Found these new AA and wonder if anyone has used them yet. The charge life is 1 yr. It would be great not to have to charge the radio every time. They are 2000ma. Dennis www.eneloopusa.com/products.html[/link]

I've been using them in a Futaba 3PM transmitter for a few months now. I wish I could put them in everything I own. They only come in the consumer button top type of cell and I don't like soldering those cells. Some do it, I don't.

But for anything with a battery holder, they are killer. They hold their charge on the shelf like a lipo, but are like NiMHs in every other way. I charge them using my Sirius/Peak Electronics chargers.

Great cells!!

More than one custom pack builder is now offering transmitter packs made up from AA Eneloops, I know Batteries America offers them[8D]
Pete

Yep. I just do not like the idea of using the consumer grade cells and heat. They are made differently from the tabbed cells we normally use. But if they are doing it, then even cooler!! Great cells.

I was thinking of using them in transmitters. I'm already using A-123's in my planes. The idea of being able to go to the field and not having to charge every week is really appealing. Dennis

I think you're confused on these. They do say "holds a charge for 1 year" - that is without use. If you do use them weekly, you probably have to charge them weekly or every other week. They will not maintain voltage beyond their charge capacity of 2000mAh. If your TX runs at 200mAh of draw, you need to charge every few hours.

NiMH are known for some amount of self-discharge. Interestingly, these will not self-discharge; hence the "hold charge for a year".

If the transmitter drew 200mA. then you would have more than a few hours out of a charge, at least 8 and maybe closer to 10 hours
On the bench I ran a test with a freshly charged 2000mAh 3S lipo with two silicon diodes in the positive lead.
With a 72Mhz module the 9C is rated at 280Ma draw, but with the TM-8 FASST module it is less than 200. The 2000mAh lipo ran 12 hours on the bench (intermittent runs of 3 or 4 hours) so even a frequent flier will not have to charge their radio after a few hours of use with either Eneloops or a lipo properly set up with diodes for voltage reduction (they don't regulate) The lipo ran from a high voltage of 11V (transmitter indication) to low voltage warning where the lipo was still at a safe level.
The Eneloops are a very good choice for a transmitter due to the very low self discharge rate.
Pete

The Eneloop cells are some of the newest cells available. They perform very well up to 4C and their low self discharge rate is a big plus. The consistency between cells is amazing.

There are a lot of these cells in various services and they seem to perform well. Very few have been pushed to failure, but failure seems to involve over discharge and extended trickle charging. The are also damaged by excessive heat.

There are other brands of low self discharge cells, but the Eneloop cells remain the flagship of this chemistry.

They are very good in cameras because they hold a higher voltage under load than normal NiMh cells.

Tom

Has anybody used these for ignition on gas engines?

There is some pretty extensive testing on Eneloop cells here:
http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/sanyo_eneloop.html

Thank you Red

The only issue I see with Eneloop cells is that they are not available with solder tabs. I have asked a couple of prime battery suppliers to the hobby if they are going to provide Eneloop packs for Rx and Tx application. From what I have seen (not tested any at the Battery Clinic yet) they should be a winner.

I use them in exclusively in my 4 Nintendo Wii controllers & Wii fit and anything else I have that uses "aa" & "aaa". I bought the blue kit that comes with "c" and "d" plastic shells that hold the "aa" too. Very innovative batteries!

I plan to use them in my Airtronics MX-3 FHSS radio as soon a s I get it

Does anyone have information on the life expectancy of Eneloop cells? I do about 30 charge cycles per year. Sanyo says 1000 charges, so that would be 33 years. Certainly they won't last that long.

I typically get about 7 years from my NiCd Rx and Tx packs. Can I expect similar results from Eneloops?

I want some of these myself, but at something like 3 bucks a cell, it would take too much money to outfit all my tx's with them, not to mention I need tons for the kid's toys etc. Has anyone used the 2500mah promatch nimh aa's? I wonder how fast they self discharge.