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Video on technology connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsA3X40nz9w
But the video purports that normal people don’t really test batteries.
Yeah, it was a novelty that increased the price to manufacture and didn’t actually add anything of value to users.
Either you put batteries in something and they worked or they didn’t, and if they stopped working the next step is try different batteries whether or not the little gauge showed it had charge left.
Now if it was added to rechargeable batteries, it would be pretty useful because tou could do something with the knowledge of a battery being at 50%. But a lot of systems with rechargeable batteries have them built in and some other way to show remaining charge like a percentage on a screen.
Now if it was added to rechargeable batteries, it would be pretty useful
I think the reason we haven’t seen that is that NiMH rechargeables have fairly stable voltage during discharge while alkalines don’t.
I think all of your points were covered in the video, sometimes almost verbatim.
Neat!
I didn’t bother watching the video, so I guess the reasons were pretty obvious.
It was pretty useful as a kid for feeding my Gameboy and Game Gear with batteries I rescued from the junk drawers of friends and family. If they were low, I knew I had to save more often to avoid losing progress if they went dead while I was playing.
I concur about rechargeables - it doesn’t seem common for devices that take AA or AAA to have a battery gauge and it would be nice to be able to check the level on my rechargeables stock so I can know if I should top them off without needing to put each of them into the charger.
And pairing them correctly for paralel charging too!
It turned out that batteries randomly lying around are always empty. Functioning batteries are still in the device it’s operating or in the box it was sold in.
He draws similar conclusions in his video.
Does anyone remember the battery testers that were built into the packaging? I think they were based on the same concept.
They are mentioned in the video.
I do
I have a really distinct memory of finding a bunch of these in a friend’s house when I was a kid and every one was empty. After watching the TC video I think it’s more likely I just wasn’t pressing hard enough and had no way to know that. Anyway, I can see why they stopped making them.
I ended up buying a couple testers from Walmart for like $5 and they’ve been super useful! Definitely worth having in every household
I remember those.
Would be nice to have them on my 18650s
The voltage-to-capacity radio for lithium is much less linear compared to alkaline so it wouldn’t really work well :(
It failed often enough that it wasn’t all that useful. A cheap battery tester is better. And for 9volts you can also use the tongue test, lol (don’t really though). My grandfather used to do that all the time.
What’s wrong with the tongue test for 9 volts? I know it tickles some but is it actually harmful? I’ve been doing that for over 30 years…
It’s not much power, so it’s not likely to cause major or permanent damage, but it may affect others differently and could cause burns if left on too long like if someone is less sensitive and doesn’t think it’s live.
And if the person is grounded and if they touch the hot side of the battery first there’s a chance the charge could travel through the body rather than just the tongue. It’s not enough to affect a heart, but might disrupt a pacemaker or other embedded device.
And of the battery is leaking, it could cause permanent damage from chemical burns from the alkaline and poisoning from heavy metals which while unlikely to be deadly with just one battery, heavy metal poisoning is cumulative across a lifetime.
So under ideal circumstances it is safe, but there are always risks with electricity and toxic chemicals, though relatively small.
We just can’t have nice things
They checked out
