PowerGenix reveals potent NiZn rechargeable AA batteries

Move over Li-ion, Zinc is about to get all up in your area. Energizer has already announced the Zinc Air Prismatic, and now PowerGenix is gearing up to debut its variation at Ritz Camera locales across the nation. The Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) AA cells, difficultly coined Quantaray Super Z, pack up to 30% more voltage than other rechargeables (right in line with one-time use batteries) and are entirely nontoxic. Oddly enough, no price is mentioned, but you should probably go in expecting the worst in order to not be totally taken aback upon finding out. Full release is after the break.

Update: A 4-pack of Super Z's is $14.99, the 4-pack and charger set is $49.99.

Ritz Camera Super Z Battery Introduces PowerGenix's AA Nickel-Zinc Technology

Leading retail chain selects high performance Nickel-Zinc batteries to deliver power
boost.

Irvine, Calif. – December 16, 2008 – Ritz Camera, the nation's largest retail camera and
photo chain, today announced the introduction of Quantaray Super Z, a Nickel-Zinc
(NiZn) AA rechargeable battery and charger set. Ritz's Super Z batteries provide greater
power for today's high drain consumer electronics, enabling superior camera
performance compared to existing rechargeable batteries. San Diego-based PowerGenix,
developer and manufacturer of nontoxic, high performance NiZn rechargeable
technology will supply the batteries to Ritz.
Despite rapid innovation in the capabilities of portable electronics, until recently,
progress has been slow to develop batteries able to meet the demand of these power-
hungry devices. With advanced NiZn performance, the Super Z has been introduced by
Ritz Camera to fulfill the growing needs of high drain digital cameras and accessories.
By delivering a higher voltage than existing rechargeable cells, cameras equipped with
NiZn cells benefit from brighter flash, shorter flash recovery time, and more shots per
charge.
"Quantaray Super Z batteries exemplify Ritz's commitment to providing customers with
innovative, world-class products. Responding to the demand for better battery
performance, we've selected state-of-the-art Nickel-Zinc technology to deliver the
advanced power required of today's camera and photo electronics," said Ritz Camera
CEO David Ritz. "With greater power for better camera performance coupled with easy
recharge and operation, Super Z means you'll never miss the shot.
Committed to protecting the environment, Ritz Camera is an active member in the
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation's (RBRC) Call2Recycle program for the
collection and proper disposal of rechargeable batteries. Earlier this year, PowerGenix's
NiZn technology was certified by the RBRC for collection and recycling, becoming only
the fifth rechargeable chemistry recognized by the program. Further amplifying Ritz's
environmental efforts, PowerGenix's NiZn batteries contain no toxic heavy metals such
as lead, cadmium or mercury and are the most recyclable rechargeable chemistry on the
market.
"With the Super Z, Ritz Camera has taken great strides to present their customers with
high quality, eco-friendly power solutions, and in the process positioned themselves at
the cutting-edge of a changing marketplace" said Dan Squiller, CEO of PowerGenix.
"As the pioneer in Nickel-Zinc technology, PowerGenix is providing Ritz with the latest
in battery innovation, delivering performance at the pinnacle of consumer rechargeable
batteries."
Quantaray Super Z will be available both in Ritz retail locations and through their online
store at www.ritzcamera.com.

[Big GIANT Balls @ Dec 16th 2008 12:06AM]

sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love long lasting batteries!!!!!

[Luke D @ Dec 16th 2008 3:40AM]

That's what she said.

[dimapinyan @ Feb 8th 2009 5:36PM]

I was very accited to get these batteries. First experience was wowsome. Very quick recharge on my SB-600 flash. But on the second shoot my flash stopped taking the charge. I thought it was the flash... and exchanged it for a brand new one. I charged the batteries put them into the flash and after 3-4 shots the same thing happened again. And the batteries were pretty hot. Now I'm afraid to put them into anything else. I have to sets of those and tried different batteries, so it's not that just one of those is bad.....

[Craig @ Dec 16th 2008 12:07AM]

Nothing says quality like "Quantaray."

[leo @ Dec 16th 2008 2:32AM]

Quantary to popular belief........ugh, that was desperate

[who? @ Dec 16th 2008 12:08AM]

Only 30%? At least they're non-toxic. A non-toxic battery! Who knew?

[SuperQ @ Dec 16th 2008 12:49AM]

30% more voltage, which means real 1.5 volt rechargeable batteries. This is a big win for some stuff that doesn't work well with 1.2 volt cells.

[ethana2 @ Dec 16th 2008 1:18AM]

Suicide backup plot #374, out the window.
Thanks a lot, guys.

What flavor are they, by the way?

[who? @ Dec 16th 2008 1:33AM]

@ethana2

Nickel and Zinc isn't it? So... spare change?

[Tony C @ Dec 16th 2008 8:22AM]

They must have their percentages crossed... The batteries only report 1.25V

http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/141660399.htm

[Wwhat @ Dec 16th 2008 9:11AM]

I'm full of trust, yet I'm not willing to eat one of these non-toxic batteries for some reason.

[Apoc @ Dec 16th 2008 12:12AM]

I work at Ritz, these have actually been on the shelves for more then a month.. Kinda slow to get the news out..

[JP23 @ Dec 16th 2008 12:16AM]

So what's the price?

[Apoc @ Dec 16th 2008 12:23AM]

Not sure, no one seems to care enough about new batteries to even spare it a questioning price check, I believe it was around $30 or $40 though, about the same price as the Quantaray NiMH batteries. I'll have to check when i go in, in the morning.

[Recoil @ Dec 16th 2008 12:31AM]

Looks like they're going for $20 right now.

http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/141660399.htm


No mAh rating listed, but that's damn good, assuming it's something reasonable.

[XpLoiT3d @ Dec 16th 2008 12:32AM]

mAh rating??? i have energizer and they are 2450's..... wondering if its worth the upgrade

[Recoil @ Dec 16th 2008 12:32AM]

My bad, same company, but it looks like they make NiMHs too.

[Tony C @ Dec 16th 2008 8:19AM]

And that's $20 WITH a charger! Probably a crap charger, but what the hell -- more V's for your power needs. Hoping for at least 2500mAh and a shelf life like Eneloops.

[Tony C @ Dec 16th 2008 8:20AM]

Hah, silly me, pic clearly shows 2650mAh on the batteries...

[Anthony @ Dec 16th 2008 12:12AM]

woot no more toxic battery cum all over my gameboys !

[PLASTIC COCK @ Dec 16th 2008 12:25AM]

NOBODY CARES

[SNP @ Dec 16th 2008 12:27AM]

you should if you're battery operated

[PLASTIC COCK @ Dec 16th 2008 12:28AM]

stop bullying me

[Marcos @ Dec 16th 2008 12:26AM]

"30% more voltage than other rechargeables"?
Oh boy. You'd think that a writer of a gadget blog would know the difference between voltage and power.

[Apoc @ Dec 16th 2008 12:28AM]

VERY good point. Someone clearly wasn't thinking when typing.

[cepth @ Dec 16th 2008 12:30AM]

A 30% increase in voltage would yield a voltage of 1.56 volts, which is comparable to alkaline batteries.

[Plothole @ Dec 16th 2008 12:48AM]

The quoted article also mentions voltage, not power. And this makes sense considering that existing rechargeables actually have a slightly lower voltage of 1.2, vs the 1.5 of an Alkaline.

[Plothole @ Dec 16th 2008 12:50AM]

NM... Engadget is slow to show other replies sometimes.

[Anand D @ Dec 16th 2008 12:51AM]

Rechargeable batteries typically deliver less voltage than standard batteries. When rechargeables first appeared on the market many device manufacturers recommended not using them due to the lower voltage. However most modern devices work fine with the lower voltage.

[Tony C @ Dec 16th 2008 8:24AM]

Sorry guys, pic shows only 1.25V, unless it's just plain wrong...

http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/141660399.htm

[Plothole @ Dec 16th 2008 1:41PM]

Tony, that's just their regular NiMH batteries. These NiZns are being "geared" for release. That doesn't mean they're out yet.

[Helfrez @ Dec 16th 2008 12:27AM]

I actually reported about these over at DPreview a week or 2 ago. These batteries are AWESOME!!! the 1h Charger+4 2500mah 1.6V batteries run $49. Extra sets of 4 run $14.99. Ritz/Wolf appears to be the only place to get them at the moment.

I use them in a FL36R external flash which is know to have slow (up to 10sec) recharge times. With a fresh pair of these puppies, i can recharge in as little as 1sec, and as much as 3-4 after a full burst.

[0megapart!cle @ Dec 16th 2008 12:52AM]

Are these compatible with devices other than camera products (probably, but it doesn't say)? And most important, how many charge cycles are these rated for? There has to be a catch, and I imagine that num of cycles has to be it, considering that isn't listed anywhere.

[mrpoo @ Dec 16th 2008 9:04PM]

I saw the photo of the battery package that you posted on Dpreview. You did notice that these batteries are 2500 mWh, not mAh, right? That translates to just about 1500 mAh at nominal 1.66V, right in line with the Powergenix spec sheet at http://www.powergenix.com/docs/powergenix-specs-aa.pdf. These cells are definitely made by (or at least licensed from) Powergenix.

Powergenix has been talking these up at battery conferences for months now, I've seen them present at a few that I've attended. They spend a lot of time touting Ni-Zn as competition for Ni-Cd, but they do make comparisons with NiMH. In spite of the fact that they have lower capacity (translating to lower energy density) compared to NiMH, they do have significantly higher power density so you can put a higher-drain load on them and presumably charge them faster without adverse effects. They can supposedly discharge at 10A continuously, although obviously not for long.

Powergenix claims that they can actually squeeze more shots from a digital still camera with their 1500mAh 1.6V battery than you can get with an Eneloop rated at 2000mAh and 1.2V. Total Wh for those two cells is equivalent. They lose when comparing themselves to an Energizer NiMH rated at 2500mAh and 1.2V. From their data, the number of shots, respectively, is 400, 375, and 430.

I've never seen data for self discharge on these cells, but Ni-Zn is not an inherently low self-discharge cell so I would not expect Eneloop capability. Most important for me, since I swear by my Lacrosse charger, is that you can only charge these with a specialized Ni-Zn charger due to their special charging algorithm. That RItz camera charger looks like kind of a turd.

[BorisBorf @ Dec 16th 2008 12:57AM]

Two questions...

One: How fast do these self-discharge? I gave up on those Energizer NiMHs a while ago because they are dead within a week or so after charging, despite the high mAh rating. Now using almost all low-self-discharge ones (eneloop, etc...)

Too: Will these things explode and kill me if i put them in my 15-minute charger? I have the strangest feeling like the answer is "yes"...

[linuxamp @ Dec 16th 2008 1:41AM]

Very good point about self-discharge rate. 1.5+ volts is great but doesn't mean squat in the real world without knowing mAh and discharge rate.

[Apoc @ Dec 16th 2008 7:46AM]

I wouldn't try it, in most cases using different battery chemistries with chargers they aren't made for is a *bad* idea. And the differing voltage might cause some big issues using a NiZn with a NiMH battery charger.

[sam @ Dec 16th 2008 8:33AM]

You really have that big a problem with self-discharge? I only have ordinary NiMHs - some (old) Ansmann, some Uniross, some no-name - and I'd say they last over a month when used in my bike lights; there have also been times when I don't use a particular Wii remote for a good fortnight and its charge state seems to be right about where it was before... I have a 'smart' charger, so when these are charged they are fully charged, but even so, I really don't see discharge problems on less than the 'months' scale.

[Wwhat @ Dec 16th 2008 9:18AM]

Ironically 'smart' chargers might not work with them but dumb ones might, dumb ones just supply 1/10'th of the power to them for a long time.

[mrpoo @ Dec 16th 2008 9:10PM]

You can NOT charge these in ANY NiMH charger. The cells can't drop below 1.6V, and a NiMH charger will shut off if it senses a voltage that high. The charging conditions for periods of constant current and constant voltage are also quite different for Ni-Zn, and you can't charge them for more than about 2.5 hours at ideal charging conditions.

[MioTheGreat @ Dec 16th 2008 2:44AM]

NiZn has an energy density of about 60 W-hr/kg

For some comparison, NiCd has anywhere from 40-60, and NiMH can exceed it.

The voltage is higher, but the power they can deliver is no better.

[Wwhat @ Dec 16th 2008 9:23AM]

NiCd's are no longer allowed in the EU, not as separate batteries that is, they still are when mounted in devices like electric toothbrushes though AFAIK.

[lens42 @ Dec 16th 2008 3:36AM]

I'm all for new battery technologies, but it looks like there are some major trade-offs in these cells. Powergenix certainly knows the difference between voltage and W-hrs. That's why they are talking up Volts and being quiet about total energy. Here's a link to the AA cell data sheet on the Powergenix website:

http://www.powergenixsystems.com/docs/powergenix-specs-aa.pdf

Typical capacity is only 1500mAh. Now if you give them back the 30% they get from from increased voltage, the W-hrs are still short of a good AA NiMH cell. There are some things that will benefit from higher voltage, flash recharge time in particular. But you'll have to decide which you want more, less time between flashes or more shots.

One other piece of potentially bad news is if your device has primarily linear regulators in it, rather than DC-DC converters, you will actually be WORSE off with these cells because the higher voltage will only be wasted in the linear regulator voltage drops. This will get confusing because some people will claim they suck and others will say they are good, and both may be right.

I wish they had some self discharge data, but there appears to be none on their web site. The other unknown is how touchy they are about overdischarge, because that always happens with AAs.

One last note, is DON'T put these in your Mini Mag Lites. Bulb life goes WAY down with a little increase in voltage.

[Ugar @ Dec 16th 2008 6:26AM]

"One last note, is DON'T put these in your Mini Mag Lites. Bulb life goes WAY down with a little increase in voltage."

Like any engadget reader would be using bulb flashlights anymore :)

[rav0 @ Dec 16th 2008 7:28AM]

Don't put these in your Mini Maglite LED. Led life goes WAY down with a little increase in voltage.

[Hel @ Dec 16th 2008 9:45AM]

[quote]One last note, is DON'T put these in your Mini Mag Lites. Bulb life goes WAY down with a little increase in voltage.[/quote]

These would actually work BETTER in a mag lite than 1.2V NiMH rechargables. Here's why. The flashlight is designed to operate with cells that produce 1.5V - that's the voltage a standard alkaline cell (non-rechargable) produces -- and most people will be using non-rechargables, so they'd better not damage the device or lower it's life expectancy. Using these in any device that doesn't specifically have a setting for NiMH rechargables should actually produce BETTER results than NiMH rechargables (my hand-held GPS has a setting for either alkaline or NiMH).

Anecdotal evidence - Wii remotes. I use rechargables for these, because they eat batteries like crazy. Using standard alkaline AA's will make the battery guage (the 4 indicator lights on the bottom) all light up - signifying 100% power - when they are fresh. When I take my NiMH's right off the charger and put them in, I only get 3 lights. This is because 2 NiMH's in series only produce 2.4V, when the Wii remote is expecting 3 - so it assumes it's looking at alkalines (which are 3.0V when fresh) that are fading.

[Hel @ Dec 16th 2008 9:49AM]

Whoops, my bad - their nominal voltage is 1.65V, not 1.5. It's still closer to 1.5 - but you do have a point - things that are designed to have a maximum cell voltage of 1.5 may fair quite a bit worse when over by .15V than under by .3V

[bhtooefr @ Dec 17th 2008 1:13AM]

I run a 1.7V Energizer L92 (lithium non-rechargable) in my Fenix E01 - then again, Fenix specifically recommends that, IIRC, and because the light is regulated, the LED isn't any brighter, it just has a lot longer life.

[sam @ Dec 16th 2008 7:30AM]

what is the MaH rating? I can get 4 * 3200MaH AA batteries for around £6 delivered and they last for AGES, will these be better, if these are just 30% better than 1500mah crappy batteries then they are a long way behind the competition and the only advantage would be that they are non-toxic.

[Tony C @ Dec 16th 2008 8:26AM]

Pic shows 2650mAh

http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/141660399.htm