What do you use your old batteries for ?

[abvidledUK]

Non electrical uses that is.

 

[firefly99]

a) Paper weight
b) Non explosives hand grenade

Just kidding, usually just dispose of it.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I toss all my used up, dead batteries including bad SLA... defective/weak nimh/nicd in a plastic folgers coffee can and when it gets full take it to the recycling center.
I toss in any kind of battery including watch and coin sized batteries.

 

[blindsided]

definately dispose of them properly, no need to let corrosive acid sit around unless you are using it.

 

[jashhash]

I remove the sheet metal jacket and take off the coin sized positive and negative contact disks. These I keep, and throw the rest away.

 

[MrAl]

Hello there,

I like to try to fill up the garbage can with mine

Actually, i do use my old LA 12v, 4Ah battery as a sort of paper weight, and
once i used it as part of a mouse trap to make the top stay down once the
mouse got trapped inside (the box under the top). Worked great.

Also, i sometimes use my old 9v battery contacts as a 9v battery clip...
peel apart the metal jacket and lift the terminal board up and cut off leads.
Solder wires to flip side of terminal board and you've got a 9v battery clip
because 9v battery terminals connect to other 9v batteries just as well
as a purchased 9v clip does.

Also, once i glued a whole bunch of AA alkies together as i used them up.
Little by little, the thing got bigger and bigger as more and more cells
were added. It's amazing how much space a lot of AA's can take up.
One day however i decided to chuck it. Should have taken a pic first though.


Take care,
Al

 

[TorchBoy]

b) Non explosives hand grenade

I looked into making a narrow-bore air cannon and using them for the ammunition, but I couldn't find a suitably small sized tube for the barrel.

Is there a thread like this but for electrical uses for mostly-flat cells?

 

[DM51]

Please NEVER use empty or dead cells as spacers...

 

[rizky_p]

i never use any old batteries for any reason, when they leaks it is just nasty.

 

[myk]

am I the only one that throws them into the reservoir at the local water treatment plant?

 

[Marduke]

Please NEVER use empty or dead cells as spacers...

Could carefully cut them open, discard the guts, solder a few wires or, and reshrinkwrap it to make a properly sized and shaped spacer.

 

[Norm]

I make mine into earrings and give them as gifts.
Norm

 

[TorchBoy]

Could carefully cut them open, discard the guts, solder a few wires or, and reshrinkwrap it to make a properly sized and shaped spacer.

That sounds like more word than drilling out a bit of dowel and sticking a bolt through it.

 

[Marduke]

That sounds like more word than drilling out a bit of dowel and sticking a bolt through it.

Wood collects moisture, which is a bad thing to have in a light. Easiest solution is to short out the connections on this for AA spacers:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3657

 

[TorchBoy]

Wood collects moisture, which is a bad thing to have in a light.

Now that you mention it, I remember a couple of CPFers had trouble when they used wood for making a dummy AA cell so they could charge C and D cells with an AA charger. The wood conducted just slightly because of its moisture content. Those adapters look perfect.

 

[Fallingwater]

Please NEVER use empty or dead cells as spacers...

Empty or dead cells do not short out their terminals. How would one go to use them as spacers? :thinking:

Me, I'm using a completely dead 4/3AAA cell as a solder wire roll it was the only round, long thing I had around when the need arose

 

[abvidledUK]

Me, I'm using a completely dead 4/3AAA cell as a solder wire roll it was the only round, long thing I had around when the need arose

I use a pencil as a former, then thread one end of the solder through the middle.

Use that to feed the solder to the joint, as a dispenser.

 

[D-Dog]

I ususally just bring them to the recycle plant, as leaking or exploding batteries are bad...

 

[Fallingwater]

I use a pencil as a former, then thread one end of the solder through the middle.
Use that to feed the solder to the joint, as a dispenser.

That's an interesting idea.
How did you get the lead out of the body?

 

[DM51]

Empty or dead cells do not short out their terminals. How would one go to use them as spacers?

Some people have been known to wrap them in aluminium foil and use them this way. This is most definitely NOT a safe practice.

Dead/empty cells are unpredictable. They can leak corrosive chemicals, or be dangerous in other ways, long after they appear to have been exhausted.