REALLY CHEAP BATTERIES!

Evad Nomenclature · November 29, 2008, 07:55:19 PM

I never use caps but had to for this

I was at target yesterday in upstate NY while on the Turkey day weekend visit with the inlaws. We made a late night stop at Target and they had 9 volt batteries...
in the DOLLAR BIN....!!!!!!!!!!!

THey were Ray-O-Vac's which I have never used (not sure on the quality.) But they were 2 packs of 9volts for a buck a piece...
Needless to say... I spend $15 on batteries

just an FYI~!

skiraly017 · November 29, 2008, 09:19:12 PM

In SoCal we have a chain of .99 Cent Only stores (I'm sure they're elsewhere as well). A double pack of Panasonic 9v batteries are...you guessed it, 99 cents. How can you go wrong?

drewl · November 29, 2008, 10:28:57 PM

You get what you pay for, those 99centers are decent for low current effects though....
Buying batteries in bulk is way cheaper than paying $5 for a 2 pack of 9v.

I usually order 20 or 30 at a time from MCM and they cost around a buck or so each for good alkalines.

bumblebee · November 29, 2008, 10:31:02 PM

I buy batteries buy the box of 20 for AU$14 / US$11. Thats the cheapest I've ever seen them, its a store in my old town, I get my sister to send them to me.

Rodgre · November 30, 2008, 03:34:18 PM

I will often stock up on the 2-for-a-dollar packs (Panasonics at my local Ocean State Job Lot store) and keep them where I might need an emergency battery.

They're definitely useful when you have 200 pedals in front of you and you are trying to find the right one for a particular guitar track, and you don't want to mess with an adapter. For $1 for 2, I will usually buy a stash once a year, drop them into all the semi-often-used pedals at the studio (compressors, distortions, overdrives, etc.... nothing digital).

They won't last long at all, though. I tried one in a Behringer Echo Machine and it lasted about 45 minutes.

Roger

Mark Hammer · November 30, 2008, 04:21:38 PM

A place 5 minutes from me has them for 25 cents a piece. They're cheap Chinese batteries, but when you go through as many batteries as I do, cheap is fine too.

Ronsonic · November 30, 2008, 05:56:21 PM

These are carbon cells and not all that good for high draw pedals, but perfect for the fuzzes and boosters of the world. A lot cheaper than the Mojo branded "special" batteries in music stores, too.

Hey for the pedals you keep around the studio but don't want to mess with, make up a gadget with a 9V battery clip and a DC barrel plug to just plug in there when you want to go. Those are handy for emergencies and troubleshooting as well.

bumblebee · November 30, 2008, 06:28:34 PM

Quote from: Mark Hammer on November 30, 2008, 04:21:38 PM
A place 5 minutes from me has them for 25 cents a piece. They're cheap Chinese batteries, but when you go through as many batteries as I do, cheap is fine too.

True, mine are cheap chinese and non alkaline but they are fine for fuzz,distortion and most EHX effects I have, they seem to last fairly long in my small clone. The only pedal that doesnt take them well is my 81 DS-1 which for some reason needs alkaline to work right.

ayayay! · December 01, 2008, 10:39:12 AM

Tip: Know any people that work in hotels? I used to work in one, and once a year they have to (or at least they should...) replace them in all the door locks. Most all of them test out well over 9 volts. I get as many as I want for free. (There's over 400 rooms in that hotel.)

Evad Nomenclature · December 01, 2008, 10:42:29 AM

damn =)
I feel like such a chump now since I was getting them online for $2 a piece before and thought I was doing good...
hah

Mark Hammer · December 01, 2008, 11:59:24 AM

If it makes you feel any better, the people at the place where I buy mine for 4/$1 make a point of reminding me that these are crappy batteries. I suspect the reason why they are dumping them for that price is largely because they have been so disappointed by them (they used to be $1@).

Given that all I need/expect from the battery is 8ma for 30 seconds at a time when I test out a pedal, crappy is all I'm looking for.

Paul Perry (Frostwave) · December 02, 2008, 09:50:12 AM

someone I knew was a lighting engineer at a long running stage show.. every night, they put brand new 9v batteries in all the body mics.
And she got to keep all the ones they took out

Mark Hammer · December 02, 2008, 12:05:19 PM

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

Electric_Death · December 02, 2008, 12:50:32 PM

Buy some @#$%ing rechargeables you guys, what the hell are you thinking?

Batteries make for some really toxic garbage in landfills.

Mark Hammer · December 02, 2008, 01:08:16 PM

And that is precisely why I prefer to extend the life of already-used batteries as much as I can. The last batch of castoff wireless mic batteries I got from Continuing Education lasted me roughly 3 years, via multiple rechargings. That's a lot of batteries I didn't buy and throw away.

Electric_Death · December 02, 2008, 01:16:26 PM

Quote from: Mark Hammer on December 02, 2008, 01:08:16 PM
And that is precisely why I prefer to extend the life of already-used batteries as much as I can. The last batch of castoff wireless mic batteries I got from Continuing Education lasted me roughly 3 years, via multiple rechargings. That's a lot of batteries I didn't buy and throw away.

How are you safely recharging alkaline?
Back when I was a kid, alkaline chargers were pretty common and I'd get usually a few months out of disposables that saw heavy use.
These days I haven't even found chargers on ebay that can handle alkaline.......

Mark Hammer · December 02, 2008, 03:48:29 PM

I use a plain old vanilla charger. I just make a point of not leaving the battery in for more than an hour at a time. The risk you want to avoid is that of the battery warming up and generating any gases that, um....how you say..."overextend" the space requirements of the material inside the battery (big budda-boom). If you charge for an hour, let it cool down, and then go for another hour, you should be okay.

DO NOTE that this is not the same as recharging a NiMH or NiCd battery. Those types take a recharge better of they are pretty much drained, so as to avoid a "memory effect". In the case of trying to rejuvenate alkaline or even carbon-zinc, once a 9v drops below 7.3v or so, it ain't coming back to more than maybe 8.2v. If it's 8v, chances are very good that you can spruce it up real good to 9.6v and better.

Keep in mind that what I am doing is NOT the same as draining a battery and bringing it all the way back up. What I'm doing is essentially towelling down the boxer as they sit in the corner between rounds, and offering them a cold sip of water to freshen them. If they're beat up, a towel and a sip won't do much, but if they have some fight in them it'll perk them up.

Keep in mind as well, that there is a difference between a charger intended to safely charge up a 9v alkaline in a very short period so you can get back to shooting pictures or whatever, and a standard charger like the type you'd leave your NiCads in overnight.

Electric_Death · December 02, 2008, 04:23:41 PM

Interesting and somewhat comendable that you're giving those disposables a lot more use before taking refuge with the refuge but I'll play it safe and stick to my NiMH rechargeables.
I've got a nice quick charger that juices them up in a couple hours and has some nifty anti memory circuitry.
8 9 volt rechargeables never leave me s.o.l. but I'm pretty certain the 280 mah rating on them is a load of B.S.

Just can't trust much of anything coming out of China anymore. I've talked to some of these suppliers and they're often full of crap and rather vicious!

Mark Hammer · December 02, 2008, 04:34:04 PM

Let's, um, briefly summarize and "re-direct" the tone of the thread in the process:

1) It is desirable to have inexpensive batteries available for the purchase.
2) It is desirable for less e-waste to be produced by the needless disposal of batteries in the waste system.
3) Cheap batteries can be had, though prices seem to vary widely, and one should not expect fabulous lifespan from them, whether they are at the lower or higher end of the pricepoint.
4) FREE batteries of good quality can be had from some select sources that have an obligation to discard batteries of unknown future lifespan.
5) Batteries that are not officially designated as "rechargeable" CAN be persuaded via normal chargers to have an extended lifespan, and even be "brought back" several times over.
6) Inserting nonrechargeable batteries into a charger requires a certain degree of vigilance because batteries can pop if they become overheated.

There, I think that covers the essential points raised here.....regarding batteries.

ayayay! · December 02, 2008, 04:39:19 PM

No problem Mark, I'm with you.

The ones I get from the hotel are alkaline and I meter them all. I keep anything over 8.5 volts and toss the rest. They're called "Workaholics." I know that "sounds" cheap but actually they're fantastic batteries so if you see some cheap, get 'em. They're a green and black label.

News:

REALLY CHEAP BATTERIES!