Olympus BLL-1

The Olympus BLL-1 proved quite difficult to open up and required a craft knife, flat bladed screwdriver and a pair of pliers. This is a good thing as it confirms the high standard of the physical construction. Contrast this with the 7DayShop BLL-1 clone which I was practically able to open with no tools, just fingers. The fit in the SHLD-2 holder was nice and smooth with the O-ring seal snugging down nicely and the flange making a nice flush fit to the holder body. The locking lever needed no excess pressure and turned easily into place.

The capacity test shows just a bit over 3400mAh, exactly per specification and would have been well over 3500mAh except that the test was stopped at just under 6 volts. The over-discharge circuit would have cut in at about 4 volts to prevent the Lithium-Ion cells suffering excessive discharge. The duration and shape of the discharge curve is very good especially near the end of the curve where the voltage is maintained at a good level and does not droop too much too quickly near the end.

Analysis of the pack reveals a set of four good quality Panasonic CGA103450 prismatic (I think this just means rectangular instead of cylindrical) cells connected as two series sets of 2 cells in parallel. With each cell conservatively rated at 1800mAh (1700mAh minimum) and 3.7 volts each one parallel set of two is rated at 3600mAh nominal (at 3.7 volts) and the two sets connected in series are then rated at 3600mAh nominal (at 7.4 volts). The discharge test shows that this pack has no trouble delivering it's rated capacity. These cells feature a rigid lightweight aluminium case and an internal safety pressure valve to vent excess gas pressure in the event of excessive overcurrent, overcharge or internal faults.

The long rectangular control board carries the usual trio of control chip, current switch chip and re-settable polyfuse for short-circuit protection. As in the BLM-1 series it is fed current from a centre-tap on the cells. Unlike the BLM-1 series a discrete thermistor is taped to one of the cells to provide accurate over-temperature protection. In summary this is a solid, workmanlike performance from Olympus which can be relied on to deliver what it says on the box.

Rating this pack is difficult. On pure construction, performance and protection grounds it warrants a 'Highly Recommended' but as many are aware as of the date of this review (October 2006) the SLHD-2 is on clearance prices and in some instances the entire SLHD-2 kit is being sold for less than what seems still to be the official price of a BLL-1 battery alone. The Olympus BLL-1 does score over the 7DayShop BLL-1 for sheer quality of construction and scores greatly over the Energizer BLL-1 for capacity but the current high price means it is marked down accordingly. Should it become available for a price more in keeping with the clearance price of the SHLD-2 (e.g. GBP30-40) it would be a class winner.

My thanks go to MXV Photographic for the donor BLL-1 used in the photographs.

7DayShop PS-BLL1

The 7DayShop PS-BLL1 was disturbingly easy to open up and required nothing more than moderate finger pressure applied to the sides at which point most of the seams cracked and I was able to open it by pulling the two halves apart. This is not good thing as it points to the quite low standard of physical construction. The fit in the SHLD-2 holder was quite tight and needed firm pressure to push it into the holder. The flange was not a particularly good fit to the holder body begging the question of how effective the moisture seal would be. The locking lever needed no real excess pressure and turned into place without fuss.

The capacity test shows 3526mAh - quite a good result for an economy pack. Over-discharge protection cut in at just over 4 volts to prevent the Lithium-Ion cells suffering excessive discharge and this is well within tolerance for this type of pack. The duration and shape of the discharge curve is reasonable although it does show markedly more droop than the Olympus BLL-1 near the end of the curve which means that the E-1 will start to struggle a little earlier as the pack becomes exhausted.

Opening up the pack reveals a set of four ICP103448AR cells seemingly of Russian origin. The cells are again connected as two series sets of 2 cells in parallel. The only information I can find on these suggests that they are rated at only 1450mAh and 3.7 volts therefore one parallel set of two is rated at 2900mAh nominal (at 3.7 volts) and the two sets connected in series are then rated at 2900mAh nominal (at 7.4 volts). The discharge test though was a pleasant surprise showing that this pack has no trouble delivering it's rated capacity which is strange given the rating of the cells. The test was run twice to confirm the capacity, the second test result was 3494mAh which is well within tolerance.

The long rectangular control board carries S8232L regulator/S8212 current switch chips. It is not apparent from the pictures but the board is significantly thinner than the Olympus control board and flexes with alarming ease. The metal straps are also noticeably narrower and thinner than those on the Olympus BLL-1 however the strap welds are quite satisfactory. The review sample also had a deep nick in one of the wires to the thermistor probably from getting trapped between two bits of the case. Should this break completely a lack of over-temperature protection would result with a lot of red flashing lights from the charger. This is not a design defect but a manufacturing quality issue. The re-settable polyfuse for short-circuit protection is our old friend the LRDP260 (as seen in the BLM-1 series) and is not on the control board but externally in the feed to the pack connectors. These appear to be gold-plated rather than the nickel of the Olympus pack. The latter is preferable as the power connectors in the SHLD-2 are also nickel plated thus avoiding any potential electrolytic corrosion issues which can happen between dissimilar metals in contact. The control board is fed current from a centre-tap on the cells. Again with this format of pack a discrete thermistor is taped to one of the cells to provide accurate cell temperature measurement and over-temperature protection. In summary this pack is of average to low construction but with surprisingly good results from the cells.

Purely on construction grounds this pack warrants a firm 'Average' but it is a bit of an enigma given the surprising performance of the cells although if they are being over-run to achieve rated capacity they will probably not have a great service life. The Olympus BLL-1 does score heavily over the 7DayShop BLL-1 for sheer quality of construction but the low price of the 7DayShop pack (as of the date of this review GBP16.99 plus postage) means it is a very good buy if the physical construction or a long life/warranty isn't an issue.

Energizer OL-1

The Energizer OL-1 case is quite well put together and moderate work was required to open it which confirms a quite reasonable standard of physical construction. The fit in the SHLD-2 holder was not quite as smooth as the Olympus but didn't need any excessive pressure to push it into the holder. The flange was a reasonably good fit to the holder body. The locking lever needed no excess pressure and easily turned into place.

The capacity test showed only 2886 mAh which is a very poor result for a pack rated at 3400mAh. A second test showed little difference. Over-discharge protection cut in at just over 5 volts which is a little high but well within tolerance and would not give the E-1 problem as it would have cut out well before that point. The shape of the discharge curve is reasonable not showing too much droop near the end of the discharge curve.

Opening up the pack reveals a set of four ICP103448SR cells again seemingly of Russian origin. The cells are connected as two series sets of 2 cells in parallel. The only information I can find on these again confirms that they are rated at only 1450mAh and 3.7 volts therefore one parallel set of two is rated at 2900mAh nominal (at 3.7 volts) and the two sets connected in series are then rated at 2900mAh nominal (at 7.4 volts). The discharge test actually confirms the approximate rating of the pack to be what is expected given their rating but is way below what this pack is marketed at. The test was run twice to confirm the capacity, the second test result was 2859mAh which is in close agreement.

As well as having almost identical cells, the control board is identical to that in the 7DayShop PS-BLL1 even down to the revision so please refer to the section above for further information. Again, the metal straps are also noticeably narrower and thinner than those on the Olympus BLL-1 and the strap welds are not as good as the 7DayShop pack. On the review sample one of the wires to the thermistor probably easily became detached from the control board during handling. This is not a design defect but a manufacturing quality issue although I should point out that in real life it would not receive the handling it had during the tests. The re-settable polyfuse for short-circuit protection is again the LRDP260 and is externally in the feed to the pack connectors which are also gold-plated rather than the nickel plating of the Olympus pack. This pack is of reasonably good construction but with very poor results from the cells.

Although a little better construction quality than the 7DayShop pack this pack only really warrants an 'Average' compared to the Olympus however given the below-par poor performance of the cells and the fact that it appears to be a clone of the 7DayShop pack (or perhaps vice-versa) it has little to recommend it. At over twice the price of the 7DayShop pack (in the UK as at the date of review) and with no redeeming features the 7DayShop pack is a far better buy (again provided that physical construction/long service life/long warranty isn't an issue).

Conclusions

Again it is clear that price alone is NO guide to the capacity or quality of a particular pack. The cheaper 7DayShop pack was less than half the price of the Energizer (which was let down badly by very low-rated cells) yet it outperformed it significantly. The search will however continue for a pack containing good quality cells from a recognised quality manufacturer with adequate control and protection circuitry which can be obtained far cheaper than the original (such as the UNiROSS clone in the BLM-1 series, regrettably they do not seem to produce a BLL-1 clone). Since the BLL-1 is very much E-1 specific, candidates will be fewer and farther between than the BLM-1 clones. Until then my choice for backup will be the 7DayShop pack although of course there is no guarantee that the next one will outperform it's cell ratings. With equivalent capacity and adequate protection even should it only have a service life of a year you can buy three for only about half the price of an Olympus original. In the UK, the irony is that as of this review date it is cheaper to buy an entire SHLD-2 kit just for the BLL-1 battery!

Overall results as follows:

Overall winner - 7DayShop PS-BLL1

Second place - Olympus BLL-1
Third Place - Energizer OL-1 (note 1, 2)

Best capacity - Olympus BLL-1
Best value for money - 7DayShop PS-BLL1

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Energizer OL-1

WOULD LIKE TO TEST

Lenmar DL-OL1

Note 1 - the Energizer actually performs to the ratings of it's cells but not to the rating it is sold as having.
Note 2 - economy packs source cells from all over the world - the same 'own label' pack available in a year's time might perform completely differently.

Disclaimer: In order to provide a comparison with the BLM-1 (on the basis that the first question is likely to be 'how does it compare to my BLM-1') the capacity test discharges packs at around 0.05C instead of 0.1C (i.e. 180mA rather than 340mA). Manufacturers capacities are usually stated at the 0.1C discharge rate however tests of these packs at 0.1C have shown minimal variance from the capacities shown here which are therefore considered a valid representation of what might be expected in actual use.