Old Fools Journal: Battery 101

February 10, 2009 Tuesday
I have been asked a few questions about batteries recently so I thought I'd write a piece called battery 101. It's purpose is to inform the most casual small battery user of the things they need to know. I am not an expert and certainly not up to date in the field. In my social and financial strata I am not an early adopter so I don't get the latest stuff. It has to come to the discount store before I can use it. That's the disclaimer.
What people commonly refer to as a flashlight battery is not a battery at all but is a dry cell. Dry because there is no liquid in them. Wet cells, such as the cells that make up a car battery, have a liquid in them. When dry cells are placed together in batteries then they are a battery.
The common D, C, AA, AAA cells are not batteries even though they have been mistakenly called so since at least the 1920's and I suspect longer but I was really young then and I don't remember. Two or more cells placed together becomes a battery whether it's wet or dry. Notice in the picture above that the AA and the C cell are same length. In a pinch a AA can be substituted for a C cell by wrapping it with paper, tape or old bicycle inner tubes to make it fit the holder. It won't last as long as the C cell but it will do in a pinch.

There are some batteries that look like cells. For instance the 12volt A23. It is a battery comprised of eight 932 button cells, usually alkaline, which are wrapped in a cylinder that looks like a half size AA cell.



















Another example is a nine volt battery. It is six cells in one little square case each about the diameter of a pencil and soldered together in series to make 9 volts.







The 2032 battery that is used in computers and really small led flashlights you can wear is made up of two cells sandwiched together to make 3 volts so it is a battery. In general the button cells used in hearing aid and flashlights are cells and are called button cells.











Dry Cells vary in voltage from about 1.55 for a very strong alkaline to 1.2 and slightly above for a rechargeable.
This little device is handy to have. It test cells under load. It will keep you from throwing away perfectly good batteries. No skill required.


I use alkaline cells in things I don't use much (emergency flashlights) because of their long shelf life and I use rechargeable for things I use a lot (camera). I don't buy those marked heavy duty as they are just the old carbon zinc cells and nearly useless because they don't last at all. Unless you can get them for free or nearly so don't buy.
I recently changed one of the emergency flashlights in my car because the plastic the flashlight was made of came apart.I have had it since someone left it on my boat in the mid 1980's so I guess I got my moneys worth. The alkaline batteries had been in it for over two years and are still fine and very usable I started to duct tape it back together but the glue in duct tape doesn't hold up well here in the summer and it is coming.
Another example is in my portable radio. It came with rechargeables but I use it as a portable so seldom that the rechargeable are nearly always dead. Recargeables don't seem to hold the charge very well. They remind me of a bucket I use to have. It had a really small leak but it was OK for carrying water. If you set in on the table full of water by morning it would be about a quarter full and you would need a mop. At least with these battery cells you don't need a mop. I hear that there are some rechargeables that hold a charge while on the shelf now but I haven't had any yet. Mostly I keep my radio plugged in with alkaline's in it. During the power outage following Hurricane Gustave I used the radio practical all of my waking hours and it was still working fine after 5 days as were our led emergency lights. I didn't change a single battery during that power outage nor did I use any candles or liquid fueled lamps. I take it back we did light some candles but its because we are a couple of aging hippies and we like candles.
I like alkaline's for flashlights because when they start to run down you still have some usable light whereas rechargeables will give good light up to a point then within minutes be useless because their power does not go down linearly but stays fairly level until it is finished then just quits. Flashlights can also run rechargeables down excessively and that will reduce their life span and believe me they have a life span. Quality devices that use rechargeables will automatically shut off before this level is reached.
The rechargeables I'm using now are NiMH (nickel metal hydride) and they are new to me. I've use nickel cadmiums in the past and had really poor performance. NiCad battery chargers and NiMH chargers are not automatically interchangeable but there are some that will do both. Check the specs
Twenty years ago there were battery companies selling NiCads and claiming “up to” 1000 recharges. “Up To” in this case means fat chance. I never got more than 25 or so although I admit I lost count and within 5 or 6 recharges these batteries had about half the new capacity. These new NiMH claim “Up To” 100 recharges. I think that “Up To” means the same thing now as it did then. If they make it 25 times my cost will be about 10 cents a battery plus what ever I took out of the wall socket. We'll see.
I buy most of my batteries on the Intertubes now and I think all of them are made in China. I would not be surprised if they were made in the same factory. I buy the cheapest and only the ones that include shipping. I have not been ripped off yet. The A23 I mentioned earlier cost $11.99 plus tax locally for a pack of two and then only if you can find them. I got a name brand (Duracell) on line for $1.99 in my mailbox from South Carolina, two orders of button cells for watches one was $2.99 for ten really small and $3.99 for twenty of the larger ones. I also purchased ten 2032's for $2.99 delivered. These are all alkaline and have a shelf life of years although at these prices I can afford to use them. The mark up on batteries must be horrendous.

To sum it up:
Buy smart. Shop, prices vary widely.
Use the right charger for the battery and don't try to charge batteries that are not rechargeable. If you do that wear your goggles and buy fire insurance.
Use the Cell(battery) that fits the situation and have spares. I believe this comes under the heading of THINK.
Don't run your battery powered stuff like you do your TV. Turn it off when not in use. You'll be surprised at how much longer the cells (batteries) last

Unfortunately batteries are not green. They have heavy metals in them that you don't want in your water supply. If you just toss them in the trash that is where it will eventually end up. If you don't care then you can just take the button cells two at a time with a glass of water and it will work much faster. This stuff doesn't go away and it is lethal. There are many places that take hazardous waste and believe me these things are hazardous waste. I have about 15 pounds of it sitting behind my chair in the form of dead battery cells. They are no longer usable but they still have energy in them so I use them to run a homemade night light. Six dead cells will run single led for nearly two weeks 24 hours a day. Mileage varies depending on how dead the cells were. I run them down to under .3 volts then I will take them to the recyclers.

In the future I plan to eliminate as many batteries as possible by using hand crank emergency equipment. Currently I think these things are using a small battery to hold the charge you crank in but I believe in the future that will be changed to high capacity capacitors. Then no more batteries.



This is a battery holder with six cells in series which makes it a battery. I use it to run a led night light with dead batteries.