
Are Expensive Batteries Worth the Extra Cost? - chaostheory
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/are-expensive-batteries-worth-the-extra-cost/
======
jdietrich
No mention of NiMh cells? Really?

NiMh cells used to be unsuitable for a lot of applications because of high
self-discharge - a conventional NiMh cell will empty itself in a matter of
weeks. This problem has now been solved by Sanyo and others, with a new
generation of cells with vastly lower self-discharge. The latest generation
will keep 90% of their charge after a year.

You can buy excellent NiMh cells for less than $2, often less than $1 if you
buy in bulk. Good chargers can be found for $15. Compared to even dollar-store
cells, it doesn't take long for that investment to pay off.

~~~
mturmon
The AA Eneloop (the low-discharge formulation you mention from Sanyo) was
tested by an obsessive at amazon.com
([http://www.amazon.com/review/R2QVW9U1ISXVGV/ref=cm_cr_dp_per...](http://www.amazon.com/review/R2QVW9U1ISXVGV/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B004UG41XW&nodeID=172282&tag=&linkCode=))
and found to have about 2100 mA-h of capacity. If you take the NiMh voltage
(per <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery>) to be 1.25, then a simple
conversion yields:

    
    
      2100 mA*h = 2.1 A*h 
      => 
      1.25*2.1 V*A*h = 2.63 W*h = 9,450 W*s [3600 s per h]
    

I.e., about 9500 joules. This is on par with the Duracell and Energizer
results in TFA. I found this encouraging.

This conversion does not take into account the drop in voltage that TFA did
take into account, but that the above conversion did not (I assumed 1.25V
throughout). But even if it ramped down uniformly from 1.25V to 0V, this would
only cut power by a factor of two (and that's very much a worst case).

~~~
aidenn0
NiMh cells drop less gradually than alkaline; they tend to be nominally 1.2V
for the entire useful lifetime of the cell. Just put a NiMH in an old device
with a battery meter and watch it say 80% the whole time...

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dangrossman
The article compares two name-brand alkaline batteries to a zinc-chloride
("heavy-duty") battery. The results were as expected.

You can get cheap alkaline batteries. They're $1.99/10 at IKEA, for example.
And they perform as well as name-brand alkalines.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93carbon_battery#The...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93carbon_battery#The_zinc_chloride_cell)

~~~
kristianp
The article doesn't mention what type of batteries used (for any of the brands
tested), which is pretty poor. For some reason, I expect better of wired.

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CWuestefeld
The author notes that most electronic devices have a threshold below which the
battery is effectively useless, if not dead. I think a more useful comparison
would be to measure the area under the curve until the voltage drops below the
necessary level. Granted that devices may vary, but even drawing an arbitrary
line at, say 1.0V would be more informative.

As others have noted, I'd like to see a comparison to the much-more-expensive
"lithium" batteries. Despite the expense, I've adopted these in preference to
alkaline, NiMH, or Eneloop batteries for my cameras. The lifespan is _so much_
longer, meaning less need to carry spares or risk of running out, that they're
worth that extra price. But I'm curious just what tradeoff I'm making really
making.

------
jrockway
Does anyone still use alkaline or zine-chloride batteries? I've switched
everything to "pre-charged" NiMH batteries, since they don't self-discharge
and are easily recharged. They're great for things like the rear taillight on
my bike (which may sit unused for a long time, but then draw a lot of
current), but also work pretty well for clocks and remote controls. And
they're not very expensive if you buy the Amazon brand. (But watch out, four
batteries come with enough packaging to ship a 747. I bought three four packs
and couldn't live in my apartment until I called someone to come remove the
waste! Almost.)

~~~
khafra
After buying a $40 premium charger which has very stringent standards (for
some reason, any particular NiMh battery has about a 50% chance of being
recognized as something chargeable after each use), I gave up on rechargeable
batteries. If they've made them more reliable and less self-discharge-happy,
it might be time to retry.

~~~
gbhn
I've had the same experience. The batteries seem to go bad really really
quickly, and the recharge potential degrades extremely rapidly with re-use.
After just a few charges, they will hold essentially no charge.

I did find a way to get the charger to recognize them. Get a screwdriver and
connect + to +, - to - terminals of the dead battery with a live one. That
puts a little charge in and the charger can then see that it's a battery and
do its thing.

Then my expensive charger croaked. I got a new one, but I'm starting to lose
the faith.

~~~
rytis
I have just the opposite experience. My current setup: cheap charger (sub £20,
[http://www.euroffice.co.uk/i/lcg2/Energizer-Maxi-Battery-
Cha...](http://www.euroffice.co.uk/i/lcg2/Energizer-Maxi-Battery-Charger-
with-4x-AA-2000mAh-Batteries-Ref-632325)) and simple rechargeables
([http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uniross-AA-2700mAh-Performance-
Batte...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uniross-AA-2700mAh-Performance-
Batteries/dp/B0013IOCO8/)). I have 4 batteries and recharge them every two
days and rotate. They last around 3 days (6hrs) on this torch
<http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches/fenix-ld20-r4.html>.

It bit over a year of nearly a day-to-day use and no degradation in power.
They seem to behave just as they did a year ago. Perhaps the accurate
measurements would show differently, but +-10mins on a 6hr scale is not that
important.

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sirclueless
Did he really just try to draw a scientific conclusion from a sample size of
one?

> Yes, the Energizer has a higher stored energy, but it also has that small
> jump in the current that may or may not be real.

Your whole conclusion may or may not be real. I believe you that more
expensive batteries are better, but you would think Wired would be able to
afford more than one each to test.

~~~
tatsuke95
I was wondering something similar: how much variance is there between same-
brand batteries?

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steve8918
I did this for a science fair project literally over 30 years ago. The result
was that the Radio Shack batteries that you got for free (they used to give 1
free battery a month) was better than Duracell.

~~~
jessriedel
Coincidentally enough, I _judged_ a science fair on Saturday, and one
enterprising 6th grader did the same. The results were that alkaline batteries
were significantly better than other types (by about a factor of 2), and that
the generic versions were slightly better than the name-brand (by about 10%).

------
Legion
I remember Consumer Reports doing a battery test. The big winners were
Costco's Kirkland brand, as they fell only slightly behind the big name brands
in longevity, but at a substantially lower cost.

It would have been very interesting to see where the Kirkland batteries fell
in this test.

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r00fus
Why are the only options non-rechargeables?

Aside from a few kid's toys (which require 1.5v not 1.25 that rechargeables
give) in our house all batteries are low-discharge NiMH AA or AAA (with
adapters for the C and D variants) - there are 1-2 9-volts, but for smoke
alarms and they last forever.

------
rytis
Sorry to bring this up, but what about the impact on environment? Sure, you
can replace cheap batteries more often, but that means you're increasing the
environment pollution by doing that (you need to recycle more batteries).

------
barrkel
Battery lifetime may also change depending on current draw of the task at
hand. It's not trivial to measure the energy content; you need to consider the
application.

~~~
Geee
It will, and pretty much! Different battery types have also vastly different
responses depending on the current draw. For example,
<http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/EN91.pdf> (the first bar graph) shows one
example of capacity vs. discharge current.

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jrabone
Packaging, markup and logistics are a big factor. Compare the Duracell "Pro"
range which only come in bulk to commercial customers with the exact same cell
in a different case (the familiar copper-top cell). I'd be interested in
seeing if the "lithium" branded cells (which clearly aren't LiIon chemistry as
the voltage is still 1.5ish volts) are worth the extra cash though.

~~~
libria
Lithium batteries have a different use case. Their advantages are greater
overall capacity, longer shelf life, lower weight, higher voltage (1.8),
consistent discharge (low slope), better operation in low temperatures, less
tendency to leak (IME).

Household electronics may not need these, but a spelunker powering his
headlamp might.

~~~
jcampbell1
The biggest use for lithium batteries is probably shake-and-bake production of
meth. I saw a dude at Walmart with a cart full of Energizer Lithium batteries
and those instant cold packs. I just laughed and moved on.

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derekja
neat analysis. I have a wireless keyboard that wasn't working well - would
disconnect and go unresponsive. I changed batteries 2 or 3 times and the
problems persisted. Finally I happened to change batteries to a batch of
duracell batteries and the problems went away. Brand name vs. dollar store may
vary on peak current capabilities as well as overall power density.

------
tibbon
I'm really curious if the name brand batteries "good" ones vs the name brand
"premium" ones actually have any difference.

You know, the "for digital electronics" batteries that are $1-2 more at the
store. Just marketing?

------
ck2
Pre-charged (slow leak) NiMh for the win.

Though we really are overdue for a battery revolution.

------
lordlicorice
That jump in the current of the Energizer can't possibly be a loose
connection. There's a sudden global change in the value of the plot on either
side of the zigzags.

------
jws
Not touched on in the article, but the probability of leaking and corrosion
when run down and left in a device seems anecdotally higher for generic
batteries.

~~~
moylan
from 94 till i got a sharp zaurus pda in the noughties i used pdas like psion
and palm/visor that required aa or aaa batteries. i tried duracell/energizer
and at a pinch generics. i never had a duracell or energizer leak. the extra
money was worth the peace of mind. using generics in other cheaper equipment
was risking leakage.

as to power levels. when energizer came out for the first month or two they
were better than duracells in terms of amount of power drawn by the psions (i
kept a spreadsheet of mw) but i put that down to the supply chain not having
stock languishing in warehouses for a new product shortening the length of the
supply chain.

i eventually switched ti nicd and then nimh batteries and even lithium
batteries originally meant for emergency torches. but with modern devices i
really miss not been able to drop in 1-2 cheap batteries in a pinch or when
far from the grid. it be nice if there were a modern smartphone/pda that could
run off alkalines.

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emehrkay
The ones at ikea last a good 2 days in a wireless mouse.

------
reduxredacted
I've had been using the Costco Kirkland AAs for a long time, but I stopped
last year due to a perceived shelf life issue.

In an attempt to reduce waste, I use a "battery rotation" in my house. They
start in the kids toys. When they reach the "flake out" point (this is where
the toy starts behaving like it's demon possessed, saying only one or two
words of a song, playing it's "music" without anyone touching it, etc), they
get tossed into a "drained" box where they are used in IR remote controls or
LED flashlights (I have 15 LED flashlights, story in another thread). When the
LED flashlights burn through them, I put them in my IR remotes. They last,
literally, for months before the IR remotes kill them. Then they get recycled.

The problem I found with the Kirkland over the Energizer and Duracell (and
I'll admit my sample size was two of their 48 packs) was that as I got to
about the middle of the 48 pack, the unused remaining batteries wouldn't run
the toys. They'd light the LED flashlights about as well as the batteries in
the drained box. As this happened twice, my guess was that the Kirkland
batteries don't have the shelf-life of the Energizers. I don't think it was
environmental conditions--all batteries were stored in the same place and went
through four seasons. Two 48 packs of Kirkland and I'm on my third 36 pack of
Energizers, though I never hooked it up to a device to get an accurate
measurement, so take it for what it's worth.

After getting frustrated with the Kirkland's I decided to bite the bullet and
go to rechargable. I went with AA and AAA NiMh batteries. My kids have a lot
of electronic toys, and they get rotated into and out of use as they get bored
with them. I switched to all NiMh (expensive) batteries, last year (not sure
if they had the "fix" that was mentioned about the Sanyo batteries but
considering how quickly they stopped taking any charge after very few
recharges, I'm guessing not). After the kids used the first set of toys (about
16 batteries worth), I stored them for about 2 weeks as usual (turned off, not
removed, I know, I know). When I put them back in rotation, they were
completely dead (I didn't measure, but I did put two in my Sony TV remote and
no dice). This made the batteries worthless. Kids toys made in the last ten
years require tools to replace the batteries and my battery charger only holds
4 batteries, so this is an all day ordeal of charging, watching, changing,
charging and of course, figuring out how to get past the child-proof battery
holder, putting the batteries in wrong or discovering the need to clean the
terminals, unscrewing and screwing them back in.

I did find that if the batteries were fully charged prior to storage, they
worked after rotation, but it seemed they didn't work very long.

I'd like to be a whole lot less wasteful (both money, time and materials).
Does anyone have any experience with a specific brand of rechargable AA and
AAA battery that retains most of its current charge when stored for up to 3
weeks not fully charged (I'll even go through the trouble of removing them
from the toys if I have no choice), and from a cost perspective make sense for
toys that require batteries to have a discharge rate similar to good Alkaline
batteries?

Edit: Clarify storage conditions.

~~~
arantius
In late 2010 I bought "24 Centura AA LSD NiMH Rechargeable Batteries" from
eBay (for $33, so just under $1.66 each) -- specifically the long-life kind,
that was around when I heard of their existence.

I've used them in remote controls that sat for months and continued to work
fine, and in wii-motes for similar periods. I haven't measured the
life/performance much more carefully than that. Except I do have a nice
LaCrosse charger that measures things and claims to be putting in an average
of 2Ah, which compares favorably to the (2300 or 2600 mAh if memory serves)
usually inflated rating that they claim.

The trick, though, is that with rechargeables (and especially long-life like
these), you keep a small but sufficient stock of charged batteries ready. When
something goes dead, the dead batteries go in the charger, and the stock
(immediately) goes in the thing. By the time the next thing dies, the previous
set is charged and ready.

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pchristensen
If you have an Apple Magic Mouse that won't run on cheap batteries, yes.

