Recharging Batteries

gibby

Our hosehold increase the number of thinsg that need batteries with the recent xmas & birthdays for the kids.
I got so sick of paying silly money for new batteries I started to recharge normal batteries just to see if they would work.

Shockingly they do. They work fine for 9 or 10 charges & then seem to lose the charge quickly - so off they go to be recycled.
Ive tried a few different chargers & it seems the trickle chargers wotk the best for recharging them correctly. It also seems to help if you don't let them go totally flat.

I have even dug out lots of old batteries sitting in draws & these also work for about another 10 goes.

If you consider the costs on new batteries its well worth doing until you can buy some good recghargeables.

I did get a fewmates telling me they will explode but it hasn't happened yet

G

web_ferret

I'd strongly advise against this. Ordinary batteries are not designed to be re-charged.
Yes they can explode, set on fire, release chemicals.
Rechargeable batteries have a low internal resistance, normal batteries have a high resistance.
You may damage your battery charger, the batteries can leak and ruin whatever appliance - Not very money saving. You'd regret it anything happened.

Not worth the risk. Spend a few £££ on some rechargeable batteries.

I'd recommend http://www.component-shop.co.uk/ for reasonable batteries and chargers. The low self discharge batteries are way better for the extra ££.

web_ferret

The money saving thing to do:
Buy a £1.99 battery tester!
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_3&products_id=107330

An appliance/Toy with a motor needs a new fresh battery. Something with a small light or just makes a noise will work quite well with a half flat battery that would not power the motorised toy.

Often out of a set of 4 only 1 is flat, the other 3 can be used in something else.
I use the discharged batteries in clocks or single battery torches that the kids leave on anyway.

Or just look at how cheap the bulk batteries are on the site mentioned above.
24 AAA Duracells for £5.99 delivered, thats £1 for a set of 4 alkalines.
24 AA Kodak alkalines for £4.49 delivered, thats 75p for 4 alkalines.

Just remember to drop them in the recycling bin that are now in the supermarkets when they really are flat.

jonesjw

£15.98 ? I bought the same type of meter for about 105 yen, which was about 55pence 5 years ago. The going rate for these is £1~2 max.

web_ferret

Those testers are £1.99 for 2 - delivered

The quoted normal price is bobbins I agree.
I've used these and they work fine.

incus432

You can buy chargers specifically designed to recharge alkaline batteries. I have one with 4 slots that can take various sizes and can be set for alkaline, nicad or NiMH, and tells you its state. This works well and is perfectly safe!

You can recharge multiple times although recharged batteries don't work as well in some high drain devices such as digital cameras.

paulwf

web_ferret wrote: »

I'd recommend http://www.component-shop.co.uk/ for reasonable batteries and chargers.

Agreed. AA 2900mAh NiMH batteries are as low as £4 for a pack of 4, you'd probably pay about the same for a decent pack of batteries in a supermarket.

We're "old skool" and try and buy digital cameras and MP3 players that still use normal batteries so we can just charge a stack of AA and AAA batteries to cover everything rather than having to remember to pack lots of chargers for a holiday.