Alkaline AA Alternatives

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Күн бұрын

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@RambozoClown Жыл бұрын

I'd be curious to put a multimeter across those 1.5 batteries while they are on th XTAR charger to see what they charge at.

@twotone3070 Жыл бұрын

Exxxactly!

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

@@twotone3070 It might take 5v and then have an internal charge controller. I haven't used these ones, but have the type that has a micro usb socket on the side of it. When I plug the USB cord into it to charge it, I do notice that the battery has 5v instead of 1.5v across its + and - !

@christiano.4808 Жыл бұрын

I've done some research on this a while ago. You can actually get all the variants you've shown in AAA format. You just can't always search for AA or AAA to find them. The reason is that cell you've shown last, the 14500 3.7V cell. To prevent people using them as AA replacements and damaging their devices, they're not advertised as AA. You can only use them in a device that uses many AA cells in series, like certain (older) remote controlled cars, and then you need these AA dummy conductors and do some math. And the same is true for AAA cells, but if you look for 10440 cells instead, you'll find quite a few variants.

@andrew_koala2974 Жыл бұрын

EDITED TEXT: One can actually get all the variants shown in AAA size. Searching for the 14500 3.7V cell is difficult to find when searching for them as AA size.. The reason is to prevent people from using them as an AA replacement and damaging their devices - thus - they are not advertised as AA These cells can only be used in a device that uses 3 AA cells in series - such as certain (older) remote control cars - and then one needs AA dummy conductors to fill the empty space of two 1.5v cells. The same holds true for AAA cells - however when searching for 10440 cells - one will find quite a few variants.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

I found some 10440 (~AAA) 3.2v lifepo4 cells, but only being ~280mah which seems disappointingly low. I guess with the higher voltage (halved with the dummy short cells) it would work out being around 1/3 useable charge compared to using decent alkalines.

@kwils6685 Жыл бұрын

@@andrew_koala2974 Were practical, in devices that use 3AA cells in series, I just rewire it to parallel the cells and get longer runtimes.

@nullbyt Жыл бұрын

Clive sounds funny in this video think he's not over that cold just yet.

@demoncloud6147 Жыл бұрын

I came here to listen that " Morning all " 😂 That's my fav opening speech

@tonydonnelly Жыл бұрын

My favourite is NiMH. I have some operating outdoors, and over Christmas they kept working after several days sitting at -23c. The same batteries survived +45c last summer.

@KevinSolway Жыл бұрын

The worst thing about them is that they drain quickly, even when not in use.

@benbaselet2026 Жыл бұрын

@@KevinSolway You just have to get the ones that specifically state low self discharge, like eneloops.

@andrew_koala2974 Жыл бұрын

°C

@tonydonnelly Жыл бұрын

@@benbaselet2026 I've used both types and found the Eneloops do last much longer than 'regular' NiMH batteries.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

@@KevinSolway LSD = low self discharge

@mikewillis1592 Жыл бұрын

The reason the MSF clock doesn't work is that the MSF signal from Anthorn is much weaker in the south of the UK that it used to be when it came from Rugby. The weaker signal is compounded by the general EM smog in every home these days from switching PSUs, VDSL etc. Don't use a switched mode battery in a radio controlled clock. The lithium AAs generate too much noise in their switching regulators.

@noakeswalker Жыл бұрын

I'd never heard of some of these - NiZn sound a bit fierce at 1v7 or more. I wouldn't use any batt with a switch mode buck converter inside it in a radio controlled clock - the rf interference will likely mask the MSF signal on 60kHz. (I have not tried this, but smps are the nemesis of a radio man !)

@chrisw1462 Жыл бұрын

A company called PaleBlue makes a Lithium Ion AA battery - 3.7 v cell with 1.5 v buck circuit, that also includes a USB charging port. I have several and the work great - about 1.5 - 2x the mAh of Alkalines, and they recharge in about an hour from the octopus USB cable that comes with a set of 4. Even better, as the charge gets low, the buck circuit drops the voltage to about 1.2 v, so low battery indicators still work!

@JulianIlett Жыл бұрын

Is it a quadropus USB cable, or does it actually have 8 leads :) That's clever dropping the voltage to 1.2V.

@quandiy5164 Жыл бұрын

My friend has that thermal imager device and he barely uses it because of the battery issue. I opened it up and if I remember correctly, it uses diodes in series for polarity protection and the circuit runs on 5v so there is little left for the circuit to work. I grafted in a small powerbank pcb and a lipo cell inside the head so it now runs longer and charges on usb

@jawjuk Жыл бұрын

That was an eye-opening video! I had no idea there were so many options for those situations when weedy 1.2V NiMH cells won't cut it. Nice one, Julian.

@jasejj Жыл бұрын

You need to be very careful with those radio clocks. Mine started the random winding thing with low battery just as I was about to leave on the train for a trip down south, and when I returned the clock mechanism had completely lunched itself through all the winding, and apparently mine is not a rare case.

@edwardfletcher7790 Жыл бұрын

Glad to hear your back and well 👍

@mr.makeit4037 Жыл бұрын

It would be interesting, if the clock had enough space, to use a lithium battery with a small boost converter. The clock would receive its desired voltage and current level throughout the charge duration.

@kychemclass5850 Жыл бұрын

One can apply nail polish (varnish) around the seals (being careful not to apply it to the the actual metal terminals of course) if you want to increase resistance to leaking.

@-Graham Жыл бұрын

Damn you! I was saying to myself instantly "Ni-Zn! save the comment till after" and 4.5 mins in you're already on it 😂😂 It would be interesting to probe the xtar charger and see what it does to initiate charging

@tweed532DaveH Жыл бұрын

All I can say is my brain hurts, but I know now why my radio linked clock gets all wound up at times!! But seriously it is a mine field and in a few of my torches I've noticed the diameter is a problem too. I know I can't use some ancient Maplin 2000mAh Ni-Mh AA batteries in slim inline torches as they don't slide in, or in the 4xAA battery holder of powered salt & pepper pots these, along with Lidl Ni-Mh 2400mAh Tronic Energy eco are slightly too large to fit in. Keep up the good work.👍☺

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

I go for the hand-powered grinders 🐝 free energy :P

@karljay7473 Жыл бұрын

I just bought a pack of adjustable buck converters and 3D printed holders for them and an 18650 battery just for replacing AA batteries. The 18650 puts out near 4 volts and are dirt cheap and powerful. You print a plastic AA battery and run the wires from the buck converter to the plastic battery tips. Thin wires will do the job. I then made a battery pack for 3, 6, and 9 volts. They are bulky, but they can last a very long time. I looked for years for a true 1.5V rechargeable and bought the PowerGenX NiZn about 10 years ago. They worked great, but have worn out since. I really don't understand why a AA sized LiPo/LiOn can't be made that puts out 1.5V. An adjustable buck converter can be bought for under $2/ea and 18650s can be had from old laptops and old drill batteries. Some are in "sleep" mode and can be revived with a direct charge.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

Would love to see a video of them!

@johnshaw359 Жыл бұрын

My plain old D cell bodge has lasted over a decade in a coin cell mech.

@Martin_Martin_Martin_1 Жыл бұрын

Happy new year, Glad to see your back. Never seen these other types before. Where did you buy them and what are the costs like?

@thehun1234 Жыл бұрын

NiMh batteries have two versions, the normal and the low self-discharge versions. I found the normal ones were useless in my digital camera because the camera indicated low battery after 20-30% discharge, the low self-discharge versions worked perfectly. I had the same problem with the outdoor unit of my thermometer. The low self-discharge version had no trouble even in minus 15C weather.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

I'm surprised more cameras these days don't use lithium cells. I bought a small nikon in 2008 that uses a lithium cell, which still works! Only ~$12 to replace if needed.

@thehun1234 Жыл бұрын

@@jimmybrad156 I also had one, not Nikon. I bought it probably 25-30 years ago and swore never to buy one again. The battery run out in Mauritius and could not find a replacement. I know, I should have carried a spare, but regular AA batteries are available everywhere, so I will not have the same problem again.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

@@thehun1234 Good point; never thought of that scenario!

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

A spare lithium battery then would have cost a days work too I guess.

@thehun1234 Жыл бұрын

@@jimmybrad156 Not really, at least not for me. I was working outside Hungary, so I had a reasonable salary. The real problem was that I believed the salesman when I bought the camera. He claimed that when the low battery indicator comes on the camera can still take at least two rolls of pictures. In reality, after the warning came on, the camera totally shut down after a few more shots.

@ralfbaechle Жыл бұрын

Years ago I tried rechargeable 1,5V alkaline batteries in AA, AAA and D sizes by German brand Müller. Not to be confused with the Drugstore chain Müller; I believe the battery company Müller no longer exists. While they were working fine with a reasonably low self-discharge rate, every single of them has leaked, some of them unfortunately in their respective devices. I did some research on the type of cell. Other brands exist using the same type of chemistry (I think those were so called RAM "rechargeable alialine manganese" cells) and according to my web research they're all extremly prone to leaking. So never again for me.

@baconsledge Жыл бұрын

My atomic clocks did the same 12 o:clock thing. I believe that is normal.

@darkmatterisgrey Жыл бұрын

Hey Julian, I also have that temperature and humidity sensor. That's zigbee, right? Allegedly it also measures the luminosity in your room. I see the lux value change in its lcd, whenever I increase or decrease the level of brightness on my lamps but, I can't get any readings on the tuya app, in my smartphome. Did you ever get any lux readings yourself?

@JulianIlett Жыл бұрын

Same here. The lux value is on the LCD, but the Tuya (and Lidl) app ignores the lux value.

@darkmatterisgrey Жыл бұрын

@@JulianIlettGood to know.. Perhaps you've got a Silvercrest (Lidl}) zigbee gateway like me? Anyway, I recently found, in the Aliexpress listing, which I bought the sensor from, a warning saying that one should send a message, with the gateway ID number, to the seller and ask for a firmware update, in case something is odd about the sensor operation. Haven't tried that myself yet, though. Maybe that'll fix it. I'll come back and drop a reply to let you know about it.

@Peter_A1466 Жыл бұрын

I assume you got those messages at 3 in the morning, because as the temperature in the shed was dropping the battery started to struggle delivering enough voltage around that time...

@rpdom Жыл бұрын

I've got a few "radio controlled" clocks that show similar symptoms to yours from time to time, including being 1, 2, 4 8 or 10 hours, or 1 day out. Probably a single bit error in the time data with a the checksums corrupted too. I use some 1.5V Lithium Ion AA cells that have a USB-C socket in the side for charging, so can charge from any 5V source. They are also available in AAA size. I believe when the cell is running low it drops the output voltage slightly to signal to the device that it is running low, then shuts off suddenly.

@hanleypc Жыл бұрын

I bought a wall clock that has a sweeping second hand, there was a warning in the instructions not to use an alkaline cell. Maybe for the same reasons.

@mharris5047 2 ай бұрын

I have a few analog alarm clocks with sweeping or ticking second hands and sweeping hour and minute hands that use one AA battery each. That is the type of thing I put alkaline batteries in as they last about a year anyway. I can get about a year out of an alkaline in them so I don't bother putting rechargeables in them. None are atomic clocks, I don't even know if I can receive the signal from the US transmitter way out here in northern Michigan (the transmitter is about 2500 miles away in Colorado, I can receive the shortwave signal on my shortwave radios but those have an external antenna).

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

The 1.5v aa/aaa size lithium-based (probably a LiPo cell) batteries with built in buck converter and usb charger work well with low drain devices. I put them in an indoor weather station (aa) size and it lasted 6.6 months (from full charge) before needing recharging. It had 1.1v across it when it was flat enough for the weather station, after being out of the weather station for a few minutes. Took 3h10min to charge from the laptop; not sure what amperage this provided/if it slowed it/stopped it from charging faster (probably not). While they were charging, they had 5v across the AA +/- output (instead of 1.5v) so don't leave them in the load device, as 5v instead of 1.5v will fry a lot things! ~$20 AUD for 2xAA.

@d0ugk Жыл бұрын

I believe those AA/AAA lithium ion batteries take 5v in to charge and the board in the battery has a lithium charge control chip to drop the voltage down to the proper charging voltage/current for the internal lithium cells. Bigclive did a video on these a few years back. Jugee were some of the 1st of these. EBL came out with a version which just appears to be a relabeled Jugee. It's got the white LEDs at the + end like a Jugee. I've got both brands of these AA lithium ion batteries and both can be charged in the other brands charger. Bigclive also tore down the charger and it didnt appear there was much in it. Pretty much the USB power connected straight to the batteries with a current sense chip to control the charge status leds on the charger.

@d0ugk Жыл бұрын

I actually just pulled out the charger for these and measured the voltage while the cell was charging and im seeing about 4.5v. The cells also lower their voltage when the internal lithium is almost discharged. It stays at a flat 1.5v, then when I think there's about 10% remaining of the lithium cell is drops the output to 1.1 or 1.2v so that devices that can sense the state of charge will indicate to you that they are almost discharged. It's also interesting that the buck converter in these things must be very efficient. I have some that have sat on the shelf for months after being charged and they still have a charge and output voltage. I figured maybe the buck converter goes to sleep if it senses no load, but putting a multi-meter across them will still register a voltage and a multi-meter is going to put almost no load across them that might wake up the battery, so the buck converter must be constantly active.

@ErrorMessageNotFound Жыл бұрын

I have some EBL 1.5v AA Lithium-ion batteries similar to the ones you have. Mine have more than just a buck converter inside, they have a built in charging circuit. To charge them all you do is connect 5v to the battery and it charges itself. Mine also have a charging indicator light and a micro-usb connector on the battery itself. It might be something similar in yours.

@williama29 Жыл бұрын

i have had Ni-Zn batteries before and they worked but the default charger i had also worked but then it failed later on

@christopherguy1217 Жыл бұрын

I love NiZn batteries but WARNING you can't use them in low discharge devices such as clocks and thermometers. They are designed for high discharge devices such as flashlights and digital cameras. If you use them in low discharge devices you'll kill the battery after only a few cycles.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

@mikebond6328 Жыл бұрын

I’ve got a bulova watch that does a similar thing with the hands to let you know the battery is weak.

@RelakS__ Жыл бұрын

I think that NiZn batteries are very fragile. You need to charge them like a Li-Ion battery, but the maximum voltage is 1.9V. They tend to go bad faster than NiMH batteris if you don't use them. As for the Li-Ion 1.5V batteries: While the AA batteries are nice (I use them in a clock because the NiMH battery's internal resistance went through the roof in a couple of years), AAA variants tend to have bad circuitry, or they go wrong after a while.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

My 2x AAA 3.7v lipo > 1.5v are still strong after 14 months. Recharged them perhaps ten to fifteen times. T-Power brand. Fingers crossed!

@deterdamel7380 Жыл бұрын

Would be interesting to see what voltage the dedicated 1,5V-LiPo(?)-buck-converter-cells-charger applies.

@SheddyIan Жыл бұрын

Ive got that same Lidl radio controlled clock, and had similar problems with it. I suspect it's a design fault - mine works for a day or so on a new alkaline, then stops or shows utterly wrong time. A friend who works in Lidl said they'd had a lot of them returned as faulty. (mine did work ok for a few months initially, but now, even with new battery, doesn't work reliably)

@colinoverton790 3 ай бұрын

An intersting vid. Ive stopped using rechargeable batteries almost completely and just use low cost alkaline batteries from Poundland.

@mharris5047 2 ай бұрын

I don't know UK prices but here in the States the Amazon branded AAA and AA rechargeables seem to be of excellent quality (I have some AAs that are 7-8 years old and still work fine) and if you run them through three or four charge cycles (using the Amazon AA and AAA alkaline 100 packs divided into an individual cell price of about 28-36 cents, I am an uncle to an almost five year old set of twins and I don't trust them to not toss the batteries if they get access to them so their toys don't get rechargeables in them meaning along with such things as clocks, the flashlights in the car, etc. I still buy a 100 pack of each every couple of years) they have paid for themselves. In my experience they last much longer than three or four charge cycles. EBL rechargeables are mostly pretty good but the 2800mAh AAs don't hold a charge for more than a month or a month and a half (I mainly use those eight cells for a AA powered lighted Christmas tree since they need to be recharged after about three days use anyway but that means they get used only one month per year). The EBL 2000s, 2300s and 2500s hold a charge for about a year (the 2000s and 2300s are hard to find nowadays, my 2300s actually came with a four cell AA/AAA charger that is powered via USB). The standard capacity Amazon batteries seem to hold a charge for longer than a year. I just bought a 24 pack of Amazon AAA cells that aren't going to see much use for a while since I already had 12 that I bought about six months ago (at peak I may need two of that 24 pack now but the price was unbeatable at an individual price of about 60 cents per cell so I bought the 24 pack) so maybe I will see how long those hold a charge, my AA Amazon branded cells are quite old. One note: The EBL 1100 mAh rechargeable AAA cells are slightly wider than a standard alkaline AAA cell. That causes a problem with some cheap flashlights that I use regularly, causing me to buy the Amazon AAA rechargeable cells which are the standard AAA size but only 800mAh (not a problem with a cheap LED flashlight putting out maybe 100 lumens). The EBL cells themselves seem to be fine and they hold a charge reasonably well but if the fit in the device is tight they may cause problems for you.

@guywhoknows Жыл бұрын

I remember! The battery problem back in the 80's when new tech wouldn't work with old tech so they just made old tech. Same the world doesn't move on..

@rimmersbryggeri Жыл бұрын

They had those clocks in my last workplace and neither the hours or the minuteswere ever correct.

@robbieaussievic Жыл бұрын

.... Should have removed the battery, ( correct twice a day then ! ).

@rimmersbryggeri Жыл бұрын

@@robbieaussievic They did. I think maybe the cnc machines somehow interfeered with the RF signal.

@lmwlmw4468 Жыл бұрын

Inside those 1.5 V Li-ion there is a Li-ion 3.7 V battery, with 2 terminals just like as if it was a capacitor but with the markings on the PLUS(+) side, not a Li-FePO4, at least in those that I have purchased...!!!

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

sounds like 'those' are different :)

@dino6627 Жыл бұрын

I use the LiFePO3 cells with the dummy battery, both AA and AAA size in equipment that doesn't work well with NiMh. Only problem is the capacity is not great, but better than leaky alkalines.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

Do AA lifepo4 3.2v cells run out sooner than alkalines? It looks like you end up with less than half the capacity compared to using good value alkalines.

@andygozzo72 Жыл бұрын

nicad and nimh rechargeables definitely do leak and cause a lot of damage, i've had it, its more an issue though with pcb mounted cells, such as for computer settings backup,

@tomstruct Жыл бұрын

Thanks Julian best wishes mate

@daviddevillers6790 Жыл бұрын

Happy New Year, Julian!

@uksuperrascal Жыл бұрын

All batteries re charge.Any 1V6 to 2V charger will do for any 1v5 AA or AAA battery

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

not if its a lithium cell that uses a buck converter to output 1.5v. At least not the ones I use.

@uksuperrascal Жыл бұрын

@@jimmybrad156 All lithium sells recharge. You did not say what the voltage of your lithium cell is without the buck converter connected. I forgot to ad 1.5V & 3V button sells also recharge. About once a year I have to charge my car key fob 3V cell for 30 mins Via a fully charged 1 x 18650 cell. I have recharging the 3v cell about 5 times now in as many years.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

So you can recharge Lithium/Iron Disulfide (Li/FeS2) batteries?

@metallitech Жыл бұрын

hmm, perhaps AA lithiums could keep the form factor going for longer.

@matsv201 Жыл бұрын

There is one more type. Its a litium manganese recharable att 3.0V that have two AA like cell permanetly connected side by side in parallell. Of cause they only work In devices that used batteries that way ut its pretty common. The benefit with those is that they have excellent capacity, much more.so than NiMh, they also are a lot flatter and have much higher current. They are rare and really hard to get. (Was years since last saw one don't know if they still are for sale)

@fumthings Жыл бұрын

fascinating. we have never heard of nickel zinc batteries here in Australia. also the only lithium ion aa 1.5 cells we get have a usb socket in the cell itself, no dedicated charger.

@fumthings Жыл бұрын

usb charged 1.5v lithium ion come as aaa as well it appears.

@BOXTERS32 Жыл бұрын

Hi Julian, Have you tried the USB rechargable batteries by Smarttools 1.5v AA size..also AAA size available.. I use them out side for my solar panel monitors in my meter enclosure.See them on ebay about £13 for 4 of them in a pack with the USB cable (type c )They have an led to indicate when fully charged it lights up at the +ve end of the cell.They work ok and are a lot better than alkaline type as i have had issues with the leaking problem.

@aedwards123 Жыл бұрын

First I’d heard of nickel zinc batteries, so I looked for them on Amazon. The listing said to not use them in low drain stuff like a clock or your temperature sensor as it will reduce their life - is that not the case?

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

they don't like to stay below 1.2v. If they go flat they will die early. A lot of devices will run fine between 1.0 - 1.2v, while the ni-zn cell suffers.

@pault6533 Жыл бұрын

I have similar dilemma with smoke detectors and 9V batteries. They expect alkaline or carbon zinc formula, and start beeping around 9.2 V. I’ve gone with lithium 9v cells which are touted to be superior in smoke detectors on the packaging. However the voltage declines much more quickly as they age or are exposed to cold temperatures, which the detector considers end of life voltage level. It will begin giving the audible replace battery signal even though the battery has 75% capacity remaining. Therefore lithium 9V batteries have a shorter life in a traditional smoke detector than alkalines do. I suppose if the smoke detector CAME with a lithium battery it might not have this problem.

@aaronmdjones Жыл бұрын

Grade D1 alarms (e.g. the Aico Ei3014) and Grade F1 alarms have an integrated non-user-serviceable battery that is rated for the lifetime of the alarm (usually 10 years), meaning you'll never need to worry about fire alarm batteries again. It's the Grade D2 and F2 alarms that have the user-serviceable replaceable batteries. I don't recommend Grade F1 or F2 if you can get away with a D1 or D2, because of the obvious benefit of only having to rely on the battery when mains power goes away, and all else equal, Grade D1 is better than D2 for the integrated battery. The breakdown of the common residential fire alarm grades is as follows; D1 is mains-powered non-user-serviceable, D2 is mains-powered user-serviceable, F1 is battery-powered non-user-serviceable, and F2 is battery-powered user-serviceable.

@mharris5047 2 ай бұрын

Here in the States most 9V smoke detectors don't beep low battery until they get to about 7.2 volts. I changed those once a year and the battery usually registered about 8.8 - 9.0 volts so they would probably last another year or so, I still have two 9V batteries that were removed from my old smoke detector waiting for another use. My new smoke detector takes AA cells (with a warning to use alkalines and NOT rechargeables), we will see how long THOSE last. My three AA powered CO2 detector takes about three to four years to go through a set of AAs.

@Ni5ei Жыл бұрын

4:52 Why the frack would you configure a clock/thermometer to send you a message when the battery is low?

@ianhaylock7409 Жыл бұрын

He probably has an app so that he can see the temperature and humidity on his phone. The battery warning is probably built into that app.

@Ni5ei Жыл бұрын

@@ianhaylock7409 Having wifi access to a device doesn't mean it can send you notifications. Android lets you decide that.

@-yeme- Жыл бұрын

how does that battery charger "see through" those 1.5V lithiums, when your meter just reads the 1.5v? how does it know?? legitimately alarming

@JulianIlett Жыл бұрын

I'm guessing that pushing current into the cells disables the buck converter.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

The battery board might 'see an intruder' and go open circuit?

@FindLiberty Жыл бұрын

CAUTION: best to always put 'em in a fireproof brick-lined oven while charging those monsters!

@carlszymanski5812 Жыл бұрын

I have one of those LIDL clocks, and mine works perfectly with an alkaline AA battery...perhaps you are in a weak signal area...or you have a dodgy clock.!

@JulianIlett Жыл бұрын

The clock is in my workshop with lots of WiFi, Zigbee, computers and servers. Not surprising it struggles to get a signal.

@ecospider5 Жыл бұрын

The lithium AA with the buck converter didn't work well in my led flashlight. Because it held 1.5v perfectly the led pulled about 2 amps. Which killed it in about an hour. An enoloop lasted like 6 hours because at 1.25v the led was pulling only 1/3 amp. The flashlight with enoloop batteries was about 5% dimmer but I will take that if it lasts 6 hours. Just a small example of possible problems with keeping the voltage. But other than that I really like the perfect 1.5v. You can remove the voltage controller in small one off projects.

@gigaherz_ Жыл бұрын

That sounds like the flashlight may have used a simple resistor as current limiter? May be moddable to a higher one if so.

@johnshaw359 Жыл бұрын

Sounds like they are relying on the IR of the battery as a current limiter.

@mharris5047 2 ай бұрын

Did it kill the battery or the LED? An LED without at least a resistor to restrict the current draw usually has a relatively short lifespan. Even with alkalines you run through most of the charge of batteries in about an hour with a Cree style LED chip without a resistor in line or some other form of current restriction on it. Since Ni-MH rechargeables have less resistance yet you would probably kill the chip quite quickly although I haven't tried it.

@ecospider5 Ай бұрын

@mharris5047 Killed as in voltage stopped flowing. Charge the battery back up and everything worked just fine again until the battery lost charge again

@ecospider5 Ай бұрын

Yes these are mini maglite flashlights with led bulbs. So just a resistor not a voltage controller to control the energy throughput. LED bulbs are well known to be more efficient at lower voltages. As you reduce the voltage to a led you will have a 50% drop in amperage draw and only a 10% drop in brightness. So running a bulb at 3v with 2 lithium AA will keep it at its maximum current draw. When a NIMH goes to 1.1V and is almost dead 2 AA are only sending 2.2v which will be at least 90% less current draw if not 99% less. I have a flashlight that will continue for 100hours at 30% light output because it has such a low current draw at 2.2v.

@noggin73 Жыл бұрын

Nice. How about a super cap? I notice the clock humidity is slowly increasing as you talk. Not going to comment on that 🙂

@matsv201 Жыл бұрын

To little capacity and to steep of a discharge ramp

@johnnythefixer Жыл бұрын

I tried to build a small circuit that converts an 18650 output to 1.5v for attaching to wall clocks and lasting for months, but I never got it working for some reason.

@laurawerner Жыл бұрын

If you just want it to work (rather than having the fun of designing it), you could probably just buy one of those cheapo buck converter boards off of eBay. You might need to add a BMS board too, unless your 18650s have under voltage protection built in. Still, it should be cheap and easy, though a bit bulky

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

what about the 1.5v AA lithium usb-charged batteries? I bought them for an indoor weather station and they lasted 6.6 months before needing recharging.

@adus123 Жыл бұрын

Some have a micro USB port on the side

@yle5788 Жыл бұрын

Open one of the xtars?

@Sylvan_dB Жыл бұрын

I stuck a pair of AA lithium primary cells in a little gadget, and it didn't work. It never worked again. Disassembly showed a likely microcontroller running directly from battery voltage. I surmise it was limited to 3.3v, and the two AA lithium were well over that.

@d0ugk Жыл бұрын

Some 3.3v micros will work down to about 2v. So you can just run it straight off 2 AA cells if you're building a simple gadget. Probably not recommend if you're controlling some high drain load or something noisy like a bushed DC motor as the sags or noise might crash the micro. If you're going to put a 3.3v regulator in there then you're going to have to run it off at least 3 or 4 AA cells to get over the dropout voltage of the regulator. There are some neat tiny 3.3v buck/boost regulators out there. Tiny, about 1x1cm PCB with a few surface mount components on it and 3 connections v in, v out and common negative. You can find them on ebay. I use these in some hanging garden lanterns with self controlled color changing leds. When I 1st set it up I just wired the led across 2 D cells. This worked ok, but i hated how it would start out nice and bright for about the 1st week and then slowly dim as the batteries drained. I found these buck/boost converters put them between the batteries and LED and now the LED sees a constant 3.3v and the buck/boost converter will suck just about all available energy out of the batteries keeping the LED at constant brightness till it just shuts off cause the battery is too dead. I think that converter will boost all the way down to about 1v. A single LED will run for about a month straight using this setup. Since I had the 3.3v available I also attempted using an 8pin attiny micro to implement an 8hr on 16hr off timer for it to see if I could extend the battery life any. It made almost no difference. The extra load from the micro having to be constantly running negated any power savings from having the LED off. Plus the timing from the attiny using just it's internal clock is horrible, the on/off times would drift significantly within days. I ended up just going back to leaving the LED lit 24/7

@Sylvan_dB Жыл бұрын

@@d0ugk Power saving with a micro goes deep. Can't do it with the pre-built hobby boards as-is. But if you get it right, you can run a micro off AAs for their shelf life. Problem in your scenario is the wake up. Best to ditch the micro and use a photodiode or phototransistor light sensor. Of course, a small PV panel can be both light sensor and charger. Or maybe you don't want dusk trigger, but actual time-of-day. In that case maxim has some RTC chips that will do the job without a micro, but you'll need to program the alarm settings, usually done with a micro. The RTC could also provide wake up to a micro in deep sleep, but a micro is overkill just to time hours on/off for an LED. Fun, tho!

@d0ugk Жыл бұрын

@@Sylvan_dB i was using just a bare attiny chip. But yeah you've gotta leave it powered up to keep track of the time unless I'm doing something wrong. Was basically trying to emulate how those AA powered Xmas lights work with the 8h on 16h off timer built in. Going the photo diode or cds cell route, may as well just eliminate the micro all together and just use a transistor the old school way. Probably the simplest thing would be to just take the controller chip out of one of those off the shelf light strings

@borayurt66 Жыл бұрын

My congratulations to the xtar people for designing a "Julian proof" battery. 🙂

@JulianIlett Жыл бұрын

Yeah, they worked hard on that!

@allthegearnoidea6752 Жыл бұрын

Everyone in the U.K. has the flu at the moment

@CollinBaillie Жыл бұрын

Got a link to that charger?

@JulianIlett Жыл бұрын

it came from banggood originally

@hi-tech-guy-1823 Жыл бұрын

Zinc air and Water Battery's (fuel cell) , soil/earth battery (fuel cell)- organic "microbial " fuel cell - Radioactive "Tritium " fuel cell (20 ~ 40 years Life) with joule thief /Joule Ringer & super caps - Shame AM Radio in the UK is now So under used LW SW MW due you could use Radio waves via Hybrid Duel Crystal radio and a joule thief to recharge battery Sadly MSF(SW) is not wide enouth Bandwidth need to be Voice and Music bandwidth

@hi-tech-guy-1823 Жыл бұрын

Fuel cells are easy to make with A4 / A3 / A2 / A1 / A0 laminator & laminator pouches or jars / pots / Zip Vacuum Storage bags

@hi-tech-guy-1823 Жыл бұрын

or Candle / Heat Powered Recharged with a TEG Seebeck thermoelectric generator

@robinbrowne5419 Жыл бұрын

Interesting. There sure are a lot of battery types available in AA format these days. I have settled on NiMH since Panasonic NiMH AAs are $5 for 2 at Dollarama, and work fine in most things I have tried them in. Including my DMM, TV remote, a wall clock which takes a single cell, mini vaccum cleaner, and flashlight. They also work fine in my Lego Technic hub (Lego# 85824) which takes 6 cells and lasts about 1.5 hours per charge depending on how many motors are connected. It runs the cells down to about 1 volt then starts flashing low voltage, although it keeps running. The speed of the motors reduce slightly as the cells discharge.

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

How long did the lego hub last on typical alkalines vs 1.5 hours on the panasonic nimh's? I guess about the same since it makes use of ~1.0v.

@robinbrowne5419 Жыл бұрын

@@jimmybrad156 Link to picture of NiMh charger and timer. The timer is not necessary but it is one more thing to fiddle with :-) drive.google.com/file/d/1oJp--UvzqxowBGCTLPkTf0hEe_aUFovY/view?usp=drivesdk

@robinbrowne5419 Жыл бұрын

@@jimmybrad156 I'm not sure how long alkalines would last but I'm guessing about the same or longer. I have not used alkalines for several years since I started using NiMh. They are more expensive initially but can be recharged a couple of hundred times using chargers available on amazon. Unfortunately they no longer sell NiMh batteries at Dollarama but they should be available online.

@robinbrowne5419 Жыл бұрын

@@jimmybrad156 The picture is now Public. You should be able to see it. drive.google.com/file/d/1oJp--UvzqxowBGCTLPkTf0hEe_aUFovY/view?usp=drivesdk

@jimmybrad156 Жыл бұрын

@@robinbrowne5419 Do you have any devices that have noticeably low contrast on their black and white LCD display?

@ChrisSmith-tc4df Жыл бұрын

About 15 years ago I switched over to Energizer lithium AA cells for most everything except for high current devices where I use Sanyo Enloop rechargables. I too have a stash of remaining 2020/2021 expiration lithium AA's that I'm using up in mice as they're well suited to the near end-of-life higher impedance cells.