Thanks for your suggestions. I am not on Facebook/Twitter but I have followed up on Trading Standards.

It seems that Citizens Advice now act as the gatekeeper for Trading Standards - you cannot refer a matter directly. However, the chap I spoke to at Citizens Advice took a lot more interest in my findings than either Lidl or Kompernass and was very keen to refer the matter without any encouragement from me. The details are now with Trading Standards and I have been asked to hold on to one pack of the offending batteries.

Best value batteries i have found, i use the AAA in wireless headphones,they last as well in these as the more expensive one's. No failures of the 8 i have in over 2yrs usage.
Getting some AA's hope these new ones are the same quality low discharge type.

good find op, heat added

Thanks I need some batteries and this is a good price. I have lost the ones I had

worst batteries ever

Answer: at pound shops, probably. Pound shop items certainly have exceptionally low power capacity.

I've only ever had problems with the older tronic non-LSD cells that were silver and black about 4 years ago. All the others have been fantastic, I think they come out at ~2100 mah when tested and last a decent length of time, can't ask for more really.

They've obviously made some adjustment in the latest ones if they are claiming more capacity but I will test them.

Lidl take things back no problem too.

Best value batteries i have found, i use the AAA in wireless headphones,they last as well in these as the more expensive one's. No failures of the 8 i have in over 2yrs usage.
Getting some AA's hope these new ones are the same quality low discharge type.

I bought some identical 2300mah from Lidl a couple of years ago and I still think they were a great buy.

I soldered a couple in a Remington shaver to replace the knackered tagged AA cells that my father had been moaning about, as I didn't want to risk ruining expensive Eneloops. He claimed that it runs faster and so cuts better than when new, two years later he says he's still getting about 3 weeks use out of a full charge, although it does take two days for the Remington's charger to fully charge them.

The new ones are 20g instead of 29g so it's not looking good

Discharged from packet @400ma, dated 12/2015 production

1: 1003 mah
2: 999 mah
3: 969 mah
4: 1011 mah

They are supposed to be 75% capacity at 1 year so 41% at 5 months is pretty bad.

1100-1200 mah on first cycle but there's no way these are 2400 no matter how many times you cycle them.

Really poor

The only thing impressive is they only lost 15% charge in 6 months, or they were charged much later than they were produced

That's a real shame, I was thinking about getting some more as some of my Eneloops need replacing. As they're that far out, I hope you'll be taking them back.

I recently got a cheap charger with a test mode and tested one of the 2300 Lidl ones I got over a year ago, weight 27 grams, its capacity was reported 2340 mah. I haven't tested it, but I don't think their self discharge rate is as low as Eneloops, although it is still more than adequate for my normal usage.

For some reason these seem to be slightly larger in size than the standard AA batteries. Found them difficult to push into battery compartments and then to close the plastic cover.

The Lidl batteries are superb. I took some out of the pack (that's been sitting on a shelf for 6 months) and stuck them straight in a high-drain camera, and they were good for a whole day's shooting, and still going strong.

These will burn your house down and cause bone groanage and raise your cholesterol. Since I moved to Eneloops I've never had such a satifsying love life and I have definitely been with a real lady who's real and she did me all ways rude including the 4th dimension and even her lady pleaser was powered by Eneloops. When my sister bought these batteries a few years ago she's got real bad cameltoe ever since. She's had to eat nothing but coconut oil ever since because that's the only cure to anything that your doctor couldn't make up because he's too blinded by western medicine. Idiot.

EDIT: Avoid.

I dont think they are fully charged when manufactured. Usually about 70%

Not that great. The only brand I have that die if over discharged...and I have used many brands. Never used Eneloop brand as seen too expensive, but all the reviews I've seen are very good, just make sure u buy from a reputable dealer

Please, don't buy them. Rubbish. Pay some extra for decent brand. I have 2 sets aa and 1aaa, none of them perform well.

Why not pay for some high-capacity eneloop rechargeable batteries that don't bust the bank retain their charge efficiently, and have a reported lifecycle usage 2500-3000 charge and use cycles.

I also had a set of AAs, dated 12/2015, discharged @400ma
1: 1892
2: 1958
3: 1958
4: 2011

Also weighed them, 29g. Maybe you got a duff batch?

Do yours have white caps and made by Kompernass?

My older ones are black top and made by Eures

Yes they have white caps and made by Kompernass, just finished charging @500ma and they took charges of 2224, 2425, 2386 and 2382.

Weird, it probably was a bad batch. Might have to get some more from a different store and compare

Unfortunately I have purchased 4 packs of the latest Tronic 2400mAh batteries dated 12/2015 and have similar findings to Magnets.

Out of the pack I discharged at 125mA down to 1.00V and measured the following capacities:
1042
1053
1042
1039

After charging the results were not much better:
1174
1177
1169
1218

I have only tested one pack but all the packs contain light weight cells (19g) so I guess they are all similarly afflicted.

I plan to approach Lidl UK for comment.

Do post back what their explanation is.


I think I'll be taking fishing scales with me next time I buy Lidl batteries, although I'll probably gets some odd looks when I start weighing the packs. Still if it saves on the hassle of taking low capacity ones back.

Interesting, It would be good to hear if Lidl offer any explanation.

A few years ago I had some black and silver Tronic AAs (non-LSD) from Lidl that were nowhere near their stated capacity and from what I can see online they were probably manufactured by Kompernass too.

This matter has also been discussed on a Czech Republic consumer website (Google translate is needed):

http://www.vasestiznosti.cz/stiznost/11047/nekvalitni-zbozi-aa-nabijeci-clanky-2400mah-tronic

A Lidl spokesperson has responded. He/she was not very informative but did confirm that the correct cell weight should be 28.5g and that the quality department are investigating and will be in touch with the manufacturer.

Interesting, here's a link to the googleish translation:- https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vasestiznosti.cz%2Fstiznost%2F11047%2Fnekvalitni-zbozi-aa-nabijeci-clanky-2400mah-tronic&edit-text=&act=url

Just checked the new white tops weigh 19g the older black tops 27g.
Thought i'd bought some more quality batteries,but i've been conned, seems Lidl's disguised their lower spec ones which used to be in different packaging. :confused:
Refund time :smirk:

I put my Tronic 2400 cells through a number of further charge/discharge cycles and then compared them with the older Tronic 2300mAh cells.

Both sets of cells were charged with the same intelligent charger and discharged under the same conditions but exhibited very different capacities and discharge curves

I have supplied my findings to Lidl UK but despite a promise that their supplier will be in touch I have heard nothing so far.

I chased up Lidl UK on Monday (4th July). They confirmed that senior management has been made aware of the issues I raised. They also told me that details of my complaint were passed to their supplier (Kompernass) and offered to transfer me to Kompernass.

I agreed to be transferred but I was surprised to then speak to a Kompernass rep who denied that the product had been supplied by them. I pointed out that not only did Lidl believe that Kompernass had supplied the product but also the name and address of Kompernass is clearly marked on the packaging. I was then asked to email a photograph of the packaging.

Kompernass did not reply to my email so I phoned them again. They now seem to accept that they did supply the batteries. I told them I would like replacements providing they were not also defective. Twice they told me they would supply AAA batteries instead and twice I told them that was not acceptable. Finally they agreed to provide replacement AAs. One hour later I received an email in poor English saying the batteries were not under warranty (at least I think that is what it said). So presumably they have reneged on their offer to send replacements.

Back to Lidl & they have now agreed to refund me but seem unconcerned about the thousands of other customers that they have potentially supplied with duff batteries. They tell me that the batteries have not been placed on their recall lst.

I will think twice about Lidl ‘Special Buys’ in future. How many more of their products are not what they purport to be? How do I know that those sheets and shirts with x% cotton really do contain x% cotton or that fat free yoghurts really are fat free?

I'd suggest raising the issue in the comments on their uk facebook page and through twitter and any other social media you can be bothered to register an account with to let their customers know of the issue and their attitude.

I'd also send a complaint to trading standards if that had happened to me, although it is probably unlikely that they'll do much other than put it on file, which might make it a bit more likely that they'll do something if Lidl get reported for selling under capacity batteries in future.

Well done for trying to chase them, that is a surprising response though

Thanks for your suggestions. I am not on Facebook/Twitter but I have followed up on Trading Standards.

It seems that Citizens Advice now act as the gatekeeper for Trading Standards - you cannot refer a matter directly. However, the chap I spoke to at Citizens Advice took a lot more interest in my findings than either Lidl or Kompernass and was very keen to refer the matter without any encouragement from me. The details are now with Trading Standards and I have been asked to hold on to one pack of the offending batteries.

Well done (I always give up)

What's needed now is for more people to do the same so this is recognised as an actual problem. As mentioned above, what other products are Lidl deceiving their customers over?