Lost Battery Power

[Davey]

If only I could save all the power that I have to throw out in batteries because I have no way of using it. We use two portable radios, both of which decide on their own that their AA battery power level has dropped below what they will accept, and they shut off. But there is plenty of power still in the batteries. The only use we have for AA batteries, other than the radios, is MiniMaglite torches, but they are used only on rare occasions, so the supply of useable batteries is getting bigger and bigger. Considering the cost of batteries, we are throwing away lots of pounds'-worth of battery power. How can I make sensible use of this lost power? Over a year, it must add up to a quite considerable amount. I hate to throw it all away.

[meow2222]

go rechargeable, less than 1p per batteryful

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Davey escribió:

I use them in wall clocks. A battery that won't power a device like a radio will keep a clock going for a year or more.

[Bill Wright]

Wait until you've got enough then feed the power into the mains and claim the FIT.

Bill

[Andy Burns]

Make several joule thieves and use the plentiful supply of AA batteries to light the smallest room?

Switch to re-chargeable batteries?

[Tim+]

I suspect that you're using a digital radio on batteries, which, considering their relatively high power consumption, isn't terribly wise unless you really want to listen to a digital only channel and need portability.

An analogue radio would make more sense if you don't need a digital channel.

Tim

[Martin Brown]

This is quite common. Digital cameras on AAs are the worst for this.

If you have any digital clocks, handset remotes or other low drain devices they will happily work on half dead cells. I have a little gizmo to test my "dead" batteries and keep any with life left in.

I only ever use primary single use cells if I have to replace something urgently and do not have any rechargeables available to swap in.

Non critical clocks and the like get replaced from the half dead stock.

High drain torches, cameras and the like need fresh cells every time as does the remote monitor in the loft since it is a PITA to get to.

Unless you are into building electronics realistically you can't. The sort of circuits that will extract every last joule tend to cause the batteries to leak eventually which is why consumer items don't risk it. Joule thief is one such to power an LED from a single cell.

(and also the basis of many garden LED lights)

You could buy some decent quality long life rechargeable batteries that would give you a long term saving. Aldi/Lidl sometime have bargain NiMH ones that actually hold charge very well (and some poxy ones too).

[RJH]

I've moved almost entirely to Eneloop-type batteries - even in things like remotes - over the past couple of years. I haven't noticed any particular problem as yet.

Rob

[Martin Brown]

Digital radios are basically a crap design badly implemented and with programme material cobbled together at an inadequate bitrate. I have several digital radios one high end and none of them work when there are leaves on the trees and heavy rain. Radio4 announcers sound like the subterraneans on Stingray as they burble along with bits missing and the occasional ultrasonic squawk. If anything the most recent digital radio is the worst of the lot it now streams R4 from the net.

Or a mains power adaptor for the digital radio that is being used. Digital radios are virtually useless on batteries.

[Dave Liquorice]

Rechargeables is probably the way to go with the low self discharge NiMH ones(*) and decent charger. The Lidl batteries and charger fall into that category.

The snag might be with the kit as rechargeables have a lower voltage and the kit might think they are "flat" way before they are. Decent kit that does shutdown based on battery voltage may have an option to select between ordinary and rechargeable batteries.

(*) Distinguishable in store by being marked "ready to use" and "rechargeable". I add the last bit as I've noticed some primary cells jumping onto that marketing band wagon...

[DerbyBorn]

I get wound up about the amount of metal (zinc) that gets thrown away. Worse are poor quality batteries that have been shipped half way around the planet only to give poor performance and fill our landfill sites with contamination.

[charles]

so you are saying you live in a poor reception area. Does your high end radio have an outside aerial? The "burbling" is not a fault of DAB, it's due to an inadequate signal being received; similarly a poor FM signal would result in a high level of hiss.

[polygonum]

We got a Pure several years ago. The original battery (rechargeable) worked but only needed it occasionally. When even half an hour of use in bathroom (I like radio when in bath!) ran battery flat, we contacted company. Got a replacement Li unit which has been fine and hardly notice anything.

But what I don't like is that the radio has a sound which seems to miss out a lot of the high end even with the tone control right round. The bass is quite good. That poor high end clashes with my hearing deficit and makes some things unpleasant to listen to.

[Geoff Pearson]

DAB is a poor quality transmission - just listen to the same programme - eg Radio 2 on DAB and FM. I use a Videologic DAB tuner; FM is always better. I use DAB only for Radio 4 Extra (which should be called Radio 7) as there is no alternative. I would listen on DTT but there is no BBC radio on DTT in Scotland in the evenings.

[Huge]

Ummm, no. Just because the broadcasters have chosen quantity over quality does not make DAB in and of itself "poor quality".

[Martin Brown]

The analogue signal is 58dB on radio (max is 60) this isn't a low signal area except for DAB when it is raining and the trees are in leaf. The digital portable radios are not connected to the main aerial and are generally operated on VHF channels except in mid winter.

The quality of VHF for perfomance of music is way better than DAB and the pecking order for simulcasts is something like satellite HD, satellite radio, TDTV, FM and DAB bringing up the rear by a long way.

The only thing DAB does well is the quiet bits in between records.

Today is particularly bad with very heavy rain and high winds.

[Martin Brown]

You are supposed to put them in the waste battery containers that are in supermarkets and recycling centres all around the country.

I made some 3W LED path lamps for the Jubilee last year to allow people to walk home. We considered solar powered but the sums didn't stack up.

In the end they were powered using Poundshops finest 12/£1 batteries and to my amazement they did work perfectly well. The lights were all still going the next morning when I went to pick them up.

[Geoff Pearson]

OK - but there is only one DAB station which ever broadcasts at 192k - Radio

3 which as I write is on 160k - 10.15 am. Radio 7 is 80k mono, which is like the medium wave for which many of its programmes were made.

[polygonum]

The alternative of internet for R4X? That is what I usually use for it. Partly due to circumstances and choices.

[Davey]

snip

Coming back to this this morning, I am amazed at the number of replies, which is great. Trying to answer the questions and assumptions made:

-The two radios concerned are several-year-old analogue Yacht-Boys, both with Short-wave abilities. The bigger one uses (6) AA batteries, and when it decides that they have no power left, the smaller radio can still run on them, and it uses (3) at a time.

-There is no DAB radio here, from all accounts, why would I bother with a radio that sounds worse than what I have now?

-Reading the comments about whether DAB as a system, or DAB radios as sold, are the cause of bad quality, why don't we just agree that the implementation of DAB radio is flawed? Then the cause can be bypassed, for a different discussion.

-I like the idea of the Joulethief, but as I said earlier, I have little use for such lighting.

-And finally, I have some rechargeable batteries for the radios, but their low voltage just means that the minimum voltage is reached sooner than with plain batteries.

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas.