In this era of cheap lithium pouch cells, it might seem mildly anachronistic to build AA batteries into a project. There are enough valid reasons to do so, however, and enough legacy hardware that still takes AAs, that it’s worth spending some time deciding which batteries to use. Luckily for us, [Lumencraft] over on YouTube has done the legwork in the video embedded below, and even produced a handy-dandy spreadsheet.
Each battery in the test underwent three separate tests. There was the “leave it in a flashlight ’til it dies” test for real-world usage, but also discharge curves logged at 250mA and 2A. The curves for each are embedded in the spreadsheet so you can see what to expect, along with the calculated capacity at each discharge rate. 2A seems like a fairly brutal load for AAs, but it’s great to see how these cells react to extremes. The spreadsheet also includes the cell’s cost to create a value ranking, which will be of great use to our readers in the USA, where it appears [Lumencraft] is buying batteries. The world market is likely to have the same batteries available, but prices may vary by region, so it’s worth double-checking.
In the video, [Lumencraft] also takes the time to explain the four battery types commonly found in AA format, and the strengths and weaknesses of each chemistry that might cause you to prefer one over another for specific use cases, rather than going by his value rankings. Unsurprisingly, there’s virtually no reason other than cost to go for alkaline batteries in 2025. However, lithium-ion batteries in AA form don’t really outperform NiMH enough to make the added cost worthwhile in all applications, which is why the overall “best battery” is a “PowerOwl” NiMH. Li-ion’s unspectacular performance is likely in part due to the inefficiencies introduced by a built-in buck converter and safety circuitry. On the other hand, some people might really appreciate that extra safety compared to bare 18650 cells.
The results here aren’t too dissimilar to what we saw earlier this year, but we really appreciate [Lumencraft] publishing his results as a spreadsheet for easy reference. The only caveat is that he’s taking manufacturers at their word as to how many cycles the batteries will last.
Oh, and just to be 100% clear — we are talking about double-A batteries, not Anti-Aircraft batteries. If anyone has an anti-aircraft battery hack (especially if that hack includes double-A batteries powering the AA batteries), please send in a tip.
I would gladly buy alkalines with even a little lower capacity, if I could be sure they won’t leak and destroy my devices. Duracells seem to be the worst, many times I have seen leaking Duracells in shop, still in their plastic bubble packs, with many years until best before date.
I’ve quit RayOVacs for the very same reason. Hoping my good luck with Home Depot’s HDX batteries last.
Agreed. Duracells have ruined more things than I can remember. I quit buying them years ago. Byer beware.
Several battery companies in the 1960’s had slogans like:
“If this battery leaks and damages your flashlight, we will send you a new one.”
“Should any device be damaged due to a battery defect, we will repair or replace it at our option.”
However, I never heard any testimonials from users who exercised those “guarantees”.
An image of the Duracell Copper-Top packaging on Amazon (2021) still has this guarantee printed on the battery packaging.
http://a.co/d/bA8FKKa
Just a heads up to all. A brand new set of Ni-MH batteries requires 3 charge/discharge cycles to reach maximum storage capacity
I’ve had good NiMH results with a tenergy charger. I’ve also had some chargers that ‘boiled’ the battery til it looked like a hot dog (the heat shrank the wrapper til it split).
I’m probably overly cautious, but I only use chargers with a settable charge current and almost always charge AA NiMH at 200 mA so the cells stay cool. It takes longer but I rotate through multiple sets so I always have a fully charged set ready and it doesn’t matter that it takes a day to recharge.
It’s got to be a bit of a minefield with lithium AA: the same form factor can give you 1.7 V (LiFeS), 1.5 V (work-alike alkaline with built-in buck converter, sudden death at end of charge, and bonus RF noise generator), or the native 3.7 V Li-ion voltage ones, which Lumencraft chose not to mention.
The 14500 native 3.7 V cells are fantastic, but woe betide joe average consumer who puts it in his device expecting a 1.5 V cell.
I prefer the LiFePO4 14500 cells. For devices that take 2 AA cells, one of these and a blank work great.
Yeah, they have nice characteristics, but have half the energy capacity of a ‘normal’ lithium-ions. Somewhat lower peak output current too, but that’s not usually a significant limitation.
A really nice application for them is 4 in series to make a near-perfect replacement for a 12 V lead-acid cell, at a small fraction of the weight. Other lithium-ions make an awkward 3-cell (10.2-12.4 V) or 4-cell (13.6-16.8 V) voltage that don’t match up well with devices expecting lead-acid voltages.
I love the AA/AAA battery standard. Easily replaceable, cheap, found everywhere, etc. Having to recharge a freaking computer mouse weekly/monthly instead of just popping in a new alkaline AA after 12-18 months is just dumb. No, I don’t use “gaming gear” in case someone was wondering.
Long live the AA/AAA!
Im good with AA/AAA but for some reason I keep finding myself adding to a growing collection of devices that want those ridiculous AAAA batteries.
This is such a stupid argument I can’t even ….
What about eg. C and B cells?
How did it look 20 or 30 years ago?
When(!) did AA/AAA become a “standard”?
What if that “standard” just gets replaced with a similar sized Li* standard?
It could even be designed in such a way that the device holding the cell knows the exact chemistry or even more (like SPD data from RAM modules).
We went from rs232 + DB9 to USB.
From charging via mini-USB through µUSB and now USB-C.
Change is possible in in theses cases often quite good in the “long” run.
Look at https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nokia+battery+bl-5c – it’s a quasi standard today used in tiny wireless keyboards, radios (FM/AM/DAB/whatnot), etc.
There’s no reason whatsoever wireless keyboards, mice, headphones, mobile phones, cameras and so much more couldn’t use batteries from the same standard (a small set of specified cell sizes etc.).
You could have stopped there. Everything else you said just discredits that.
I genuinely wonder if the writer of this article has any idea about Alkaline cells.
They blow lithium out of the water in terms of self discharge and have no safety issues regarding over-discharging.
Maybe next time ask Chatgpt for the utility of Alkaline before writing the article?
I’m not sure if it was meant to be, but that last line in your comment comes off as deeply insulting.
In any case, alkaline batteries aren’t as good for self-discharge as they used to be– last time I bought a pack of Duracell some of them had actually self-discharged to the point of leaking, and no, it wasn’t some bizarrely old-stock; they weren’t even expired.
Note that [Lumencraft]’s suggestion is that we use a specific NiMH battery, not anything lithium. Lithium does indeed have its issues. As said in the article, you need to know your use case.
..and that’s not even touching the disposal convenience. I really dislike having to save up my old non-alkaline batteries for proper disposal. Spent Alkaline batteries being able to safely go right into the trashcan is a big selling point for me.
You sure? Seem to me like your deluding yourself for conveniences sake.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alkaline_battery&useskin=vector#Disposal
I would think rechargables like the famous 18650 would have killed the disposable battery market, I agree with other posters about those awful alkaline batteries with Duracell being the worst at leaking and ruining electronics
18650 didn’t “kill” the disposable battery market, but it DID make it noticeably worst.
Meaning, companies no longer feel a burning need to invest into R&D nor use the best technologies available, and prefer to crank out shoddy low-investment products for about the same price (relatively speaking) they were keeping inflated in the 1990s and early 2000s.
As a side note, pretty much ALL watch batteries are now seem to be (or quickly moving) into the category of “mail order only” with the well-known risks of getting bad batteries resold by all kinds of shady hoarders of bulk. Where I live (north Delaware) none are available at any stores, large or small, period. Radio Shack, we dearly need you back to fill the widening void the size of Solar System.
i hate them all. the alkalines all leak. all of them. i wonder if maybe the cheapest ones don’t leak?? the super expensive ones they have at the drug store all leak.
the lithiums are even more expensive (though the alkalines are now so expensive that the difference is almost irrelevant) and they don’t leak but they have a QC problem…i’ve been throwing them away left and right simply for not delivering enough voltage fresh out of the pack. i understand a range between 1.0V and 2.0V but these are delivering oddball and sometimes negative voltages, like the buck converter is defective. sadly, threw away a perfectly fine flashlight before i figured out the batteries were going south on their own.
nimh is fine if you don’t mind a dodgy charger and abysmal capacity but they top out at 1.2V so they are only useful for a few things.
these days i buy flashlights with integrated lipo. i feel pretty good about it because i don’t use flashlights enough to wear them out but i got a perfect flashlight and used its magnet to put it on my bike frame so i could see what i was doing, and then forgot it there until it fell off in the street :(
i keep throwing lithium AAs in my livingroom clock…the irony of putting a $4 battery in a $4 clock. oh well. at least it only needs a new one about every other year. i’d like to say my fluke meter is about the only other thing using AAs but i always seem to be buying new ones somehow.
i don’t need the best capacity or highest current, i have the idea i might even prefer prehistoric dry cells to what’s available today.
NiMH have much more capacity than alkaline. Maybe the problem is your dodgy charger. I have a good quality charger, and it preserves the life of the batteries. Now if we’re talking about selling a consumer device, you definitely can’t trust the average person to have a good charger.
NiMH hold their voltage longer than alkaline. So although they start at 1.2, they stay above 1V longer than alkaline. They also have lower internal resistance, so they maintain their voltage under load better than alkaline.
Too bad you can no longer get the Li-ion AA cells with the built in buck converters from EBL. They completely disappeared all their product listings on Amazon. Which is odd as they just announced a new line of them (their fourth itteration). What happened?
maybe they also don’t like amazon, like me. :)
Depending on the desired form factor D Cell batteries may be better than all of the ones he tested. They usually cost the almost the same as AA in bulk. Also see 26650 and 21700 cells. Protected pouch cells are of course a thing, but are incredibly difficult to shop for if you have very specific dimensions in mind.
Why are the [names] always in braces???
I like disposable lithium cells for their ability to be drop-in replacements for alkalines without the worry of leaking in devices like remote weather sensors. I also don’t need to worry my wife or kids replacing discharged cells in something I don’t closely control will accidently throw out perfectly good rechargeable cells.