Testing rechargeable XTAR Li-ion 1.5V AA batteries with a useful new feature
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- čas přidán 3. 03. 2023
- Last year I already tested the rechargeable XTAR Li-ion 1.5V AA batteries with the BC8 charger, now there's a new generation paired with the LC8 charger, let's see what's new!
www.xtar.cc/product/XTAR-1.5V...
www.xtar.cc/product/XTAR-LC8-...
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The battery problems is one of the reasons I didn't touch powered up components in awhile. Using CADA hub that has integrated battery and it's own indicator, that maintains constant voltage until it runs out of juice is very convenient and on top of that I have a simplistic controller without the need to use the phone. I wish Lego could step up their game in the ergonomics of this. A powered up hub accessory pack with integrated battery rechargeable from USB and a physical controller with proportional control would be a killer set.
How does the voltage change with the green xstar batteries? That would have been very useful information.
I bought a few of these green ones because my mouse (Orochi V2) can't handle NiMh, blinks almost immediately, only works for a couple days, after which the mouse shuts off.
But now I'm thinking I might have made a mistake and would have been better off with the blue Xstar-s. If these batteries decrease the voltage too much (apparently the nominal voltage of NiMh was too little) , the mouse is likely to switch off with a lot of the actual charge remaining.
They are a godsend for lots of motorized gadgets, like some cutters require a consistent speed to be useful. Using NiMH I can really only use it for maybe 50% of the battery capacity before it has gone too slow. Not a problem anymore with the new Xtar and I can't be happier.
In a camera it seems more like only 10% is usable before the camera thinks the battery is empty.
Capacity > fancy useless led
The LED takes little space - more space inside the battery is taken by the voltage regulator. Those batteries provide natively more than 1,5V (3,7V?) and the voltage is then lowered and kept stable at 1,5V. This means that as soon as the battery drops below 1,5V the whole circuit inside gets disconnected by the battery management system inside and is effectively 0V until recharged.
The main problem with those batteries is 2-fold. 1) they are unreliable and damage easily. They have poor quality despite the higher price. 2) they are slightly thicker than regular AA/R6 batteries so they don't fit in all equipment made in sizes up to spec.
@@vaakdemandante8772Both the new and old Xtar batteries have a voltage regulator so this isn't the reason for lower capacity.
@@vaakdemandante8772 I think the newer ones are a truer size. I bought four, easy them often and they haven't lost capacity (over 14 months so far, on very light loads.)
another excellent video
Cool
Apart from lego what else xtar batteries be used for abd how does xtar reached out to you
You can use them anywhere to replace AA/AAA batteries. They sent me an email.
Comparing against Panasonic Eneloop batteries they offer standard batteries with a capacity of 1900mAh and Pro batteries with a capacity of 2500mAh so the Xtar has a similar capacity to the former and 25% less than the latter. I use Nitecore chargers that handle 18650, 2170 and AA NiMH versus the requirement to use a proprietary charger for the Xtar cells. In general I don't see the Xtar cells as offering any significant advantage. On Amazon UK 8 AA Xtar batteries plus the required BC8 charger is £52-99 versus £29-95 for 8 Panasonic Eneloop batteries.
Those Eneloops are 1.2V I guess, just like the IKEA LADDA batteries, so that's a disadvantage compared to the XTAR ones. Not a great difference for sure, but still noticeable in certain applications.
Is Xtar normal lion cell with integrated voltage regulator?
@@nicklame2647 That's correct. The specification provided on the Xtar website for the AA cell (3300mWh) is a 3.6V Li-ion cell with an output voltage of 1.5V.
Those white LADDA are most probably repackaged eneloops, or at least built on the same line as eneloops. The new LADDA are supposedly different.
The voltage is what's really important here. Many devices were built for 1.5V batteries (and still are being produced even though 1.2V rechargeables are the norm now!) so they simply won't work when the voltage drops below 1.1-1.2V. Rechargeable batteries with 1.2V nominal voltage start at 1.3-1.4V and can drop much further than 1.1V which is the most a device can use, so effectively you can get only half the possible lifespan. For non rechargeables with a nominal voltage of 1.5V this is not a problem since at 1.1V they're empty.
Xtars, having a nominal 1.5V voltage, remedy this problem. If I understand this video correctly, the new ones simulate the discharge curve of standard 1.5V volt batteries while the old ones have a flat curve until they run out of charge (this is possible because the cell inside has a voltage of ~3.6V) - I'd be very happy with both, much much better than normal 1.2V rechargeables. They are extremely expensive though which is one of the reasons I haven't bought them yet.
I am going to stay with ladda ikea batterys, the price is just too good
Wow
The LED in the battery is so small I doubt it would free enough space to put a larger lithium cell inside.
Ngl the older ones seem better
Agreed. For any device that needs to run as long as possible and doesn't have a battery life indicator - which is most devices that use AA/AAA batteries - the old ones with the larger capacity and a simple flat 1.5V discharge curve, without the useless gimmicks, are in theory the best money can buy.
The old xtar batteries are also running with 1.5v until they die or they are dropping on performance
They also provide 1.5V but they die without any warning
Thanks for the information
Led lights in a battery. I would give it a year to see how far this new tech is pushed. I see this as a massive fire hazard
How do the LEDs pose a fire hazard?
Will there be more speed champions this year?
Most probably next year January
Hmmm - why is "no gradual shutdown" considered an advantage? With normal batteries you can clearly see a "battery low" indication. With these things the device just shuts off without any warning. I would not call this "advantage".
The newer version has this function implemented. Keeping the voltage level constant is useful in a LEGO set where you want to have maximum speed during the whole session.
I actually find this kind of stable voltage output more useful in camping gears, instead of LEGO......
The worst battery is XTAR. Before using 1.57 the next day 0.2V.
Where to buy these damned things? The Xtar official website has a bunch of links of which, the aliexpress shops (multiple) don't have any batteries. The ebay shop is non-existent.
After that there are noname websites. Of which Xtar direct seems to be usable (the others are chinese) But it only has 4 pack with or without charger. Very expensive. And I can't make use of that much anyway, since I have a bunch of NiMh batteries and I only need this to my damned finicky wireless mouse.
It really depends on your location. They have an Amazon shop for example, did you check that?
@@RacingBrick Amazon is also really expensive. Doesn't even have that green ones in a four pack but even the blues are 25 USD + without shipping.
Locally I see some webshops that have them at around 5.7USD equivalent per piece, but the charger is like 23USD... The other place only has blue cells at 6 USD and the charger for 9,5.Though the green would be better, the abrupt shutoff is annoying with the mouse. (and some shipping costs) So no good options.
This seems like a terrible idea to me. Making batteries more expensive, with a lower capacity, without the ability for tools designed for that battery form factor to accurately show battery levels? It's all worse. I'm also curious how this extra complexity affects battery recycling, something that is critical to start working on but is still being mostly ignored.
Literally.. just WHY. The whole idea seems wrong. Someone just had a clever idea based on how many battery banks work and went "what if we made the cells themselves do that?" but there's a reason we don't make the cells do this themselves..
First comment!
This video is a big let down for me. Nothing about their wear. Nothing about the memory effect and nothing about thge amount of cycles before the battery is absolute trash... If you are using the 1st gen batteries for a year, please check their real capacity and let us know how it looks. Thank you!
Well please excuse me for not running the batteries for a year before I publish a video about them...
@@RacingBrick no, no -> I mean the first generation. As you have them for a year, did you use them a lot? Or not at all? If not - why?
@@andyblondyn1898 I use them randomly, I did not explicitly need the performance so they were in random sets. I don't know how many times I used them but they run just as fine as previously.
@@RacingBrick I see. Thank you. I was searching for this over the web, but nobody can guarantee more than 100 cycles without dropping in performance. This is what stops me the most from going into 1.5V recharchables in Lego models. Have a nice day!
PS. apologies for phrasing it wrong.
@@andyblondyn1898 honestly I wouldn't chase the numbers... I have around 200 IKEA LADDA batteries at home in dozens of different devices, their age varies between 6 years to brand new. I have no idea which one is which, but they simply work. I have like a dozen of these XTAR batteries for a year now, they also work fine. LEGO builds still run visibly faster with them so they provide the higher voltage, that's all what I need.