EBL Lithium Vs Ni-MH Rechargeable AA Batteries Review | Freeze Test

The Professor reviews the EBL Lithium AA battery and compares it to their standard NiMH offering at both room temperature and in deep freeze below zero to see if they are worth the premium.

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#review #battery #lithium #offgrid #DIYsolar #boondocking #rvlife #rvliving #vanlife

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LIKE COMMENT SUBSCRIBE!

[markadkins]

I would love to see more content on smaller battery systems. Rechargeable AA, AAA, etc. And even small battery banks and small solar panels

[markmonroe]

Excellent video. A comparison with others such as the Enloop Pro or standard Enloop would be fun. Also some tests with various 18650’s.

[felaxchow]

I would like to say that you definitely hit this one out of the park. I think the reason why the rechargable lithium AA fall short is due to conversion losses from 3.6 volts to 1.5 volts nominal. Compared to a designed specific device that can use a protected single NMC 18650 cell and is able to make full use of its discharge curve in temperatures low as -20° C.

I too use AA, AAA, and 9 volt variant of the single use lithum batteries for test instruments that are used in low temperature enviroments around the -40° C territory and it bites really hard on the wallet when it comes time to replace them. Even with that expense, I have save hundreds of dollars in repair costs of my various test equipment caused by leaky alkaline batteries.

[subjectchange]

I do realize this was a departure from your normal reviews but I must admit it was very informative and I found it to be intriguing enough to hold my attention throughout.

[traviss]

I’ve been using the envelope Nimh batteries for over 10 years and I love them.

[schneider]

Great video. Very informative, especially for those of us who don't have a large lithium generator, but use outdoor cameras or small battery powered accessories.

[EQINOX]

I used to use the white EBL Ni-MH version all the time mostly in my PC gaming mouse however the issue i always ran into is they would never last long before they started to trigger the low power on the mouse, so then i went for the Black EBL lithium that you need to plug in and while performance was great 2 of the batteries had the little USB plug fail, this was actually a good highlight of the customer support as EBL refunded the cost of the 2 batteries over a year after purchase, eventually I moved on to the EBL red and they have been fantastic and my gaming mouse takes 2 AAs and last about a month and that's daily use for many hours. One trap people fall into however is these lithium AA rechargeable s are designed for low drain applications and if you try to use them in a high drain they will not work well as the internal protection will limit, those LED lights actually use quite a lot of current and so the flickering you see is the power converter struggling to maintain enough current, single use lithium on the other hand still has a internal board but without the charge components it can be dedicated to increased power output. One inconsistency with your test is that lights are never a good measure of battery life when comparing different battery technology, the lithium will drain until the cell can no longer output a stable 1.5v due to the 4.2v lithium cell reaching its min capacity, Ni-MH on the other hand will just keep draining until every drop of power is gone and so in a light test it makes the Ni-MH look good because the light is still glowing but in reality the voltage left has more than likely fallen well below any usable voltage for any electronic use

[SpinStar]

I'm confused (and an electrical engineer): In both tests the lithium got flaky within 1 hour in both tests; so I was hoping you would have monitored the voltage with a meter during the discharge by slipping some fine-wires into the battery-compartment contacts. The reason is that you stated "some electronics have to have the 1.5Vs" but if the lamp was flickering, either it is defective or you were dipping below 1.5V sine the lamp assumes alkaline-battery usage.
Finally, I really appreciate your tests as I was going to buy the lithiums-- so you really saved me a bunch--so thank you!
If people have the ability to outboard the battery-packs, you can add one more of the NiMH to fix the voltage problem; sometimes you can modify the wiring and just add a single battery holder. This trick will also solve the cold weather voltage droop.

[WhenTheManComesAround]

Great to see ya!! My brother and I were literally talking about not seeing you for awhile about 45 minutes ago. So it's great to know you're still rockin 👍👍😁

[tedbellWRV]

I've used the EBL lithium rechargeable batteries for several years now. I initially went to lithium for two main reasons: 1) alkaline batteries often leak and ruin the device - especially in low discharge devices (e.g. clocks), where they can be working for a year or more. 2) To reduce land-fill waste.  

One the past 3 or 4 years, I've used dozens of EBL lithium batteries in several devices around the house. I use them in clocks, TV/Roku remotes, Christmas lights, etc. However, I use the "black jacket" USB charging version of the EBL. Each 4-pack of the black jacket USB charging version comes with a USB "octopus" charging cable allowing 4 batteries to charge per USB charging port. I had a lot better luck with the black USB version than the red jacket batteries. The black jacket is rated at 3300 kWh, or 10% more than the red jacket. They seem to charge more reliably and I get longer life. I tried the red version like you used and the white version (Fuvaly branded), with a magnetic tip for charging - but neither was reliable, So far, I've never had a black jacket EBL battery stop taking a charge.

One aspect of the rechargeable batteries you did not mention is the output in amps. You can find this spec listed for some of the batteries. The black jacket version is rated at a 2A discharge rate by over-current protection per spec on Amazon. High discharge devices like a travel waterpic or electronic toys need more oomph than the lithium batteries can provide and only alkaline can suffice.

Finally, I notice certain devices, like my Ambient outdoor weather station, specifically recommend to use lithium, but not rechargeable. I have a single-use lithium in the weather station that backs up the solar panel. So far it has been working for about 2 to 3 years. Even in outdoor temperatures that have ranged from 115F in Tucson to -10F in the mountains of Idaho.

[iReturnVdeotapes]

You should make a followup comparing these to the Eneloop AAs. Theyre supposed to be the gold standard in rechargable AA cells. I would be very curious how they compare.

[imoldandyoureinmyway]

One thing you should consider adding is information about the voltage discharge curve. Many devices use this to tell you when your battery is low. If the discharge curve doesn't match the curve used in designing the device, you can be stranded with the sudden drop off curve of some battery types. Mostly not an issue, but for some applications ( avalanche transcievers) very important.

[damonried]

Excellent video as always. While a change from SoGens, it's still related to emergency electrical power which is why I follow this channel. I would have liked to see a mention of the fully charged shelf life of these rechargeable batteries. Alkaline batteries are ready to go years after purchase which makes them invaluable in rarely used emergency equipment. I suppose these rechargeables shine in frequently used devices.

[Anonymous-ii]

Very informative, thank you! I have been using the same set of Panasonic Eneloop Ni-MH AA and AAA batteries for 10 years and they still hold up great. I was considering switching to Li-ion AA batteries, but after watching this video, I will stick to my good old Ni-MH's. Thanks!

[shaunhall]

Thank you Professor! I've been curious about nickel hydride batteries for some time. Reviewing more types would be great.

[Moes_Prep_and_Tech]

I appreciate seeing a Review like this Something Relatable and Different. I would actually use this in my personal setup.

[laneyemmons]

I was very curious about this. Thank you for running this test.

[mc]

Great test. Would be nice to see you test other AA batteries. One time use & rechargeable. Thanks

[ranig]

Great video. Would love to see comparison to some other AA lithium batteries.

[eugene]

I switched to Ikea's NiMH LADDA AAs and AAAs a while ago and am very happy with them, always carry a spare batt just in case, they don't discharge for a long time on their own and proved to be as reliable as I ever hoped for. They are still made in Japan batts too.