USBCell (eco-battery) (USB Cell Rechargeable Batteries)

Member Name: psirac

Product:	USB Cell Rechargeable Batteries
Date:	24/10/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eco - friendly, convenient

Disadvantages: Only available in one size, for now

Everyone needs batteries, right? So many gadgets these days, and all power hungry little beasts. Now you don't want to be buying new 'normal' alkaline batteries every five minutes and throwing them away when they're dead, so what's the solution?

Of course, rechargable alkaline batteries have been around for ages but you needed a dedicated charger to recharge them. Welcome to USBCell...

What are they?
USBCell is a new kind of rechargable battery made by an eco-award winning company called Moixa Energy Ltd. As the name suggests, instead of using a dedicated battery charger, you recharge these using any powered USB port on a laptop or desktop PC, games console, etc. (you can also charge them in a normal charging unit if you really want to).

The batteries look like any normal alkaline battery but have a flip-top which opens up to reveal the USB plug. Currently the only size available is AA but Moixa are working on several different battery sizes and types, including mobile phone batteries, and even AAA size batteries which come with a USB adaptor as they are too thin to house a normal sized USB plug.

According to their website, research shows that normal rechargable batteries only go through about 10 recharge cycles before being discarded, perhaps because of the inconvenience of needing a seperate charger. Moixa claim that the USBCell has been tested for up to 500 recharge cycles and the convenience of USB charging means that they're likely to be in use for much longer than the normal/old type.
So, better than normal rechargable batteries then. I don't think I even need to mention how much better and more environmentally friendly they are than non-rechargable batteries, which account for around 19,000 tonnes of annual household waste in the UK alone, much of that waste being toxic.

Performance:
I've had several USBCells for at least a year now (I think I have at least 10) and I use them in a number of different devices, from games console controllers to bluetooth keyboards and more. In all devices, a full charge lasts for a long time, I'm talking about months of use for my bluetooth keyboard and several weeks of use in my Xbox 360 controller (which seems to be MUCH longer than the official battery packs for those). I haven't noticed any problems with any device I've used them in.

Recharging:
Simply plug the battery into a powered USB port and you'll see a green ring around the edge of the flip-up lid light up. It remains permanently ON until the battery is almost fully charged, when the light will blink slowly before finally going OFF completely when the battery is fully charged. I don't know the exact time a full charge takes as I usually let them charge overnight but even short charges provide a decent amount of use before they need charging again.

Eco benefits:
Reduced landfill waste.
Reduced TOXIC waste.
"Each USBCell can save 7kg of CO2"
"Each USBCell can save 3kg of toxic waste"

Those last two lines are taken directly from the Moixa website and it's not clear what the compator is, not the timeframe involved, but every little helps, right? When we're talking about 15 billion batteries made and disposed of each year (globally), changing to USBCells can clearly have a big environmental impact and will also save you quite a lot of money.
There is a wealth of information on the USBCell website regarding the benefits and future plans, it's well worth a visit if you're interested in this kind of thing.

http://www.usbcell.com

Buying:

You can buy USBCells directly from Moixa using the website above. Other stores also sell them, I think I first saw them on I Want One of Those.com.

A 2-pack of AA size USBCells costs £10.99 (free UK delivery) on the Moixa website. It might be possible to find them a little cheaper elsewhere, shop around. That might sound quite expensive compared with a 4-pack of Duracell, but the savings over time will be significant. Moixa also offer multipacks, a pack of 20 batteries costs just £89.95. You might not need or want that many, but you could buy this pack between a group of people and all benefit from the bulk saving. They also have a few special versions, a "Carbon Footprint" version and also different coloured "Fashion" versions.

Summary:
A great, eco-friendly, cost-saving and convenience rechargable battery.

Would I recommend them? Definitely.

*also published on ciao.co.uk with the same username*

Summary: Eco-friendly rechargable batteries

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