It was that time of year to buy more batteries: Fall. Not only do they say to change the batteries in your smoke/CO detectors, but Christmas was coming which means more toys, lights, and everything else that needs a good AA battery.
I’ve already had great success with the Amazon Basics Rechargeable AA White Batteries, which are high capacity pre-charged Ni-MH batteries.
But I was curious about the other rechargeable batteries offered by Amazon. While researching and deciding on the white ones (pictured right) I did see other rechargeable Amazon Basics rechargeable batteries.
For those not familiar with Amazon Basics its basically their “store brand” of batteries and other household items that are then re-branded and sold by Amazon. Since Amazon is putting their name and reputation on these products I would hope they would perform.
The “white” high-capacity batteries are top of the line, and an 8 pack costs $18.99 at the time of writing.
I was curious to try out one of their “black” rechargeable batteries that were not flagged as high-capacity to see if they were close in performance but more affordable and thus a better deal. A 12 pack of the black batteries was about the same as an 8 pack of the white batteries.
NOTE: Not to make this confusing but there is a 2nd “black” rechargeable that is also high-capacity and priced the same as the white ones above. The “black” batteries being tested here are not high-capacity and therefore lower in cost.
TEST #1: Initial Charge with Meter
Most Amazon review reported these batteries all coming pre-charged as advertised, but there are a few negative comments where some reported that the batteries were not pre-charged or completely dead on arrival.
First I numbered each battery with a Sharpie upon unpacking, then ran each battery through my test and they all reported a very high and equal charge.
Winner: NONE – all batteries tested with same charge
TEST #2: Smoke / CO Detectors
I took out the Duracell batteries out of my 2 combination smoke/CO detectors that I inserted in the spring, and gave those an initial test to get an idea of how much the batteries may get drained over the next 6 months. Meter test still shows tons of battery life so these must not use much energy.
So glad to have a simple battery tester so I didn’t throw away these batteries, so they were promptly inserted into his Robo Raptor.
I then loaded up 1 smoke detector with the white batteries, and the other with the black. These will sit for the next 6 months until daylight savings hits again, so we need to wait and see how each performed.
WINNER: Wait 6 months and see…