e386: Xtar 1.5V Li-Ion AA & AAA Batteries

[@skydyverjym]

I've had the same 12 eneloop pro AA batteries for over ten years and they are still stronger and better than ANY other rechargeables I have bought since. Never a single failure and each and every one is still in everyday use

[@AMPROEngineering]

Yeah I also love my eneloops. I will say this, every one of my eneloopPRO batteries died within a year of first charge....so weird. The normal ones are perfect. The main issue is that I have found a lot of applications now that need the 1.5V of an alkaline and these Xtar batteries are the best I have found on the market.

[@qrisemrc]

It seems to be very helpful in choosing AAA batteries. It's a wonderful video.

[@AMPROEngineering]

Thank you!

[@vinc.G.moucRC]

Thanks for the review ! That's a very underated subject that is not enough discussed. In Europe I use rechargeable Duracell HR6 NiMH 1.2V / 2500mAh It gives me almost an hour of play when in my Tamiya quickdrive and has a pretty good shelf life. I might give this product you presented a trial. Thanks again !

[@AMPROEngineering]

I have seen these and versions from Energizer. The ones I have from Energizer lasted a couple years but I have eneloops over 10 years old that are still perfect.

[@kentpublic]

FANTASTIC review! Just what I wanted to see. I can now pull the trigger on the XTARs.

[@AMPROEngineering]

These are a solid battery. I have been using them a long time now and they are still working great.

[@kentpublic]

​@@AMPROEngineering Great to hear they are still working great!

[@michaeldorich4485]

This is a very thorough, useful and practical review. Thank you.

[@AMPROEngineering]

Glad you liked it!

[@paulmcnamara2908]

Not heard of xtar but seeing as our household is a high user of batteries I will be checking them out!

[@AMPROEngineering]

I have a couple of times but largely ignored them. They have won me over so far.

[@ShenRC]

I like the Xtar batteries and chargers they always worked great for me.

[@AMPROEngineering]

I am glad to hear it. They have been really good and that was part of my concern, haha! I thought they were too good to be true.

[@ValleyRC]

Apparently these work well in old toy grade RCs and give the fresh battery feel for the whole run!

[@AMPROEngineering]

Yes, I have used them in a couple of my cars. They work great.

[@MaxxPainII]

I bought the ISDT N8 8-Slot Speedy Smart Battery Fast Charger and that tells you the internal resistance of the battery. My wife uses AA & AAA batteries on LED candles nightly and kept burning through batteries, mixing good and bad batteies which just cause bad performance. Now that I showed her a bad battery IR rating, she seperates them and only uses good batteries. A bad IR would show over 1000 to 2000 ir. A good battery would show usually in the 200 to 300 ir. We typically use Amazon.

[@AMPROEngineering]

I have not seen this. Ill order one

[@emory442]

I learned about the 1.2v issue when I bought some Energizer Nimh AA batteries for my Mini Maglite LED Pro. Fully charged, they were almost useless. I'd seen the Pale Earth batteries all over Facebook, and was "this close" to buying some. I'm so glad I didn't

[@AMPROEngineering]

Same here....I still see them all over and can only think maybe the early ones are bad? No idea but I am still sore over it.

[@AsurasWrath164]

Im currently using the white/ blue 3300mwh AA xtar li-ions. So far they good.....and available.

[@AMPROEngineering]

I saw those. Ill give them a go too.

[@Lee.gRC27]

Very interesting info, thank you for sharing this, It took me a while to actually notice that rechargeable batteries hold a lower voltage, and it took a while to find 1.5v ones and the price reflected it, but then I took notice in the difference in chemical compounds, where 1.2v are mainly Ni-Mh and the 1.5v where Li-ion

[@AMPROEngineering]

Yes in many applications, either work but if you get into the weeds, you can see the issues.

[@troll2k]

The AA Xtra batteries you showed are 2700 milliwatt hours(mwh) NOT 2700 milliamp hours(mah).They are not the samre thing. Divide mwh by the voltage to get mah.In this case you get 1800mah.

[@AMPROEngineering]

Yup, noticed that later and many, MANY have commented it.

[@IowaBudgetRCBashers]

Great review. I use the HarborFreight ones and they’re great but only 1.2

[@AMPROEngineering]

These and the Eneloops are expensive but they work perfectly.

[@user-od1yi5iq1k]

This video saved me from making a costly mistake as I had just ordered a set of 4 Paleblue AAAs, though mine seem to be rated higher at 750mAh. Yet, they look identical to be ones you have and I bet they've got the same problems. Looking at their website it seems they have a new design which is rated at 600mAh. Anyway, I cancelled the order for the Paleblue's and ordered the XTAR AAAs with the charger and an extra 4 batteries as backups.

[@AMPROEngineering]

I was so mad when I started using those. These XTar batteries have proven to be excellent!

[@pault6533]

The paleblue are specified correctly because 450 mAh * 1.5 volts = 180 mAh * 3.7 volts. If they are going flat, the problem is likely the quiescent current of the DC-DC converter is too high. These cells are actually the exact same thing as a USB powerbank. Only difference they are stepping the voltage down to 1.5V instead of stepping up to 5V.

[@AMPROEngineering]

The pale blue batteries were charged with the USB port as intended. It is likely that these are not intended for the application that many NiCd, NiMh, etc., given the chemical makeup and internal circuitry.

[@myoption100]

Those Xtra Are Nice Expensive Like A Car Battery

[@AMPROEngineering]

Quality isn't cheap.

[@seadsejfovic9127]

The paleblue batteries, like all other rechargeable Li-ion batteries are very different from a regular AA battery. they have a built in buck converter to get the 5v lithium down to 1.5V, that buck converter is always on and drawing a little bit of power hence the bad shelf life. but the reason you read 0V is not because they are dead like would be the case for any other AA battery, its because the buck converter has switched off to protect the actual lithium cell. they can be recharged and will be good to go

[@AMPROEngineering]

Interesting. For me, they are just dead. They did not last more than 4 or 5 months of usage but I was not aware of the onboard circuity "shutting down" the cell when power is reduced.

[@hawjiang5349]

2:30 2800mWh under 1.6v (as listed) is 1750mAh

[@AMPROEngineering]

YUP.

[@sx20Ramar]

I've used eneloop batteries and a Maha C9000 charger since they both came out. 😮

[@AMPROEngineering]

Totally my favorite high use batteries

[@brentjohnson6654]

New sub here. Thanks for your review. I have been using I think it is EBL batteries from China and they have mostly been okay. Have to recharge them quicker than I like. Lately the 1.2v limit bit me on some temp sensors I have in my outbuildings here on our Texas property. All of the 1.5v rechargeable ones looked okay but the octopus style usb charging cable seems unwieldy to me. So the XTAR have me curious. I think I am going to order some and give it a whirl. All the best from north Texas.

[@AMPROEngineering]

I will say this, I have been using these over a year and a half so far and I cannot believe how good these are. They last a good long time and have been super reliable. I bought about 60 for use at the office now.

[@brentjohnson6654]

@@AMPROEngineering thanks for your reply. I am ordering a XTAR charger and batteries. I currently have 2 other XTAR chargers for 18650 capacity testing but think this new charger may be able to handle the AA/AAA & 18650 cells better. One down side to the lithium 1.5V batteries seem to be RFI (radio frequency interference). This affects my using them in my radio room aka ham shack. This is not surprising since they are doing DC-DC conversion. Thanks again for your videos and response. All the best from north Texas.

[@Alexpicardo]

... 6:10 was an indirect mention to nikko turbo panther, AKA battery eater 😂

[@AMPROEngineering]

Oh that's the truth. I still have PTSD from that....

[@chrishorst6993]

I was going to buy the PaleBlue ones but not now

[@AMPROEngineering]

I hate to ruin their sales as maybe the current ones are better? Mine were just awful and I wouldnt know since they never replied to my emails.

[@richardmerriam7044]

The voltage stepdown circuitry will jam all AM reception. Don't use in radios.

[@AMPROEngineering]

Can you clarify "radio's"? This channel is RC Car-centric so when the term radio and AM is used, I think of RC car 27 and 75 band AM radios but you could also be referring to a normal "music" radio on AM band. I have to admit I do not have not tried on those but have them in my AM RC car radios with no problem.

[@richardmerriam7044]

@@AMPROEngineering AM 530 khz - 1710 khz aka medium wave.

[@Myself-yh9rr]

I was thinking how great a smoke detector battery (9 volt) would be. It would probably be the last one you ever need!

[@AMPROEngineering]

I use some tenergy 9V li-ion's and they are great.

[@ultraman6950]

I need 1.5v batteries for a microphone. Which one do you recommend?

[@AMPROEngineering]

These Xtar ones for sure. They are one of the few 1.5V batteries that are reliable.

[@josecanseca8979]

hey man..i use the 4 AA energizer rechargable batteries in my flysky gt5 transmitter and it came with a charger as well for roughly 17$ or so..and i love them..i had the gt3b transmitter and those 8 batteries after awhile was a headache..the gt5 i can use a 2slipo 1500mah and i have one...but to be honest the energizer AA rechargables are my go to batteries..its only been abount 5 months my worst fear is that after a year or 2 they start to shit the bed...if they do end up failing down the road what are some doubleAA options you recomend??if you have 2 option ..like budget wise one option?..and best bang for buck option??..thanks man

[@AMPROEngineering]

I used to use those batteries for a while. I still think i have a few in the mix. My fave NiMh are Eneloops but if you need Alkaline voltage, then these are the best way to go.

[@MrGuzzy1]

I m curious if this XStar has the same 3.7v based cell and then uses a voltage regulator or something to always have a 1.5 V. Does it have a low voltage protection ?What happens when is to low, does it cuts out ? can you drain it down to 0? what real capacity did you find out they have ...How fast can you discharge them? My charger stores li-ion and lipo around 3.85 V ... what is the storage voltage for this one ? I think that just leaving them for 4 months and find that they still keep voltage doesn t say to much about them ... but Yes, a stable 1.5v AA or AAA rechargable battery is something I m very interested . Let s hope they are as good as the panasonic or sony nimh ones .

[@AMPROEngineering]

Yes, it has a 3.7 LiIon in there. It does have low voltage cut off. As for the discharge, they behave just like a standard Alkaline and should not be in overly high discharge scenarios.

[@KorrakotK]

I paired a normal 14500 lithium cell with a dummy battery in my electric sprayer and it works fine. 1.5V Xtar cells are too expensive.

[@AMPROEngineering]

I find it hard to locate batteries that are no-name and reliable. These have been perfect and I cant afford dealing with cells that are unknown. Wasted too much time doing that.

[@KorrakotK]

@@AMPROEngineering I recommend Vapcell H10/L10/F12 for you to test.

[@cubbyrulez]

My main issue with these 1.5v AA lithiums has always been their low amperage output current compared to alkaline and nimh. Put 8 of them in a vintage tyco turbo hopper/nikko turbo panther RC and it's slow as balls due to their low amperage output current. Are these any different in that respect?

[@Lee.gRC27]

Strange as in my experience the lithium batteries have performed better

[@AMPROEngineering]

No these perform much better. I have not actually noticed a discharge issue with any of my lithium's but perhaps it is a result of trying them on low current cars like the Nikko Panther and Rhino? Perhaps yours are higher draw?

[@Alexpicardo]

I have turbo panther '87. I normally use alkaline batteries from the shop. Which rechargeable AA batteries you recommend? Thanks

[@Alexpicardo]

Im so confused.. So which batteries you recommend for a vintage rc car Nikko turbo panther that takes 8AA's batteries? Im tired of buying alkalines from the shop

[@AMPROEngineering]

If you want the performance of an Alkaline, get these Xtar Batteries. They are 1.5V nominal like an Alkaline battery cell but can be recharged hundreds of times. Eneloop's are great too and will be able to be charged many more times but the voltage is a lot lower at 1.15V per cell.

[@TheBooban]

All my batteries are like your orange and green ones. None hold a charge and after maybe 3 times they don’t charge anymore. I just bought pale blue and thought they would fix my problem since they were lithium. I’m going back to disposable batteries. Cheaper. Better.

[@AMPROEngineering]

The eneloop ones? Wow I have some with over a thousand charges. I will never use disposable batteries given how often they leak and how bad they are for the environment. Eneloop and Xtar only. Save you a fortune too.

[@TheBooban]

@@AMPROEngineering no not eneloop. Never heard of that brand. But I bought many others as I thought they might be better. But I hear Ikea are eneloop and will buy those. But first, buy a charger that can “refresh” dead batteries. Costs like $50. But honestly, so much money spent. Cheaper to buy Alkaline batteries for normal household use.

[@johnsullivan8673]

@@TheBoobanJUST. BUY. ENERLOOPS.

[@cycoholic]

A battery of information about batteries. Ampro sure was taking charge with this subject,amping it right the way up to 2300!! 😂 Sorry. So as a lowly Australian I was intrigued by the cases these batteries are stored in. Only rechargeable batteries I can get my hands on locally come in the same packaging as normal non rechargeable batteries. Makes sense. The ones I have that are not beibg used usually just lay around on my computer table. lol

[@AMPROEngineering]

Yeah I do tend to go off on tangents! I cant stand bad rechargeable batteries....

[@cycoholic]

@@AMPROEngineering You know just last night I recharged a pair of my batteries, and the recharger indicated that both batteries had failed. This leaves me with only a set of 4 remaining. Might have to look into these Xtar batteries. 👍

[@cycoholic]

Ok done. 8 batteries with a 4 slot charger doodad. Was about $58 AUD. Think it said a 4 week delivery time.

[@cycoholic]

My charger and 8 XTAR 1.5 2700mWh li-ion batteries arrived today. So a two week delivery time from China to Australia. Not bad. Both sets required a charge, but not a lot. One set is now in my cordless keyboard, the other on standby. 👍

[@cycoholic]

So, the batteries lasted 2 nearly 3 months in my keyboard. Not too bad I'd say.

[@SuperBigdanno]

AND it shows unavailable... go figure lol

[@AsurasWrath164]

Im using white/blue 3300mwh versions from xtar which are good also. These are available

[@AMPROEngineering]

OF COURSE! Man I am glad my content is useful....hahah! There are others that vary by mWh.

[@Wallabynge]

milliamp HOURS. Don't drop your aitches.

[@AMPROEngineering]

I SAW LATER.