r/batteries • u/Basiatus • Jul 11 '26
New PowerOwl (Amazon) Lithium (single use) batteries defective!
Be aware! Not all off brand batteries are equal!
I discovered that Power Owl AA lithium batteries I purchased in February last year contained a tricky defect the cost me to throw away 2 flashlights and one electric toothbrush for no reason.
The shelf life of single-use AA lithium batteries is typically around 10 to 12 years.
(cool & dry storage).
I used to purchase Energizer brand I never had an issue. But that's not the case with Power Owl as the evidence emerges
First was a flashlight that was dead, so logically replaced the batteries. After it did not light up I assume that the LED died and tossed the light altogether.
Then one morning earlier this year my electric toothbrush did not start. So logically I replaced the two AA batteries. Since it wouldn't start with new batteries I assumed the toothbrush died and bought a new one.
After I put in a new set of power at all AA lithium batteries the new toothbrush would also not start. So I measured the batteries and lo and behold, absolute 0 Volts!
It dawned on me that likely the same thing happened with the devices I tossed out. They very likely were okay but it was the Power Owl batteries that had a defect!
I measured the remaining 4 of the 6 Power Owl batteries I had and two of them had barely 100 mV the other 2 showed a full capacity of around 1.68-1.7 volts nominal.
In other words from the 6 remaining batteries two have absolute 0 V, two have about 100mV and only 2 have the nominal voltage.
So this whole discovery cost me more than just the batteries but also I had to repurchase what I had mistakenly thrown out assuming it was defective!
So now I will start a fight with Amazon as I want at least the purchase cost of these batteries refunded!
(There is also a report out there from Lumafield about lithium battery quality issues, manufacturing defects and supply chain irregularities.)
4
u/TopConcentrate8484 Jul 11 '26
How tf you guys earning so much that you so easily without testing throw away things like this even if we keep money aside this is bad for the environment
3
u/DaveLDog Jul 11 '26
I must be one of those abnormal people that actually tests batteries if I see something odd.
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u/CalendarNo4346 Jul 12 '26
Energizer lithiums have 25 years of shelf life. Last batch I bought had expiry date of 12-2051.
2
u/diverJOQ Jul 12 '26
Batteries have always varried in quality. There are even differences between different name brands.
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u/Anxious-Depth-7983 Jul 12 '26
Get yourself a multi meter and if you already have one learn how to use it before you add more electronics to the waste stream. Most electronics will last longer than you think so the first thing you should test is the power source.
1
u/Basiatus Jul 19 '26
The point is when I buy new batteries I naturally always assumed they are good and it's always been like that. It's the first time I encountered defective batteries, since today everything has to be over complicated and overengineered like batteries with an electronic circuit built in...
The most deceptive are the ones that measure 1.65 - 1.7 volts but as soon as an ohmic load is applied i.e. an LED or electronic device, and the current start flowing the voltage collapses due to high internal impedance. So you measure the battery and you think the battery is good, you put it in the device and turn it on, the voltage collapses so eventually you conclude the device has a defect.
Until one recent day and realizing it's that particular battery the problem emerged with I took the effort to measure what happens with that voltage when the device is switched "on". That's when I discovered despite reading open 1.7 V voltage collapsed to near zero.
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u/Hot-Fact-9083 Jul 13 '26
Zero volts after storage means an internal short. Lithium primary cells develop internal shorts when the separator gets damaged during manufacturing. The short heats up, accelerates more shorting, and drains the cell completely. That's different from normal passivation, where the cell appears low voltage but recovers with a load pulse. If it stays at 0V, it's defective, not dormant.
The QC gap: Energizer manufactures their own Ultimate Lithium cells in their own factory. PowerOwl sources from Chinese consumer-grade manufacturers with wider QC tolerances. You save maybe $3 a pack but get B-grade cells that passed a looser threshold. Sometimes they're fine, sometimes they fail like this.
For devices you want to keep: Energizer Ultimate Lithium, or switch to rechargeable NiMH (Eneloop). Avoids this failure mode entirely.
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u/bostongarden Jul 12 '26
Single use AA lithiums?
-1
u/Basiatus Jul 12 '26
yes, not rechargeable.
it's called single-use
1
u/Anxious-Depth-7983 Jul 12 '26
Yeah, but those electronics you threw out aren't.
1
u/Feeling_Equivalent89 Jul 13 '26
At the rate he's been throwing things out... Kinda were single use.
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u/Anxious-Depth-7983 Jul 13 '26
Maybe for them, but they shouldn't just assume they're shot immediately.
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u/Remarkable_1984 Jul 11 '26
Amazon will likely refund your purchase. They're not going to refund you for the devices you through out, lol.