Keep Your Electronics Charged With the Best Rechargeable AA Batteries

Choosing a High-Quality Rechargeable AA Battery: A Buyer's Guide

With rechargeable AA batteries, you never have to worry about buying more AAs from the store ever again. Read on to learn more about these batteries in our short buyer’s guide.

What Is an AA Battery and What Makes It Different From Other Battery Types?

An AA battery is a type of battery used to charge devices. This usually includes small handheld devices such as remote controllers or portable devices such as radios. “AA” refers to a standard known as the IEC battery standard. This determines the standard sizes of batteries to be used in electronic products.

AA may look pretty big on its own, but it’s actually one of the smaller sizes. You have AAA below AA, of course, but there are also C and D batteries as well as other battery shapes with a bit more complicated names such as a 6F22 battery. The batteries can vary in voltage and size depending on the name of the battery.

Benefits of Owning a Rechargeable AA Battery

They offer great long-term value

While you may be spending a bit of extra cash on a set of rechargeable batteries compared to disposable ones, you will end up saving a bit of money in the long run by using rechargeable units. Why? Because instead of buying more batteries the moment your disposables run out of juice, you can simply just recharge your batteries to full power and use them again.

Now, this doesn’t mean that disposables are objectively worse. For one, they’re cheap, making them great for one-time use. They also can be replaced immediately, causing no downtime for your device, whereas you’d need to take out the battery and charge it before using it again for a rechargeable battery. If you really want to make the most out of your money, however, rechargeable batteries are a good investment

They’re better for the environment

Batteries can cause a lot of environmental damage when not disposed of properly. They can damage or kill the soil and any inhabitants in it, and it also leads to heavy metal pollution, as metal doesn’t erode like paper. By purchasing a pack of rechargeable batteries, you are basically preventing yourself from buying (and eventually disposing of) metal batteries. This lowers your carbon footprint, so you end up wasting less in terms of materials.

Things to Look Out for When Buying Rechargeable AA Batteries

Battery life

Batteries have a certain amount of energy or power that they can store at a time, usually measured in mAh.  The higher the number, the better it is at holding more juice at once. Because of this, it’s generally a good idea to look for batteries with longer battery life, and while it’s arguably the most important trait of a rechargeable battery, don’t let that be the only thing worth considering. 

Price

Another factor that comes into play when picking rechargeable AA batteries is the price. It’s always good to save on items, and you can definitely save on batteries by going for the cheapest product, but due to the somewhat volatile nature of batteries, you may want to at least pick a brand with renown. This is often why people will choose expensive branded batteries over cheaper, less popular brands. You don’t necessarily need to follow this — just be sure that the batteries are of good quality and they should be safe for use.

Tips for When You’re Charging Your Rechargeable AA Batteries

Try being near the batteries as they charge

 While rechargeable batteries can be left to charge, it’s always a good idea to at least keep an eye on the batteries every now and then. This is especially true if you’re using a charger or battery of questionable quality. You never know if things can go wrong, and it’s up to you to be there when they do go wrong.

Don’t leave them to charge overnight

In the same vein, try not to leave those batteries to charge overnight. You may be able to get away with it when charging your phone, as they’re generally made with this habit in mind, but batteries are inherently riskier since they're so exposed to outside elements. Being asleep when a battery explodes or causes an accident is the worst possible scenario, and you want to prevent that from happening if you can.