Battery labeling

[jhellwig]

This might be an idiotic question but what do you guys use to label your batteries? I used a sharpie to number mine but it keep wiping off.


This battery stuff is addictive. My c9000 hasn't sat idle since I got it a week ago.

 

[9x23]

This might be an idiotic question but what do you guys use to label your batteries? I used a sharpie to number mine but it keep wiping off.


This battery stuff is addictive. My c9000 hasn't sat idle since I got it a week ago.

That's funny because I thought I was the only one who has been running their C9000 for a week and a half (night & day) using the "break-in" mode to recondition my pile of 20 Energizer NiMH and Sony NiMH batteries that have been sitting in the recycle bin for more than a year. So far I've gone through about 12 batteries and only 2 couldn't be reconditioned to work, so I feel like I've already saved some money by reconditioning batteries I was going to recycle. I think it is pretty cool to be able to know how much capacity is available so as to match them up in pairs or fours. I use a permanent ink fine tip Sharpie to write the volts and mah on each battery after the break-in cycle and it looks like it is there to stay.

9x23

 

[45/70]

I use a Sharpie as well. Yeah, it does seem to rub off rather easily. I had a laundry marker that seemed to be more permanent. Next time I think of it, I'm going to give one another try.

That's funny because I thought I was the only one who has been running their C9000 for a week and a half (night & day) using the "break-in" mode to recondition my pile of 20 Energizer NiMH and Sony NiMH batteries that have been sitting in the recycle bin for more than a year.

9x23, that line cracked me up! Been there, done that!

Dave

 

[jhellwig]

My eneloops seam to hold the sharpie numbers the best and the old rayovac 1300mAh's I think a breeze would take the ink off.




The bad thing is with this addiction is that now I need more things that use batteries.

 

[65535]

This is not applicable to most lights, but my U2 with Leef body holds 18650's pretty loosely, so some careful wrapping with scotch tape and I have tape bushing semi-permanently mounted at both ends of the cell. This left any untaped part of the cell (most of it) thinner than the body of the light so labeling the cells 1-5 then taping over it with a single layer of scotch keeps them looking great.

 

[fireguy]

That's funny because I thought I was the only one who has been running their C9000 for a week and a half (night & day) using the "break-in" mode to recondition my pile...

I hear you! My C9000 is only about 4 days old, but I have a pile of batteries sitting beside it waiting for a break-in cycle. I figure it will be into February before it finally gets a rest! I wish I had bought 2 of them when they were on sale. :laughing:

I have been using a fine-tipped permanent sharpie and it seems ok to mark them with. But, if you rub your finger over the battery a few times, it does start to come off.

 

[Burgess]

FWIW . . . .

I've found the black Sharpies to be much more permanent
than any of the other colors.

YMMV

 

[chewy78]

This might be an idiotic question but what do you guys use to label your batteries? I used a sharpie to number mine but it keep wiping off.


This battery stuff is addictive. My c9000 hasn't sat idle since I got it a week ago.

I use an industrial grade, fine point, super permanent ink sharpie. It seems to hold up better than a regular sharpie, item #13601 . #13763 for a a blister pack of 3. I got mine at Office Max.

 

[metlarules]

Put your markings on the battery with the Sharpie than put 1 layer of clear scotch tape.

 

[chewy78]

that's also a good idea too

 

[Eugene]

I used clear inkjet labels big enough to wrap back around themselves.

 

[TakeTheActive]

...I used a sharpie to number mine but it keep wiping off...

I use a cotton cloth to clean the 'finger oil' off of the battery before I label it. Sometimes a bit of rubbing alcohol is required. Then, I try to avoid handling the battery in the labelled area. Most of my RadioShack 1300mAh and Rayovac 1600mAh labels are still in good shape after several years. I use a Black Fine Point Series 30000.

 

[TakeTheActive]

...I've found the black Sharpies to be much more permanent than any of the other colors...

I also use the Sharpies to label my CD-RWs. I was using Red, Green, Blue and Black to 'color-code' and found that the colors 'ran out' faster. For example, although the Green would still write on the CD-RW, it looked like it was writing in grease - left a left-and-right outline with a hollow center. IIRC, Green always 'ran out' first, followed by Red, and Blue - the Blacks are still running...

 

[jhellwig]

The tape will work for some of my batteries. I duno about the duracells being able to fit my maglite afterwords though.

 

[viorel00]

I plan to label my AA cells and I have a brother label printer, and those labels seem pretty thin, so I am gonna try to use those and hope the cells still fit in the camera, flashlight, toys, etc.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

I've tried stick on labels but ultimately found them unworkable. I found that even if I made the labels narrow enough that they didn't go all the way around there were come combos of cells and devices where they would no longer fit.

I tried black Sharpies but for me, at least, the numbers wore away at too rapid a rate for that to be a viable solution.

I had the best results by degreasing the cells with 90% isopropyl alcohol and then writing the numbers with Pilot metalic markers (Gold and Silver) as sold in drug and stationary stores. That method lasted far longer than the Sharpie lettering I tried but it still fell far short of a truly lasting solution for me.

I've given up on serial numbers on cells :sigh: but I still use an Extra Fine Point Pilot Gold Marker to put tiny, cryptic marks on the plastic around the Positive button of cells that occasionally exhibit odd behavior -- that works for me and is better than nothing but on a AA or AAA there isn't much room in that area.

I've often wished that manufacturers would silk screen a unique identifier on each new cell. It wouldn't have to have a whole lot of charactors if they used something like a 64-character case sensitive set consisting of alphanumeric and some punctuation while explicitly excluding all visually ambiguous charactors from the set (like o, 0, O and 1, l, |, etc.) That way a short, simple, 4 charactor identifier would have 16.77 million unique combinations.

 

[45/70]

I may try those Pilots, myself Sub_Umbra. :thumbsup:

I quit using tape 20 years ago. Even if it stayed on, which usually it didn't, it always ended up making the battery compartment sticky from the adhesive oozing out.

Dave

 

[Hoggy]

The bad thing is with this addiction is that now I need more things that use batteries.

I'm finding the same thing. I'm in the process of buying several more 1xAA and 1xAAA flashlights to use all my spare batteries.

I just decided to start labeling ALL my rechargeables about 2 weeks ago and recording break-in capacity numbers in a spreadsheet.

What I've found to work the best is getting some VERY small labels - 3/4 inch by 1/2 inch from Walmart. I found the 'removable' ones come off way too easy(on their own), but the 'permanent' ones seem to be doing just fine. All I put on it is battery number and then use the spreadsheet to record the type and whatnot to correlate with the battery number.

It's working fine so far, but I only have one C9000 - so it'll probably be another month till I get done.

 

[Papuga]

I started using my Wasp barcode label printer to print a serial number for each battery, i picked an arbitrary starting number for each type of battery. Eneloops are 4000 series, Duraloops are 5000, standard Sanyo NiMh are 6000 and everything else, 9000 series. I used Wasp's AppGen software to write a program for their WDT-2200 hand held laser bar code scanner with a portable data terminal and 2MB of RAM.

Each time a battery is charged, refreshed, cycled or formed, the battery is scanned, the capacity is entered, and the results stored.

Once a month, I take the data from the reader, download it, and it automatically gets entered into an Excel spreadsheet. I am working now on a connector to output the excel data directly in to a database for future tracking.

Anyone out that that has access to one of the wasp barcode readers, and wants the software, I would be more than happy to send it.

 

[fireguy]

I started using my Wasp barcode label printer to print a serial number for each battery, i picked an arbitrary starting number for each type of battery. Eneloops are 4000 series, Duraloops are 5000...

I'm not sure if this system will work for more than several months. What happens after you have 1,000 Eneloops?