Batteries

[Lemne]

I am looking to buy some long life batteries. I've been looking at Energizer AA Ultimate Lithium Batteries. I was going to buy some and vac pack them and then forget them. I've been wondering if it is better to get rechargeable batteries but don't really know a lot about them. Any advice.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Lidl have ennergizer max in £5 for 10 X as cells

10 year shelf life


Rechargeable batteries in Lidl (few left locally) £4 a pack of 4 (plusba charger from somewhere £15 ISH

Both have pros and cons the kids much batteries in toys so most get rechargeable some sensitive stuff doesn't like the slightly lower voltage of rechargeable

[korolev]

Keep an eye on them as they can go "manky".
As part of her job Mrs K used to have to put new AA batteries in the equipment they supplied. She brought the old ones home and I put the meter on them; More than 1.55v I kept them.
A few (1 in 10 maybe) went a bit leaky and also got binned.

[GillyBee]

I think you need to keep a careful eye on the expiry dates on your batteries and replace regularly rather than vac pack and expect to last for ever. The chemistry inside the battery will not be changed by vaccum packing so they will slowly deteriorate in the best of packaging.
We recently went through our battery stash and had to bin a number which failed the meter test. this was mostly standard alkaline batteries about a year past their best before date. Some of the oldest rechargeables also failed to charge up and were binned - some nicad and some nihmi.
Reading Ferfal's Surviving in Argentina blog suggests that in the event of an econimic collapse (regardles of how this is triggered) electricity supplies will become patchy long before they fail totally. Rechargeables might be a big help in this situation where you have frequent shorter outages.
If you have already swapped to rechargeables for normal use you will know which of your gadgets will simply not work with a rechargeable, how long they usually last when in use and have a better idea of how many spares you may need.

[Lemne]

I think you need to keep a careful eye on the expiry dates on your batteries and replace regularly rather than vac pack and expect to last for ever.

I wasn't going to leave them forever. Buying the 20 year batteries would mean I could vac pack and leave for a lot longer than shorter life batteries.

[jennyjj01]

I've been looking at Energizer AA Ultimate Lithium Batteries.

They're very high capacity, but VERY expensive. For VFM, I prefer a mix of modest priced Alkaline batteries from Ikea or Lidl (Made by Varta) and rechargeables. There are different technologies of rechargeable, but look for 'Long Life Pre-charged Ni-MH' batteries' . Look for High 'mAh Capacity' numbers. >=2,000 for an AA cell. Some ebay knock off batteries quote untrue high numbers, so go with a recognisable name.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-C ... ds=eneloop

If SHTF, rechargers and rechargeables will surely be the way to go.
Wouldn't bother vac-packing. Just retain in original packs and keep an occasional eye on them.

[jennyjj01]

I've been looking at Energizer AA Ultimate Lithium Batteries.

Thanks for reminding me of my battery shortfall. Just spent a few hours comparing prices and reviews and went ahead to buy a parcel of AA and aaa rechargeables from IKEA.
Their LADDA range of batteries are VERY well reviewed and seem to be rebadged top quality Eneloop batteries made in Japan.
Excellent price direct from Ikea. FAR MORE EXPENSIVE if the exact same item is bought on amazon

I bought these...
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/products/?q=ladda

I had been tempted by the amazon basics range, but they seem to have quality issues...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-P ... B007B9NXAC

[tarmactatt]

Bit of a battery nerd here.

Four kinds of 'normal' AA/AAA battery:

Zinc Carbon:
Pro: extremely cheap
Con: very low capacity, can leak before BBE.

Alkaline:
Pro: Cheap, ok capacity for low current draws
Con: Can leak well before the BBE

Lithium Primary (disposable):
Pro: good capacity for medium/high current draws, good hot/cold weather tolerance.
Con: Expensive, (very) rare reports of leaks.

NiMh Low Self Discharge (rechargeable):
Important to get good quality cells and a good charger. I've eneloop cells approaching a decade old which still charge ok, they're a bit tired now though. Also had good success with the IKEA Ladda cells.

Pro: Good capacity for medium/high current draw, Do not leak.
Con: Expensive outlay for cells+ charger, but can get as cheap as alkaline for cost per use for heavy users.

[Yorkshire Andy]

But of a battery nerd here.

Three kinds of 'normal' AA/AAA battery:

Alkaline:
Pro: Cheap, ok capacity for low current draws
Con: Can leak well before the BBE

Lithium Primary (disposable):
Pro: good capacity for medium/high current draws, good hot/cold weather tolerance.
Con: Expensive, (very) rare reports of leaks.

NiMh Low Self Discharge (rechargeable):
Important to get good quality cells and a good charger. I've eneloop cells approaching a decade old which still charge ok, they're a bit tired now though. Also had good success with the IKEA Ladda cells.

Pro: Good capacity for medium/high current draw, Do not leak.
Con: Expensive outlay for cells+ charger, but can get as cheap as alkaline for cost per use for heavy users.

Also

Zinc carbon

Ni cad

Many newer gadgets torches / bales

Lithium ion rechargeable


Then you get into the really fun stuff LIPO burn really well even under water for example
.and the humble lead acid

[tarmactatt]

But of a battery nerd here.

Three kinds of 'normal' AA/AAA battery:

Alkaline:
Pro: Cheap, ok capacity for low current draws
Con: Can leak well before the BBE

Lithium Primary (disposable):
Pro: good capacity for medium/high current draws, good hot/cold weather tolerance.
Con: Expensive, (very) rare reports of leaks.

NiMh Low Self Discharge (rechargeable):
Important to get good quality cells and a good charger. I've eneloop cells approaching a decade old which still charge ok, they're a bit tired now though. Also had good success with the IKEA Ladda cells.

Pro: Good capacity for medium/high current draw, Do not leak.
Con: Expensive outlay for cells+ charger, but can get as cheap as alkaline for cost per use for heavy users.

Also

Zinc carbon

Ni cad

Many newer gadgets torches / bales

Lithium ion rechargeable


Then you get into the really fun stuff LIPO burn really well even under water for example
.and the humble lead acid

I was trying to keep it simple, I'd forgotten Zinc Carbon because they're so awful, I'll add to the list, thank you.

Can't get NiCd AA/AAA any more as cadmium horrible for the environment if they end up in landfil. They had awful low capacity and terrible self-discharge!

Agreed Lithium ion chemistries a different kettle of fish, OP wanted AA/AAA. While you technically *can* buy lithium rechargeable AA (from dodgey Chinese sites/eBay rubbish), I would not trust them. As they are not made by a major battery manufacturer, they are highly variable between brands/batches/cells(!).

All have extra electronics inside them to convert the 4.2V rechargable lithium voltage to 1.5V 'regular AA' voltage, some of these electronics have a low level of drain even while off, so your batteries will be dead in a year or so. Some have bad charging algorithms which can cause over charging or discharging (bad), some are just flaky and unreliable. For the cost, I'd go with quality NiMh!