Batteries

[oll_lewis]

What does it take for a battery to become dangerous? Like binning it, would it explode if it was in a rubbish tip? Is it a time thing or would it only happen on a hot day or if it came into contact with foil or noxious household chemicals? Just how dangerous are these things?!

Nothing quite so dramatic as explodeing on conact with old orange peal I'm affraid (that's a point, why exactly do bin vans allways smell of orange peal, if people eat that many oranges how come the western world is not dictated orange prices by an opec style cartell?), when the case corrodes the acid leaks all over the place and you get a lot of heavey metal pollution. Which is basicly things like nicle and cadmium molicules in too high concentrations buggering up plant growth or poisoning animals, for example if a human go's around eatting lead they die after a while.

Also direct current from a battery will probably only give you a shock if you lick it if it is a huge battery of power cells like a car battery.
theres no way an AA cell for example on it's own could give you a shock as it just dosen't have the electric current to do so. Trying this trick with alternateing current and a plug socket is deinately not reccomended as this could kill you.

 

[lordborealmark2]

My Mum & Dad's neighbour's nephew used to take great pleasure from licking batteries, and I can only assume now that he's moved on to such superior pastimes as sniffing glue, drinking lighter fluid, and voting for the VERITAS party.

Darwin award in the making, methinks.

 

[mah_magic]

In the instruction manual for my mobile phone it states that 'batteries can not be recharges in a microwave oven'

who, what, when and why

it must have been done to be included in the manual to prevent any awkward lawsuits for not saying you cann't.

what does happen if you put a battery in a microwave and does any one fancy making a video of it for us all.

 

[Floyd]

In Sweden, every petrol station, recycling centre, supermarket and electrical goods store have battery disposal bins. Also, at the recycling centre, you can drop off old electrical stuff, tyres, bricks, you name it. It all gets stripped down, sorted through and recycled. Not recycling in Sweden carries heavier penalties than murder. (Not true but nearly!)

Back in the UK after Christmas, I went to my mams local recycling centre to drop off loads of stuff and they just dumped it all in one skip, probably to be burned or dumped!

As for battery licking, I would think people with pace-makers should avoid that one!

It seems odd to me now, that only back in 2005 we were throwing batteries out with the normal rubbish (I suppose a lot still do though).

Regarding the situation in Sweden where you always seem much farther ahead of us, here, they are actually talking now of closing down our recycle tip and charging people (on top of the already paid council tax) for using the recycle bin(s) that we have at home.

I can see that those two ideas will really solve the fly-tipping issue we have here..........

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

There's been quite a bit of discussion recently on Quora about whether it's worth paying more for premium brands like Duracell or Energiser, when own brand alkaline batteries cost so very much less.

The consensus seems to be that, for bang for your buck, you can't go wrong with Aldi, Ikea or other cheap brands, as they are almost as long lasting (90%-100%) as the expensive ones but at around a third of the price.
But I'm sure most of us had reached that same conclusion anyway.

Those old Duracell adverts with the running bunny "No other battery lasts like it" were a complete smokescreen, as they compared Duracell alkalines with obsolete zinc carbide batteries.

 

[PeteS]

Strange that I've always found Duracell to last considerably longer than others and have done for decades. Rechargeable are better obviously.

 

[Floyd]

Strange that I've always found Duracell to last considerably longer than others and have done for decades. Rechargeable are better obviously.

I used to think the same, but I've never done any real tests to prove or disprove it.

The last lot I bought were JCB as Duracell are too expensive.

(False economy if they do indeed last longer, I know).

 

[Floyd]

My father had a battery discharge itself fast with burny consequences in his trouser pocket. I'm guessing something metal was touching both points... only his leg fortunately...

I take the double AA battery out of the device while I'm not using it, but when I came to use it a week or so later, it had gone totally flat.

It was fine when I had last used it.

I was wondering whether it had touched something metal in the toiletry bag that I keep it in - sissors/nail clipper etc.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Strange that I've always found Duracell to last considerably longer than others and have done for decades. Rechargeable are better obviously.

Now that you can get 1.6v rechargeables, they are certainly worth a look.
The older ones though could only generate 1.2v under optimum conditions and weren't suitable for many devices.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

This is the analysis someone did comparing Aldi, Duracell, Kmart and Toshiba batteries in a torch. (He also achieved similar results testing with an alarm unit).
The Aldi batteries came out on top, with the Duracell and Kmart just behind. Toshiba had the poorest performance.

 

[Spookdaddy]

Now that you can get 1.6v rechargeables, they are certainly worth a look.
The older ones though could only generate 1.2v under optimum conditions and weren't suitable for many devices.

I've been using Eneloops for a few years now, and they've been really very reliable. And still currently no fails in the ones I own.

Mine are only 1.2v mind - but they've always worked fine for my purposes.

(I have Petzl headtorches for work - Petzl now produce a bespoke battery pack which can be used as an alternative to 3xAAA. They're very effective.)

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I've been using Eneloops for a few years now, and they've been really very reliable. And still currently no fails in the ones I own.

Mine are only 1.2v mind - but they've always worked fine for my purposes.

(I have Petzl headtorches for work - Petzl now produce a bespoke battery pack which can be used as an alternative to 3xAAA. They're very effective.)

On instruction leaflets for many battery-operated devices, it used to state not suitable for rechargeable batteries. The new 1.6v rechargeable ones though ought to perform as well as standard non-rechargeable batteries.

 

[PeteS]

I've been using Eneloops for a few years now, and they've been really very reliable. And still currently no fails in the ones I own.

Mine are only 1.2v mind - but they've always worked fine for my purposes.

(I have Petzl headtorches for work - Petzl now produce a bespoke battery pack which can be used as an alternative to 3xAAA. They're very effective.)

I wonder who actually makes Aldi batteries? I'm always wary of these lab type comparisons anyway, not always illustrative of real life use.

 

[PeteS]

I take the double AA battery out of the device while I'm not using it, but when I came to use it a week or so later, it had gone totally flat.

It was fine when I had last used it.

I was wondering whether it had touched something metal in the toiletry bag that I keep it in - sissors/nail clipper etc.

Always wise to take out batteries from stuff that you are not using all the time. I have a ton of radio control equipment and always remove batteries. Except I missed doing so in one transmitter and this week found it ruined by a leaking battery. Stupid.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I wonder who actually makes Aldi batteries? I'm always wary of these lab type comparisons anyway, not always illustrative of real life use.

Both Aldi batteries and Duracells are produced in the same megafactory in Guangdong China. Duracell has some other production centres too though in the USA, UK, Belgium and Georgia.

 

[Sid]

On instruction leaflets for many battery-operated devices, it used to state not suitable for rechargeable batteries. The new 1.6v rechargeable ones though ought to perform as well as standard non-rechargeable batteries.

I've been using 'UNiROSS' AA rechargeable performance batteries for many years for various units, and there still just as good as the day I bought them.
If rechargeable batteries perform better now, then it would be sensible to recommend that all batteries should be rechargeable, then there wouldn't be so much waste product thrown into bins (rubbish & collection bins), which would make far more sense and save starting fires by all those I don't care type throw-aways!

 

[Floyd]

I've been using 'UNiROSS' AA rechargeable performance batteries for many years for various units, and there still just as good as the day I bought them.
If rechargeable batteries perform better now, then it would be sensible to recommend that all batteries should be rechargeable, then there wouldn't be so much waste product thrown into bins (rubbish & collection bins), which would make far more sense and save starting fires by throw-aways!

They've probably got the technology to make batteries last far longer (as with lighbulbs) but I suppose that wouldn't be very good for the companies that make them.

 

[Sid]

They've probably got the technology to make batteries last far longer (as with lighbulbs) but I suppose that wouldn't be very good for the companies that make them.

Exactly. . . only people themselves can change that philosophy, which could well apply to many other unnecessary ways that companies exploit their existing customers.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I've been using Eneloops for a few years now, and they've been really very reliable. And still currently no fails in the ones I own.

Mine are only 1.2v mind - but they've always worked fine for my purposes.

I have those for my landline phone handsets. Very good, very reliable.

 

[Spookdaddy]

I have those for my landline phone handsets. Very good, very reliable.

Also the charger is quite dinky - at least mine is. Nothing like the breezeblock I had with my old rechargeables.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I got this little USB charger and 4xAA rechargeables free from Amazon and, despite being only 1.2v, they are fine for my little Korg drum machine and a guitar effects pedal. In an Xbox gaming controller though the wireless range seemed very poor and they didn't last long.

 

[flannel]

Now that you can get 1.6v rechargeables, they are certainly worth a look.

I've had a quick look and came across this warning.
The comments with low stars on Amazon are enough to put me off.

 

[RaM]

Been using 1.6v AA rechargeable for a few years in a very power hungry camera with good results they were PK ones off Evile bay but they have gone very expensive

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

If you Google for "Duracell batteries made in China", there is plenty of discussion about whether the Chinese Duracells have poorer performance than the USA or Belgian Duracells, with the consensus being that they possibly do.
What appears very likely is that, if you buy a pack of Duracells labelled Made in China, they are almost certainly from the same production line in Guangdong as Aldi's own-brand batteries.

 

[Xanatic*]

I had some problems with a newly bought camera once. It never occured to me that the Duracell batteries I had bought were counterfeit and that was the cause.