Tip re batteries

ALIBOBSY

If anyone on here has a household like mine, the kids are always shoving batteries in drawers etc without any concern as to it they are dead or not, sometimes the wii/their telly etc remote flashes as low power so they chuck the batteries on the side/in a drawer/vase on the side. Sometimes one maybe completely dead the others ok but they all get mixed up and you end up never knowing where a battery is when you need them. We usually end up buying new especially this time of year.

OH and I were thinking and he came up with an idea. In the garage he keeps a multi meter-only cheap a few years ago from halfords to use to check the car battery and electrical connections on the car.
BUT it does has adjustable settings and can be turned down to measure low voltage ie, the batteries.

We had a big search and collected up piles of batteries from drawers etc and the kids rooms.

Using the tester we went through them and confirmed which were very low or dead and which were full or close to full. We ended up with a tub full of batteries ready to use at crimbo and a bag of used one to go to school for their recycling tub (the school gets some money for them as well).

Its a obvious use for the meter but I am sure like us many people probably have one in the garage, but it doesn't occur to them to use it for this (or maybe you all already do this rofl).

Ali x

WeegieWumman

Thank you, Alibobsy.
I must be dead from the neck up because I never would have thought anything as simple as using the multi-meter.
(Ooops! I TOLD I had mince for brains. I had to edit because I got your name wrong.... Sorry!)

meritaten

marvellous idea OP - various places recycle batteries - shame they dont have a meter so you can check the batteries are really DEAD!

Lagopus

They are a useful bit of kit - set to ohms they can test fuses etc. Must put one on my Christmas list as my last one broke. DS has filled my man draw with various AA, AAA, D, C, PP9, CR032 etc etc.

karren

whilst subject of batteries being discussed, I recycle the batteries from the hosp i work as couldnt beleive how many we were throwing away.
is there any way we can make money off them to raise money for the hospice or school or anything really???

Justamum

I bought a battery tester from Tchibo when they were selling in our local supermarket. It's saved a fortune, because in the past if something stopped working I would automatically change all the batteries, but batteries in things don't seem to go flat at the same rate - sometimes only one would be flat and the others would still have plenty of power in them.

rosie383

Alibobsy! You are a genius!!!!! I have a drawer with about 20 batteries in it, and I never know what ones are dead!

knittingcathy

Sure OH must one of these things as he is a sparky will get him to test the drawer full of batteries his next day off.

squeaky

Hmm...

I'm pretty sure that over the long term rechargeable batteries are more economical. I made the change over to them a good few years back. I've almost forgotten what shopping for batteries means

And as for wondering if batteries have really run out or not - who cares? Just swap them out and whack the old ones on charge.

But yes, if you are using disposables - testing is well worth the effort.

Lotus-eater

I always do this with disposable batteries, the weaker ones get used in clocks and the slightly better ones go into remote controls as they are a bit better than the rechargeable ones we mostly use.

In fact I can't remember when I last bought a normal battery either, we got a whole bag full from the BIL for recycling and went through them and kept the ones which still had some decent charge in them, still using them up and that was 4 years ago!

rosiesews

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I always do this with disposable batteries, the weaker ones get used in clocks and the slightly better ones go into remote controls

I do the same, also use them for the doorbell - I'm not worried about missing calls, I'm antisocial
Only joking, doorbells only draw a little power. Even when batteries do die, I find that only one battery will actually be dead and the others will still work okay.

I only have disposables because I rescued a box-load of AA ones from work though...