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**WARNING!! I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO EQUIPMENT OR BATTERIES IF YOU CHOOSE TO TRY ANY OF THIS OUT YOURSELF. DO NOT TRY TO RECHARGE ANY NON-RECHARGEABLE ALKALINE BATTERIES IN A STANDARD OLDER STYLE ALKALINE BATTERY RECHARGER! THESE ARE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO REFRESH BATTERIES MARKED AS "RECHARGEABLE". THINK FIRST!**
I've long hated the idea of "tossing" the used-up non-rechargeable alkaline batteries that we all use so prolifically in our disposable consumer society. I've read the warnings about never putting these into a standard battery charger and in fact I overheated an "AA" battery once by placing it in a regular recharger for half an hour. Eventually the battery casing popped open. Dangerous!
I recently tried recharging some premium alkaline (but not marked as "rechargeable") "long life" "AA"s in one of the chargers dedicated to recharging of Nickel Metal Hydride (marked NMH) or Nickel Cadmium (marked NiCad) batteries. The difference between this charger, an Energizer ACCL type, and my older RayOVac "RENEWAL" charger for rechargable alkaline batteries appears to be the voltage "pressure" applied to the batteries as well as the maximum micro-amperage available to the batteries.
FYI: to force electrons back into a depleted battery (i.e.: to recharge it), the charger must provide more voltage (pressure) than the battery's rated at. A typical fully charged "AA", "AAA", "C" or "D" battery provides anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 volts DC. The ACCL charger's terminals registered about 1.8V. Otherwise, as the battery reaches it's fully charged state, it will resist additional electron transfer (i.e.: charge) and won't ever get to full charge. Similarly, your automotive alternator provides up to ≈16 volts to keep your car's 12V battery fully "up".
Too high a voltage or current flow will, apparently, cause the overheating I observed. But the Energizer ACCL charger seems to be limited in both areas, and I inadvertently left 4 "AAA"s in overnight. The "charge" light was out this am, and the batteries are up to their rated 1.5V. Are they fully "up" regarding their amp-hour (micro-amp minute?) rating? In other wrods, their voltage durability over time, installed in a device. I'll let you know.
If this works, and I'm testing more in the next few days, I will rejoice in being able to significantly reduce my own consumption of these handy batteries. The battery companies won't like this, but hey.... the environment will. moreover, we probably spend about $50 or more each year replacing alkaline batteries. The non-rechargeable NiMH or NiCad batteries, if they end up in a waste land fill, will leach nasty heavy metals into the environment, and yet we regularly toss them into our personal waste stream. Recharging them may be a useful alternative, if safe and effective, and it's therefore worth careful consideration esp. with so many Christmas toys requiring power. What ever happened to a good old-fashioned fine wood choo-choo? Oh well, I show my age...
If you have any experiences with this topic, let us know! Thanks, and think green!
RE-READ THE WARNING ABOVE, AGAIN! IDIOTS WILL NOT BE "SUFFERED".
Last edited by rifleman; 11-27-2008 at 08:49 AM..
Reason: typos
I remember in the early 70's, there was a charger designed specifically for recharging disposable cells. We had one and it did work however there were people who had batteries rupturing like you experienced. Once my folks heard about it the charger was promptly chucked in the trash.
I'm curious, have you tried NiMH rechargable batteries recently? I bought a charger and 24 AA batts and could not be happier. 2600 mAh AA NiMH cells are about $1.50 each (after shipping). I have not had one go bad after a year of use. I even replaced the batteries in my outdoor solar lights and they are still working better than the originals even after being outside in the winter.
I will admit these batteries don't perform well in my digital camera but it's really old. I know the newer camera are much less power hungry.
Rechargable batteries aren't that much more than alkaline these days. Since they are meant to be recharged, you don't have to monitor the charge as close. I still keep a watchful eye when recharging and never recharge batts overnite, just to be safe.
DM me if you want the link to the website I buy from. I didn't see them listed on the CityData ads so they prolly don't want a non-paying company advertised here, lol.
Phase II: How to clean up the mess inside your charger!
OOOoopppsss......
Well, it sounded like a good idea, yes? Truth be known, the smaller "AAA" batts seem to be OK but yesterday I tried some half-depleted "AA" "Long Life" alkaline non-rechargeable batts and stupidly left them in there overnight. just like I did for the previous "AAA"s. Those little "AAA"s, as I mentioned above, weren't apparently damaged at all, but yesterday's "AA"s, well.... not so good!
I pulled them out, noticing, first clue, that they didn't want to come out; they were sorta welded in with smegma / batt acid drippings or whatever. The ends had popped off of both batts, probably indicative of heat. The batteries were obviously destroyed.
So I will try "AA"s again, but this time I'll watch them and check every 5 minutes or so to see where the "break-even point" is. Perhaps it's possible to tamp a bit of voltage back into these batteries. Or perhaps it can be achieved by charging for, say, 20 min, then allowing them to cool down, then back on the charge-cycle, etc.
But sad to say, this was a bit of a let-down in my experiment. (I think I can hear the boys over at Energizer and RayOVac giggling right now...)
PS: I had to wipe out and toothbrush the "ooze" from the charger, then spritz and brush with citrus-based Green Works cleaner, and then a final blast with CRC 2-26 electrical cleaner to displace any remnant water or cleaner. Then I placed it in a warm place to dry out. What a pain!
**** SO PLEASE BE WARNED. DAMAGE WILL OCCUR TO YOUR CHARGER IF YOU TRY THIS WITHOUT CONSTANTLY MONITORING IT. IT MAY EVEN BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR PERSON! I'M JUST EXPERIMENTING AND REPORTING BACK. ****
THANKS!
PS: the recharged "AAA"s are performing wonderfully.
Last edited by rifleman; 11-30-2008 at 10:28 AM..
Reason: typos, clarity
It is possible to replace a small amount of charge on an old alkaline battery with a NiCd charger but they will ultimately leak as they are being re-used and cause damage to the device.
I use rechargeable NiMH batteries (2500 mAh) and they are much better than the old NiCd batteries, and last longer in my digital camera than the most heavy duty alkaline batteries.
As you are noticing the chemical reactions of a Carbon/Zink with alkaline electrolyte (standard cells) is not reversible. Attempting to run the chemistry backwards only acts as an electrolytic cell and releases hydrogen gas that pressurizes and ruptures the casing. Good idea but wrong chemistry.
Nickel Cadmium rechargeable cells use a different oxidization reduction reaction and are rechargeable.
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Phase II: How to clean up the mess inside your charger!
