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SMOKE ALARM
BATTERIES
consumertest
Battery powered
Smoke-alarm
batteries aren’t
all the same.
TEST: BILL WHITLEY
S
moke-alarm batteries have a
challenging task to perform. They sit in
the smoke alarm over a long time – and
can be called on to power the siren when
they’re likely to be in a semi-discharged state.
What’s more, it could be a cold night when
they’re needed (batteries don’t function as
well in the cold as they do when warm).
Nine-volt smoke alarm batteries come
in three types, ranked by increasing
energy storage and price:
the original carbon-zinc (often labelled
“heavy duty”)
alkaline (which hold more energy and
so last longer)
lithium (which hold even more energy
and can last in a smoke alarm for many
years).
This test was specifically designed to
obtain information about the batteries’
performance when powering a smoke alarm.
The results aren’t an indication of their
performance in other devices.
What we found
Our testing shows a good alkaline battery
has about twice the life of a carbon-zinc
battery – and a good lithium battery has
three times the carbon-zinc’s life.
“Cold performance” looks at how well
a cold and half-discharged battery could
power a sounding smoke alarm. The
good news is that all types of smoke-alarm
batteries were capable of sounding an
alarm when cold and half-discharged.
What to buy
If you want the longest life possible, the
Eclipse Lithium has the highest storage
capacity. But at $17.90 it’s expensive.
At around two-thirds the capacity
of the Eclipse, the Arlec Alkaline
Maximum Performance is worth
considering – and it’s only $3.98.
And while it has only about one-third
the storage capacity of the Eclipse, if you
change your smoke-alarm batteries every
year, we think the $1.99 Warrior Super
Heavy Duty is good value for money.
MORE INFO
On our website:
+SMOKE ALARMS
This report is free
Our test
There were four steps
in our testing:
To tailor our battery tests to smoke
alarms, we took three different
alarms and measured their electrical
characteristics both on standby and
when the alarms were sounding.
We measured the capacity
(stored electrical energy) of each
battery by monitoring the time it took
when we deliberately discharged
each from its initial nine volts to five.
We took another set of our test
batteries and half-discharged
them using the data from step 2.
These half-discharged batteries
were refrigerated to 6°C and then
set up to supply the electric current
equivalent to a sounding smoke
alarm. We measured how well they
performed this task.
ISSUE 545
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39
werecommend
worthconsidering
OVERALL
OVERALL
90%
ECLIPSE LITHIUM $17.90
GOOD POINTS: Excellent capacity.
Very good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Lithium.
BOTTOM LINE: This lithium battery
is excellent overall. It has excellent
capacity and its cold performance is
very good.
ARLEC ALKALINE MAXIMUM
PERFORMANCE $3.98
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity. Very good
cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline battery is
good overall. It has OK capacity and its
cold performance is very good.
OVERALL
good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Lithium.
BOTTOM LINE: This lithium battery is
very good overall. It has good capacity
and its cold performance is very good.
OVERALL
74%
ENERGIZER MAX $7.58
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity. Good
cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline battery
is good overall. It has OK capacity
and its cold performance is good.
40
consumer.org.nz
CHEVRON ALKALINE $7.00
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity. Very
good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline battery
is good overall. It has OK capacity and
its cold performance is very good.
OVERALL
73%
73%
EVEREADY GOLD $5.58
ENERGIZER
ADVANCED $9.28
GOOD POINTS: Good capacity. Very
73%
OVERALL
83%
ENERGIZER ULTIMATE
LITHIUM $21.78
OVERALL
73%
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity.
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity. Good
cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline battery
is good overall. It has OK capacity
and its cold performance is good.
OVERALL
72%
PANASONIC EVOLTA $9.99
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity. Good
cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline battery
is good overall. It has OK capacity
and its cold performance is good.
Good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline
battery is good overall. It
has OK capacity and its cold
performance is good.
OVERALL
72%
SONIXCELL ALKALINE $2.50
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity. Very
good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline battery is
good overall. It has OK capacity and its
cold performance is very good.
APRIL 2014
SMOKE ALARM
BATTERIES
consumertest
72
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity.
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity.
$
%
OUT OF 10
We recommend
Worth considering
Cold
performance
Type
Purchased
Good cold performance. BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline
battery is good overall. It
has OK capacity and its cold
performance is good.
Capacity
Good cold performance. BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline
battery is good overall. It
has OK capacity and its cold
performance is good.
Overall score
MODELS
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity.
Price
Good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline
battery is good overall. It
has OK capacity and its cold
performance is good.
DICK SMITH SUPER
ALKALINE $7.98
SONY STAMINA
PLUS $8.99
Eclipse Lithium
17.90
90 9.1
8.9
Lithium
Jaycar
Energizer Ultimate Lithium
21.78
83 7.7
8.9
Lithium
Pak ‘n Save
Energizer Max
7.58
74
6.8
7.9
Alkaline
Pak ‘n Save
Arlec Alkaline Maximum Performance
3.98
73
6.6
8.0
Alkaline
Bunnings
Chevron Alkaline
7.00
73
6.6
8.0
Alkaline
Countdown
Energizer Advanced
9.28
73
6.8
7.9
Alkaline
Pak ‘n Save
Eveready Gold
5.58
73
6.7
7.9
Alkaline
Pak ‘n Save
Panasonic Evolta
9.99
72
6.4
7.9
Alkaline
Countdown
Sonixcell Alkaline Batteries
2.50
72
6.3
8.0
Alkaline
The Warehouse
Varta Longlife Extra
5.98
72
6.6
7.8
Alkaline
Bunnings
Sony Stamina Plus
8.99
71
6.4
7.8
Alkaline
Noel Leeming
Dick Smith Super Alkaline
7.98
70 6.1
7.8
Alkaline
Dick Smith
Panasonic Alkaline
8.49
70 6.0
8.0
Alkaline
Countdown
Duracell Alkaline
8.99
68 5.5
8.1
Alkaline
Countdown
Panasonic Extra Heavy Duty
4.29
60 4.0
8.0
Carbon-zinc Countdown
Maxlife Super Heavy Duty
2.99
59 3.3
8.5
Carbon-zinc Mitre 10 Mega
1.99
59 3.4
8.4
Carbon-zinc Mitre 10 Mega
Chevron Super Heavy Duty
4.00
59 3.3
8.5
Carbon-zinc Countdown
Eveready Super Heavy Duty
4.08
58 3.0
8.6
Carbon-zinc Pak ‘n Save
Warrior Super Heavy Duty
70%
PANASONIC
ALKALINE $8.49
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity.
Very good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline
battery is good overall. It
has OK capacity and its cold
performance is very good.
FEATURES
GUIDE TO THE TABLE PRICE is per battery and from a survey in March 2014. SCORES OUT OF 10 Capacity (50% of overall
score) measures the stored electrical energy the battery contains. Cold performance (50%) measures the ability of the battery to
sound a smoke alarm when the battery is half discharged and the ambient temperature is 6°C.
ISSUE 545
OVERALL
70%
71%
%
VARTA LONGLIFE
EXTRA $5.98
OVERALL
OVERALL
OVERALL
OVERALL
68%
DURACELL ALKALINE $8.99
GOOD POINTS: OK capacity. Very
good cold performance.
BUT: (No obvious bad points.)
TYPE: Alkaline.
BOTTOM LINE: This alkaline battery is
OK overall. It has OK capacity and its
cold performance is very good.
OVERALL
59%
WARRIOR SUPER HEAVY
DUTY $1.99
GOOD POINTS: Very good cold
performance. Good price.
BUT: Poor capacity.
TYPE: Carbon-zinc.
BOTTOM LINE: This carbon-zinc battery
is OK overall. Its cold performance is
very good – but it has poor capacity.
consumer.org.nz
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