PowerGenix ZR-PGX1HRAA-4B 1 Hour Quick Charger with 4 AA 1.6v NiZn Rechargeable Batteries
From PowerGenix
PowerGenix – 1 Hour Quick Charger with 4 AA 1.6v Nickel Zinc high voltage rechargeable batteries 2500mWh
- Color: White
- Brand: PowerGenix
- Model: PGX1HRCH-4AAZiNc-1.6v
- Original language: English
- Dimensions: 7.00" h x 4.00" w x 1.75" l, 1.75 pounds
Nickel-Zinc battery technology not exactly as advertised
This product (PowerGenix 4-Position Charger with 4 AA High Voltage 1.6v 2500 mWh ZiNc Rechargeable Batteries) contains an 'one hour' charger specially designed for Nickel-Zinc AA/AAA cells. But it does not fully recharge to 100% within one hour. If you read the fine prints, it actually says "For maximum capacity from batteries charge up to 2.5 hours".
Despite its misleading name, this is actually a decent 'smart' charger. It works from universal input voltage (100-240V), and accepts 1-4 AA cells or 1-2 AAA cells. Each cell is charged individually (not in pairs). The red LED lights up during charging, and the green LED lights up when done. Just remember that you must not use this NiZn charger for NiMH cells, and vice versa.
The batteries are the new Nickel-Zinc rechargeable AA cells. The greatest selling feature of NiZn cell is its higher terminal voltage. The nominal operating voltage of NiZn is 1.65V, which is very close to alkaline and 30% higher than NiMH (1.25V nominal). However, when freshly charged, the NiZn terminal voltage is around 1.85V, which is dangerously high for most battery-operated appliances.
Upon closer examination, many of the alleged benefits of NiZn turn out to be just marketing hypes. For examples:
"Higher Energy Density":
Despite what the confusing rating on the package ("2500mWh") may suggest, the PowerGenix AA cell does NOT contain more energy than a SANYO eneloop AA cell. This is because its current capacity is much lower at just 1500mAh (based on data sheet of PowerGenix AA cell, and verified by my own testing).
- Energy in eneloop AA cell: 1.25V * 2000mAh = 2500mWh
- Energy in PowerGenix AA cell: 1.65V * 1500mAh = 2475mWh
As an example: Suppose a set of 4 eneloop AA cells can power your external flash unit for 1500 shots, then a set of 4 PowerGenix AA cells will provide roughly the same number of shots. The difference is that your flash unit will recycle about 30% faster with the NiZn cells due to 30% higher battery voltage. On the other hand, this high rate of fire could cause the flash to over-heat and burn out.
"Long Cycle Life":
PowerGenix claims that NiZn has a service life that 'meets or beats' that of NiMH cells. But according to technical data found on PowerGenix web site, the NiZn cell is only rated for 200 cycles at 100% deep discharge. Most NiMH cells are rated for 500-1000 deep discharge cycles.
"Long Shelf Life":
PowerGenix claims the NiZn cells have longer shelf life than Lead-Acid batteries (which are notorious for high self-discharge rate), but did not compare against NiMH cells. In the "Charging Procedure" section, it says to recharge the NiZn battery every 30 days!
In summary: While the higher voltage offered by PowerGenix NiZn cells sounds attractive, it could damage or shorten the life span of your battery-operated appliances. In addition, NiZn cell does not pack more energy than eneloop NiMH cell, yet it suffers from lower cycle life and higher self-discharge rate.
On the other hand, suppose you have an inexpensive camera (*cough*Kodak*cough*) that does not work well with NiMH cells, then the higher voltage offered by NiZn cells may be exactly what you need. If your camera gets fried... oh well, at least you have an excuse to upgrade to a beter camera!
Powers Things Longer than NiMh AA's
I've been using these new nickel-zinc AA cells for about 2 months now. I'm impressed by how long they will power things compared to the usual NiMh cells.
I have a Magellan GPS unit that uses 2 AA's. It was probably designed for alkaline cells. New alkaline cells give a full scale battery bargraph, but freshly charged NiMh cells only make the bargraph hit about 80%. NiMh cells drop to about half scale after an hour. I only get about 4 hours with NiMh cells before the voltage drops too low and it turns itself off. Alkalines will last about 7 hours. The new PowerGenix NiZn cells give a full scale battery bargraph for about 3-1/2 hours, then it slowly drops until the unit turns off. My first test powered the GPS for 6 hours and 20 minutes, the second time it went 6 hours and 55 minutes. I left the batteries in the charger longer the second time I charged them, about 4 hours instead of 2. With my GPS, the PowerGenix AA's lasted almost twice as long as 2200mAh NiMh.
I have also used these in my Fuji digital camera that uses 2 AA's. They also last a long time, longer than the NiMh cells I have used in the past. The LCD display is also just a little brighter with the NiZn cells.
I have a little Grundig G6 radio that also uses 2 AA's. It won't turn on with these installed. I'm guessing that the radio is sensing the higher than usual voltage (about 3.6 volts) and won't power up. This is the only device I have found so far that isn't happy with the NiZn cells.
When these come out of the charger, they read about 1.82 volts without a load using my Fluke DMM. Of course the voltage will drop when current is drawn and as the battery discharges.
To sum it up, these cells act a lot more like alkaline cells with the higher voltage available. It takes a lot longer for the voltage to drop down to about 1.2 volts per cell when comparing to NiMh types. These start off at a higher voltage than alkaline and take a good long time to drop to the point when you need to recharge.
Give these a try, I think you'll be happy. I'll be buying more AA's and some of the AAA size when they are available.
Great in Digital Camera, childrens computer and flashlights
Alkaline batteries are wasteful and just don't last long. NIMH and NICD don't have the needed voltage to run some of my devices, like my Olympus FE110 camera. Alkaline batteries go for about 50 pitures, CRV3 Lithium Ion don't fit in the camera battery compartment, and Fully charged NIMH, even eneloops show up in the camera as weak and only allow a couple of pictures before turning off. My alternative has been to buy the expensive non-rechargeable Lithiums. Functionally this works great but it is expensive and wasteful of resource.
The new Power Genics AA ZiNc batteries work great in every application I have tried them in. I've not had them long enough to know if they suffer from the discharge problem that NIMHs do, but I've had no problems of the slightly higher voltage causing any issues with my equipment. It's awesome to finally have a solution for our battery hungry FE110 camera. I can't wait for AAA's to come out!
