Alkaline battery chargers

[H oM eG uy]

http://www.dailysteals.com/#d/21800
Anyone know it they work and how much energy you get after a charge,
compared to a new cell?

http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Alkaline-charging.html

How many times can an ordinary alkaline battery be recharged?

Would you believe hundreds of times? The trick is to stop using the
battery well before it has given up all of its available stored energy.
Note that this is directly opposite to the instructions that were packed
with your battery-operated drill or screwdriver with its NiCad
batteries. When the drill stops turning, charge the battery, but not
before. Good rule for NiCads, but not for alkaline batteries.

Assuming you now have a charger to safely charge alkalines, don't wait
for the battery to stop working. In order to achieve ten times extension
of the normal life of an everyday alkaline battery, you will have to
recharge it frequently, many more times than ten. It makes sense to use
a second set of batteries for a high drain device. Take out one set of
batteries when the device is not being used, and put in the second set
that has been recharged. Charge the first set and carry it with you as a
backup if necessary.

You will be surprised how easily children will be attracted to charging
their own batteries in their toys and possessions. Managing their own
batteries is fun, and they know it helps the environment by not having
to throw batteries away when they can recycle them.

Why did it take so long for a good alkaline charger to be developed?

There have been many more failures than successes along the road to
developing a good charger. Products were announced, and then you didn't
see any more of them. The reason is simple -- they didn't work. One came
close to working, the Buddy-L SuperCharger, announced in 1993. Popular
Science magazine named it as one of the 100 top scientific achievements
of the year. But it did not live up to expectations. Apparently, the
product was launched into production too quickly, and sub-standard
operation resulted. Fortunately, the problems did not hurt the
batteries. The batteries simply switched off prematurely before charging
was complete, and the users had to restart the charging process several
times. Also, it was not designed for easy battery insertion, always
requiring two hands and a struggle. Eleven years later, many people are
still using their SuperChargers and are reluctant to part with them.

All the background information was absorbed and a totally re-engineered
product emerged, the Battery Xtender ™ Tests have shown that it does
live up to expectations, and that the claims of ten times life extension
for ordinary alkaline batteries are not exaggerated. The case has been
redesigned to allow easy one-handed access to the batteries, and it
occupies much less space on a desk, table top or counter.
----------------------------

See also:

http://www.tested.com/tech/1992-can-you-really-recharge-standard-alkaline-batteries/

[Bob F]

Post by H oM eG uy

http://www.dailysteals.com/#d/21800
Anyone know it they work and how much energy you get after a charge,
compared to a new cell?

http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Alkaline-charging.html
How many times can an ordinary alkaline battery be recharged?
Would you believe hundreds of times? The trick is to stop using the
battery well before it has given up all of its available stored
energy. Note that this is directly opposite to the instructions that
were packed with your battery-operated drill or screwdriver with its
NiCad batteries. When the drill stops turning, charge the battery,
but not before. Good rule for NiCads, but not for alkaline batteries.

Good rule if you want to reverse charge and destroy cells in your nicad battery.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Post by H oM eG uy

http://www.dailysteals.com/#d/21800
Anyone know it they work and how much energy you get after a charge,
compared to a new cell?

http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Alkaline-charging.html

That's just a sales pitch from a company peddling its charger.

Then there's this:

""The alkaline batteries (which are generally based on the conversion
of MnO2 and Zn to Mn3O4 and ZnO) offer an excellent example of this
last point. Although the chemical changes at the electrodes can be
reversed, until recently alkaline batteries were manufactured only to
function as primary cells. Recharging one of these primary cells could
allow the battery to be reused, but the possible number of recharging
cycles for such a cell is very limited--it performs more poorly with
each recharge. More important, recharging an old-fashioned alkaline
battery is not safe. During or after a recharge, the battery might
generate enough hydrogen gas to cause an explosion. In their
rechargeable form, alkaline cells have undergone several changes. They
have been redesigned to allow for a more efficient reverse reaction,
they contain a catalyst to minimize hydrogen formation and they have
safety vents that prevent the buildup of excess pressure during
recharging."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-rechargeable-that/

So - recharging standard alkalkine batteries isn't safe, nor is it
very efficient, given that the potential number of recharges is very
low, and the amount of available power decreases with each cycle.

Considering how cheap even the high-quality rechargeable batteries are
getting, I can't see why anyone would bother messing around with
trying to recharge disposable batteries.

[The Daring Dufas]

Post by Moe DeLoughan

Post by H oM eG uy

I just saw this ad: http://www.dailysteals.com/#d/21800 Anyone
know it they work and how much energy you get after a charge,
compared to a new cell?

http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Alkaline-charging.html

That's just a sales pitch from a company peddling its charger.
""The alkaline batteries (which are generally based on the conversion
of MnO2 and Zn to Mn3O4 and ZnO) offer an excellent example of this
last point. Although the chemical changes at the electrodes can be
reversed, until recently alkaline batteries were manufactured only to
function as primary cells. Recharging one of these primary cells
could allow the battery to be reused, but the possible number of
recharging cycles for such a cell is very limited--it performs more
poorly with each recharge. More important, recharging an
old-fashioned alkaline battery is not safe. During or after a
recharge, the battery might generate enough hydrogen gas to cause an
explosion. In their rechargeable form, alkaline cells have undergone
several changes. They have been redesigned to allow for a more
efficient reverse reaction, they contain a catalyst to minimize
hydrogen formation and they have safety vents that prevent the
buildup of excess pressure during recharging."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-rechargeable-that/

That's good information, it's just at least 15 years out of date and
alkaline batteries have changed since then. Not in their basic form but
in many subtle ways to improve their performance. ^_^

TDD