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NEW: iPower AA batteries. Li-poly rechargeable.


Derek H

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39 minutes ago, Mark O'Russa said:

With no load four batteries measure 6.11 VDC. I can't measure them in the flash units because the battery doors complete the connection.

Perhaps these flash units need a quick surge of power to turn in that these batteries can't supply? Having a regulated voltage means that the current is likely limited too.

Mark

Mark, That's what I was beginining to think, about the big surge for the flash charge. I was sure those batteries would be weird. Just not for the reasons I thought,  not so far anyway.

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20 hours ago, Whit Norris said:

The limit of 4 batteries would mean you could not use them in a TC slate.

 

Whit

the "acn" version of the ambient slate uses 4 batteries

14 hours ago, Mark O'Russa said:

I'm more adventuresome than some. I just tried them in a bunch of products with varying results.

My Zaxcom TRX900LA, ERX2TCD, and ERX2 power up just fine. My TRX 742 does not power up unless I have one other type of battery mixed in. That's disappointing.

The Yongnuo YN600EX-RT, Canon 430EX II, and an old Sunpak speedlite will not power on without mixing another battery in. The Yongnuo YN-E3-RT does power up without issue.

I'm not sure what's different about these batteries and it's disappointing that they don't seem to work in some products. For my purposes of using them in my Zaxcom tx they seem to work. A day on the job will be a better test.

Mark

my trx742 fires up with the ipowers,  and I get 3.5hrs out of them which is not much more than with the eneloop pros.  we tend to run the 742 at 125mw all the time,  on our set.

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2 hours ago, ao said:

the "acn" version of the ambient slate uses 4 batteries

my trx742 fires up with the ipowers,  and I get 3.5hrs out of them which is not much more than with the eneloop pros.  we tend to run the 742 at 125mw all the time,  on our set.

I wouldn't stick those in anything I own. They are just too odd.

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  • 6 years later...
On 7/2/2016 at 2:59 PM, MartinTheMixer said:

Mark, That's what I was beginining to think, about the big surge for the flash charge. I was sure those batteries would be weird. Just not for the reasons I thought,  not so far anyway.

 

22 minutes ago, VASI said:

Going to bring back from death this topic (lol)

 

Does someone has experience how it's working the new model?

 

https://www.ipowerus.com/products/aa-3610mwh-1-5v-lipolymer-rechargeable-battery

 

mLEOXUEQlPYRm3NB55ygYytbdgizeKycYX18kwfm

Hello, Well, they still have, according to the site you attached, problems providing the current for camera flash. That is to be expected. The other issue with these cells is that they are 1.5 volts fully charged, and 1.5 volts fully discharged. That of course means that your battery indicators will not accurately reflect how much juice is left, or how much you started with. The current limiting situation with these cells might also mean you could not, for instance, turn on a 742/743 with a Supercmit plugged in, because the cutoff would be reached. So, you would have to unplug the trans, turn the unit on, and then plug the trans back in, that would of course avoid the current surge. But, they would be great in the LA trans, or erx, slate, etc. 

 

Sincerely,  Martin

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I gave up on rechargeable AA's many years ago.  In my Lectro SM's they would level out at 1.2 volts and always have me

concerned with that number when viewing on the 411A's.  And they are heavy.  Similar issue in my TS3 EL slates, the 

apparent cruising altitude voltage of 1.2 was tricky. And they seemed to swell up in the tight sled and tunnel.

I did like them in my Zaxcom RX 200's, long life.  But heavy as a tank and that quick jump from 6 volts to 5ish was irritating ( 4 AA's).

So I just use Energizer Ultimate Lithiums.   When the voltage starts to drop and drop, time to replace.  They have gone

up in price but the light weight and predictability is comforting.  Granted, Documentary is my main focus.  If I stuck with scripted Union shows a charging station and a Boom Op and Utility would make it more environmentally friendly.

 

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21 minutes ago, Ontariosound said:

I gave up on rechargeable AA's many years ago.  In my Lectro SM's they would level out at 1.2 volts and always have me

concerned with that number when viewing on the 411A's.  And they are heavy.  Similar issue in my TS3 EL slates, the 

apparent cruising altitude voltage of 1.2 was tricky. And they seemed to swell up in the tight sled and tunnel.

I did like them in my Zaxcom RX 200's, long life.  But heavy as a tank and that quick jump from 6 volts to 5ish was irritating ( 4 AA's).

So I just use Energizer Ultimate Lithiums.   When the voltage starts to drop and drop, time to replace.  They have gone

up in price but the light weight and predictability is comforting.  Granted, Documentary is my main focus.  If I stuck with scripted Union shows a charging station and a Boom Op and Utility would make it more environmentally friendly.

 

Well, if it helps, the batteries we are discussing here have 1.5 volts for a longer period of time than Energizer lithium. I understand your hesitancy with rechargeable AA batteries from 20 years ago, but things change. We didn't have electric cars 20 years ago and needlessly throwing batteries away is not a great thing.

Sincerely,  Martin

 

 

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3 hours ago, MartinTheMixer said:

Well, if it helps, the batteries we are discussing here have 1.5 volts for a longer period of time than Energizer lithium. Il

Sincerely,  Martin

 

 


not even close. Where do you get this? Those are maybe a little bit better than 2500mAh eneloops and 2700mAh powerexs “by their data”. But I don’t trust manufacturers claims very often. 

3 hours ago, Ontariosound said:

I gave up on rechargeable AA's many years ago.  In my Lectro SM's they would level out at 1.2 volts and always have me

concerned with that number when viewing on the 411A's.  And they are heavy.  Similar issue in my TS3 EL slates, the 

apparent cruising altitude voltage of 1.2 was tricky. And they seemed to swell up in the tight sled and tunnel.

I did like them in my Zaxcom RX 200's, long life.  But heavy as a tank and that quick jump from 6 volts to 5ish was irritating ( 4 AA's).

So I just use Energizer Ultimate Lithiums.   When the voltage starts to drop and drop, time to replace.  They have gone

up in price but the light weight and predictability is comforting.  Granted, Documentary is my main focus.  If I stuck with scripted Union shows a charging station and a Boom Op and Utility would make it more environmentally friendly.

 


I use eneloop Pro 90%
they are a money maker and  keep zaxcom transmitters a lot cooler. 
Also I 100% prefer the expectability  and consultancy of NIMH compared to the the opposite in lithiums. 

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38 minutes ago, RadoStefanov said:


not even close. Where do you get this? Those are maybe a little bit better than 2500mAh eneloops and 2700mAh powerexs “by their data”. But I don’t trust manufacturers claims very often. 


I use eneloop Pro 90%
they are a money maker and  keep zaxcom transmitters a lot cooler. 
Also I 100% prefer the expectability  and consultancy of NIMH compared to the the opposite in lithiums. 

 You asked "where do I get this?" and then talk about one being "better". I didn't say one was better or worse because of this, I made the statement that the cells at discussion here would be at 1.5 volts longer than Energizer lithium, and since a depleted Energizer Lithium has 1.5 volts for less time than the battery than the ones in this discussion, that is where I "get this". 

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1 hour ago, MartinTheMixer said:

 You asked "where do I get this?" and then talk about one being "better". I didn't say one was better or worse because of this, I made the statement that the cells at discussion here would be at 1.5 volts longer than Energizer lithium, and since a depleted Energizer Lithium has 1.5 volts for less time than the battery than the ones in this discussion, that is where I "get this". 


And as I said  even their own specs are exactly as I stated. 
Again “but maybe a little clearer”:

how do you get to the conclusion that this battery will run longer than energizer lithium?

who cares about the discharge rate?

You should be clearer about your statement. 

1 hour ago, RadoStefanov said:

Well, if it helps, the batteries we are discussing here have 1.5 volts for a longer period of time than Energizer lithium. Il

Sincerely,  Martin

It seam like you are saying that the 1.5V for a longer period “life “. 
Nobody cares about 1,5V. If your wireless performs differently lower than 1.5 the battery is the least of your problems.  

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1 minute ago, RadoStefanov said:


And as I said  even their own specs are exactly as I stated. 
Again “but maybe a little clearer”:

how do you get to the conclusion that this battery will run longer than energizer lithium?

I addressed someone who didn't seem to care for the voltage running at 1.2 volts. I guess the way for you to think about this equation: If you were to measure these 2 different types of cells at 1.5 volts or higher, which cell would provide a longer run time at or above 1.5 volts? There is the answer. 

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2 minutes ago, MartinTheMixer said:

Not sure what your question is. 

Not sure what your answer is. 
you are buying ipowers sales men Mumbai jumbo. 
How long a battery stays over 15V “thanks for clarifying” should have no affect on a properly designed equipment using an officially standardized battery. Unless the manufacturer don’t know how to make a battery power device. 

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1 minute ago, RadoStefanov said:

Not sure what your answer is. 
you are buying ipowers sales men Mumbai jumbo. 
How long a battery stays over 15V “thanks for clarifying” should have no affect on a properly designed equipment using an officially standardized battery. Unless the manufacturer don’t know how to make a battery power device. 

I didn't mention anything about equipment design. I don't know the "Mumbai jumbo" you refer to and I'm not sure you understand how these cells function. Think of it this way, if there was a piece of equipment, let's call it the Throwtrap 5000, and this device ran on 1.5 volts minimum voltage, at 1.49 volts there is no longer enough voltage to power the 5000. This is what we are discussing here. With that understanding, how long does the cell in question maintain 1.5 volts? 

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I don't know of any professional gear that needs exactly 1.5 V and stops working at 1.49 V. If this was the case, no existing regular AA alkaline, or Lithium batteries would work more than 5 minutes.

These lithium AA from iPower run at an internal higher voltage (IIRC 3.6V?) with a regulator that keeps the battery output at 1.5V. FWIW - their run time is about equal to, or less than Eneloop Pro, or Ikea Ladda 2450.

 

The marketing mumbo Rado is talking about is likely the fact that they use mWh rather than mAh to make it look at first glance like these have much higher capacity, but the reality is that 3610mWh equals about 2406 mAh at 1.5V. Of course, you could argue that the transmitter will pull less current at 1.5V vs 1.2V, but I'm not sure if that matters much in this situation.

 

Personally, I stick to Eneloop Pro, or Ikea Ladda 2450. I know they will run single battery Lectro Tx for 4+ hours, and double battery Tx for 8.5 hours and both have proven to be consistently reliable. If the situation is such that I need to leave the transmitter on all day without any chance to swap batteries, then I go for Energizer Ultimate.

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2 minutes ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

I don't know of any professional gear that needs exactly 1.5 V and stops working at 1.49 V. If this was the case, no existing regular AA alkaline, or Lithium batteries would work more than 5 minutes.

These lithium AA from iPower run at an internal higher voltage (IIRC 3.6V?) with a regulator that keeps the battery output at 1.5V. FWIW - their run time is about equal to, or less than Eneloop Pro, or Ikea Ladda 2450.

 

The marketing mumbo Rado is talking about is likely the fact that they use mWh rather than mAh to make it look at first glance like these have much higher capacity, but the reality is that 3610mWh equals about 2406 mAh at 1.5V. Of course, you could argue that the transmitter will pull less current at 1.5V vs 1.2V, but I'm not sure if that matters much in this situation.

 

Personally, I stick to Eneloop Pro, or Ikea Ladda 2450. I know they will run single battery Lectro Tx for 4+ hours, and double battery Tx for 8.5 hours and both have proven to be consistently reliable. If the situation is such that I need to leave the transmitter on all day without any chance to swap batteries, then I go for Energizer Ultimate.

Thank you for your input, as I was simply addressing someone who had indicated that they were not happy with the voltage dropping to 1.2 volts. I am happy to see you agreeing with me about these batteries maintaining a higher voltage. The user of the device who did not care about the voltage dropping to 1.2 on the older style batteries, Nimh, Nicad, etc, would not have this issue on the newer cells. And of course when the voltage drops, the amperage goes up, absent a circuit that subsequently lowers the wattage as the voltage of the cell drops, then heat also goes up. That is why I don't use a main battery system of 12 volts on Nova, because of higher amperage. The other reason being the minimum  voltage level of the Nova is reached before the discharge level of the battery pack is reached, thereby leaving unusable power in the battery pack. As far as "Mumbai" , I was simply doing math based on the science.

 

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In documentary world there is not always time to charge batteries during the production day.

Multiple locations,  car filming etc.  So I just use Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA's.  And if I must internally power

my Zaxcom RX200's on small cameras or DSLR's without a power tap,  the much much lighter weight disposable

lithiums are peace of mind.  Much less weight on the camera, and less damage to cables if an RX200 falls and 

yanks the audio and Timecode cables. Same with Transmitters.  Lighter weight is a big plus for wardrobe issues and 

if the Transmitter must be in someone's pocket.  Just my experiences here.....

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  • 1 month later...

A friend just gave me a praise on these AA lithium rechargeable, not IpowerUS but similar except they do not need specific charger:

https://www.amazon.fr/EBL-Rechargeables-3300mWh-Tension-Constante/dp/B08SGQZ56V/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=pile+aa+lithium+rechargeable&qid=1667749503&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjQ2IiwicXNhIjoiNS4xMSIsInFzcCI6IjQuNjUifQ%3D%3D&refinements=p_89%3AEBL&sr=8-2

They do cut very fast without warning as the voltage remains constant (as discussed previously) but he says he just change them at lunch time and they last much more than half a day in a Wisy MTP40s.

For him not having to carry big charger is a massive plus. (look at the page they charge via micro usb)...

 

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On 11/6/2022 at 10:05 AM, Fred Salles said:

A friend just gave me a praise on these AA lithium rechargeable, not IpowerUS but similar except they do not need specific charger:

https://www.amazon.fr/EBL-Rechargeables-3300mWh-Tension-Constante/dp/B08SGQZ56V/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=pile+aa+lithium+rechargeable&qid=1667749503&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjQ2IiwicXNhIjoiNS4xMSIsInFzcCI6IjQuNjUifQ%3D%3D&refinements=p_89%3AEBL&sr=8-2

They do cut very fast without warning as the voltage remains constant (as discussed previously) but he says he just change them at lunch time and they last much more than half a day in a Wisy MTP40s.

For him not having to carry big charger is a massive plus. (look at the page they charge via micro usb)...

 

Interesting. I have used cr123a batteries from this brand for my security cameras with great results for a few years. Didn’t know about these AA ones.

 

I ordered a 4-pack and I’ll be testing today in SMV and SMQV. 
3300 mwh equals 2200 mah at 1.5V but perhaps the resulting lower current draw at 1.5V vs. 1.2V (nimh) will possibly result in equal run time to a 2450mah nimh…?
 

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16 hours ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

Interesting. I have used cr123a batteries from this brand for my security cameras with great results for a few years. Didn’t know about these AA ones.

 

I ordered a 4-pack and I’ll be testing today in SMV and SMQV. 
3300 mwh equals 2200 mah at 1.5V but perhaps the resulting lower current draw at 1.5V vs. 1.2V (nimh) will possibly result in equal run time to a 2450mah nimh…?
 

Hey Johnny, looking forward for your feedback on the test.

 

You are right and furthermore it should run for a slightly longer time than the nimh , as on paper 1,2v 2450 mAh NIMH would read 2940 mWh.

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Hey Fred, yes - still testing, but first run yesterday gave me 4h 40min on the single battery SMV @ 50mw. 7h 30min on the dual battery SMQV @100mw.

The paper that came with the batteries says performance should improve after the first few charge/re-charge cycles.

 

Some reviews on Amazon say they had overheating and melting problems - BUT from what I can read there, it seems like people didn't read the instructions, which clearly says to only charge these via the micro USB port on the battery itself. The set came with a USB-A cable that splits out to 4 micro USB, so one USB port can charge 4x batteries. At least some of the reviews seemed to indicate that they had tried charging with a regular battery charger...

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Weirdly, with dual batteries, 50mw test, SMQV  stopped at 4:40. (Equal to what I saw above with a single battery SMV at 50mw). Then put both of those batteries on charge - and one showed full almost right away. No idea why, but it appears the second battery did not kick in at all, and instead the SMQV shut down.

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