1100mAh is really modest for AA NiMH cells. Cells with claimed capacities of 2500mAh were on sale at least 12 years ago, and the ones purchased all delivered at least 2200mAh when tested. Some of them are still in use here, and delivering 1200-1400 mAh. Some died long ago - damaged and one totally destroyed by the supplied charger, before I knew any better! - but they've all been in regular use since new. Thanks for the heads-up with the Poundland ones, Clive; they're worth the price.
Great review Clive and appreciated. Living in Canada we don't have any Pound.....here. These are the kind of reviews that are needed to educate all of us. Thank you !
Clive got me back into 'gubbins' after a 50 year break. This time he's too late. I bought 6 Poundland AA's and ended up buying 16 more. They really are good for garden lights. I had 5 (one died last year) and they have faithfully been lighting up every night for over 6 weeks now. Every garden light now has these things hanging inside or (outside wrapped in cling film ) and they are worth every penny. So far after many videos Clive has not dropped a single clanger. You really do know you stuff mate. Thanks.
Clive, I think you should do a massive test of all the cheap-o rechargeables you can find. It would be a great service to the community. Build multiple load clocks, livestream it over several hours. Anyway, would have been interesting to see these opened up and their internal construction scrutinised. Also, fire is always good
1:59 - No. Not a "small fraction of the energy of the alkaline cell". The capacity of the cell from 1.2 V to .75 V varies with current but is much smaller than above 1.2 V. The majority is above that.
Tremendous testing. I have been using both brand of cells in my Gamepad. and have noticed that the poundland cells appear to last a lot longer. Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Great stuff.
Hi Clive - love your vids and the humour. On the subject of poundland AA cells, the wording on the batteries advises to "follow the charging time" but nowhere - either on the packaging - or on the battery itself, does it state the recommended charge current or time. Ive plumped for the 10hr rate for 14hrs should be ok?
Clive, Is there any chance of you discussing the different types of desolder braid? We used to have one type at work (many years ago - now retired) that worked perfectly whilst others were downright useless trying to do the same job. Do you have any tips for which size to use, different width for different jobs etc.?
I haven't done any testing, some people online say they're rebranded enloops as theyre made in Japan. I don't know but I find them quite good in my camera flashes and the 12 battery charger they have is really useful for someone like me who uses lots of batteries, even if it's a bit slow.
The old green/silver IKEA Ladda cells are pretty good. The new ones are supposedly the same as the Sanyo Eneloop (the Eneloop brand has been sold to Panasonic) and are very good too. If you take the price into account, then the IKEA NiMH cells are a bargain!
I tested mine, fresh pack ladda labeled at 2450mha and out of the pack of 4 I got capacity ranging between 1640 - 2859mha I used a liltokala charger test function. Make of that what you will
"Oi Lee Chin? - Yes, Mista Poundworrd? - Remember the waste lead you guys've been spilling into your rivers? - Yes, Mista Poundworrd! - Start filling some in the rechargeables we've been ordering from you, there's a guy on the internet recommending to buy the heavier ones. - Yes, Mista Poundworrd!"
Here in Ireland we have Dealz (poundland equivalent ..apart from everything is €1.50) which sells the fusiomax brand, might have to pick up some just to see ;) I bought a 4 pack of NiMh AA batteries in Lidl for €4 just because it said 2500mAh on the packet.. It'll be interesting to see how fast they drain without use
Bigclivedotcom Well isn't that a steal.. I don't suppose you saw the camping light in Lidl on your travels? It's a dynamo light with an internal NiMh battery and radio.. might be worth a look? :)
Good luck with the supermarket ones, of all the NiMH I've had, those seem to let me down by going high resistance - my usual charger would dutifully sit there passing just enough current to keep the charge indicator on, but a better charger (I now own a MaHa MH-C9000, fiver from a charity shop - Yay!) found them out, in fact they were too bad for it to even recognize and measure.
I was at a poundworld a little while ago that had converted into a poundworld plus or something, the same shop but they now sell stuff thats more than a quid as well as the usual range of £1 items. theyve updated their power banks, they come in the same single cell case as the crappy old £1,
ah no, you get the case and the charge/boost board too, hence "power bank", and the cells are perfectly good. but the key point is that theyre from poundworld and they actually have the capacity they claim.
Hi Clive, I've used the Poundland rechargeable batteries for various applications they seem fairly reliable, but have in the past bought Lidl's 4 pack of cells at £2.99, their most recent offering was 2500mah, I've used then in my Sony minidisc Walkman, they last for hours and hours, but they are a slightly bigger diameter, I found this out when I originally bought a set for a scanner receiver and found when trying to fit the last cell it wouldn't fit in!
i had this a baby monitor i got had bad nimh batteries so chucked them bought new and the new ones were a very tight fit (i had to force them in. so i googled AA battery size and found this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery#Dimensions there is a surprisingly large tolerance on the size of an AA battery data.energizer.com/PDFs/LR6CL_EU.pdf
I put a set of 2300MaH Energizers in an old halogen maglight and the size is so big I can't get it out! It's been sitting in there 2 months now...can't get a stiff wire in from the other end. PITFA!
I've tried these Fusiomax cells in a Xtar VC4, the capacity from flat to full has always registered +/- 10% of the package rating which is good. However the shelf life between charges seems to vary greatly between packets, some self discharge in less than 24hr and some stay charged for weeks. However the best cheapo cells I've found so far are the 2300mAh Lidl Tronic cells, that the VC4 estimates capacity at ~2550mAh and hold charge for weeks without an issue and usually found at £2.99 for 4 so only 50% more than Poundland for more than 50% greater capacity.
I use and test these too, and agree that they are best for things that you do not use often but also do not mind charging up before use. Like a radio that you rarely use except when you are out in the garden for instance.
acreamymoose When dealing with shops like Poundworld and Lidl, it's important to say when a good or bad product was bought to avoid confusing similar but different promotions.
Hey Clive, what sort of AA cell would you recommend for outdoor use, where the temps range from -26C to 46C (and also it's quite humid)? Would it be beneficial to tape off the ends and conformal coat a battery, so far as water ingress goes?
Now PoundWorld are closing down I had to check back to remind myself as to who's cells Big Clive recommended. Glad to see they were PoundLand ones. Need to get some more.
Would you ever test Recycko cells? I've bought mayn of them on Amazon both in AA and AAA flavour and have seen them being longer lasting than lower quality cells. I'm interested in knowing if they have the capacity stated. My recent purchase was 2 x 4 packs of AAA cells rated at 950mAh.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE. YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
Until watching these videos I used to buy Duracell without question. I remember the tests on Simply Duracell, being shown up for the rubbish they are, beaten by a Pound-land cell!! Keep up the good work Clive. I watch with interest.
Yeah, names like Energizer and Duracell were exceptional when all their batteries were made with the same high quality, but then they saw the market in having both budget and premium batteries with the premium being what was once their regular product and the budget one being just cheap shit like any other but at a price that is only budget compared to their premium batteries. Typical moneymaking.
I have a similar clock except that it's the size of the black box, 1 AA battery length ^ 2. I got it at a workplace that was going out of business with the permission of my boss. In any case I did not use it because I do not like the ticking and my bathroom is the only room without at least one clock and I do not need one there. Now I have a use for it, thanks.
Lidl have recently been selling Ni-Mh AA cells for £6.00 for Eight cells at 2400mAh. I haven't had time to test them, but the first thing I noticed was that they were quite heavy. Not weighed them as I haven't got a scale to weigh grams.
Quite amazing you can get rechargeable batteries for a pound. At dollar tree you get either heavy duty or alkaline (in small quantities). That extra .50 cents goes far.
Choose alkaline over the "heavy duty" zinc chloride cells. They offer better value in terms of the much higher capacity and are less likely to leak than the zinc ones.
I use those Poundland batteries for stuff like my bike lights. I've been recharging them for a few years now and no issues. They hold charge for plenty of time for that type of thing.
7dayshop sell very similar 800mah AA cells 8 for £2.99 delivered on eBay which is a good alternative for those who can't make it to the pound shops. They test out at exactly 800mah which I can't complain about. Only 15 grams though. Edit: At least they used to, they're now £3.69, the greedy barstewards. RS are also selling 8 for a little under 4 quid. It's a good price for clocks, remotes and other low power stuff
Any chance that you'll take a look at the LiIon based, USB rechargeable, 9V batteries? Alkaline AA and AAA often come on offer around here, so I just stock up then (and convert what can be, electrically and fitment wise, to 18650's) , but the 9V ones are always, comparatively, expensive... and USB is so much more convenient/available everywhere, than another dedicated charger.
hey clive, how about lobbing some 7dayshop nimh's through your Amp-o-meter ? They do high capacity cells at a good price and it would be neat to see if they stack up to the claims :) I could send some aaa's and AA's if required as i bought a load for projects here.
800-900 mAh for an AA cell seems like a bit of a joke and I'd expect there to just be an AAA cell inside. I have sort of found the holy grail of AA batteries and started using cheap PKCELL batteries from china, The green ones are low self discharge, and the AA models come in 2200Mah versions. It's around 13-14 euro's for 10 of em, and in low-power appliances like remotes, clocks, gamepads and so on they really shine due to their low self discharge.
I suspect that the lower capacity ones are actually 'AAA' cells in a new case. It might be instructive to take a hacksaw to them to see what is inside. Many of the D size cells (those not 4000 mAh) were actually C cells inside of a bunch of cardboard. You could tell them apart from their weight. Oh, yes in the USA we have all sorts of 'dollar' type stores.
theres many products that would benefit from the batteriser. its not that bad actually. might as well use a joule thief though. but i guess the batterizer is more convienient. The batterizer works pretty well with things that have a "high" cutoff voltage. the train dave tested has quite a low cutoff voltage because it is just an electric motor.
@bigclivedotcom Is the bounce test for batteries (which I would assume goes off of weight, lighter = bouncier) and actual way of measuring whether a batteries dead or not?
I've got eight of the Poundland fusion Max AA and use them in my large Sunpak flashguns, four at a time. They provide plenty of power and even on full power the ready lamp is glowing amber a second or so after very many firings. Also as they are not super high capacity they only take about an hour to charge (at one amp charging). For £1 a set they're very good value for money, oh and yes they do hold they're charge for a very long time!
How do you determine when its time to throw a cell out? Particularly those you get in solar garden lights, I've taken the cells out for testing and after a full charge and being left to sit for a few days a couple of them dropped below 1.2v by themselves whilst others had dropped to around the 1.25v mark.
Most NiMh cells will drop down to around 1.2V after a full charge. The most common failure of the cells in solar lights is to lose capacity and the ability to supply current. Keeping in mind that these cells are getting 365 charge/discharge cycles a year and being exposed to very high temperatures in the summer, it's a good idea to routinely replace them every two or three years.
Ive found that cheap rechargeable NiMH batteries last about 10-15 recharges and named brand NiMH last for a bout 30-40 charges but none of them have the mAHr rating stated.
Richard Kaz I've never owned rechargeable batteries that did not state their capacity. You're doing something wrong if they only lasts up to 40 charges.
I'm not sure your clock adaptation might work under some circumstances, I know if you put too much voltage into them they can run backwards, or even actually slow down
phonotical The clock movement is powered by a separate disposable battery. The battery under test is *only* powering the electromagnet that holds the reed switch closed. The reed switch interrupts the battery feed to the clock, so the clock stops when the battery no longer has enough oomph to operate it.
A decade ago, I bought a bunch of dark-green-top Energizer AA's with a 2650 mAh rating. They all discharged almost immediately just sitting on a shelf (within a day they were down to something silly like 1.25v from 1.35-1.40). Total garbage. That was the last time I bought Energizer's. For a while, Duracell White-tops were remarked Eneloops and I still have most of them working well after 7 or 8 years (with moderate use, of course). Great cells that keep 70-80% of their charge for months, even if their theoretical rating was much lower than the Energizer's (2000 mAh, iirc)
Reed switches for telecommunications switching fabric disappeared in the North American telecommunications network over a decade ago. They were the last analog voice technology, Every analog line is converted to digital as soon as possible and all the trunking is digital now.
mentatphilosopher Reed switches are digital 1-bit devices. The circuit that connects the computerized telephone exchange to the "last mile" subscriber copper pair often still contains a miniature relay to protect the electronics from electrical events at the customer premises or along the line.
John Francis Doe As far as I remember there are no reed switches on the current 5ESS line cards. Protection is currently done in the electronic cross connect frames because that is nearest to the outside plant. I'll ask the hardware guys or take a look. The reed switches in the 2ESS (Bell Labs) and 2EAX (Automatic Electric Labs) priced themselves out because of the copper in the coils and the gold used on the contact surfaces. There was a massive number of them in an urban configured switch. They also made a nice swish noise when switched in mass during a network diagnostic run.
When I run the poundland batteries through my battery tester which runs through various cycles, they come out as close to what it says on the pack as possible. 800mah fully charged. I will test some more though as this was years ago, I keep looking to see if they have bought out new ones. Poundland should get an award for having the most accurate battery mah,,, try maplins, go on, I dare you.
I think one mistake is to assume that these things remain constant. This is an illustration of the value of recognized, known brand names. It's about consistency, not the totally worthless "coolness". A known brand has an enormous incentive to keep a product as consistent as possible so that everyone always knows what they are getting. A no-brand product can change at any time without warning. I buy such things myself, with the understanding there is no guarantee.
got some cheap 2.4ah ready-to-use nimh from a discounter and was surprised by power and capacity. tronic eco. 27.7g. the springy contacts in the cell holder dont spring no more...
Got some poundland ones on your recommendation but I need a new charger ........... my old Ross one from years ago gets them quite hot while charging any recommendation on a GOOD modern charger? As an oldie with no idea of electronics ............ what use is a power bank? if you need to charge it via usb before use why not just charge whatever directly?
Its a fake copy but seems to work ok but not telling the difference between rechargeable and non rechargeable batteries. The uniross website does not list it as one of theirs eg they don't make that model. It discretely mentions being made in the prc .........Peoples republic of China no doubt.
A guy I met at primary school, I think he was a bit bigger than us so I didn't challenge his nonsense, claimed to be able to tell if a battery (sorry, "cell") was full or not, by judging its weight in his hands. Those would have been zinc/carbon cells at the time.
That's a good point. As everyone knows they get heavier as the charge increases. Electrons have weight. Also one has to account for ambient temperature because obviously hotter cells are heavier than the far denser cold ones. I literally cannot believe that you're the only one who thought of this.
Surely the cold dense ones would be heavier. Also if the ambient temperature is cold, the air will be more dense and it would press on the scales so adding a few more grams to the reading.
4:30 *I use these in my household (wired Landline) Phones and find ok unless you want to make a call over 2 hours and in which case batteries might struggle a little. I'm ok with that but the wife often complains - say no more.*
Sounds like PW changed manufacturer to a significantly cheaper one. Notice when the store says that their own brand of generic food stuff suddenly have changed recipe, but still taste as good as before...
Unfortunately in the USA you'll never see rechargable cells being sold for a measly dollar. We have different dollar store brands, some where absolutely everything is dollar and others where they have items ranging upwards of a dollar. For the stores where everything is 1 dollar, you won't see rechargable cells. You'll have only "Heavy Duty" cells in packs of 4 or Alkaline in packs of 2.
Poundland do occasionally sell chargers, but if getting serious about using NiMh cells then I recommend a good quality professional charger that gives charging current options and capacity data.
7dayshop have a reasonable choice - or if they still have any in stock, Poundstretcher used to have Hyundai chargers, not bad at half price, and actually fussy enough to reject weak cells - no capacity monitoring though
For charging the odd battery (eg. for a mouse) the Liitokala Li 100 single slot charger, currently £3 at gearbest, is hard to beat. They also do the dual slot Littokala Li 202 for £4.50.
The weight is an important metric since it costs more to ship heavy stuff so the cost save is in the material and the shipping. If that changes then they could throw a chunk of lead/steel/other to make it heavy. So one take away I have from a number of battery videos, yours and several other channels as well as my own testing, is that weight is kind of indicative of capacity. I lean towards LiFePo batteries these days. Maybe you could do some solar tech videos? Although you're not in the best location for solar and maybe you don't have roof access or something...
You get turbo chargers that do charge at super high currents, usually using a fan to cool the cells. It's better to charge them slowly though as it will result in a fuller charge and much longer useful life.
bigclivedotcom Thats interesting. It does have a small fan that sounds like a jet fighter, I though it was to cool itself as it is pushing more than 12A (you can charge 4 cells at a time)
My chargers (Eneloop and Sony ones that hang off the socket) take about 8 hours or so to charge. It is possible that there is a dependence on how many cells are being charged. The Sony ones will take one or two AA or A cell, and the Eneloop either two or four cells. I assume the Eneloop chargers are charging groups of two cells in series, which is not great from a balancing perspective. I therefore prefer the Sony ones, but I think further investigation is required. In any case I am fine with 8ish hours.
Just a thought here. A fully charged battery has more electrons in it than a discharged one. So what is the combined weight of 500 mAh worth of electrons, for instance? Again, just a thought,,,,,,,,, and reading it back indicates I'm due my medicines.
Jay Littleton - Sorry I should have realized that you were joking! Not all of Clive's subs are really into electronics and I just assumed that for you. Next time add a ;-) winky for us slow folks that sometimes miss the jokes!
Being perfectly honest, I hate cheap low quality NiMH cells. Either I get alkalines or high quality NiMH's like Eneloops and what have you. Have you considered taking a look at the Amazon Basic NiMH's? Seems like high quality (lygte-info has tests) and the price ain't that bad.
Clive, why don't you buy a decent charger, like the Voltcraft IPC-3? It measures the capacity for you, it can revive more-or less a dead cell, can charge Li-Ion also, and you don't need a phD on accumulator charging to handle it. That "600mA" cell may need only 1 or 2 more charge-discharge cycle. Those cells may be crap though. I have a cell which can be repaired just to see it is half-dead after 3-4 weeks... (low capacity again, prone to heat up so much that my lamp melted, etc)
OK. I would be still interested in how the cr@p cells capacity would change from several (2, max 3) discharge circle. Maybe nothing happens, maybe it would be somewhat better. I recently bought some new cells (Auchan, Varta, ISY), and the charger went through several cycles to reach the rated capacity. Anyway, that thing costs now around €52. It is very expensive in Hungary, but I wonder what people from other countries are thing about that price.
800mAh is around the capacity that good AAA cells have. I'd expect double or triple from AAs. Even Eneloops with their low self discharge, I've just charged one up, and my (admittedly cheap and potentially crappy) charger showed me it pumped 2.3Ah into the thing.
Very enlightening.. I have been spending money on AA rechargable, attempting to find a good capacity which last in my AOR radio, to replace the old Ni-Cd's It seems that the higher capacity "2500 mAh NiMH are fatter in diameter by about 0.3mm. as it's quite a tight fit battery compartment, they will not fit, side by side, as is the way they go in. I have not found the fusionmax in poundland for some time, they only seem to stock Kodak. 750 mAh, which do fit the radio & seem to do a reasonable job. Having had a rummage in my battery box, found a set of Fusionmax which I must have purchased some time ago. 800mAh. Having just found your video highlighting the virtues of Fusionmax, I will give them a try against the Kodak. I am unsure about charging them within the radio, as it was originally designed to work with Ni-Cd's. ?? Oooh! These Kodak Alkaline look nasty!! th-cam.com/video/7tHie7Ea3iU/w-d-xo.html
It probably uses trickle charging for the cells, which should be OK with NiMH cells. You'll find that the extra high capacity cells do cheat the diameter a bit. Staying down in the 1500mAh area should result in a better fit.
This is the dumbest, most brilliant battery capacity test rig. You deserve a technical Emmy for it!
Excellent video Clive. Your battery testing device is a work of pure genius.
I agree! So awesome. I always learn so much from big Clive
They've got Poundland, Poundworld, now they need PoundTown.
PoundCity, PoundPlanet, PoundPlace etc.
Против Глобал b
also a 99p shop, never been there but i imagine they are pretty much on par with tatarama poundland / world tat....just cheaper.
+johnik sushibar
There was a chain of 99p stores but they got bought by Poundland a few years ago. Inflation jumped by 1%.
PoundSand, PoundN.Korea, PoundDingDongUn, 10PoundBBQSammich, PoundEnemaAtGunpoint
your Ah-o-meter is the work of an ABSOLUTE genius. i really want one like it.
1100mAh is really modest for AA NiMH cells. Cells with claimed capacities of 2500mAh were on sale at least 12 years ago, and the ones purchased all delivered at least 2200mAh when tested. Some of them are still in use here, and delivering 1200-1400 mAh. Some died long ago - damaged and one totally destroyed by the supplied charger, before I knew any better! - but they've all been in regular use since new. Thanks for the heads-up with the Poundland ones, Clive; they're worth the price.
Great review Clive and appreciated. Living in Canada we don't have any Pound.....here. These are the kind of reviews that are needed to educate all of us. Thank you !
Clive got me back into 'gubbins' after a 50 year break. This time he's too late. I bought 6 Poundland AA's and ended up buying 16 more. They really are good for garden lights. I had 5 (one died last year) and they have faithfully been lighting up every night for over 6 weeks now. Every garden light now has these things hanging inside or (outside wrapped in cling film ) and they are worth every penny. So far after many videos Clive has not dropped a single clanger. You really do know you stuff mate. Thanks.
Clive, I think you should do a massive test of all the cheap-o rechargeables you can find. It would be a great service to the community. Build multiple load clocks, livestream it over several hours.
Anyway, would have been interesting to see these opened up and their internal construction scrutinised. Also, fire is always good
Gavin Lewarne He has done both in the past (obviously with the cells sold at the time).
I know, but who doesn't like the potential for more fire and personal injury?
1:59 - No. Not a "small fraction of the energy of the alkaline cell". The capacity of the cell from 1.2 V to .75 V varies with current but is much smaller than above 1.2 V. The majority is above that.
Tremendous testing. I have been using both brand of cells in my Gamepad. and have noticed that the poundland cells appear to last a lot longer. Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Great stuff.
So... travelling with limited room for stuff, but you did bring your Ah-o-meter? Puzzling... :)
i heard that clive owns and makes the "fake riddex" rodent reppeller which only really had a led light xD
Even if the capacity isn't the best I'm kinda amazed at how you can get some rechargeable batteries for a pound.
A two transistor constant-current load would make a great little project!
I love both the choice of subject and the test method, sheer genius.
Hi Clive - love your vids and the humour.
On the subject of poundland AA cells, the wording on the batteries advises to "follow the charging time" but nowhere - either on the packaging - or on the battery itself, does it state the recommended charge current or time.
Ive plumped for the 10hr rate for 14hrs should be ok?
Clive, Is there any chance of you discussing the different types of desolder braid? We used to have one type at work (many years ago - now retired) that worked perfectly whilst others were downright useless trying to do the same job. Do you have any tips for which size to use, different width for different jobs etc.?
Wonder how the new range of IKEA NiMh cells hold up, we have them now in low and high capacity version for both AA and AAA.
I was wondering about HFs because when they have 50% off sales I buy them for small shit. I suppose some one would have to mail him some.
I haven't done any testing, some people online say they're rebranded enloops as theyre made in Japan. I don't know but I find them quite good in my camera flashes and the 12 battery charger they have is really useful for someone like me who uses lots of batteries, even if it's a bit slow.
Guess I will have to pick up some sets and mail them.
The old green/silver IKEA Ladda cells are pretty good. The new ones are supposedly the same as the Sanyo Eneloop (the Eneloop brand has been sold to Panasonic) and are very good too. If you take the price into account, then the IKEA NiMH cells are a bargain!
I tested mine, fresh pack ladda labeled at 2450mha and out of the pack of 4 I got capacity ranging between 1640 - 2859mha I used a liltokala charger test function. Make of that what you will
Very interesting. Keep the price down and profits up no matter what the cost. Loose customers fast! Well done Clive, another investigative report.
"Oi Lee Chin? - Yes, Mista Poundworrd? - Remember the waste lead you guys've been spilling into your rivers? - Yes, Mista Poundworrd! - Start filling some in the rechargeables we've been ordering from you, there's a guy on the internet recommending to buy the heavier ones. - Yes, Mista Poundworrd!"
Can't stop laughing about your battery tester i a good way. Brilliant.
I live in America and these videos have created a large rivalry for me.
Here in Ireland we have Dealz (poundland equivalent ..apart from everything is €1.50) which sells the fusiomax brand, might have to pick up some just to see ;)
I bought a 4 pack of NiMh AA batteries in Lidl for €4 just because it said 2500mAh on the packet.. It'll be interesting to see how fast they drain without use
On the Isle of Man it's Dealz too. At £1.20.
Bigclivedotcom
Well isn't that a steal.. I don't suppose you saw the camping light in Lidl on your travels? It's a dynamo light with an internal NiMh battery and radio.. might be worth a look? :)
Good luck with the supermarket ones, of all the NiMH I've had, those seem to let me down by going high resistance - my usual charger would dutifully sit there passing just enough current to keep the charge indicator on, but a better charger (I now own a MaHa MH-C9000, fiver from a charity shop - Yay!) found them out, in fact they were too bad for it to even recognize and measure.
I was at a poundworld a little while ago that had converted into a poundworld plus or something, the same shop but they now sell stuff thats more than a quid as well as the usual range of £1 items. theyve updated their power banks, they come in the same single cell case as the crappy old £1,
ah no, you get the case and the charge/boost board too, hence "power bank", and the cells are perfectly good. but the key point is that theyre from poundworld and they actually have the capacity they claim.
Clive's videos end abruptly as a bagpipe recital.
I like your lighting rig, it's simple but effective. Also like the clock idea. Simplicity is elegance :)
Hi Clive, I've used the Poundland rechargeable batteries for various applications they seem fairly reliable, but have in the past bought Lidl's 4 pack of cells at £2.99, their most recent offering was 2500mah, I've used then in my Sony minidisc Walkman, they last for hours and hours, but they are a slightly bigger diameter, I found this out when I originally bought a set for a scanner receiver and found when trying to fit the last cell it wouldn't fit in!
i had this a baby monitor i got had bad nimh batteries so chucked them bought new and the new ones were a very tight fit (i had to force them in. so i googled AA battery size and found this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery#Dimensions there is a surprisingly large tolerance on the size of an AA battery data.energizer.com/PDFs/LR6CL_EU.pdf
My little travel mouse that takes 1 AA is an absolute bitch to get a rechargeable battery out of. An alkaline fits just nicely though.
One of the advantages of the lower capacity cells is that they don't need to cheat the case size tolerance. They fit more items.
I put a set of 2300MaH Energizers in an old halogen maglight and the size is so big I can't get it out! It's been sitting in there 2 months now...can't get a stiff wire in from the other end. PITFA!
John Possum Maybe a neodymium magnet could pull it out?
I've tried these Fusiomax cells in a Xtar VC4, the capacity from flat to full has always registered +/- 10% of the package rating which is good. However the shelf life between charges seems to vary greatly between packets, some self discharge in less than 24hr and some stay charged for weeks.
However the best cheapo cells I've found so far are the 2300mAh Lidl Tronic cells, that the VC4 estimates capacity at ~2550mAh and hold charge for weeks without an issue and usually found at £2.99 for 4 so only 50% more than Poundland for more than 50% greater capacity.
I use and test these too, and agree that they are best for things that you do not use often but also do not mind charging up before use. Like a radio that you rarely use except when you are out in the garden for instance.
acreamymoose When dealing with shops like Poundworld and Lidl, it's important to say when a good or bad product was bought to avoid confusing similar but different promotions.
Hey Clive, what sort of AA cell would you recommend for outdoor use, where the temps range from -26C to 46C (and also it's quite humid)? Would it be beneficial to tape off the ends and conformal coat a battery, so far as water ingress goes?
+Josh G That's quite an extreme range. It would require a specialist cell. Check the lithium non rechargeable specs.
Now PoundWorld are closing down I had to check back to remind myself as to who's cells Big Clive recommended. Glad to see they were PoundLand ones. Need to get some more.
Would you ever test Recycko cells? I've bought mayn of them on Amazon both in AA and AAA flavour and have seen them being longer lasting than lower quality cells. I'm interested in knowing if they have the capacity stated. My recent purchase was 2 x 4 packs of AAA cells rated at 950mAh.
Big Clive... your just a wealth of information
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
YOU'RE. YOU ARE.
Oh no I'm nailed by the grammar checker
Good job 👍
He's right, though.
Until watching these videos I used to buy Duracell without question. I remember the tests on Simply Duracell, being shown up for the rubbish they are, beaten by a Pound-land cell!! Keep up the good work Clive. I watch with interest.
Yeah, names like Energizer and Duracell were exceptional when all their batteries were made with the same high quality, but then they saw the market in having both budget and premium batteries with the premium being what was once their regular product and the budget one being just cheap shit like any other but at a price that is only budget compared to their premium batteries.
Typical moneymaking.
I have a similar clock except that it's the size of the black box, 1 AA battery length ^ 2. I got it at a workplace that was going out of business with the permission of my boss. In any case I did not use it because I do not like the ticking and my bathroom is the only room without at least one clock and I do not need one there.
Now I have a use for it, thanks.
bigclivedotcom, they're so light and have such a low capacity that it makes me curious if they aren't really a AAA battery inside a AA casing.
Lidl have recently been selling Ni-Mh AA cells for £6.00 for Eight cells at 2400mAh. I haven't had time to test them, but the first thing I noticed was that they were quite heavy. Not weighed them as I haven't got a scale to weigh grams.
Quite amazing you can get rechargeable batteries for a pound. At dollar tree you get either heavy duty or alkaline (in small quantities). That extra .50 cents goes far.
Choose alkaline over the "heavy duty" zinc chloride cells. They offer better value in terms of the much higher capacity and are less likely to leak than the zinc ones.
bigclivedotcom my experience with the dollar tree 6 pack heavy duty batteries is that they are worthless. Ended up getting the 2 pack alkaline.
I've gotten some that were DOA.
Friendship with poundworld has ended. Now Poundland is my new best friend
Just wipe the 'dust' off my scales *sniff*
Poundland is much more reputable as a company than Poundworld
+Dan Bana They definitely take electrical safety more seriously. Poundworld has sold some very dodgy stuff in the past.
I use those Poundland batteries for stuff like my bike lights. I've been recharging them for a few years now and no issues. They hold charge for plenty of time for that type of thing.
How much are they in Jolly ol'? Low self discharge duracell/enlope/energizer are about $2 @piece and have 2100mh power.?
7dayshop sell very similar 800mah AA cells 8 for £2.99 delivered on eBay which is a good alternative for those who can't make it to the pound shops. They test out at exactly 800mah which I can't complain about. Only 15 grams though.
Edit: At least they used to, they're now £3.69, the greedy barstewards.
RS are also selling 8 for a little under 4 quid. It's a good price for clocks, remotes and other low power stuff
You need to make a really nice version of that clock/discharge meter, that would be a neat sort of thing to have around I think for alot of people.
Any chance that you'll take a look at the LiIon based, USB rechargeable, 9V batteries?
Alkaline AA and AAA often come on offer around here, so I just stock up then (and convert what can be, electrically and fitment wise, to 18650's) , but the 9V ones are always, comparatively, expensive... and USB is so much more convenient/available everywhere, than another dedicated charger.
hey clive, how about lobbing some 7dayshop nimh's through your Amp-o-meter ? They do high capacity cells at a good price and it would be neat to see if they stack up to the claims :) I could send some aaa's and AA's if required as i bought a load for projects here.
Poundworld cells also have the colors on "powercell" swapped between the good and crap cells.
800-900 mAh for an AA cell seems like a bit of a joke and I'd expect there to just be an AAA cell inside.
I have sort of found the holy grail of AA batteries and started using cheap PKCELL batteries from china, The green ones are low self discharge, and the AA models come in 2200Mah versions.
It's around 13-14 euro's for 10 of em, and in low-power appliances like remotes, clocks, gamepads and so on they really shine due to their low self discharge.
Big Clive -- the ultimate gadgeteer! Marvellous video -- thank you very much ;) !
I suspect that the lower capacity ones are actually 'AAA' cells in a new case. It might be instructive to take a hacksaw to them to see what is inside. Many of the D size cells (those not 4000 mAh) were actually C cells inside of a bunch of cardboard. You could tell them apart from their weight. Oh, yes in the USA we have all sorts of 'dollar' type stores.
Finally - a product that would actually benefit from Batteroo's Batteriser !!!
you'd break the battery though after the first use. it'll break when you use it down to 0 volts.
I was thinking more about alkaline cells if the clock stops working at 1.2v
theres many products that would benefit from the batteriser. its not that bad actually. might as well use a joule thief though. but i guess the batterizer is more convienient.
The batterizer works pretty well with things that have a "high" cutoff voltage. the train dave tested has quite a low cutoff voltage because it is just an electric motor.
The problem was the marketing didn't reflect that.
How does one charge these cells?
@bigclivedotcom Is the bounce test for batteries (which I would assume goes off of weight, lighter = bouncier) and actual way of measuring whether a batteries dead or not?
The bounce test does actually work.
It has nothing to do with weight. A dead alkaline weighs the same as a new one. It's the hardness of the innards that changes.
I've got eight of the Poundland fusion Max AA and use them in my large Sunpak flashguns, four at a time. They provide plenty of power and even on full power the ready lamp is glowing amber a second or so after very many firings. Also as they are not super high capacity they only take about an hour to charge (at one amp charging). For £1 a set they're very good value for money, oh and yes they do hold they're charge for a very long time!
How do you determine when its time to throw a cell out? Particularly those you get in solar garden lights, I've taken the cells out for testing and after a full charge and being left to sit for a few days a couple of them dropped below 1.2v by themselves whilst others had dropped to around the 1.25v mark.
Most NiMh cells will drop down to around 1.2V after a full charge. The most common failure of the cells in solar lights is to lose capacity and the ability to supply current. Keeping in mind that these cells are getting 365 charge/discharge cycles a year and being exposed to very high temperatures in the summer, it's a good idea to routinely replace them every two or three years.
Great videos ,I love poundland stuff !!! Hope one day my TH-cam channels will take off like yours . Keep up the good work clive !!
Ive found that cheap rechargeable NiMH batteries last about 10-15 recharges and named brand NiMH last for a bout 30-40 charges but none of them have the mAHr rating stated.
Richard Kaz I've never owned rechargeable batteries that did not state their capacity. You're doing something wrong if they only lasts up to 40 charges.
I'm not sure your clock adaptation might work under some circumstances, I know if you put too much voltage into them they can run backwards, or even actually slow down
it's purely for niMh AA cells
phonotical The clock movement is powered by a separate disposable battery. The battery under test is *only* powering the electromagnet that holds the reed switch closed. The reed switch interrupts the battery feed to the clock, so the clock stops when the battery no longer has enough oomph to operate it.
I wonder what it would take to install a backlight or backlit display in that scale...
It would be interesting to see how they compare to the Lidl Tronic AA rechargeables.
A decade ago, I bought a bunch of dark-green-top Energizer AA's with a 2650 mAh rating. They all discharged almost immediately just sitting on a shelf (within a day they were down to something silly like 1.25v from 1.35-1.40). Total garbage.
That was the last time I bought Energizer's. For a while, Duracell White-tops were remarked Eneloops and I still have most of them working well after 7 or 8 years (with moderate use, of course). Great cells that keep 70-80% of their charge for months, even if their theoretical rating was much lower than the Energizer's (2000 mAh, iirc)
Is there a way of sending you stuff to balls about with? I may have something of interest or at least I'd be interested in the outcome.
+John Howard had a mooch might be me or my coal powered phone but can't find any info on the website.
I don't know what phone you're using, but that image is terrific. You're terrific!
Moto G4 with Open camera.
Good bot
Reed switches for telecommunications switching fabric disappeared in the North American telecommunications network over a decade ago. They were the last analog voice technology, Every analog line is converted to digital as soon as possible and all the trunking is digital now.
mentatphilosopher Reed switches are digital 1-bit devices. The circuit that connects the computerized telephone exchange to the "last mile" subscriber copper pair often still contains a miniature relay to protect the electronics from electrical events at the customer premises or along the line.
John Francis Doe As far as I remember there are no reed switches on the current 5ESS line cards. Protection is currently done in the electronic cross connect frames because that is nearest to the outside plant. I'll ask the hardware guys or take a look. The reed switches in the 2ESS (Bell Labs) and 2EAX (Automatic Electric Labs) priced themselves out because of the copper in the coils and the gold used on the contact surfaces. There was a massive number of them in an urban configured switch. They also made a nice swish noise when switched in mass during a network diagnostic run.
you keep talking about poundland and poundworld. is that a UK store? like the dollar store in the us?
Yes it is. Our equivalent to a dollar store is a pound shop.
When I run the poundland batteries through my battery tester which runs through various cycles, they come out as close to what it says on the pack as possible. 800mah fully charged. I will test some more though as this was years ago, I keep looking to see if they have bought out new ones. Poundland should get an award for having the most accurate battery mah,,, try maplins, go on, I dare you.
I think one mistake is to assume that these things remain constant. This is an illustration of the value of recognized, known brand names. It's about consistency, not the totally worthless "coolness". A known brand has an enormous incentive to keep a product as consistent as possible so that everyone always knows what they are getting. A no-brand product can change at any time without warning. I buy such things myself, with the understanding there is no guarantee.
Very Liking the PoundLand ones...
Lasted for ages straight out the packet!
got some cheap 2.4ah ready-to-use nimh from a discounter and was surprised by power and capacity. tronic eco. 27.7g. the springy contacts in the cell holder dont spring no more...
Can you paint mAhs at equal distance on the clock face in this test?
That clock made me laugh so much. Now I'm kinda curious about the transistor discharge circuit.
Got some poundland ones on your recommendation but I need a new charger ........... my old Ross one from years ago gets them quite hot while charging any recommendation on a GOOD modern charger?
As an oldie with no idea of electronics ............ what use is a power bank? if you need to charge it via usb before use why not just charge whatever directly?
Any cheap general purpose AA/AAA charger will charge at a much lower current. A USB power bank is a handy source of portable power for many tasks.
Many thanks for the reply will look at replacing the Ross charger it must be at least 20 years old and for Ni Mh batteries.
Or even Ni cads
Ordered a UNiROSS-ULTIMATE-INTELLIGENT-SMART-Charger-AA-AAA
today many thanks for the help and advice 8-)
Its a fake copy but seems to work ok but not telling the difference between rechargeable and non rechargeable batteries.
The uniross website does not list it as one of theirs eg they don't make that model.
It discretely mentions being made in the prc .........Peoples republic of China no doubt.
Would it be possible to use the Joule Thief circuit to get a quartz clock to squeeze the last bit of juice out of a cell?
@Krokozyabrik Cheers man. :)
Take a look at ikea's new cells, they have two types, and they have a big weight and capacity diffrence
You have to do a comparison with the lidle tronic batterys. Great video BTW
Reed switches - also used in home security (door and window contacts)
That clock setup makes me so happy.
EDIT: oh wow blowing my mind with the 'battery of cells' knowledge too.
Can you please do a review on AA 14500 Li_ion batteries..?
A guy I met at primary school, I think he was a bit bigger than us so I didn't challenge his nonsense, claimed to be able to tell if a battery (sorry, "cell") was full or not, by judging its weight in his hands. Those would have been zinc/carbon cells at the time.
Great info, and great to know I've bought the right ones
Did those cells have the same state of charge when you weighed them? 😋
That's a good point. As everyone knows they get heavier as the charge increases. Electrons have weight. Also one has to account for ambient temperature because obviously hotter cells are heavier than the far denser cold ones. I literally cannot believe that you're the only one who thought of this.
Surely the cold dense ones would be heavier. Also if the ambient temperature is cold, the air will be more dense and it would press on the scales so adding a few more grams to the reading.
4:30 *I use these in my household (wired Landline) Phones and find ok unless you want to make a call over 2 hours and in which case batteries might struggle a little. I'm ok with that but the wife often complains - say no more.*
Sounds like PW changed manufacturer to a significantly cheaper one. Notice when the store says that their own brand of generic food stuff suddenly have changed recipe, but still taste as good as before...
Could you do this with disposable Lidil, Aldi, etc cells? Would be awesome. Sure the Lidil ones are a con.
Unfortunately in the USA you'll never see rechargable cells being sold for a measly dollar. We have different dollar store brands, some where absolutely everything is dollar and others where they have items ranging upwards of a dollar. For the stores where everything is 1 dollar, you won't see rechargable cells. You'll have only "Heavy Duty" cells in packs of 4 or Alkaline in packs of 2.
Do poundland sell battery chargers ? Or which do you recommend for these batteries? Thanks
Poundland do occasionally sell chargers, but if getting serious about using NiMh cells then I recommend a good quality professional charger that gives charging current options and capacity data.
7dayshop have a reasonable choice - or if they still have any in stock, Poundstretcher used to have Hyundai chargers, not bad at half price, and actually fussy enough to reject weak cells - no capacity monitoring though
For charging the odd battery (eg. for a mouse) the Liitokala Li 100 single slot charger, currently £3 at gearbest, is hard to beat. They also do the dual slot Littokala Li 202 for £4.50.
The weight is an important metric since it costs more to ship heavy stuff so the cost save is in the material and the shipping. If that changes then they could throw a chunk of lead/steel/other to make it heavy. So one take away I have from a number of battery videos, yours and several other channels as well as my own testing, is that weight is kind of indicative of capacity. I lean towards LiFePo batteries these days. Maybe you could do some solar tech videos? Although you're not in the best location for solar and maybe you don't have roof access or something...
I bought 4 of the Poundworld 800mAh ones. They tested all over the place. 360, 730, 880 and 920.
+Zapp3012 Many fast chargers terminate way too early with low capacity cells.
And if you pair them up you may end up with reversing the polarity of the weakest.
I have a Ni-MH charger that charges cells at *more than 3 amps*
Is this normal? Should I use it?
You get turbo chargers that do charge at super high currents, usually using a fan to cool the cells. It's better to charge them slowly though as it will result in a fuller charge and much longer useful life.
bigclivedotcom
Thats interesting.
It does have a small fan that sounds like a jet fighter, I though it was to cool itself as it is pushing more than 12A (you can charge 4 cells at a time)
Those 15 minute chargers kill cells. Major capacity loss will be evident after a year or so.
My chargers (Eneloop and Sony ones that hang off the socket) take about 8 hours or so to charge. It is possible that there is a dependence on how many cells are being charged. The Sony ones will take one or two AA or A cell, and the Eneloop either two or four cells. I assume the Eneloop chargers are charging groups of two cells in series, which is not great from a balancing perspective. I therefore prefer the Sony ones, but I think further investigation is required. In any case I am fine with 8ish hours.
+bigclivedotcom Do you have a harbor freight store near by? They have AA batteries rated up to 2400mAh
Just a thought here. A fully charged battery has more electrons in it than a discharged one. So what is the combined weight of 500 mAh worth of electrons, for instance? Again, just a thought,,,,,,,,, and reading it back indicates I'm due my medicines.
No, the number of electrons does not change with the charge level. I'm sure you can find some info on Wikipedia to show how batteries (cells) work.
Sorry, forgot to select Ironic Font. T'was meant in jest, as if to imply that a fully charged battery will weigh more than a dead one.
You belong on Dave's channel since that is one of his goto standing jokes.
Jay Littleton - Sorry I should have realized that you were joking! Not all of Clive's subs are really into electronics and I just assumed that for you. Next time add a ;-) winky for us slow folks that sometimes miss the jokes!
800mAh for a AA? Odd, that's a typical AAA capacity. The AA NiMH LSD cells from Amazon run about 2,400mAh.
So what charger do you use/recommend for these?
For this style of cell I recommend a simple non-intelligent low current charger.
A bt3000 or similar prevents you from accidentally pairing a 800 mah power cell with a 500 mah power cell and potentially reversing polarity.
whats the finish voltage or are you running them totally flat?
As soon as the voltage tails off below about 1V at the end of discharge the clock stops.
Being perfectly honest, I hate cheap low quality NiMH cells. Either I get alkalines or high quality NiMH's like Eneloops and what have you.
Have you considered taking a look at the Amazon Basic NiMH's? Seems like high quality (lygte-info has tests) and the price ain't that bad.
Clive, why don't you buy a decent charger, like the Voltcraft IPC-3? It measures the capacity for you, it can revive more-or less a dead cell, can charge Li-Ion also, and you don't need a phD on accumulator charging to handle it. That "600mA" cell may need only 1 or 2 more charge-discharge cycle. Those cells may be crap though. I have a cell which can be repaired just to see it is half-dead after 3-4 weeks... (low capacity again, prone to heat up so much that my lamp melted, etc)
He has said a few times that he avoids using expensive gear on his channel for the sake of his viewers.
OK. I would be still interested in how the cr@p cells capacity would change from several (2, max 3) discharge circle. Maybe nothing happens, maybe it would be somewhat better. I recently bought some new cells (Auchan, Varta, ISY), and the charger went through several cycles to reach the rated capacity.
Anyway, that thing costs now around €52. It is very expensive in Hungary, but I wonder what people from other countries are thing about that price.
I do have smart chargers. That cell was given a few cycles to see if the capacity improved.
can you make simple seald lead acid battery charger
Any plan to test the new poundland Kodak AA
Rechargeable
I've got some here. I've not given them a proper test though.
I've been using Poundland's Fusiomax batteries for a while, pretty good batteries
The clock is a work of genius. :)
800mAh is around the capacity that good AAA cells have. I'd expect double or triple from AAs. Even Eneloops with their low self discharge, I've just charged one up, and my (admittedly cheap and potentially crappy) charger showed me it pumped 2.3Ah into the thing.
Very enlightening.. I have been spending money on AA rechargable, attempting to find a good capacity which last in my AOR radio, to replace the old Ni-Cd's It seems that the higher capacity "2500 mAh NiMH are fatter in diameter by about 0.3mm. as it's quite a tight fit battery compartment, they will not fit, side by side, as is the way they go in. I have not found the fusionmax in poundland for some time, they only seem to stock Kodak. 750 mAh, which do fit the radio & seem to do a reasonable job. Having had a rummage in my battery box, found a set of Fusionmax which I must have purchased some time ago. 800mAh. Having just found your video highlighting the virtues of Fusionmax, I will give them a try against the Kodak. I am unsure about charging them within the radio, as it was originally designed to work with Ni-Cd's. ?? Oooh! These Kodak Alkaline look nasty!! th-cam.com/video/7tHie7Ea3iU/w-d-xo.html
It probably uses trickle charging for the cells, which should be OK with NiMH cells. You'll find that the extra high capacity cells do cheat the diameter a bit. Staying down in the 1500mAh area should result in a better fit.
@@bigclivedotcom Thank's Clive, You're the best. 💯