| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Green Rosie |
Baking batteriesHas anyone had any luck rejuvinating batteries by putting them in the oven. I have read about it but wondered if it worked.You are supposed to wrap your old batteries in foil and pop them in the oven to give them some extra life. How hot and for how long? |
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| Pilsbury |
from what I've heard thats a sure way of needing a new oven, once the batteries explode 
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| dougal |
Explosion is one reason its a very bad idea. As is putting them in an incinerator. NiMH rechargeables are cheap. And safe to use. |
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| dpack |
non recharge will give 30% extra if beaten until well dented but not fractured in rod or case
body heat is good but oven can be interesting |
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| dougal |
Is there any reason for buying disposables? |
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| Treacodactyl |
Don't many things tell you not to use rechargeables? Fire alarms fro example? I still tend to use them but they don't last anywhere near as long as a long life battery. |
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| JB |
Don't disposables produce 1.5V while rechargables produce 1.25V so that some equipment is picky about using rechargables. Of course that information could be wrong or out of date as I haven't looked at that stuff for years. | ||||
| Simon |
... and here's me thinking this was a thread about cooking unhumanely raised chickens. 
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| Simon |
In-humanely? raised | ||||
| dougal |
The self-discharge rate of old NiCd rechargeables could be rather more than the consumption of low power electronics... Leading to understandable warnings that "rechargeables" (too generally IMHO) were unsuitable for such applications. The lowest power / longest life / smallest requirement combo generally does mean that some batteries (like watch batteries) are not made as rechargeables. However, where the choice exists, I'd go for NiMH. If anyone chose to run safety critical stuff on disposables, then I wouldn't be the one to say not to. But I wouldn't expect you to be trying to 'extend' the lifetime of batteries in safety-critical applications! And, incidentally, the slower you drain a battery, the more completely you empty it. They are strange like that. However, I run a couple of clocks on AA NiMH rechargeables, and they run for over a year, without a recharge... |
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| Simon |
He's right you know. If you use rechargable betteries in your dig-camera (maybe normal ones too - not tried) and the cam packs up on you while out and about. Take the batteries out and put them in a warm pocket for a few mins. You will get an extra photo or two just by warming them up in this way. (IME) |
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| Simon |
There may be a reason but there's really no excuse. 
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| dougal |
The voltage bit is true-ish with absolutely fresh batteries. Only. So the second bit becomes more dubious!
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| Green Rosie |
Ok - so oven is a NO then, somewhere warm about my body is a possibility and rechargeables are (generally) the best. | ||||
| James |
When we were kids, we’d put our old batteries into the warming oven of a warm (not hot) aga. There seemed to always be batteries in the warming oven. Never had one pop. I never knew if it worked or not, we just did it.
Recently, I was shown how to recharge a standard (non-rechargable) battery from a car battery by a crazy australian. You get one jump-lead, touch the small battery to one pole of the car battery, attach the jump lead to the other then very quickly touch the jump-lead to the exposed pole of the small battery. Remove the jump lead almost immediately, then repeat. It usually takes two or three touches until the small battery is done (you can tell its done when it gets really hot). Its very dangerous and not recommended, but it does work …most of the time…unless the battery explodes… which it did with us- we recharged 3 batteries and one blew up. When the battery blows up, you have to move fast to avoid very hot nasty caustic stuff dribbling all over your hands. So not one for the kids….or in fact anyone who values their hands |
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| dougal |
For consumer use, make that Nickel Metal Hydride ("NiMH") rechargeables. Old-style Nickel Cadmium cells are much less good. And fancier (and more expensive) Lithium Ion batteries need 'smart' chargers... so you'll only find those in fancy applications in laptops and cellphones. |