"Batterizer" claims to increase disposable battery life 8x...

[westfw]

If using boost converters on the regulator side INSIDE the device was a great advantage, manufacturers would jump at it to get extended battery life.

Many have, haven't they?  Despite their Apple wireless keyboard example showing "dead" batteries at 1.3V, my apple wireless trackpad runs about a month on a set of Eneloop rechargeables (1.2V nominal.)  (I'll measure the voltage next time I have to change the batteries.  But, that'll be about a month from now...)

If your device thinks the battery is empty at 1.35 volts, the device is crap.

Yes, this.  OTOH, I bet there are a lot of "crap" devices out there.

[EEVblog]

I rushed a video on this one, rendering now.
The usual expected 10min video turned into a 30 minute epic! 
It's done in the style of a tutorial on debunking products, with a 7 step Carl Sagan style Product Baloney Detection Kit!

[EEVblog]

Dave said he's on this one.  We'll put this to rest fast.

The result is as everyone would expect, so hardly any spoilers, it's not even close to being as good as it claims. Although it's possible to cherry pick a bad product and demo this thing at a particular current to get a reasonably impressive boost in battery life.
One of the main problems, apart from the deceptive claim of 1.35-1.4V typical cutout voltages, is obviously the efficiency of the converter. It must be designed for any product, from uA to maybe an 1A peak current, and the efficiency will vary drastically over that current range. So much (maybe all in many cases) unused energy benefit you do get will be lost in the efficiency.
I think I may have forgot to mention that the product could actually decrease your life in many cases. Oh well, too late, headed home...

[EEVblog]

I think I may have forgot to mention that the product could actually decrease your life in many cases. Oh well, too late, headed home...

Nope, added that quickly and re-rendered remotely from home. Uploading now...

[mikerj]

And the 1mm thickness of the device seems a lot for many battery compartments.

Yep, I've had numerous devices were a standard AA cell was a tight fit, either lengthways or width ways.

[mcfalski]

I think I may have forgot to mention that the product could actually decrease your life in many cases. Oh well, too late, headed home...

Decrease my life... I guess that would be bad too

[Muxr]

Nice vid Dave. Some devices don't have the proper filtering to handle a boost converter either. So this device may introduce noise and cause issues for those devices.

About the only device where I could see this thing be even remotely useful is in badly designed  cheapo LED flashlights.

[miguelvp]

I have a Duracell 300 lumens LED flashlight that still works with just 4.2V from 4 AAA batteries.

[LabSpokane]

Best of all, your device's battery meter will cease to work with the batteriser. Brilliant. Job well done.

[westfw]

There ARE classes of devices where "slightly used" batteries (20% and/or 1.3V wouldn't surprise me) are thrown away on a regular basis.
I'm thinking of the wireless microphones used in theater and performance arts, and the radios used by emergency services folk.

But somehow I can't see them using a gadget like this to improve lifetime :-)

[mikerj]

The AA discharge curves show in Daves video assume a constant current draw, but assuming the load is taking a reasonably constant current, the boost regulator will be pulling more current from the cell the lower it's terminal voltage becomes.  Add in the increase in internal resistance as the cell discharges and I can see the system going into a very rapid death spiral beyond a certain point.

I'd be interested to know how much current the boost regulator is rated for as well.  They show a picture of a radio control car on their web page, which could be drawing a pretty high current, with e.g. a stalled motor or switching from forward to reverse quickly.

Possibly this has a more useful application for powering devices from NiCd/NiMh cells that don't work correctly with the lower cell voltages.

[HighVoltage]

About the only device where I could see this thing be even remotely useful is in badly designed  cheapo LED flashlights.

Most good quality LED light have a boost circuit already built in.

There are probably a few other applications that could benefit from such a circuit but definitely not the mainstream.
But with this popularity and some big retailer may be signing up, who knows, may be we will see this device everywhere soon.

[AG6QR]

There ARE classes of devices where "slightly used" batteries (20% and/or 1.3V wouldn't surprise me) are thrown away on a regular basis.
I'm thinking of the wireless microphones used in theater and performance arts, and the radios used by emergency services folk.

I don't know much about wireless microphones, but as a ham radio operator who has done some coordination with law enforcement and emergency services workers, I pay attention to their radios.  I've never seen one that's not operated with rechargeable batteries.  Some may have the capability to be operated with alkaline cells as a backup for those times when charging capability is unavailable, but that's not a common way to power them for routine use.

But somehow I can't see them using a gadget like this to improve lifetime :-)

Absolutely!  The one thing which an emergency services worker would hate worse than a short lifetime of alkaline batteries would be a battery lifetime that ended suddenly without warning.  And that's exactly what this gadget would produce. 

[Bassman59]

There ARE classes of devices where "slightly used" batteries (20% and/or 1.3V wouldn't surprise me) are thrown away on a regular basis.
I'm thinking of the wireless microphones used in theater and performance arts, and the radios used by emergency services folk.

Oh, that's correct -- where wireless mics and IEM receivers are used professionally, all batteries are replaced before each performance.

So this means that nobody on the tour ever needs to buy AA batteries for MagLites ever.

[bson]

It's BS.  Any device that's AA/AAA powered will already have a boost converter and adding another only serves to defeat the low battery detection at the cost of efficiency loss.  Pass.

[cdonges]

Has anyone seen this video?

Batteriser Testing Series - Batteriser with new GPS

[oxcart]

I'm not an EE, so I'll just drop this thought here..

1- Let's assume the Batteriser would increase the battery life by 10%(just a crude average of poorly and properly powered products) when used after the first "cutoff-death"

but

2- the Batteriser dc/dc converter will have an efficiency of, say, 70%?

So, either you take the hassle of always carrying some batterisers and slapping them in right at the first cutoff(plus you device died one time, and is gonna die again, soon), or you're actually decreasing battery life.

[edavid]

I'm not an EE, so I'll just drop this thought here..

1- Let's assume the Batteriser would increase the battery life by 10%(just a crude average of poorly and properly powered products) when used after the first "cutoff-death"

but

2- the Batteriser dc/dc converter will have an efficiency of, say, 70%?

So, either you take the hassle of always carrying some batterisers and slapping them in right at the first cutoff(plus you device died one time, and is gonna die again, soon), or you're actually decreasing battery life.

This type of boost converter usually has an efficient bypass mode.

[oxcart]

I'm not an EE, so I'll just drop this thought here..

1- Let's assume the Batteriser would increase the battery life by 10%(just a crude average of poorly and properly powered products) when used after the first "cutoff-death"

but

2- the Batteriser dc/dc converter will have an efficiency of, say, 70%?

So, either you take the hassle of always carrying some batterisers and slapping them in right at the first cutoff(plus you device died one time, and is gonna die again, soon), or you're actually decreasing battery life.

This type of boost converter usually has an efficient bypass mode.

Of course. I've been too naïve..but I still think efficiency * long time...hmmm