Ok, I wanted to start bulking up on batteries (aaa, aa, c, d) and was trying to really see the difference between the name brands and the no-name brands.

Anyone know of any really difference.

Plus anyone know of a good wholesale place?

Thanks
DTT

In my personal experience I never saw any difference between name and no-name brands.

Good place to buy in bulk is Costco

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

Hmmm didn't think of that

LOL....

How about storage? Regular room temp?

Yeah room temp should be okay check expire dates and rotate them accordingly. Also check them regularly for leaking ones and replace those that do.

Welcome Friend to the forums here.

Lee

There was this kid that did a project for school to see how long batteries would last

you can find some reports on the web just do some snooping

but results were that duracell and energizer lasted longer than other name brands and noname brands


I like the Energizer lithium AA and AAA

also I think lithium is best in any type of detector

Litthium batteries have a 10 or 15 year shelf life

Oh, and stay away from any that say Super Heavy duty (zinc)

Kewl...thanks for the advise.

How about storage? Leave them in the regular packaging that they come in?

Why?

Actually batteries are different. For example, the recently arrived on the market lithium batteries (non rechargeable) are fantastic in digital cameras, but their shelf life at high temp is quite short (like in the car trunk).

Take a look at this site: http://support.radioshack.com/support_tutorials/batteries/batgd-c01.htm
IMHO, excellent guide.

Hmm, sorry, I'm wrong about Lithium's shelf life...

Zinc Carbon (heavy duty) batteries, have very little capacity and can not handle high discharge rates. Which means they can only be used in equipment that uses very little power.

It's basically an outdated and not practical.

I just stocked up for the storm season. My personal preference is Duracell, but this year I bought the Duracell Procell batteries in bulk. Check out batterystore.com
I bought 250 batteries of various sizes for $125 including shipping. That is a fraction of what I paid at Sams club last year.

I buy name brand "AA" in bulk because that's the size I have in my primary gear. I keep enough "AAA" batteries to keep my small lights ready, but they don't get much actual use so I don't stock a lot. Same with "D" cells -- I keep enough to change the batteries in my 2 and 3 cell maglites (all w/ LED replacement bulbs) and that's about it. "AA" is the only size I need to stockpile for emergencies. Additionally, I bought a bunch of "AA" NiMH batteries and a solar charger -- that's a great option when you have reliable sun.

Kewl, Then I will just get a larger rubbermaid container and put the batteries in there.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Because the shelf and service lives on them suck compared to a lithium or alkaline, zincs are pure 1960s tech. Once upon a time, they were the only ones that could manage devices that had a high initial load relative to the basic load IIRC, but that was 20, 30 years ago. Modern alkalines can and will take zincs to the woodshed every day, in any role.

For brands, I find duracell, rayovac (AVOID the red/blue ones, those suck, get the silver/black ones) and energizer work best for alkalines, duracell or surefire if it is lithiums.

Name brands may last a little longer, but they cost a LOT more.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNZG6E/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNSIA0/

80% of the capacity, 30% of the cost.

Lithium Energizer AA and AAA cells are the best. They are lightweight, work down to -40 degrees Celsius (Alkaline Cells begin to fail around 0 degrees Celsius) and have a higher energy capacity than the best Alkaline Cells together with a longer shelf life. In high drain devices the differences between Lithium and Alkaline cells are even greater. An example would be for a flashlight (Fenix L2T) shown below



At a lower current drain the differences are less marked,



The downside is than Lithium Cells are considerably more expensive. Typically a good Alkaline (Duracell) would be around $0.40 compared to the Energizer Lithium at $2.00 each.

I would recommend the current high performance NiMH Eneloop cells from Sanyo with a good quality charger (own brand Sanyo would be decent enough). The Sanyo Eneloop cells keep their charge much longer than ordinary NiMh cells. A portable solar panel and battery charger would be useful also as a backup.

So if the application for your batteries is absolutely crucial and has to work in a wide variety of temperatures and the requirement for a very long shelf life then the Energizer Lithium AA and AAA cells cannot be bettered. For all other requirements then the Sanyo Eneloops will be better than standard Alkaline Cells as they can be recharged up to 1000 times and will be much more economic over the long term and much more environmentally friendly also.

This thread... http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=64660 over at CandlePowerForums shows the results of testing done by a member over there called SilverFox. Good information and he performed his tests at several amperages to distinguish batteries that perform well at high draw from those that do well at low draw.

Happy hunting.

ok I didn't mean to start such a long discussion

I just go to Target and get the 24 pack of the name brands. Its plenty cheap. ( and also use piles of rechargeables.)

Teacher

Costco visitor here. Those 48 x AA packs for about $9 or $10 are great!

I attempted to standardize batteries a while back but gave up. I try to keep lots of AA (alkaline + lithium), AAA (alkaline + lithium), and 123-sized cells (lithium) on hand.

You're also gonna need a way to keep batteries together and protected. Here are a few web sites with cases and whatnot:

http://www.inanycase.com
http://www.tadgear.com
http://www.countycomm.com
http://www.toolsaviation.com

What kind of batteries are those for?

Some higher end flashlights use the cr123

Just thought I'd throw in a decent source for the coin cells: digi-key. The 2016/2032 cost 30-40 cents each there for Panasonic, they seem as good as the others. Many national stores charge $5-6 each for them in these parts.

Anybody tried the Stramlight-branded 123s? I bought a bunch but haven't tried them yet. They were real cheap (compared to my usual Energizers), so I'm wary.

Digikey and mouser are pretty good for anything like that. coin cells, odd sized and solder tab NiCad, etc. If your rebuilding an old battery pack they can spot weld the cells together for you.

Another one for custom pack building is cheapbatterypacks.com. Good prices, good quality. I got them to build custom packs for my radios/drills/etc. with more modern cells than the Ni-Cds they came with (and are still often sold with). Not that I'm recommending any rechargeable for any survival situation, but for general use...

Low self discharge NiMH are my primary survival gear batteries now (Sanyo Eneloop). They don't have the self discharge problems that traditional NiMH have or even that NiCad has.
Then a good quality charger that can be powered from 12v so it can work in my truck or from solar or whatever.

I have used Streamlight 123's for a while now and have always had good results with them. Last weekend I bought 12 for $20 at a local gun show. The Surefire 123's were 12 for $24. I have been told, but have not been able to confirm, that the Streamlight batteries are manufactured by Duracell. I have always been happy with mine. I stock up at gun shows because that's where I find the best deals on them.

Good tip! It was the self-discharge aspect that made me say that.

Yeah, I keep a solar panel and charger in the car. Because I don't trust the NiMH I usually use for some stuff. I have not seen those Eneloop sold around here...may have to dig.

I had went away from re-chargeable for a few years due to self discharge issues as well.
The best price on eneloop is the $7.99 for 4 AA at HHGreg. Then other stores like Circuit city have been reported to have them around $11.99 and $11.99 or 19.99 for 8 seems to be the average online price.
There are others like them, Rayovac hybrid, Uniross hybrios, nexcell something or other.
Also a decent charger helps out as well. I found out the charger I gor from walmart would only charge the batteries to 70 something percent of a full charge so I was loosing a lot off the top right there. I finally bought a $40 MAHA and it has recovered some of my old NiMH to the point where they are useable again in secondary stuff.

The other advantage with the low self discharge is you can charge them ans have them waiting, no one hour chargers or 15 minute chargers needed, just have a set already fully charged and waiting.

American Science and surplus (http://www.sciplus.com/) lots of ni-cad rechargeables surplus and take-outs. then you need some recharging equipment-check out their solar panels and project kits. Then you can experiment with building a low cost PSK from their multi-tool, space blanket, and flashlight selections-or get the lab glassware to distill industrial quantities of water...great place.

NiCad have their use, things like cordless drills where you can stall the motor and cause it to pull a lot of current. But for standard sizes like AA and AAA NiMH have at least twice the capacity in the low self discharge (Eneloop, Hybrid, nybrios, etc) up to alomst three times the capacity with some of the 2700-2800mAH batteries out there and with a quality charger can last a long time. I'm still using some 1650mAh NiMH from 1999 in our baby monitor and after switching to a decent charger they are running it for 2-3 weeks between charges.

Hi,

I agree on the giving up on standardizing. While it is certainly possible to get close, when I look for equipment I try to find the best I can afford. In doing so, I too wind up having to have different sizes. I've found (like you) that I can get it down to the three types you've mentioned (plus coin cell for Photon). I guess by making that type of choice, I'm putting what I (and perhaps you) feel is a priority (just my personal choice) on the benefit of the quality of equipment over the need to strive for single-size on the battery front.

One other thought -- for me redundancy is part of the formula, so while my personal carry items and BOB may need a few different sizes, I do try to keep the items for the kits for my wife and children down to 'AA' and 'AAA' items. That seems to work pretty well, and I stock up when I can find items on sale. Just a few weeks ago, I picked up two, 36 or 48 (can't remember off-hand) packs of Energizer Alkalines for under $10 each at Lowes.

Thanks for the battery case and organization links.


Michael

There are enough companies and products out there that standardizing isn't difficult at all. Look at my post when I asked about switching my EDC AAA for an AA flashlight, I got pelnty of replies with probably a dozen products to choose from.
Standardization is one of my lessons learned when you have different types then you have to buy twice as many and have to store and/or carry twice as much.

I have lights in all sizes but "C" cell, but the only batteries I stock are AA & AAA alkaline and lithium and I just bought a solar charger for a shift to NiMH rechargeable batteries. D cells are for my Mag lites, all of which have LED bulbs. I keep fresh batteries in the "D" flashlights but I don't stock spares. Investing in high capacity NiMH D cells is an option, but the good ones are pricey.

I noticed that too, even the no name NiMH are pricy. My D mag light the batteries in it leaked and ate a hole in the side so its out of commission. Then I have a portable radio which takes D and the little coleman pump for the air mattress for camping it thats my last D power equipment.

I have bunches of rechargeables...