Sanyo Eneloop C and D Size Batteries
Posted on October 29, 2008 by Jared
I don’t know if you guys have heard about eneloops, the best rechargeable batteries in the world. They come precharged in the box, they have a really slow discharge rate, and you can recharge them 1,000 times. I love these things; my favorite uses are for Wii remotes and Xbox controllers. I think Bo uses them for his camera flashes.
So far I’ve only bought the AA sized batteries. However, I recently purchased a few baby items that require C and D sized batteries. I didn’t hesitate to go online to buy more eneloops, but after a little searching I found that Sanyo doesn’t make C and D sized eneloops available in the United States. Only very recently (at the time of this writing) did they become available overseas. So, I decided to send a brief email to Sanyo to see what I could learn.
Here’s the brief message I sent:
I was wondering when your customers in the United States will be able to buy the new C and D sized eneloop batteries (not just the “spacers”). Thanks for making such a great product!
To my disappointment, this is the message I received back from Sanyo:
Thank you for your interest in Sanyo eneloop products. In regards to your inquiry, we do not have any plans to sell the C & D size eneloop batteries at this time.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
Sanyo Energy (U.S.A.) Corp.
I hope that means they simply haven’t made an official announcement, because I could really save some money by picking up their bigger C and D sized batteries.
By the way, you may have noticed in my message that I mentioned the “spacers” that are available. These are just hollow sleeves that AA batteries slide into. So, don’t expect to get full performance out of your batteries when you use these.
If you’ve used eneloops before and you’re anxious to get your hands on the C and D sized batteries, you can go to the Sanyo website and show your support. If you’d like to buy some eneloops, Amazon usually keeps them in stock:
I hear you on the D and C and I will raise you a 9volt. Wouldn’t it be good to use Eneloops in smoke alarms and radios and all those gadgets. Speaking of radios I got a CCRadio-SW that charges batteries internally. It holds 4 AA for backup and 4 D size for main power. There is a switch from the AA to the D packs. Right off I put 4 Eneloop AA batteries in, but no D size to be had. The radio works well on AA Eneloops it plays for hours to my surprise. The only unusual thing is that the charger display never shows a completely charged battery, evidently this is because the peak voltage of other types of batteries is higher initially then drops off while the Eneloop starts lower but holds it for a longer duty cycle. The radio manufacturer warned against trying to charge nonrechargeable batteries because they leak. Finally I emailed DepotEco, a Sanyo Eneloop dealer on line at DepotEco.com and on Amazon where I got the radio and the Eneloops, and asked “what is up with the D batteries?” The answer was the same you got directly from Sanyo, BUT DepotEco had other NiMH D-cells, not Eneloops, that are working well in my radio. They do the same thing with the charge indicator that the AAs do. What I don’t know is if they keep a charge for a long time as the Eneloops do. By the way there is a lot of information and links to articles on the DepotEco blog. One last thing, why is there no deposit on disposable batteries like there is on containers? There must be millions of them down the Grand Canyon alone. What do the disposable batteries do to the water? The Energizer Bunny looks like a major trasher.
Ah.. you know, I haven’t thought about the 9 volts.
I think I’m surprised the most by Sanyo’s decision to only make a couple of sizes. It just seems like if you’re going to make batteries, at least make all of the popular sizes.
I guess I could go buy another brand for my C and D size needs, but I was hoping I could just stick with one brand. It probably doesn’t matter… I’m just weird that way.