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| Ban of non-rechargeable batteries |
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| Halcyon:
--- Quote from: brabus on June 30, 2020, 01:15:01 pm ---Every year we throw billions of empty batteries in landfills. In your opinion, why is this obsolete piece of technology so difficult to eradicate? --- End quote --- You suggest it's "obsolete" yet we go through billions of them? Isn't that a contradiction? I know in my house the number of single-use batteries significantly outnumber rechargeable equivalents and at this stage there are several applications where it's not feasible to use rechargeable batteries. Smoke alarms are one example. NiMH replacements have a lower voltage so you'll find yourself getting up on the ladder a lot sooner to recharge/replace them. Shelf-life and self-discharge is another issue, particularly in devices with a very low or no standby current draw, again, smoke alarms come to mind. Most of them here are hard-wired so they only rely on the battery when the power is out. As for a solution: Perhaps manufacture them from materials which will breakdown and corrode more readily when exposed to the elements (like a garbage tip)? |
| CatalinaWOW:
I know many of you are satisfied with your rechargeable batteries, but until the last few years I have not found any that satisfied me. The technologies have changed over time. NiCads were a disaster on life and bad for the environment. NiMH are better on life, but haven't really filled the bill. The Li chemistry batteries used in power tools have finally achieved useful life, but are incredibly expensive. How many of you are totally happy with the rechargeables in your laptops or cell phones. They meet the use case, but are often a primary reason for replacing the machine. For a wide variety of applications the alkaline cell is just more user friendly. In spite of its known faults. Rechargeables do meet a need in some applications. Usually high current, high use things like toys and electric shavers, but the field is wide open for a really good rechargeable battery. |
| coppercone2:
its like banning a energy density class of devices. primary cells are always going to be impressive in terms of energy density. how about no. This is LALA land green power shit coin cells? d primary cells? they are BEASTS. The trick is to design equipment so it can brave a leak. And they offer product designers an easy entry to market. 2$ for 30Wh and it can be sold with no problems in ANY store without any precautions. I actually switched my wall clocks to NiMH and I am thinking of switching them back to alkaline, there is little benefit there. Not that it would hurt the industry to develop more efficient recycling methods, but they are a useful technology. The main problem is that device manufacturers specify the wrong cell or try to use a cell in a system without cutoffs or high off drain (the leaky soft switch FUCKED UP the battery industry). If you are making a battery device, please read the chapter in Art Of Electronics on soft switches and talk to your OEM distributor about life expectancy from quiescent drain.. you won't be disappointed if you follow the rules. And make the batteries easy to replace with good quality snap hinges or latches (there is a real problem here, if you need to undo 4 screws to change some batteries, chances are the person that is using the device is thinking ALOT more about leaks because its time consuming and annoying to switch batteries. Also, make it so you don't need to use a tool to get the batteries out (the little ribbon that you yank on under the batteries helps so much). Might mean more expensive mechanical design but if you make it easy, and pleasant, those batteries are much more likely to get replaced. Shitty snap hinges that break and lead to fixes with sticky tape coverings are no good either. Alkaline devices have a bad reputation because there are some seriously bad device producers and some seriously bad batteries to go with it, some people get by chance, stuck mixing bad devices and bad batteries and they go crazy. And, with the advent of the soft switch, they can have a defective device that makes all batteries go bad and leaky, because a transistor broke and its drawing unusually high currents when its turned off. |
| james_s:
I haven't bought disposable AA batteries in at least 10 years, I'm always surprised at how widespread they still are, I consider them obsolete beyond a few niche uses. I don't really like outright bans of anything however I'd be ok with a modest tax on disposable batteries to subsidize rechargeable types. People have demonstrated time after time that most are either incapable or unwilling to grasp the total cost of ownership. Many people even still use "cheap" incandescent lamps, completely oblivious to the fact that the majority of the cost of a lamp is the electricity to run it. My Eneloop batteries have paid for themselves many times over. For every remote or clock there are 10 other devices I have that drain the cells much faster so ultimately it's economical to have a pile of fungible NiMH cells that I use in everything. The only disposable alkaline batteries I ever buy anymore are D cells for my Roomba virtual walls, true D NiMH cells are rare and expensive. Most are just a AA inside a D size housing. |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: M0HZH on June 30, 2020, 09:22:00 pm ---Remotes are by far the most common use for AA / AAA cells. Other common uses also have the same profile, low power long life: clocks, thermostats, doorbells, sensors, wireless mice / keyboards etc. The recent game controllers from Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo are rechargeable now, digital cameras have made the switch long time ago and all the other stuff is a small market comparatively. The only area where it might be more economical to use rechargeables is with toys. Even if the number of users is low (1 in 10 households ?) the use is quite intense for a few years, so it's probably more cost effective to use rechargeables. --- End quote --- I have 3 remotes in active use, I can probably whittle that down to 2 if I can be bothered to get my media player working with the same remote I use for my TV. I have loads of other stuff that uses AA's, flashlights, portable test equipment, electric toothbrush, wireless thermometers, weather station consoles (AA's in C adapters), label printer, handheld video games, I'm sure there's some other stuff I'm overlooking. I'm not sure how many NiMH cells I have but there are at several dozen AA and AAA's at least. |
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