Eneloop Nimh 1,2V AA HR-3UTG ( of 2010 ) started to shown marks of aging

[Kiriakos GR]

This AA Nimh 1,2V HR-3UTG is the second generation of Eneloop with stamped on the blister the number 1500, that translates as good for 1500 charging cycles.

I got one package of four from Germany in the beginning of 2010,  therefore this January of 2014 they become four years old.

The problem which I discovered is significant capacity loss in one of the four cells, and I did this measurement with the new Ansmann PowerLine 4 Pro ( intelligent charger ), this charger is capable for very precise capacity measurements, and also is able to recondition any battery which is still healthy but suffer from memory effect.

By getting this new intelligent charger and by testing for first time in my life the capacity of the specific batteries I discovered their true condition.

Cells

No1 = 2190 mAh
No2 = 2180 mAh
No3 = 1869 mAh
No4 = 2190 mAh


I decided to recondition the battery No3, this function helped me all ready to rejuvenate even two old cells of Sanyo made in 2000, and it is remarkable the fact that they recovered 100% of their 1600 mAh capacity.

But here with this Eneloop, the reconditioning show a further capacity decrease, from 1869 mAh the capacity shrink to 1726mAh.
It is now obvious that this battery cell is dying.

Just a bit of history regarding usage,  I have allot of photographic gear but I use it occasionally for taking pictures mostly for my reviews.
The camera one Olympus C2100UZ is usually over my desk, but regarding battery usage those cells needed some charging at about two times every month.

Four years time translates to 48 months by two times that we have 96 charging sessions, and I will say make this 100 because I am not a robot so my work load to be such programed or predicted.
Either way this usage is far for the 1500 mark set by Sanyo as charging session limit.

I am unaware of why this cell started collapsing like that.
I am surprised that the healthy ones even as named 2000mAh are even today capable for about 2200mAh capacity.

I am writing this story publicly mostly so to add on the web one record about the first Eneloop cell ( 1500 cycles) which started to shown signs of age and dies from it.

For me its not the first time seeing an Eneloop to loose it power,  one woman friend of my had four of the first generation of Eneloop which they did degrade but I am unable to have an opinion over this because I am not aware how this cells have been used.   

Some how I do feel happy, mostly because of this Ansmann PowerLine 4 Pro ( intelligent charger ),
because now with it I can finally evaluate those Nimh cells and have in my hand measurable results as facts of what is truly going on.
 
       
   

[Kiriakos GR]

Definable this topic is now a high value log (HR-3UTGA 4BP).

Production date: October 2009
Purchase date :  January 2010  = three months old.
First bad signs :  November 2013 after almost three years.
All of them are now in soft duty ( powering mini LED lights motion sensor) 2014-2015
End of life for most of them January 2016

My opinion from a consumer view point is that that these generation of Eneloop they did not show that much life expectancy compared to high power NiMH.
High power NiMH at 2700mAh or 2850mAh them have a life cycle of 18~20 months in my hands,  Eneloop shown worthy managing surviving for three years, at handling the dynamic electric load caused by a digital camera.
I did keep them up to date mostly so to record their last moments, in the past two years I did manage to purchase specialized battery test equipment (Entry level Pro).

Technically these Eneloop in three years time they did double their internal resistance, at that point the rule advice us to replace such batteries when them working in critical applications.
Within six years their internal resistance this got triple, at that stage total capacity in mAh this is not important, as the chemistry in the battery this becomes unable to storage energy and it does hold only 40% remaining charge level after a full charge.
This simile like a glass of water full of holes. 

By collecting such experiences relative to battery analysis in all those years, now I am wise enough so to understand and predict the remaining service time of a battery just by taking a measurement of it internal resistance and by comparing this with the manufacturer datasheet.