I know these are currently out of fashion but I’m still thankful they exist.
Let’s remind ourselves of devices that use(d) these standardized batteries:
- Toys
- Digital cameras
- Torches
- Gadgets like fans
- Wireless keyboards
- TV remotes
Thanks to having a standardized system of batteries,
- You can use the same battery across several devices. This is a no brainer but it’s very practical.
- Batteries can charge quicker thanks to being put in a dedicated charger and not being limited by USB cables. (But yes I concede that USB has been updated for faster charging over the years)
- Devices don’t have down time when their battery is charging. To charge, the battery is removed from the device and can immediately be replaced with a fresh one.
- You’ll never have to trash a device due to an expired battery. Just buy a replacement. And building on this…
- Any improvements in future battery technology can be retro-fitted into your existing devices. And there is a high incentive for future improvement, because…
- An accessible (due to easy replacement) and large (due to many devices) battery market is very attractive to competition.
If you look at the pros I listed, they all happen to be things that would be very useful for electric cars. So I think it would aid the adoption of electric cars if their batteries were standardized too.
That’ why i actively look for battery instead of akku in some wireless devices. They are the closest to universal akku size we’ve got. Now they only need to be flater. And charging over USB-C would be nice too.
Does “akku” mean a built-in battery? Google tells me it’s German or Finnish?
It is a German word (short for Akkumulator), but we call batteries that you can replace Akku too.
Just saying modern devices could also have interchangable batteries. There are standard lipo pouch sizes and standard lithium cilinder sizes.
I have a bunch of Eneloop batteries and they’re great.
Since I got those from Ikea, I just want devices to go back to those types of batteries instead of internal battery packs. Still got to appreciate the Xbox controllers sticking to that principle (for now).
Exactly. The trend of switching to built in batteries + USB is dumb.
Don’t get me wrong - I think an included battery that’s rechargeable through USB is fantastic. Less customer inconvenience. But they should either go with a standard that’s easily reproducible or go with regular rechargeable batteries.
I wish power tool companies would get off the proprietary batteries and adopt the CAS standard https://www.cordless-alliance-system.com/
The 18650 should have become the ubiquitous replacement in most applications, but nooo, the manufacturers had to go all proprietary and enforce even more planned obsolescence
@SubArcticTundra Also add XBox game controllers to the list. I have multiple pair of rechargeable batteries. It’s way better than having integrated batteries like in the PS controllers. I can just swap the set out for a full set, right away. Doing this since Xbox 360.
Tipp for people wanting to get into rechargeable AA and AAAs: get IKEA Ladda batteries and their charger. They are cheap and japanese made. Some people argue that they are just relabeled Panasonic eneloops!
Edit: Oh also if you used rechargeable batteries in the past and you remember them sucking that’s probably true. But the battery chemistry is better now and it’s possible that your batteries degraded quickly because of “dumb” chargers. Modern chargers like the gray 4 battery Ikea charger detect how and for how long to charge and thus will not ruin the batteries.
Its unlikely Panasonic eneloops. Project Farm does a great test for all the batteries and the IKEA showed no characteristics to the Panasonics. https://youtu.be/0A1GvQ40j0Q
The two cells tested in that video are different. The Ladda 2450 mAh is equivalent to the black wrapped Eneloop Pro, but the video only tests the standard white Eneloops which have less capacity but a better cycle life rating. This is honestly one of the most disappointing videos I’ve seen from Project Farm, he didn’t test most of what makes a cell better/worse.
Whether or not they are identical cells, from what I’ve read there is only one factory in Japan that makes NiMH cells, so the Eneloops and the Ladda come from the same factory and are therefore likely to be very similar.
Ahhh, I didn’t know that about the Eneloops Pro. Thanks.
LADDA are my go-to as well. I recommended going with the wall charges and not the USB-A charger, since the latter juices them up very slowly (compared to the wall outlet or the storage+charge box).
Thanks for the info! It’s incredible how much the quality of batteries and chargers vary. It’s good to know a cheap easy place to get them
I still use them for my TV and AC remotes, flashlights and wall clocks.
I never realised that many people don’t need to use it anymore.
People don’t use them? Rechargeables are so easy and alkaline are so expensive! Rechargeables are about the same price now as alkaline but you get to continually recharge them forever! Why aren’t people doing that???
The downside is the volt is not 1.5volts. Its closer to 1.2volts. This is fine if you’re using 2 batteries for things like the TV remote. But when you’re using things that require more than 4 batteries, then you might get into some weirdness. I have a remote for my DSLR that sends infrared to the softbox. Every 10 shots, it would miss the shot. It turned out to be the batteries. It needed all 6Volts vs 4.8Volts.
Alkaline batteries lose voltage as they drain, so 1.5V is at full charge but it drops down to about 1.2V very quickly and then stays at 1.0V - 1.2V for most of the alkaline battery’s operating life.
NiMH batteries tend to consistently stay at their nominal voltage (1.2V) through their entire charge.
So in other words, if you have devices that really expect exactly 1.5V per battery, they would only work with alkalines at the very top of their charge. Nowadays most non-garbage circuits should be designed to work just fine with anything above 1V per battery.
Thank you for this post.
I actively avoid buying things with a built in battery. Long ago I spend a pretty good amount on a rechargeable Braun electric razor. A few years later I had to throw it away because the battery stopped taking a charge and I had no way to replace it. I had a drill with the same fate. There was plenty of life left in these devices but not in their custom batteries.
Li-Ion solved this problem.
If it was so easy to replace them, with each Li-Ion battery being different for every type of device.
Those batteries in your photo are NiMH batteries… which discharge on their own at a fairly rapid rate even if you’re not using them at all. They’re also pretty big and heavy for the amount of power they provide (which, due to the self-discharge issue, is effectively a lot lower than the official number on the battery).
I strongly recommend investing in devices that use 18650 batteries. They’re about the same size/weight as a AA, and they last much longer (both in terms of from full to flat and also the number of years (decades?) of use you’ll get from the battery.
A lot of “proprietary” batteries are in fact a bunch of 18650 cells wired together.
It’s worth investing in good ones - the quality varies significantly from brand to the next. With a good 18650 cell, you won’t be replacing it when the battery expires, you’ll be transferring it to a new gadget when the gadget is broken or so old that you decided to buy a new/better model.
While all this is true, unfortunately not many devices support swappable 18650s, either they have swappable AA/AAA or have built-in 18650s that would require disassembly to replace. However, if you CAN find a device with swappable 18650s (the only ones I’ve found so far are flashlights) they’re absolutely great!
I am not aware of many devices that use swappable 18650’s either. Off the top of my head the only ones i’m aware of are vape devices.
My OWON portable oscilloscope does. The only device I know of.
There are also flashlights with 18650s. There are some powerbanks with exchangeable 18650s as well.
But that’s all I know of.
I use rechargeable interchangeable batteries wherever I can, but I recently ran into some issues with an ultra-cheap BDC “massage” pillow. The OCP in the batteries was getting triggered and the motor would stop and start spinning for 10 seconds at a time. Tried to add small value resistors and capacitors to it but nothing worked and I had to get a pack of alkaline. Only now do I remember I have a bunch of spare 18650s and USB battery charging boards that I could’ve retrofitted!
Next time add a capacitor instead of a resistor for this
In series or parallel? How would it help?
In parallel. The capacitor smooths out the power and keeps it from spiking and shutting down over and over.
A resistor (in series) would help too but might restrict power too much to work well.
No harm in adding a capacitor.
On almost all my projects the weird behavior has been solved by throwing a cap in it
I wouldn’t say they’re out of fashion - a lot of smart home devices are moving away from disposable cell batteries and over to rechargeable batteries.
Do you mean built-in rechargeable batteries? Because that’s way worse than removable batteries.
Zigbee smart home devices last a very long time on cell batteries (CR2050 or something similar) that I’m not really worried about those. I’ve got door sensors that have been going for over 2 years on the same batteries.
No - look at the IKEA smartphone line (TRÅDFRI and the like). They have stopped producing Zigbee devices that require CR2032 batteries and have released larger units that take AAA/AA rechargeable batteries.
To built-in lipo batteries that go bad after a few years and you have to trash your device or tinker?
No - rechargeable AA/AAA batteries.
