Testing rechargeable XTAR Li-ion 1.5V AA batteries with a useful new feature 

In a camera it seems more like only 10% is usable before the camera thinks the battery is empty.

You can use them anywhere to replace AA/AAA batteries. They sent me an email.

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.)

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.

Most probably next year January

They also provide 1.5V but they die without any warning

Thanks for the information

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.

How do the LEDs pose a fire hazard?

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.

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.

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.