#20

One should be able to know within a week of use whether the replacement battery lasts as long as the original battery or not. If the capacity rating is not as advertised, it should be easy to tell within a week, time enough to work out the issue with the eBay vendor and give them the appropriate rating.

As for the longevity of the replacement battery, that’s just going to be a gamble that one can only find out within a year or two. But the longevity should be a lower risk gamble compared to the capacity, so it’s a more acceptable risk.

#21

Luga,
I’m glad you were able to install the new battery without modifying the body of the ConnectClip. It’s interesting to see that you found a battery that has a built-in circuit board for over charging protection. That sounds like a good feature, though the board is one more thing to fit into the small space available.

1 Like
#22

Agreed and from my perspective, the decision was low/no risk given the original battery was shot and the only recourse was to purchase a new ConnectClip. Even if the new battery does not last as long as the original, I’m still on “borrowed time”… :slight_smile:

#23

I bought 10 of them on Alibaba for $46 (the minimum they sold). Somewhat fiddly to replace, as the case is hard to open and you need to solder the leads, but not that hard. They work as well as the originals. Same model number. They are standard NIMH batteries and it is absurd for them not to replace them and expect you to buy a new clip to replace a $5 battery. May a camel caravan overnight in their yard. Just match the battery model # and they are the exact same size, voltage and amperage.

1 Like
#24

Hi Cardio,

Might you have any of those batteries left that you bought for your Connectclip? If so I would like to buy one or two off you. :slight_smile:

#25

Never mind I checked and found some on AliExpress and ordered 3. I hope I can find someone with some soldering/welding skills.

#26

Don’t worry you’ll be able to do it yourself.

1 Like
#27

@marko700m, I have a somewhat similar experience buying a third party battery for my Canon camera.
Initially there was no difference between brand name original battery and a cheap spare.
However in about 6 years cheap third party battery stopped holding charge while original battery had only insignificant decrease in its performance. .

#28

Well, another year has gone by, and my second eBay battery started showing signs of weakness. I followed the link I posted above for my first batteries, and they showed out of stock. I tried Luga’s link from January 2021, but the link was broken. But I searched for 601430 and found what looked like a suitable battery, and ordered it. This latest one was narrower but thicker than the ones I used before, and the thickness made it hard to get the Clip closed, but it is working.

One other difference between the various battery versions is how the tabs are arranged (the spots you solder the wires to). On this latest battery, the tabs are very close to each other, which raises the risk that you will short out the battery when doing the soldering. So that is one more factor to consider when buying one of these generic batteries.

For the record, here is the link to the eBay listing:

And the product description:

3.7V 200mAh 601430 Lithium Polymer LiPo Rechargeable Battery (USA STOCK)

The product picture shows the battery with a connector already attached, but the connector was not included.

#29

Thanks for sharing. This info is much appreciated!

#30

Someone in this thread found batteries with the same part number that were NiMH (Nickel metal Hydride). Others have used Lithium Polymer replacements.

The replacement battery chemistry needs to match the original due to charging differences. Using the incorrect type risks fire or explosion if charged improperly. I do not have this device but am familiar with rechargeable battery technology.

1 Like
#31

I would be very surprised if NiMH batteries would work properly in the ConnectClip and even if they did, I doubt they would last very long. NiMH is better than NiCad, but not by much. Li-ion batteries took over from NiMH and NiCad because they perform much better and last much longer. In particular, they don’t have the same “memory” problems.

#32

It’s not even about NiMH vs Li-ion, which is better, although @darylm is correct that Li-ion is better in many ways and hence has become more popular. It’s actually about what the ConnectClip is designed to use, and as a result, what the charger inside the ConnectClip is designed to charge, because a charger for Li-ion cannot be used to charge NiMH batteries, and vice-versa. You don’t want to be charging a NiMH battery using a Li-ion charger or vice versa because it’s not safe nor is it proper to do so in the first place.

I have a specially designed charger that is microprocessor based and is designed to charge both types of battery chemistry, either NiCad/NiMH or Li-ion, by using a different charging algorithm/process for each of the chemistry type. But that’s a box the size of my palm that can charge up to 4 batteries of different types independently. The tiny little charging circuit inside the ConnectClip can’t afford to be that smart, so it’s most likely dedicated to charging Li-ion batteries only.

Besides, not only NiMH and Li-ion are different type chemistries, they also have different voltages across a single cell. NiMH is 1.2 V, and Li-ion cell is 3.6 V. OK, you can stack 3 NiMH cells in series to get the 3.6 V of the Li-ion, but again, there’s no room inside the ConnectClip to place that many NiMH cells to replace the tiny little Li-ion cell anyway.

1 Like
#33

It probably depends on the formulation and the charging system. Years of Toyota Prius batteries up until 2015 refute your statement. After that only some models like my 2017 used NiMH but with a higher quality nickel.

My son’s first Prius easily lasted 10 years and, I think, 150K miles. They only charge to 80% and discharge to 20% of capacity.

#34

NiMH in general is better than NiCad in the sense that it has much less of a memory effect than NiCad, so you don’t have to discharge it before recharge to avoid the memory effect. Also, it doesn’t self discharge even when unused as quickly, although originally it still did self discharge as well, but not as much as NiCad. But then later on Energizer came up with a modified NiMH battery that is much slower self discharged (would still contain 70-80% of charge over a year or two even if unused), and eventually everybody followed suite and came up with the same chemistry (or maybe the Energizer patent expired and everybody started copying their chemistry).

1 Like
#35

NiMH batteries have been almost completely phased out of use in mobile devices, portable tools, EVs, energy storage systems. This is because Li-Ion is vastly superior to NiMH. If there were not Li-Ion batteries, we probably would not have rechargeable hearing aids or rechargeable ConnectClips.

1 Like
#36

The Prius used them for over 15 years and possibly even longer in low end trim levels. My 2017 base model has NiMH and they had supposedly improved the grade of Nickel used. They kept the same 20% to 80% operating range in the models with LiIon.

#37

Again, the fact that your 2017 Prius uses NiMH is not terribly relevant. An automobile application will have the largest / heaviest battery that the car can hold. The only parameters that anyone cares about are cost, life and range. The reason that Li-Ion has almost completely displaced NiMH is because Li-Ion is superior to NiMH.

#38

The Prius only needs a tiny amount of range in their NiMH battery (probably just a mile or less) to be enough to support acceleration from stops, and to accept regeneration. There’s a reason why all modern EVs with any reasonable range (even hybrids like the Chevy Volt with 37-50 mile range) all use Li-ion batteries and not NiMH batteries like the Prius.

The Li-ion have higher energy density when it comes to weight and space compared to NiMH. You can’t just simply say one battery chemistry is as good or better than another battery chemistry without factoring in what application that battery chemistry is being used for. For the application of the Toyota Prius as a hybrid, the use of NiMH is good enough so the use of Li-ion is not necessary. In that application, the NiMH has the advantage of a lower cost.

If rechargeable HAs use NiMH chemistry in the current shape and form of the HAs instead of Li-ion batteries, I’m sure the HAs won’t last you the 12-16 hours of use daily. The same with the ConnectClip. If it had used NiMH batteries, you would have had to charge it a lot more often than its current form using Li-ion batteries. May not even last you all day before you have to recharge if it were NiMH unless they make the ConnectClip twice the size or something. Then nobody would want to buy it if it were too big to carry around in their pocket or wear around their neck.

And it’s not just the weight and size disadvantage for the energy density. NiMH basic cell voltage is only 1.2V, while Li-ion basic cell voltage is 3.7V. If you have designs that require a higher operating voltage, let’s say at 3.6V, you’d have to put 3 NiMH cells in series to achieve that voltage, while only 1 Li-ion cell alone can deliver that much voltage already. Surely you can redesign things to work with 1.2V, but perhaps at a higher cost than a 3.6V design.

2 Likes
#39

Not to beat a dead horse, but I did some reading about the NiMH Prius battery.

According to Car and Driver, the Prius battery consists of 28 Panasonic nickel-metal hydride modules, each of which six 1.2-volt cells. They are connected in a series and produce a total of 201.6 volts.

The battery for a 2012-2016 weighs 85 lbs.

Several companies are now making Li-Ion replacements. One of them weighs 35 lbs (less than half of the original battery) and puts out 260A (more than double the 100A of the original battery).

Toyota is a very conservative and risk-averse company. If the new vehicles with Li-Ion batteries have the same range as older vehicles with NiMH batteries, it’s probably because the new batteries are smaller and weigh less than the original battery.

According to Green Car Reports, Toyota is still using NiMH batteries in their AWD hybrid, because NiMH performs better when it’s cold. The NiMH pack will weigh about 25 percent more (165 pounds, versus 132 pounds) and occupy about 20 percent more volume than a lithium-ion pack with a comparable output and usable capacity.