What do I do with this?

[Morocotopo]

I recently found a couple of remote controls that sat unused for at least two years, and found their batteries had leaked, even though they were alkaline types, and those were supposed to be leak-free...



So I got a little paranoid, and proceeded to remove ALL batteries from all unused pedals, gizmos, preamps, etc. and I ended up with this:



So, what do I do with this? I came up with a few answers myself:

- Use them to start my car in those cold winter mornings
- Put them all in series and power my tube amp for about 30 seconds.
- Feed them to my house power line to save some money on the electricity bill.
- Make a one tranny boost that will need no power for the rest of my life, and my son´s too. Heavy, though.
- Feed them to my dog, that´s been a little low on energy lately.
- Make a sculpture and earn lots of money selling it as conceptual art.

Suggestions welcome. No suggestions involving body cavities, please.



Now, seriously, most are in various states of use, but that´s a lot of power that I paid for, so I thought of connecting two of them in series to a 9V regulator and a couple of caps, so as to have a "temporary regulated power supply". That way I could use them, at least theoretically, till each one reaches around 4,5V or so. What do you think?

[GibsonGM]

Hey, that could work.  Just use them on the bench to test stuff, til they die.  Then put the regulator circuit into something else, maybe using a wall wart )

[Bad Chizzle]

Yes, sounds like a very good idea to use them on your bench! That's the only place I use batteries anymore.

[JKowalski]

- Make a one tranny boost that will need no power for the rest of my life, and my son´s too. Heavy, though.

It would last around 5950 days (16 years), if the current draw was only around 100uA. 

[jkokura]

I'd double check the dates on at least some of them. I found a pedal I hadn't used in 5 years once with a nearly 10 year old battery in it. Then I checked a bunch of my other pedals and realized that all of those batteries had expired. I'm now no longer using battery power, using a power box instead, so I don't leave batteries in my pedals any more. I'm scared of the results of leaking batteries inside my pedals.

If lots of them are still fine, I would keep them and then try using them on a small pedal board only when I need them. Though I will say I hate having to unscrew and rescrew all my pedals to get at the battery spot - part of the reason I went to a power supply - I find that the convenience of plug and play without finding a proper power outlet for my board is kinda liberating.

Jacob

[Mark Hammer]

They can be recharged/rejuvenated in a standard battery charger.  I would strongly caution anyone attempting this to keep tabs on them, and not leave them in the charger for more than 60-90 minutes at a shot.  If they feel warm, take them out., let them cool down and stick them back in for another hour later on  If they are not presently below around 7.5V, there is a good likelihood they can be recharged back up to 9V and higher.  I've been doing exactly this with exactly this brand/type for well over a decade with great success.

Will they last as long as a fresh one?  No.  But you would be very pleasantly surprised by how much extended life you can get from them, plus the fact that if you don't drain it below a certain level, you can rejuvenate again and again.  Not as much as rechargeable alkalines or other "formal" rechargeables, but enough to feel like you're salvaging something from the garbage heap.

[Joe Hart]

They can be recharged/rejuvenated in a standard battery charger.  I would strongly caution anyone attempting this to keep tabs on them, and not leave them in the charger for more than 60-90 minutes at a shot.  If they feel warm, take them out., let them cool down and stick them back in for another hour later on  If they are not presently below around 7.5V, there is a good likelihood they can be recharged back up to 9V and higher.  I've been doing exactly this with exactly this brand/type for well over a decade with great success.

Will they last as long as a fresh one?  No.  But you would be very pleasantly surprised by how much extended life you can get from them, plus the fact that if you don't drain it below a certain level, you can rejuvenate again and again.  Not as much as rechargeable alkalines or other "formal" rechargeables, but enough to feel like you're salvaging something from the garbage heap.

Hang on! WHAT?!?!?! Can you do this with any alkaline batteries? What kind of charger (NiCad, NiMH)? My house won't burn down from doing this?
-Joe Hart

[arawn]

  Yeah what he said?
We don't recharge batteries @work, Although we are playing with Lithium Thyonil batteries!

[theundeadelvis]

Just don't store them with your steel wool or you'll end up with this times 27: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/351326/instant_fire_from_steel_wool_and_a_battery/

[amptramp]

Let's see, 24 batteries at 9 volts, you can connect them in series by snapping the small terminal of one battery into the large terminal of another one and linking them together like bricks and you have a 216 volt battery.  I also collect antique radios and this is commonly what is done for supplies up to 90 volts.  The batteries are good for about 10 mA of steady drain for a while.

[waltk]

For the nearly dead ones...

yank the metal can off with pliers (protecting your fingers - the metal edges are real sharp),
pull off the top piece (with the terminals) and bottom piece (the plastic sliver),
solder 22 gauge red and black wires to the tabs under the terminals (remembering to use black for the positive terminal as it will be connecting to the negative terminal of a battery),
glue the top and bottom pieces together with a thick layer of epoxy,
throw away your stash of cheesy store-bought 9-volt battery terminals - these are much better.

...instant battery terminals

[Top Top]

Pair them up by snapping one into the other...


Wait, no don't do that...

[Bad Chizzle]

If they're dead and you want to get rid of em after taking off the tops to use for clips, take em to your nearest Lowes, where they usually have a box for getting rid of old batteries.