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Testing Batteries

 
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vickyg2003
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Joined: 20 Mar 2004
Posts: 7073
Location: Florida

                    
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:45 am    Post subject: Testing Batteries Reply with quote

Battery management has become a nightmare for me, so I want to get a device to tell whether the batteries are good or not. I use alkaline batteries, and I'm constantly swapping them in and out of remotes to do protocol testing, etc. I also wear them out really fast. I think this has something to do with walking away with the remote hooked up to the computer for hours at a time.

What is the name of this kind of contraption?

Its volts I'm measuring isn't it?

Where would I get it?

Which is the easiest one to use?

Best value?
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The Robman
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Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Posts: 21211
Location: Chicago, IL

                    
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could use something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/product/dp/B001BBU6BK?tag=j0df-20
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Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
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Last edited by The Robman on Fri Aug 06, 2010 8:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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3FG
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Joined: 19 May 2009
Posts: 3365

                    
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One way is to buy a device called a Battery Tester. Google it. Some are cheaper than $10.

I personally use a digital multimeter, which can measure volts, ohms, amps, etc. You can buy these for less than $10. The cheap ones are surprisingly good. We use them at work when we need to measure a low voltage that is floating on a high (several Kilovolts) voltage, and where the inevitable arc will destroy the meter.

A brand new unused alkaline or other non-rechargeable battery will provide about 1.62 volts. As the battery wears out, the voltage falls. I will normally dispose of a battery after it goes below 1.3 volts, although I have pulled batteries from working equipment that tested at 0.9 volts. That depends on the device being powered, and I wouldn't expect a remote to work at that low voltage.
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vickyg2003
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Joined: 20 Mar 2004
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Location: Florida

                    
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rob, I like the look of that. Nothing confusing, not a bunch of dials that talk about Ohms, and amps and .....

I'm packing to get ready to go to MI, and I've sort out my remotes, to make sure I've got all the "one-of" remotes, and remove any batteries that got left in any testers, and then before I leave I like to remove all the batteries out of the remotes and as you know I have 8 of them down here, so there are 16 batteries that I'm not going to know the state of when I return........ So a little gizmo like that would be just the thing to put in my travel kit.

You'd be shocked at how many exploded batteries I've seen in the last week.

Word got out through the senior-citizens-grapevine, about my wonderous ability to read the chart and plug in the 5 digit code and get the new comcast remote to actually control the TV. Rolling Eyes Laughing
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xnappo
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Joined: 30 Dec 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think I have mentioned this before, but I will again because I think these are great.

Obviously traditional rechargeable batteries are no good for a remote, because they lose their charge just 'sitting there'.

However there is a new class of rechargeables called 'hybrids' or 'precharged' that do not have that property. These work great for remotes!

The brand names are:

Sanyo Eneloop
Rayovac Hybrid
Duracell Pre-Charged

They are a bit pricey - but you can find them on sale every once in a while.

xnappo
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underquark
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Location: UK

                    
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a small three-drawer plastic tower and have trained the kids to recharge batteries, putting them in one drawer, put the discharged ones in another and put non-rechargeables and dodgy rechargeables into the third so that I can test them with my multimeter.
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wnewell



Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 158
Location: DFW, Texas

                    
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many battery chargers have built in testers, but my very RS doesn't really give a good indication of chrage so I use a VOM. I assume you know you can recharge regular alkaline batteries too. I've been doing it for years. The only problem I hav e is my old charger doesn't have an automatic shutoff and when I forget about any I leave in it, it will overcharge them. Some of them start leaking and must be thrown away. Left in for a few days it can cause a mess in the charger from leaking.
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underquark
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Word of warning - the older the battery technology, the easier (and, relatively, safer) it is to get something out of them by recharging a "non-rechargeable" cell. As kids, we used to put zinc-carbon batteries beside the open coal fire at night and they'd be miraculously recharged in the morning. I, too, have recharged alkaline batteries and used to get them free by the bucket-load from a hospital switchboard where they'd been used in doctors' pagers.

All these batteries bore dire warnings about the risk of fire or explosion if you attempted to recharge them but no harm ever came of it. Do not, however, be tempted to try to recharge the (fairly new) lithium batteries such as Energizer e2, "Lithium Photo"etc. as they CAN explode. Sticking them near a fire isn't a particularly good idea either.
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