Hey what’s everybody’s favorite AA rechargeable?

[LarryF]

  I discharged 4 XTAR batteries (one twice) with a 0.400 mA load. All the batteries had power capacities within 1.5% of each other with Voltages within 2% of 1.5 Volts. It is pleasing to see such consistency.

  It took 2 hours and 40 minutes to fully charge a battery from full discharge. I'll try the same thing with 4 dead batteries simultaneously in the LC4 charger. All of the batteries gave an hour or more of low battery warning, i.e., the output Voltage fell from 1.5 to 1 Volt. This was a step fall, nothing gradual about it. Lectro transmitters will soldier through this drop.

  I am discharging a battery at 2 Amps at the moment and will post the results along with the 4 battery charge time.

  So far I am impressed. I hope other users will chime in over time and let us know real world results. Thanks to Richard Patterson for the heads up.

Larry Fisher

[Ian Thomson]

I've been successfully using these XTAR batteries in my single cell DBSM transmitters for the last 8 months.

 

mostly small scale commercials and lower budget films where access to packs is easy for quick swaps if necessary.

 

have been swapping batteries once they drop from full to 'yellow' on the DSR4 receivers - and I've been comfortable if it takes 20mins or so to get to next setup (no need to break the flow of filming).

 

purchsed most batteries on sale including the 4-bay charger; but found it handy to purchase the 8-bay for ease of wiring in my charging case. I haven't used any third party chargers.

 

all 20 batteries are still working well.

 

don't know if i'd use to empty in any of the dual battery cast transmitters; but have used successfully in DPR-A boom transmitters - swapping just before lunch (~4:30-5hrs of real time use)

[LarryF]

My measurements of the four XTAR batteries and the LC4 charger show 3.39 Watt-hr at a 400 mA load. All four batteries were within 1.5% of the same capacity. A Lectro SM transmitter pulls 490 mW at any Voltage from 1 to 1.5 Volts. That would be a 6.9 hour runtime, agreeing with Richard's results. There would be a little over an hour where the transmitter would continue to operate with a red or blinking red low battery indicator, plenty of time to make a battery swap, unlike NiMh batteries that simply announce "I'm out of here!".

 

A 2 Amp discharge maintains Voltage but capacity drops by 26% to 2.51 Watt-hr.

A 1 Amp discharge drops only 8% to 3.12 Watt-hr.

A low 200 mAmp rate improves capacity 3% to 3.53 Watt-hr 

All this to say, running a single battery transmitter is in this battery's happy spot.

 

The LC4 charges a single dead battery in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Charging four dead batteries at once requires 3 hours and  24 minutes.

 

For capacity comparisons at the 400 mA discharge rate:

XTAR = 3.4 Wh   (7 hr)

Eveready  Ultimate Lithium = 4.39 Wh   (9 hr)  (30% longer)

Eneloop Black = 2.46 Wh  (5 hr)  (28% shorter)

So not as good as a premium Li-Ion but  better than a  high quality NiMh

 

Next week, I'll try to get some range tests using the XTAR in receivers. No promises since things are a little in flux at Lectro, as they adjust to being part of a 50 times larger company.

Best Regards,

Larry Fisher

 

 

 

 

[Johnny Karlsson]

I ordered an 8-pack with the LC-8 charger. Running some tests since yesterday with 4x DBSM. Unfortunately, what I am seeing  is nowhere near 7h. I will post details later, or tomorrow after a couple more runs to see if repeat charges “conditions” the batteries to improve run times….(?)

[r.paterson]

5 hours ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

I ordered an 8-pack with the LC-8 charger. Running some tests since yesterday with 4x DBSM. Unfortunately, what I am seeing  is nowhere near 7h. I will post details later, or tomorrow after a couple more runs to see if repeat charges “conditions” the batteries to improve run times….(?)

Hi are you running at 50mw? My digital Tx are  at either 25mw or 10 mw and dcr822 tx batt set to lithium. Just over 7 hrs til battery dies. 50mw is less more like 5.5-6 hrs ish ..xtar aa batteries. 

[Johnny Karlsson]

10 hours ago, r.paterson said:

Hi are you running at 50mw? My digital Tx are  at either 25mw or 10 mw and dcr822 tx batt set to lithium. Just over 7 hrs til battery dies. 50mw is less more like 5.5-6 hrs ish ..xtar aa batteries. 

Hi Robert, no I am running at 25mw with the digital most of time, so this is what I am testing. BUT - I just re-read your earlier post, and you mentioned using DBu, which is if I'm not mistaken dual battery. I'm testing DBSM, which are single battery, so that should naturally make a difference. Results do look good though. I am running a 10mw test today, and will write a long nerdy post about what I have found in my tests here later.

 

[Johnny Karlsson]

XTAR AA TEST

Warning - This will be long and nerdy, but here we go;

- Took the 8x batteries out of the package and charged them to full.

- Numbered the batteries #1 through #8 with a sharpie.

 

Test 01 -

4x DBSM (single AA battery) @ 25mw / 'display off' set to 5 sec / LEDs ON
Ch 1+2 DPA6061 plugged in
Ch 3+4 no mics plugged in

 

Ch 1  = battery #1
Blinking red @ 4h:15min
(45min blinking)
Died @ 5h:00min

 

Ch 2 = battery #2
Blinking red @ 4h:20min
(49min blinking)
Died @ 5h:09min

 

Ch 3 = battery #3
Blinking red @ 4h:49min 
(48min blinking)
Died @ 5h:37min

 

Ch 4 = battery #4
Blinking red @ 4h:32min 
(48min blinking)
Died @ 5h:20min

 

Blinking red times varied between 45-49 minutes before shutdown. So pretty consistent between them. BUT the 34 minutes difference between when the first and the last STARTED  blinking is quite significant. Also the difference between the longest vs shortest run time was 37 minutes (5h:00min vs 5h:37min)
The good news is that once the red blinking starts, you have about 45 min to get that battery changed.
————

Test 02 -

Batteries #1-4 charged back up over night from completely dead, then put each one back in their same respective DBSM ch 1-4 for consistency testing.

4x DBSM (single AA battery) @ 25mw / 'display off' set to 5 sec / LEDs ON
Ch 1+2 DPA6061 plugged in
Ch 3+4 no mic plugged in

 

Ch 1 = battery #1 
Run time: 4h:49min

 

Ch 2 = battery #2
Run time: 4h:58min

 

Ch 3 = battery #3
Run time:  5h:12min

 

Ch 4 = battery #4
Run time:  4h:58min

 

Didn’t check blinking red times, because I left the house while the test was running.
——Weird to see that run times decreased by 10-20 min across all four batteries after one single use. Now the difference between the longest vs shortest run time was 23 minutes (4h:49min vs 5h:12min).
————

Test 03-

XTAR #5-8 (ran a test over night, but forgot to turn on the DSR4, so the timer was lost, because all DBSM had shut down by the time I got up in the morning. Ran again, so this is actually the results for the second charge of the second batch) -

Same transmitters;
4x DBSM (single AA battery) @ 25mw / 'display off' set to 5 sec / LEDs ON
Ch 1+2 DPA6061 plugged in
Ch 3+4 no mic plugged in

 

Ch 1 = battery #5
Died @ 5h:12min

 

Ch 2 = battery #6
Died @ 4h:59min

 

Ch 3 = battery #7
Died @ 5h:34min

 

Ch 4 = battery #8
Died @ 5h:22min

 

- Battery #6 had some trouble getting the DBSM to turn on. After fiddling a bit with the plastic wrapping around the flat (-) side, it worked. NOTE: This happened both last night and today.
Here the difference between the longest vs shortest run time was 35 minutes(4h:59min vs 5h:34min).

————

=======

 

For comparison, I charged up 4x eneloop pro that I got last month and have used only a few times;

 

Test with eneloop pro AA NiMH -

Same transmitters;
4x DBSM (single AA battery) @ 25mw / 'display off' set to 5 sec / LEDs ON
Ch 1+2 DPA6061 plugged in
Ch 3+4 no mic plugged in

 

Ch 1 = battery #A
Died @ 4h:11min

 

Ch 2 = battery #B
Died @ 4h:16min

 

Ch 3 = battery #C
Died @ 4h:29min

 

Ch 4 = battery #D
Died @ 4h:10min

 

It's clear to see that the XTAR AAs get better run times.

 

=============

=============

 

Decided to do one more XTAR test. This time with the transmitters running @ 10mw. And whoa! 
NOTE, after running the NiMH test, I forgot to set the DBSM back to Batt Type Lithium, so I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with how the transmitter behaves when the voltage drops, because I also noticed that the light on the transmitter turned solid red rather than blinking + the battery icon on the DSR4 turned yellow, rather than red. And I must say was impressed to see these run times:

 

4x DBSM (single AA battery) @ 10mw / 'display off' set to 5 sec / LEDs ON
Ch 1+2 DPA6061 plugged in
Ch 3+4 no mic plugged in

 

Ch 1 = battery #1 
Run time: 5h:57min

Ch 2 = battery #2
Run time: 5h:50min

Ch 3 = battery #3
Run time:  6h:08min

Ch 4 = battery #4
Run time:  5h:50min

=======================
---- In conclusion; in my tests, the XTARs do have better runtimes over eneloop pro. And it is nice that the XTAR battery is slightly lighter, and the charger is more compact and very light (as noted by others, the LC8 can only charge these Lithium batteries, not NiMH) but seeing the run times @ 25mw varied from 4h:49min to 5h:37min with a brand new batch of batteries, and in addition run times decrease from the first to the second use by up to 20min is perhaps a concern(?)

 

- Regarding short warning before shutdown on NiMH (specifically LADDA 2450 and eneloop pro), I have gotten used to keeping an eye on the voltage reported on the receiver, so when the voltage drops below 1.10v I know I have about 15-20 minutes to get a battery change. This with "battery type" set to “alkaline“.

 

- ps. As a side note, the reason I ran 2x packs with mics plugged in and 2x without in each test was to see how much of a difference, if any, it would make. And sure, generally the longest run times were happening without mics plugged in, but as you can see, not consistently between all tests.

For example; in test 02; Channel #2 and #4 had identical run times - of course not scientific, and one could suspect that #2 would have had a longer run time if no mic had been plugged in during that particular test, but still if one looks at the differences between the tests, i.e. ch2 (mic plugged in) in test 01 ran 11 minutes longer than ch 4 (no mic plugged in) in test 02. Also with the eneloop Pro's, the shortest run time of the four was one with no mic plugged in.
Anyway, if you're is still reading at this point, I hope this may be of some sort of help.

[resonate]

I am wondering if the RF noise that Xtar AA lithiums make can impact Sony's TX's  Zigbee 2.4ghz remote function........anyone have an idea?

This lad shows it at about 3 minutes here: (link should go to the timestamp)

 

 

 

[Matt Mayer]

To add another data point:

 

I picked up a set of 8 and the BC-8 charger a few weeks ago.

 

Working with them in DCHR and M2Ra RX.

 

Got 5 - 5.5 hours run time to the flashing red battery indicator.  Was in the middle of a shoot so just changed them out, didn't wait to find out how long they ran after battery warn.

 

No noticeable RF interference showing on the RF meter on the units.

[LarryF]

Here is some info about the XTAR batteries in a test run by Gordon Moore at his church.   

 

 " I put the batteries in two DHU handhelds used by singers.  Gain was 22.  Recorded bell choir, level deliberately low because I wanted to add significant gain in post to reveal any noise.

 

"One transmitter had a birdie at 1.2Khz that was very low. I had to add 30dB to the signal to hear it.  At nominal levels, it was not audible.  Very tight, like a sine wave.  A filter set to a Q of 15 at 1.2Khz knocked it out completely, no harmonics.  

 

"The software based spectrum analyzer did not even register it on the chart -80 floor.

 

"The second handheld has nothing audible at any gain level.

 

"Sorry didn't record the RF freqs in which they were set.  

 

"Neither unit had any audible artifacts with NiMH batteries.  

 

"At normal gain structure, I wouldn't hesitate to use these batteries. If I had to record something very weak with lots of gain across the entire signal chain...not so sure.... I should note, since the artifact was a VERY tight single freq sine wave, it was very easy to notch it out.

 

"I'll bring the batteries and the IFB to lunch Tuesday.

 

Gordon"

 

[LarryF]

I ran a second test of the XTAR batteries in Lectro equipment to see if I heard any artifacts or interference from the internal power supply built into the XTAR batteries. They have to knock the 3.7 Volts of the lithium battery down to the normal 1.5 Volts of a typical AA battery.

 

I used the IFBlue pocket receiver with two XTAR AA's and an SM transmitter in IFB mode also with an XTAR battery. The IFBlue receiver is all plastic so there was not any shielding between the two batteries and the receiver circuity. I figured if I got any weird results I could go back and do the batteries one at a time to find the culprit. Since Gordon [see post above] had found a very low level artifact, I listened for the same thing by setting the transmitter gain much too low with a very low audio input signal. The IFBlue receiver had its gain turned up to make hearing artifacts easy. There was a fair amount of hiss evident but nothing unusual. I also noted the drop out points walking the through the house. The antenna on the transmitter was a bent safety pin since Gordon hadn't brought an SMA antenna. I used a safety pin because I didn't want to damage the female SMA pin in the transmitter and a by product was that the adobe walls of the house were very effective at creating dropouts.

 

I noticed no artifacts. Switching out the XTAR batteries for some NiMh batteries did not change any of the results; noise levels were exactly the same and the dropouts were within inches of the XTAR results. 

 

So in sum, the XTAR batteries seem like a reasonable substitute for NiMh batteries, with better life and a much better warning of needing replacement within an hour.

Best Regards,

Larry Fisher

 

[syncsound]

What kind of caddies/cases are people carrying their Xtars in?

[Johnny Karlsson]

I still use the storacell caddies - yes, the ones everyone else says strips the plastic off their batteries. I guess I’m just careful with the way I get the batteries in and out, but they have always seemed to work fine for me.

Other than that, the XTAR combo with 8x AA and an 8-bay charger came with 2x plastic cases that hold 4xAA each. But yeah, they don’t hold each individual battery in place, it’s just a lid that pops open, so all four batteries might fall out if you fumble or drop it.

[Derek H]

Storacell makes a nice magnetic caddy that doesn’t have the tabs that pectoral damage the battery wrapper. They have little magnets molded into the base so that the batteries stay in place. Works great. 
 

Also, I know Storacell made some changes to their original style caddies over the years to try to alleviate the wrapper tearing issue. 

[OB1]

Side bar: Ladda batteries are backordered, with no indication on when they will be available again...at the Ikea in Atlanta the manager seemed to think they were going to be discontinued altogether (replaced with another source?) but take that as 100% hearsay. Some locations still have them but no backfill planned it seems.

[codyman]

1 hour ago, OB1 said:

Side bar: Ladda batteries are backordered, with no indication on when they will be available again...at the Ikea in Atlanta the manager seemed to think they were going to be discontinued altogether (replaced with another source?) but take that as 100% hearsay. Some locations still have them but no backfill planned it seems.

Thankfully I'm stocked up for now but it would be a bummer if they stopped selling them or sold a worse product.  Next time I'm at IKEA, if they do have them, I'll buy some more for sure!

[Johnny Karlsson]

FWIW - I have always kind of had this be hit or miss every time I go to IKEA. Some times they have them , some times they are sold out, and nobody that works there seems to know when they will get new stock…

[NathanWBS]

Hi guys,

 

Hawk-Woods are now taking pre-orders of their new lithium-ion rechargeable AA batteries. A pack of four is going to be roughly £30+VAT and a pack of 10 will be around £60+VAT.

 

Here is a quick blurb:

 

"Power your high-performance devices with the Hawk-Woods AA-HP36 rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Designed for reliability, efficiency, and durability, this 1100mAh cell delivers consistent power for demanding applications.

Whether you're powering industrial tools, high-tech gadgets, or custom electronics, the AA-HP36 delivers unmatched efficiency and longevity. Reduce waste with rechargeable performance and enjoy consistent power output for your most demanding applications.

✅ High Capacity: 1100mAh (nominal) for long-lasting power
✅ Rechargeable & Eco-Friendly: Reduces waste compared to disposable AA batteries
✅ High Voltage Output: 3.6V nominal, great for high-power applications
✅ Fast Charging: Standard charge time under 3.5 hours
✅ High Discharge Capability: Up to 3C (3300mA max) ideal for high-drain devices
✅ Durability: 300+ charge cycles with 80% capacity retention
✅ Temperature Resilience: Operates in extreme conditions (-20°C to 60°C)
✅ Safety Tested: Overcharge, short-circuit, drop, and heating tested
✅ Multi-Pack: Comes as a pack of 4x batteries, unless otherwise stated.

Compatible:
Sound Devices A20-TX

Note:
These cannot safely be used in devices designed for standard 1.5V AA batteries (Alkaline, NiMH, or Lithium 1.5V). These batteries output a steady 3.6V until they suddenly drop to 2.5V, which can be unpredictable for standard devices (Some devices with voltage regulation might work, but they are not designed for this power input) Check your device manual states "Compatible with 3.6V Li-Ion AA" before using them."

 

We are taking pre-orders but it may be worth reaching out to your local dealers to ask about pre-ordering or demo stock, it would be great to see how everyone finds these.

 

Thanks,

Nate.

[DanieldH]

On 6/3/2025 at 1:02 AM, Johnny Karlsson said:

FWIW - I have always kind of had this be hit or miss every time I go to IKEA. Some times they have them , some times they are sold out, and nobody that works there seems to know when they will get new stock…

I played around on ikea.us about availability and they seem not to run that product currently, but they have an availability reminder via SMS or email.

[SDsmixer]

I've been running the EBL's on several films for the past 2 years. Solid performance and have well over 60 currently. I just cycle thru so they don't get overly used. $12 for an 8 pack on Amazon.

[LDstudios]

I just missed the boat on IKEA Laddas a few weeks ago here in Sydney. Put my name down for the notifications when back in stock. Now? They no longer exist on the IKEA website at all…

 

I hope it isn’t so, but it doesn’t seem promising. 

[r.paterson]

36 minutes ago, LDstudios said:

I just missed the boat on IKEA Laddas a few weeks ago here in Sydney. Put my name down for the notifications when back in stock. Now? They no longer exist on the IKEA website at all…

 

I hope it isn’t so, but it doesn’t seem promising. 

Annsman 2500 maxe are pretty much the same battery as the ladda.. When I use ninh now that's what I use.. 

[LDstudios]

There are definitely a bunch of alternatives. Eneloop Pros are another one. 

 

The main benefit of Ladda's is the price. $3AUD a battery, rather than $6.50 AUD for eneloops when purchased in packs of 50, or almost $8AUD per Annsman 2500 Max-e. 

 

[KOKOMO]

After trying a lot of different batteries, now I only use these one : powerowl. Very long life in A10 Tx

[Johnny Karlsson]

PSA: Ikea Burbank had stock of 'Ladda 2450' on Monday Sept. 8.