Good/best AA batteries and charger for PF?

[bru7us]

I am looking to get 12 rechargable AA batteries & charger.

According to internet best is Panasonic Eneloop - do you have expirience with these? Isnt there problem with battery diameter in Lego battery box?

As for the charger - I would like to have charger for 6 batteries to be able to charge whole batch together - which is bit limitng my possibilities - friend of mine suggested this: https://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette/comments/3sry8c/review_efest_luc_blu6_intelligent_battery_charger/ but I am open to suggestions :)

TY

[ifilin]

I've bought this charger http://ru.nkon.nl/charger/nimh/maha-powerex-mh-c800s for 8 batteries Eneloop.

It is good solution for PF, and no any problems with diameter.

[dr_spock]

I have no problems fitting AA Eneloop into the AA battery box. The LEGO brick separator can be used to get them out of the battery box.

[Sariel]

According to internet best is Panasonic Eneloop - do you have expirience with these?

Eneloops are legendary, definitely the best AA batteries I have ever used, they can stay charged for really long and they handle cold pretty well.

As for chargers, I have tested several until I came across Tensai products. They may be a bit costly, but they're pretty much like Rolls-Royce of chargers: http://tensai.eu/index.php/products/chargers

[zux]

IKEA Ladda charger is pretty good. It can charge only 4 batteries at a time, but charging time is shorter comparing with most powerful Sanyo/Panasonic charger that you could buy with Eneloop batteries.

[aol000xw]

Eneloops here too, but watch out, there are many versions of the regular Eneloops and not all have the same capacity.

And then there is Eneloop Pro, but for tanking advantage of that removal of the Lego battery box overload protection is a must.

I use a 12 AA battery charger. it's nice to be able to charge two full battery boxes at once.

[allanp]

Apparently there are rechargeable 1.5 volt AA lithium batteries out there. Kinda pricey though, but actually having 1.5 volts (as opposed to 1.2 for rechargeable and most non rechargeable advertised as 1.5) sounds good and they have lots of capacity and don't lose much charge after years of non use. They are also much lighter than regular batteries, good for speed freaks, not so good for counter weights. Reviews seemed mixed however so maybe the technology needs some time to mature.

http://www.unbatteries.com/

Edited January 15, 2016 by allanp

[Karle]

Speaking of rechargeable batteries, I just bought a charger for a Lego rechargeable battery. There are no instructions on how long to leave the charger on or if the red charge light changes states. Can someone out there shed some light on this problem.

[Moz]

Apparently there are rechargeable 1.5 volt AA lithium batteries out there. http://www.unbatteries.com/

According to their website those are actually 3.7V liIon cells with a tiny DC-DC converter in each one. I can't help but think you'd be better off with one converter jammed in the pack. I've been playing with that, but it's tricky to find a pre-made DC-DC converter that does what I want so I'm thinking I might build some of my own. But not right now. There are a few converters on eBay that are cheap but they're physically quite large and because they're adjustable, not especially efficient. But they do work for putting 3 LiIon 14500/AA cells in the battery box, the converter on the other side, and getting 9V out of that into the battery pack so it'll run a motor or three. Capacity is reduced, obviously, you get ~900mAh @ 11.1V = 10Wh compared to six AA eneloops at about 2000mAh @ 7.2v = 14.4Wh, but you get 9V the whole time so better performance from the motors.

[bru7us]

Thankyou guys for all the info!

I will go for white eneloops 12x :)

Still looking for charger though - it is tough to find a smart charger with more then 4 slots :/ And I wouldreally like to be ablr charge 6 together.