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Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 11:15 am
by Art
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Plugwise Sense and Scan units are powered by a single 3.6v AA battery. In my home these pricey buggers last less than a year, negating any power savings I might accomplish.

Obviously I'm looking for alternatives. The manual states the units will function between 3.2 and 3.6 volt. I have thought about regulating down the output of a 5v usb adapter and hooking that up, but a rechargeable battery would be more elegant. Is there such a thing as a rechargeable 3.6v AA battery?

Re: Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 1:01 am
by Post-IT
I found some:

http://www.lightinthebox.com/nl/Populai ... rijen.html
http://www.accu-company.nl/nl/batterij/ ... 35030.html


I would expect you need a special charger, and it seems most of these don't have any overcharging prevention built in.

Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:49 pm
by Verkenner
Thanks Post-IT

Indeed these 3.6v 2,1 Ah AA Lithium batteries are very expensive and work only (max) one year.
In Groningen I bought one of these: 16,90 euro !!!

Alternatives are welcome :-)

Re: Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:49 am
by dorenberg
Well I tried other brands in the past. No success. Sense and Scan were not working anymore. Only the original brand worked for me. I bought them for around 4 euros a piece.

Just buy them here: http://www.nkon.nl/saft-sl14500-aa-lith ... -3-6v.html

These were not working: Xeno ER14505 XL-060F 3.6V AA Lithium Thiony Battery Li-SOCl2 XN0001

Re: Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:55 pm
by esschenk

Re: Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:02 pm
by mhn
That's a 18650 they are big. It's the 14500 that's AA size.

I use 14500 in flashlights but i don't know about Plugwise.

Regards
Morten

Re: Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:21 pm
by esschenk

Re: Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:39 pm
by Art
In spots where it's no aesthetic problem to use an external power source I might try one of these. 3 x NiMH AA should equal one 3,6 volt battery, right?

A cost effective solution, since NiMH batteries are relatively cheap and easy to come by and I already own a charger.

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Re: Sense and scan battery alternatives

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 3:29 pm
by Art
@ Post-IT: Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I ordered a couple of these and they've replaced the regular batteries as of yesterday evening. No problems so far. If things change I'll report back here.

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