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[old post reply] LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
From an old posting:
Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: Lidl next week ( tradtional rain cape) References: From: Jonathan Schneider Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 10:05:53 BST Colin Blackburn writes: And next week (21st) they have NiMh batteries at pretty low prices, [ note: 21st = 2006/09/21, I assume ] 4xAA(2100mAh) for 1.99 for example. I wonder what the real capacity is. Which brings me to this page; http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pa..._Batteries.ar2 which is the /current/ LIDL cheap rechargable battery offer. Now, I'm looking to get some so I was wondering if anybody did get some from the earlier (?) offer and found out 'waht the real capacity is'? I've got some 2100mAh batteries from somewhere else for my Cateye and they are excellent, so am keen to get rechargables for my partner's Cateye. Ali p.s. Hi Colin! |
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[old post reply] LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
On 9 Nov 2006 06:48:13 -0800, zvesda wrote:
which is the /current/ LIDL cheap rechargable battery offer. Now, I'm looking to get some so I was wondering if anybody did get some from the earlier (?) offer and found out 'waht the real capacity is'? I was at Lidl on Monday, so I bought some. Don't. Barely worth the 1.99 they cost, if you want some very low capacity, cheap cells. I bought some AAs I can't get any useful life out of them. In case they were unformed, I very carefully charged at 200mA (C/10). My fancy computerised charger won't charge them - it gets (typically) 50 mAhr into them before deciding the cell is either fully charged or bad. I'm not sure what this means - it's never objected to functioning cells before. The packaging recommends a 420mA charge, so I tried 400mA. I tried a 100mA charge. In almost all cases, the voltage fluctuates such that nothing useful will go in. I tried two different cells and got similarly erratic behaviour. Also, a NiMH cell should be expected to get hot as it hits charge capacity - I haven't detected any warmth at all, even on the higher charge rates. So then I tried being brutal - I put them on my cheap charger, which is less delicate. Actually, it's not all that cheap - it charges individual cells, has -ve delta-V termination, and is my workhorse AA cell charger, treats them nice enough to get years of life out of most cells. I don't know what it charges at, but I do know it is less sensitive in terminating charge. I've tried two cells that have previously been on the fancy charger, and cells fresh from the pack. It terminates charge much more quickly than I expect it to for 2000mAhr cells, but I left them on trickle for another 12-18 hours or so. After that treatment, my best so far is to get one brand-new cell fresh off the charger to give me 430 mAhr, discharging at 200mA (ie C/10, less than half rated charge current, well below anything I'd expect a cell to manage) to 0.8V (ie, less than I'd want to take a battery of cells to). The only thing left to try is the really brutal step of disabling charge termination on the fancy charger and blasting C/10 into the cells for 12 hours. I expect that will fry them, but it might be worth a try - at the moment, they seem to have been fried at source, so it can't actually hurt... I bought some D cells too. I bought more of them, on the off-chance that they might have useful performance, because D-cells that are actually anything more than AA cells in a bigger wrapper are relatively rare, and these claim to be twice AA capacity. I haven't tried them yet, but I'll do a similar range of tests. At this time, I don't hold out any hopes - even if they are twice the capacity of the AAs, they'll still be less than the value at which I regard AAs as not worth keeping. In general, buying nominal 2000mAhr cells, I reckon to be satisfied if I get 1500mAhr discharging at C/5 to 0.9V. Lidl AAs I've got around 400mAhr at C/10 to 0.8V. Save your money. regards, Ian SMith -- |\ /| no .sig |o o| |/ \| |
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LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
Ian Smith wrote:
In general, buying nominal 2000mAhr cells, I reckon to be satisfied if I get 1500mAhr discharging at C/5 to 0.9V. Lidl AAs I've got around 400mAhr at C/10 to 0.8V. Save your money. If they're not what they claim to be you should be able to get your money back. If you tell them the complete story, however, they will probably claim you fried them. -- Dave... |
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[old post reply] LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
On 15 Nov 2006 21:48:12 GMT, Ian Smith wrote:
I bought some D cells too. I bought more of them, on the off-chance that they might have useful performance, because D-cells that are actually anything more than AA cells in a bigger wrapper are relatively rare, and these claim to be twice AA capacity. I haven't tried them yet, but I'll do a similar range of tests. At this time, I don't hold out any hopes - even if they are twice the capacity of the AAs, they'll still be less than the value at which I regard AAs as not worth keeping. The D cells that I have seen have either been C cells in a larger package, or true D cells. I have never seen AA cells repackaged as D. Are you sureof the AA in a D package; exagerating; or is it that you have noticed (as I have) that the development of capacity claims for commonly available AA cells has outstripped that given for commonly available (true) C cells? |
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LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
I bought a cheap Lidl lock. It's not the only lock I use. Except make
that "used" as the key was of such soft metal that it just broke. I've still got one key, but I'm not going to use the lock unless I can have a new key made of better metal, as if the key breaks when the bike is locked then I'm in trouble. |
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[old post reply] LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
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LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
Chris Malcolm wrote: wrote: I bought a cheap Lidl lock. It's not the only lock I use. Except make that "used" as the key was of such soft metal that it just broke. I've still got one key, but I'm not going to use the lock unless I can have a new key made of better metal, as if the key breaks when the bike is locked then I'm in trouble. It's a perfecyl reasonable expectation of a cheap Lidl lock that it should be easy to break open without a key. If yours isn't up to that I'd ask for my money back. Haha. Good point. I think I'll get a new lock of better quality to replace it rather than trying to replace the key. |
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[old post reply] LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
On 15 Nov 2006 21:48:12 GMT, Ian Smith wrote:
On 9 Nov 2006 06:48:13 -0800, zvesda wrote: which is the /current/ LIDL cheap rechargable battery offer. Now, I'm looking to get some so I was wondering if anybody did get some from the earlier (?) offer and found out 'waht the real capacity is'? I was at Lidl on Monday, so I bought some. Don't. Barely worth the 1.99 they cost, if you want some very low capacity, cheap cells. I'm afraid I might have to retract some of that. I've been persevering, probably because I couldn't bring myself to accept that I'd wasted the money. I've been working on one cell from the first pack - the one that gave the least bad results initially. I've run multiple charge-discharge cycles. As noted, my decent sensitive charger wouldn't charge the cells, but my cheaper charger would. The cheaper charger is -ve delta-V termination, but it's not particularly sensitive. I know this because the cells get warm towards the end of the charge cycle, and NiMH cells heat when they're being overcharged. The cheap charger also switches to a slow trickle after terminating and leaves the cells on trickle forever. I've been charging on the cheap charger, letting the fast cycle run, terminate, and switch to trickle, then leaving the cell on trickle for another 12 hours or so. Then, I've been discharging at a constant 0.4A to 0.9V. After four more such cycles (so, probably 8 or so cycles since new), I've tried it on the good charger, and now it works. I've then put it on a continuous charge-at-0.4A, rest for a few minutes, trickle top-up at 50mA (I think) for another 2%, rest 3 minutes, discharge at 0.4A to 0.9V, rest 20 minutes, repeat. After three days of that, I'm getting a steady 1850mAh or so out of the cell each cycle. So, with a week's nursing, one of the cells has attained reasonable performance, subject to the caveat that they probably won't take a very fast charge (I've been charging at C/5). If someone is using a charger that's good enough not to fry them even when they're only providing 200mAh per cycle, but not so good that it won't charge them, they'll probably get reasonable performance - a few cycles of low performance, but if they are being used in a low current drain situation, the cells will presumably apparently become 'broken in' and work reasonably. I am at a loss to explain all this. No cells I've ever previously used have made the decent charger choke, and I've not come across cells that take so many cycles to behave properly. Also, I've found that if I put a half-discharged lidl cell into the cheap charger, the cheap charger assures me that the cell is fully charged. Normally, it is if anything too keen to do a fast-charge on cells which really are full - I've not come across a cell that it over-estimates charge status on before. So, I think I'll revise my opinion, to 'may get reasonable performance, if the conditions are right, but I'm not sure what the right conditions are'. Possibly worth buying for utility use, but I wouldn't use them in the cold, or high drain loads, or in something very important. regards, Ian SMith -- |\ /| no .sig |o o| |/ \| |
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LIDL cheap rechargable batteries
Ian Smith wrote:
On 15 Nov 2006 21:48:12 GMT, Ian Smith wrote: On 9 Nov 2006 06:48:13 -0800, zvesda wrote: which is the /current/ LIDL cheap rechargable battery offer. Now, I'm looking to get some so I was wondering if anybody did get some from the earlier (?) offer and found out 'waht the real capacity is'? I was at Lidl on Monday, so I bought some. Don't. Barely worth the 1.99 they cost, if you want some very low capacity, cheap cells. So, with a week's nursing, one of the cells has attained reasonable performance, subject to the caveat that they probably won't take a very fast charge (I've been charging at C/5). If someone is using a So, I think I'll revise my opinion, to 'may get reasonable performance, if the conditions are right, but I'm not sure what the right conditions are'. Possibly worth buying for utility use, but I wouldn't use them in the cold, or high drain loads, or in something very important. Blimey, I'm impressed! I'm happy to say that illness struck and cycling across Reading (and worse, along Oxford Road) wasn't on the cards. So I didn't get any and am saved, since we only own a cheap charger. The conclusion, perhaps, of this tale is to spend on a decent set of batteries; I can only say that the set I bought some time ago from Budget Batteries (and not a brand I recognise, nor one they seem to sell any longer) has served me very well in the LED light they go in. In fact, they are in better condition than the light itself! Ali |
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