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[old post reply] LIDL cheap rechargable batteries



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 9th 06, 03:48 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
zvesda
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Default [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!

Ads
  #2  
Old November 15th 06, 10:48 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Ian Smith
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Posts: 3,622
Default [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
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  #3  
Old November 15th 06, 11:55 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
dkahn400
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Default 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...

  #4  
Old November 16th 06, 10:42 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
[email protected]
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Posts: 883
Default [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?
  #5  
Old November 16th 06, 11:09 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
[email protected]
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Posts: 36
Default 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.

  #9  
Old November 22nd 06, 12:00 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Ian Smith
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Posts: 3,622
Default [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
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  #10  
Old November 22nd 06, 10:41 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
zvesda
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Posts: 7
Default 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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