REALLY CHEAP BATTERIES!

[The Tone God]

Play nice everyone. If you have a point to make you can do so without insulting others.

Andrew

[jacobyjd]

I only use batteries for on my breadboard and for any switching builds I do (hate to use a DC jack just for indicator LEDs), so I don't tend to use many.

For example, I've been swapping a roland battery (pillaged from a boss pedal) among my envelope filter, my breadboard, and one of my house's smoke detectors (my landlord stopped in twice in the past week for minor repairs, and I haven't had a chance to actually go buy a replacement  ). Crazy.

I've found AC Delco branded batteries at a 99c store (2-pack) in Valpo, IN--that was a show-saver once

[ayayay!]

Hey speaking of which, can you buy the Roland batteries?  I like those.  ...but only if they'd be affordable. 

[runmikeyrun]

They do that for remote cardiac monitoring devices in hospitals (where the hope is thatneither the battery nor the patient die), and for wireless mics in university lecture halls.  As I've frequently noted here, you can negotiate with the relevant people to take those cast-off batteries off their hands.  My experience is that they are generally:

a) very high quality alkaline batteries
b) not much lower than 8vdc when abandoned
c) easily recharged/rejuvenated back to 9.5v after an hour or so in most chargers

The hospital i used to work for in the early 2000s had a large bucket for all their old 9v from the cardiac telemetry monitors.  The patient used the monitor and when discharged the battery went into the recycle bucket.  They literally had 40 or 50 in there at any given time.  These were the duracell Procells too, awesome batteries.  About 2/3 of them would test below 7.5v but some were almost fully charged, maybe being in the monitor for only a day.  I only needed to get batteries from them a couple times a year because i would get 10 or 15 good ones at a time.

Sadly, out of the 5 hospitals i went to regularly at my last ambulance job NONE of them recycled and ALL of them simply threw them away!  Ridiculous!  I made sure to speak to each unit manager at each hospital about the need to recycle (hey, looking out for the planet AND myself!) even offering to recycle them myself.  None of them would do it. 

Needless to say i was relegated to liberating one or two when i was short on batteries...

[Mark Hammer]

I have faced similar resistance at hospitals.  I find it offensive that they so steadfastly decline to allow waste products to be recycled.  On the other hand, there may well be something or some policy we are unaware of, like an obligation to account for every battery disposed of, precisely in service of conscientious disposal.  The nurses and techs don't seem to indicate  that, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

I might add that as a wearer of a cardiac telemetry device for a brief period in my life, I was kinda glad they didn't take a chance on the current state of the battery.

The guys at Continuing Education at the university, however, were more forthcoming, since they don't have all the layers of "corporate accountability" that the hospital folks have.  Get to know them!

[drk]

didnt know you could recharge alkaline batteries. is it with normal rechargers or does it need a special one?

[ayayay!]

Man you wanna hear something REALLY messed up?  We had a friend growing up that had this handheld version of Defender.  I think this was in '82.  When the D batteries on his game died, he would microwave them for about 4 seconds and they'd work again for about 4 or 5 minutes.  He could do it about 6 or 7 times before they died once and for all.  When his mom caught him, he quit doing it.  He then just used the standard oven instead.  (That never worked.)

Back on topic, the recharger trick on non-rechargeables does work, but I've also blown those guys before too.  Nice acid-y mess in the bottom of the recharger. 

Man I oughtta be DEAD by now cause of stunts like that...

[morcey2]

Man you wanna hear something REALLY messed up?  We had a friend growing up that had this handheld version of Defender.  I think this was in '82.  When the D batteries on his game died, he would microwave them for about 4 seconds and they'd work again for about 4 or 5 minutes.  He could do it about 6 or 7 times before they died once and for all.  When his mom caught him, he quit doing it.  He then just used the standard oven instead.  (That never worked.)

Back on topic, the recharger trick on non-rechargeables does work, but I've also blown those guys before too.  Nice acid-y mess in the bottom of the recharger. 

Man I oughtta be DEAD by now cause of stunts like that...

When the AAA's in our remote quite cooperating, I take them out and stick one in each armpit for about 10 minutes.  I'm not sure if the warmth does the trick or if it's the threat of ending up back in the 'pit that makes them work for a couple of more days.  Maybe armpitting is the waterboarding of the battery world!

Matt

[Mark Hammer]

Back on topic, the recharger trick on non-rechargeables does work, but I've also blown those guys before too.  Nice acid-y mess in the bottom of the recharger. 

Which is why the battery companies will not tell you that it is possible to juice up a nonrechargeable.  It is exremely wise to NOT provide encouragement for the uninformed and underinformed to take foolish chances.

Incidentally, all those warnings you've heard about changing all batteries at once are also to be heeded.  My older son's original Game Boy "popped" a number of batteries quite loudly when I swapped a couple of the weakest ones for stronger ones.  Depending on the circuit and immediate current requirements, they can pose greater stress on the weakest battery in the chain, and warm it up real good.

That being said, DO NOT plug carbon-zinc or nonrechargeable alkaline into the charger and walk away. Be ready and available to touch them and gauge heat build-up every 15min or so, and DO NOT leave them in longer than an hour at a time.  I've had some cases where I accidentally left batteries in the charger overnight or all afternoon, and nothing blew up, but I consider myself VERY lucky in those instances, and may well have used up some of YOUR quota of luck in the process (only so much of that stuff to go around, right?).

[Paul Marossy]

I just say no to batteries as much as is possible. The only things I have that use 9V batteries are my guitars. Everything else is run off of a wall wart.

[runmikeyrun]

Man you wanna hear something REALLY messed up?  We had a friend growing up that had this handheld version of Defender.  I think this was in '82.  When the D batteries on his game died, he would microwave them for about 4 seconds and they'd work again for about 4 or 5 minutes.  He could do it about 6 or 7 times before they died once and for all.  When his mom caught him, he quit doing it.  He then just used the standard oven instead.  (That never worked.)

Back on topic, the recharger trick on non-rechargeables does work, but I've also blown those guys before too.  Nice acid-y mess in the bottom of the recharger. 

Man I oughtta be DEAD by now cause of stunts like that...

When the AAA's in our remote quite cooperating, I take them out and stick one in each armpit for about 10 minutes.  I'm not sure if the warmth does the trick or if it's the threat of ending up back in the 'pit that makes them work for a couple of more days.  Maybe armpitting is the waterboarding of the battery world!

Matt

Oh man that's the funniest thing i've heard (read) all day!  Usually i just roll them in the battery box a couple times but i'll have to try the armpit next time.

[bassmasta17]

i was at some market in the middle of no where ohio (blah blah blah) fake "guitars" and such and i found a 9V battery package that had 15 batterys in it. They had over 100 of those packs laying in a huge pallet sized bin. I think they where Energizer spelled wrong. price???

$0.75

too hard to beleve right? so i asked the lady if they lasted long. I didnt know what she said but she snached them out of my hand and put them in a Thank you bag faster then joe satch's speed pickn'. Then she freeked out on me for not buying them. Made a big scene and everything.