February 7, 2023

Discharge tests of AA Batteries, Alkaline and NiMH


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Results of AA Discharge testing by PowerStream engineers

Method

1. New Batteries are purchased from a retailer to make sure they are fresh.

2. In the case of PowerStream batteries, cells were pulled from stock that has been sitting around for a few months and freshly charged.

3. I am using a CBA II computerized battery analyzer. This is reliable only above 100 mA, so the discharge tests below are for relatively high currents, in other words digital cameras. The performance rankings may be different for low current applications.

Summary of tests, see discharge curves below
Size	Brand	Code in Charts	Date of Test	Sell By Date	Termination voltage used in test	Amp-Hours at 100 mA Discharge rate	Amp-hours at 500 mA Discharge Rate	Amp-hours at 1 Amp Discharge Rate	Amp-hours at 2 Amps Discharge Rate	Amp-Hours at 5 Amps Discharge Rate
AA Alkaline	Radio Shack Enercell Plus	RS	April 2006	2010	0.1 Volt	2.13 AH	1.31 AH	0.98 AH	0.72 AH
AA Alkaline	Duracell Coppertop	DC	April 2020	2026	0.1 Volt	2.20 AH	1.30 AH	0.83 AH	0.54 AH
AA Alkaline	Energizer Titanium	ET	May 2020	2024	0.1 Volt		1.84 AH	1.41 AH	1.18 AH
AA Alkaline	Energizer Max	EM	May 2020	2024	0.1 Volt		1.17 AH	0.93 AH	0.70 AH
AA Alkaline	Eveready Gold	EG	May 2020	2024	0.1 Volt		1.28 AH	0.95 AH	0.78 AH
AA Lithium Metal	Energizer Lithium	E2	May 2020	2027	0.1 Volt				2.8 AH

	This test compares the different manufacturer's cells at 2 amps discharge rate. The manufacturer codes are listed in the table above. Note that at 2 Amps discharge rate the Radio Shack (RS) has higher voltage and more amp hours than the Duracell Coppertop (DC).
	At 1 Amp discharge rate the Radio Shack still has some advantage over the Duracell Coppertop
	At 500 mA discharge rate the Radio Shack and Duracell are neck and neck.
	At a slow discharge rate the Duracell pulls out ahead slightly, both for the voltage and the amp hours. I don't have the patience to run it at lower amp rates, but for very low discharge applications you might find that the Coppertop excels the Radio Shack even more. Evidently the Radio Shack cell was designed for high current and the Coppertop is designed for low current.
	This is the PowerStream 2000 mAH Nickel Metal Hydride cell. I was surprised at how this cell shines for high current applications. The green and red curves were the same cell run twice at 2 amps. Evidently for high current applications the rechargeable battery is a much better choice, both for amp hours and for keeping the voltage high during discharge. I still use the disposable because of the convenience, but both for total cost and number of pictures between battery change-out there is a good reason to use these rechargeable cells.

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