Ode to the AA Battery
by Brajeshwar on 1/30/2026, 1:55:29 PM
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2026/ode-to-the-aa-battery/
Comments
by: alnwlsn
Designers have a choice in lithium-ion though. 18650 is is pretty large cell but there's 14500 which is AA sized or 10440 which is AAA sized. They make versions with the usual battery "nub" rather than the flat faces for spot welding, and built-in protection circuitry to prevent over-discharging. You probably would want to use ones of a different size than normal 1.5v cells though. A personal favorite of mine is RCR123A/16340.<p>Even many of the pouch cells come in "standard"-ish sizes. An 803860 is nominally 8.0mm x 38mm x 60mm, but I am seeing more custom sizes recently.<p>Meanwhile, alkaline batteries can go to hell. You might as well plan on one leaking in the battery compartment.
1/30/2026, 3:11:17 PM
by: MarkusWandel
Am I courting disaster by reviving won't-charge pouch cells by just manually running a bit of current through them until they're nonzero volts and then a normal charger will do the rest? So far, in the maybe half dozen times I've tried it (rectangular battery blocks for old digital cameras, the pouch cell inside a long-disused Kobo Reader) it's worked. They charge right up, they don't swell, and they still have decent capacity.<p>I'm running at the hairy edge and only high quality safety engineering is protecting me here? Or these cells can take a lot more abuse than they're given credit for?
1/30/2026, 3:19:42 PM
by: conception
The Xbox 360 was the most gamer friendly console (play your open music during games?!?) but one feature i loved was the battery packs. Your controller died? Just swap a pack - two seconds. And the packs could be rechargeable or AA so you could have a bunch of rechargeable AA for a fair price and never get bogged down waiting for anything to charge.
1/30/2026, 2:53:44 PM
by: Lutzb
The best thing about Eneloops do not seem to leak. I can just leave them in rarely used electronic devices without worrying. They might discharge, but so far this has never been a problem.
1/30/2026, 3:09:12 PM
by: klooney
> run at a nominal 1.2V instead of the 1.5V of alkaline batteries.<p>I've suddenly figured out why so many toys don't work with rechargeable batteries
1/30/2026, 2:33:22 PM
by: Insanity
Can’t exactly relate to the post. I never had a device die on me like that. All my devices with Li-ion batteries are “daily drivers”.<p>I do tend to keep charge between 20-80% where possible, and fortunately haven’t seen significant battery degradation.<p>I’m on a 4 year old iPhone and even that easily gets me through the day still on 80% charge.<p>My only AA device is my HHKB keyboard and I wish it had a USB-C rechargeable battery instead.
1/30/2026, 2:40:05 PM
by: amelius
Speaking of which, I really hate those chargers that force you to use two batteries instead of one. I get that it is cheaper to design it that way, but come on.
1/30/2026, 2:41:08 PM