General > General Technical Chat
I Hate Batteries
engrguy42:
Okay, one more reason I hate batteries...
I've got a real nice 10,000 mAh, 5V, Li-ION battery bank that was relatively cheap ($25?). Two USB ports for devices, and one mini-USB for charging.
I don't use it very often, so I'm thinking maybe I can use it on my bench for whatever if I need a quick 5V. So I find a spare USB cable, snip the end, and pull out the + and - wires, do that solder and heat shrink thing and I'm good to go. Cool.
So I plug the wires into my meter and it reads 2.4 volts. WTF? So I charge it, and it turns out it's almost fully charged.
WTF?
So I'm scratching my head and accidentally press a tiny white button on the side, and BAM !!! my meter reads 5.1 volts.
Hell, how am I supposed to know there's an ON/OFF switch?
The battery should have told me "Hey, idiot, turn me on first!! Geesh..."
That's why I hate batteries.
magic:
Pro tip: make free energy by connecting the charging port to the output.
SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: engrguy42 on April 10, 2020, 11:36:14 pm ---Hell, how am I supposed to know there's an ON/OFF switch?
The battery should have told me "Hey, idiot, turn me on first!! Geesh..."
That's why I hate batteries.
--- End quote ---
Uh huh. Maybe RTFM? If there isn't any, maybe buy stuff which comes with a manual? I think anything certified (for real) sold in the US or in Europe (and many other parts of the world) should come with a manual. If it doesn't, it's probably not certified. Using non-certified batteries (especially the larger capacities) is not the wisest thing to do.
Anyway, do as magic said. :-DD
engrguy42:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 11, 2020, 01:31:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: engrguy42 on April 10, 2020, 11:36:14 pm ---Hell, how am I supposed to know there's an ON/OFF switch?
The battery should have told me "Hey, idiot, turn me on first!! Geesh..."
That's why I hate batteries.
--- End quote ---
Uh huh. Maybe RTFM? If there isn't any, maybe buy stuff which comes with a manual? I think anything certified (for real) sold in the US or in Europe (and many other parts of the world) should come with a manual. If it doesn't, it's probably not certified. Using non-certified batteries (especially the larger capacities) is not the wisest thing to do.
Anyway, do as magic said. :-DD
--- End quote ---
Umm...are you familiar with the concept of "just joking around"?
Lighten up dude. :-+
ocset:
Hi Engrguy42,
Yes I agree with you. Many here have sorted out their “world” of batteries. The problem is that how is the person new to battery worlding supposed to know which re-chargeable is quality and which isn’t. Also, how is anybody supposed to know which charger is going to keep overcharging batteries, and wear them out, and which charger is going to charge them up just nice….there’s no way of knowing in many cases
And the biggest point of all……..most people who use batteries do not have electronics knowledge…….due to this…they are falling for cheap rubbish batteries and throwing out mega-tons of rubbish re-chargeable batts all the time….ditto chargers……mega tons of them, going on the scrap heap all the time……and what if your boss won’t invest in a decent charger and just tells you to use his cheapo batts/charger…your stuck with your diff probe going wonky all the time….at one place, I used to have to buy 4 AA’s every month just so I could use the diff probe…they wouldn’t buy decent rechargeables/chargers.
Our thermal camera got through 4 AA batteries every day!!!....so I disassembled it and soldered a 9V wall wart to it so I could power it off the mains……must admit though,,,it was hell to get inside it…..and there was a booby trap involving a tiny ribbon cable which nearly gets ripped off when you separate the enclosure halves…luckily I just saw it at the last minute and stopped disassembling….and worked around it…but I very nearly ruined the thermal cam….it was a “Dong Guan Xintai instrument company HT-04”….great value for money, but no mains adapter and needs one.
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There should also be a proper [insert your country here] owned Battery company. One which makes chargers and rechargeable batteries. This is so that people are not constantly buying poor quality rechargeable batteries and having to throw them away prematurely. Also, many battery chargers on the market overcharge batteries leading to the battery’s early wear out..and again needing premature battery disposal. There is no way for a shopper to know if many chargers on the market (particularly the cheap ones) will overcharge a battery or not. A charger should preferably stop charging a battery when its fully charged and just put it on trickle charge thereafter…but many chargers just keep overcharging batteries for too long and ruin them (wear them out prematurely). This all leads to lots of environmental damaging waste and in the end, more expense for the shopper.
Also, if a device is battery operated, it should preferably have a connector so that it can be powered from a mains adapter instead. This is more efficient than batteries. This is because batteries only use a rather small percentage of the energy used to charge them….and batteries on trickle charge are using up energy whilst being maintained on endless trickle charge. Also, when you take into account all the energy involved in battery manufacture, then batteries really are an inefficient way to power things.
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