EEVblog #865 - How To Increase Alkaline Battery Capacity

[EEVblog]

Dave shows you an interesting ionic resistance phenomenon that lets you increase the battery capacity in typical Alkaline AA and AAA cells.

[tszaboo]

Hmmm... Is this real?

[Muttley Snickers]

It wasn't made clear in the video nor was it particularly visible but I can only assume that you had rubber or plastic soft jaws in the vise so as not to short out the battery, others may not be aware of this and may not get the same result because of it.

[han]

I use to make dent in larger battery (D size) and can make the battery life again for some time.
so i call it's not a April mop

[sleary78]

I just tried this... works. 

[EEVblog]

It wasn't made clear in the video nor was it particularly visible but I can only assume that you had rubber or plastic soft jaws in the vise so as not to short out the battery, others may not be aware of this and may not get the same result because of it.

Yes, forgot to mention this, you can see my electrical tape in the video. Annotation added.

[plazma]

Just heard a similar case from a battery specialist yesterday. The lithium battery internal resistance decreases with applied pressure.

[tszaboo]

I use to make dent in larger battery (D size) and can make the battery life again for some time.
so i call it's not a April mop

Now I'm just wondering if it is the pressure inside the battery which is causing this. And if you cool down a battery, because of thermal expansion (well, reverse) of different materials cause the pressure to drop and that is why batteries have reduced life in the cold. Besides higher self discharge.

[danielschroeder]

Hi!

What happended at round about 9:37 to the curve on the multimeter?
It seems the battery did cut of some minutes? ago and some additional power source was connected?

edit: typo

[MatthewMorgan]

Appers to be April fools as it is not connected to sense:

[StuUK]

I feel a new kickstarter coming on. The 'BatteryViseor'

[Ivan7enych]

Appers to be April fools as it is not connected to sense:

Sense was connected to Load (to correctly cut off at 0.1V), not to multimeter - it doesn't draw any current from battery and don't need sense.

[EEVblog]

What happended at round about 9:37 to the curve on the multimeter?
It seems the battery did cut of some minutes? ago and some additional power source was connected?

No, the battery stopped discharging and the voltage recovered, just like it's supposed to. I think I had some commentary on this, but it might have got edited out.

[EEVblog]

Appers to be April fools as it is not connected to sense:

The multimeter does not need and cannot use a sense line, that's only applicable if you make 4 terminal resistance measurements.

[MatthewMorgan]

Im always spetical of everything near the 1st of  April.
You where talking about the other 2 cables on the video?

[MK14]

Make a new version of the batterizer, out of the secret Easter egg feature of all 555 timers, and a new spring clamped battery holder, which automatically squeezes every last drop of juice out of the battery.
Hence a x1,600% super batterizer.
Which can then double the all important battery life, of the EEVblog, upcoming "new version" multimeter.

It can even be used to light up the new EEVblog recommended/branded solar roads, both creating free, nighttime perpetual energy, and lighting up the way for motorists, to safely traverse the road.

[Taucher]

Dave, just HEAT the battery - should give a similar result



PS:
Also nice demo: take a metal bar (1-2m long), clip its ends to a DVM and slam it axially into some hard object - voltage spike

[hamdi.tn]

funny enough, for years some ppl i know chew their tv remote control after they stop working and they say it give it a bit of extra life !! i was like what a dump thing to do ... i think i have to apologize now  . it's proved by proper testing   

[Ivan7enych]

Dave, can you try charging the alkaline battery? Can it at least partially restore its charge? Or charging them is unpractical waste of time and energy.

My children doesn't differ alkaline AA batteries from rechargeable AA cells, and often puts dead alkaline batteries into universal NiCd-NiMeH charger, and it brings some charge into it, at least for small currents.

[MK14]

Dave, can you try charging the alkaline battery? Can it at least partially restore its charge? Or charging them is unpractical waste of time and energy.

My children doesn't differ alkaline AA batteries from rechargeable AA cells, and often puts dead alkaline batteries into universal NiCd-NiMeH charger, and it brings some charge into it, at least for small currents.

I'd STRONGLY recommend AGAINST doing that. It can make the batteries leak, badly. Potentially ruining equipment, and costing a lot more (in damage) than buying the correct alkaline or rechargeable batteries. It may even be an explosion risk (dangerous), I'm NOT SURE ?

[hamdi.tn]

Dave, can you try charging the alkaline battery? Can it at least partially restore its charge? Or charging them is unpractical waste of time and energy.

My children doesn't differ alkaline AA batteries from rechargeable AA cells, and often puts dead alkaline batteries into universal NiCd-NiMeH charger, and it brings some charge into it, at least for small currents.

did that so many time, it make battery last for longer periods. i did that mainly for my wireless mouse, while a fresh battery may last up to 4 month, doing that make it last for a couple of weeks. it obsiouly heat-up as hell sometimes.

Dave, just HEAT the battery - should give a similar result

could be just the heating effect as @taucher said.

[hayatepilot]

Dave, can you try charging the alkaline battery? Can it at least partially restore its charge? Or charging them is unpractical waste of time and energy.

My children doesn't differ alkaline AA batteries from rechargeable AA cells, and often puts dead alkaline batteries into universal NiCd-NiMeH charger, and it brings some charge into it, at least for small currents.

But then the batteries will leak after a while. 
Happened more than once to me after I thought I could use the batteries longer in a remote control by charging them for a couple of minutes.
Makes a horrible mess and I stopped charging alkalines when I realized they leak because of the charging.

Greetings

[Muttley Snickers]

These ridiculous devices were available many years ago and I only bought one to conduct some tests and also they were clearing them out for about 10 bucks each, never had a battery leak whilst charging even for long periods and some batteries would actually regain a slight boost but never enough to warrant the messing around, I still have it with the booklet and they were intended for use with carbon and I think maybe alkaline batteries, occasionally I still use it for rechargeable's without any problems.

[Fungus]

So .... putting a bigger spring in the battery compartment could give more benefit that a Batteriser?

Edit: I just saw somebody else already posted this idea.

And, for the pedants: I know that "bigger" isn't the same as "stronger" when it comes to springs.

[coppice]

So .... putting a bigger spring in the battery compartment could give more benefit that a Batteriser?

Isn't that the technique used by the Batteriser?