NiMH to my
> Eneloops. I wanted another set of Eneloops but there is no place
> where I can buy them locally and I needed them in a couple of days.
> A search of the web told me that Duracell low discharge NiMH were
> actually rebranded Eneloops... at least the ones made in Japan. I
> located some Duracell 2000 mah (same as Eneloop) at Home Depot but
> they're made in China, not Japan. So I don't know what I've got
> although they're working fine so far. But I've only had them for a
> few months. I'll give another report in a couple of years. :-)
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> Moose wrote:
>> Sue Pearce wrote:
>>> What's the latest on rechargable AA batteries for shoe mount
>>> strobes? I went to the Thomas Dist. site and found a Maha charger
>>> and "low discharge" NiMH batteries that I think I remember from a
>>> previous discussion.
>>>
>>> But that was at least a year ago. What's the latest?
>>>
>> I've been very happy with the eneloops I bought and a combo of the
>> charger that came with some of them and a Lacrosse Technology
>> BC-700U charger. The Sanyo charger works fine, but with pairs only,
>> and I use them in some devices that use one or three cells. The
>> Lacrosse charger has full charge info and control individually for
>> each of up to four cells.
>>
>> Other makers, both name and generic brands, have come out with
>> similar sounding batteries. Whether they are as good as the
>> eneloops, I don't know. Better, I'd bet not. I haven't kept up,
>> 'cause I'm not in the market.
>>
>> I very seldom use flash, so I know little about how they fare in
>> that use. The one time I used a set in the 540EZ for an event, they
>> breezed through. They are certainly great for everything I've tried
>> them in. I think that the use where they wouldn't be best is really
>> heavy flash use where batteries can be fully charged the night
>> before and maximum flashes per charge is needed.
>>
>> There, one would go with the highest capacity normal NiMh batteries
>> available. I read, although I'm not sure where in my initial
>> research, thta the highest capacity cells also have a fairly fast
>> drop off in usable capacity with heavy use. Still, out of the
>> budget for a major pro shoot, one could simply replace them
>> regularly.
>>
>> Moose
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