Gadget Review: USB-C AA Batteries
By @edent
· battery gadget review usb-c · 8 comments · 450 words · read ~277 times.
Supertoys last all summer long! But batteries do not. The last set of rechargeable batteries I had leaked everywhere, and I could never find the right charging lead for the gizmo which pumped power into them.
So let's cut out the middle-man and plug a USB-C cable straight into our batteries!
What?
These were the cheapest AA batteries I could find which took USB-C. £16 including delivery, for 4 batteries and a mutant cable. Regular AA batteries are about a quid each, or 50p if you buy in bulk. So these only have to last 8 times as long as a normal battery to be worth it.
The mutant cable causes fear and despair to all those who look upon it.
The triple-ended USB cable is for power only. It happily charged my phone but didn't let any data through.
Plugging the batteries into the cable set of this flashing green LED. The light goes solid once fully charged.
I'm half disappointed that they don't come with BLE and an app to say when they need recharging!
A quick shove into a battery tester showed them to be pumping out about 1.45V.
The other (non-rechargable) batteries I have give out 1.3V - 1.6V, so these seem perfectly acceptable.
The USB-C batteries are identical in size to their standard brethren.
Do they really have 12800mAh capacity? Duracell's AA batteries claim a maximum of 2500mAh - and they don't need space for a USB-C port and LED. So, I think that capacity is unlikely. It wouldn't be the first time Daweikala have misrepresented their batteries' capacity.
I don't have the tools (or the patience) to properly evaluate their capacity. All I know is... They work. I shoved them in my gadgets and they provided enough power. If they drain a bit quickly, I'll shove in one of the hundreds of USB-C cables I've got laying about the place. The batteries get slightly warm while charging, but they don't emit any noise or magic smoke.
So, they probably lie about their capacity and they're a good deal more expensive than regular batteries. But they're quick and easy to recharge, and they create less waste.
You can probably find them on AliExpress, or in your local equivalent, at a cheaper price.
One day, in the glorious future, every device will charge via USB-C. Until then, these are a nifty way to retrofit old gadgets.
| Verdict |
|---|
@Edent Absolutely no chance that they have 12800mAh... I'd be surprised if they had 2800mAh... Probably a lot less.
@Edent
Thanks for testing and sharing. Have a huge stock of rechargeable batteries, but replacements will also need to have USB-C. #interoperability interoperability
@Edent what chemistry are they? I'm so confused - mostly by that cable.
Alex Willmer says:
The Ebay listing says Lithium Ion, which is what I'd expect. The cell inside is likely a model used in vapes, perhaps a 14450 (14mm * 45.0 mm). AA itself is 14500.
Owen Gallagher says:
Hello, just a word of warning, many of these little batteries use a buck/ boost converter to achieve the required voltage. This gives them the tendency to emit a bit of RF hash, rendering them not so good for some applications, such as a shortwave radio for example. Completely fine for other applications of course. YMMV. Best regards Owen
@Edent I'd think they wouldn't be able to hold as much charge as a regular rechargeable simply due to space needs of the port.
Happy to hear they seem ok in usage as they just struck me as a Frankenstein yolo haha. Probably best use case is needing a charge away from a regular charger. Seems like if you used these en masse your just trading the regular bulk set charger for a 6-10 USB port adapter plus separate cables.
I suppose if the C port could charge fast enough it might make almost continuous field use possible with minimal extra batteries to carry. For my battery lawn mower, I can basically charge one battery during the use of a 2nd, so it just swaps back n forth with almost no downtime
What happens if you leave the batteries in the device you are powering while they charge?
@edent says:
It says they can't charge and discharge at the same time. But I've not tested it.
More comments on Mastodon.