Best way to label double AAs

[xoomercom]

I need to label my sets of rechargeables. I currently have about 60 in rotation from diffferent brands and in different capacities. I need to label them as part of a set in addition to information whether its a part of a 3-per set (most toys use 3) or 4-per set

I can just take a marker and make ugly markings on the cells but that just wouldn't sit well with me. I tried labels but they usually peel when I load cells into devices or the holder which is just annoying. I was wondering if anybody had this same dillema and what did you do to resolve it.

Maybe a very thin labeling tape, i dunno :candle:

 

[JBorneu]

I mark all my cells with a 3-character code in permanent marker.

The first character is for when I bought the cells, the second is for the set they are devided in, and the third is for the individual cell.

For example: The AA cell marked A12 is a cell from the first pack of eneloops I ever bought, from the first matched pair from that pack and the second cell of that pair. It's always used together with cell A11 in a 2AA light (or anything else that requires 2AA cells).

The 18650 cell marked D23 is the third cell of the second set of parallel cells I got out of the fourth laptop battery pack I disassembled.

This way I can keep track of all my cells, know which ones are old and need to be used with care and know which ones to use together.

 

[tandem]

I hand label with a permanent marker. Some cells are thicker than others; some devices have smaller battery compartments than others. I've got several devices that won't take an Imedion cell with a label affixed to it... not one of any thickness. For that reason I gave up on looking for ultra-thin labels I could produce in my laser printer.

Most of my cells are Eneloop/Duraloop and Imedions and these all have a white casing surrounding the positive button. Originally I labelled all of my cells on the white casing using an ultra fine point permanent marker and a dot on the bottom quarter to show which was is "up". I still do that, mostly so I can see numbers when cells are stored on end, but I also mark them all on the sides with a permanent marker. I find this doesn't rub off in use, but your mileage may very depending on the marker.

More important to me than the appearance of the inventory mark on the cell is what I do with that in the back-end. I wrote an application (both command line driven and a web front end) that allows for tracking all charger operations plus check-in check-out of cells so that I know where all of them are and can generate a report of which cells are likely to need swapping out of devices.

edit: If Powerex is listening, it'd be great if say the C9000 and the 8 cell chargers all had a serial interface in them that applications could monitor to track charging status and automatically add records to a database.

 

[Muddquez]

I use a DYMO Letratag label printer that I got at Target only I use the paper labels because they're much thinner than the plastic ones. I've never had a problem with them coming off or being to thick.
The inventory number is simply the date and battery number when I ran the break-in on my Maha C9000 along with the original capacity.

 

[Burgess]

I always use a BLACK Sharpie pen.


Black will last WAY longer than any other color !


Note: keep yer' fingers off it, and it'll last for Years and Years.


At least, it certainly does for me !


I don't mind hand-printed labeling, directly on the battery.


Nobody ever sees it, except ME.


_

 

[jhc37013]

I label all mine with a black marker as well, I do the same thing with partially used primary cells and mark the voltage as well.

 

[Turbo DV8]

Hey, wouldn't a "double AA" cell be a "AAAA"cell?

:duck:

 

[Robin24k]

I use a Brother P-Touch labeler for all of my labeling needs. The label is plastic, but I don't have anything that is such a tight fit that the labels make a difference. If you print a larger strip, it stays on the battery longer. I wouldn't use paper labels or permanent marker, neither will last.

Hey, wouldn't a "double AA" cell be a "AAAA"cell?

:duck:

No, he just wants to tie two of them together with a label.

 

[Ziemas]

I simply use a piece of electrical tape and write on it. I've never had a problem with it peeling off.

 

[xoomercom]

Hey, wouldn't a "double AA" cell be a "AAAA"cell?

:duck:

Good catch. LOL

 

[xoomercom]

OK, apparently I didn't subscribe to this thread so I wasn't informed of all these replies. Thanks guys.

As stated in the original post I don't want to use a marker because some batteries just don't have enought "white space" to write all of the information. I do own both the Brother and Dymo label makers so I just have to look at some thin plastic labels. It does make sense to make these labels larger so they stick better. I also like the idea of marking the max capacity on the label to see how it changer over time and help match similar cells.

I just collected all of my cells and I have close to 80. I have some in qty of 4, 8, 12 and some 16.

I need to create sets of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 (most toys take 3 AAs)

This is what I was thinking as far as labeling goes taking into consideration recommendations posted...

ex.

D-1-4/8 (2850/16/10)


D - Set Designation

1 - Cell No. in a set

4 - Total no. of cells in a set

/8 - Possibility to mix with another set to create a set of 8 (only because another set exists of same brand cells with similar capacities)

2850 - Max capacity

16/10 - First Used 16th week of 2010



Please do chime in if something looks retarded.

 

[xoomercom]

...

More important to me than the appearance of the inventory mark on the cell is what I do with that in the back-end. I wrote an application (both command line driven and a web front end) that allows for tracking all charger operations plus check-in check-out of cells so that I know where all of them are and can generate a report of which cells are likely to need swapping out of devices....

Hmmm, sounds interesting, care to share more information on this.

 

[tandem]

Sure - it's an application written in Python which I half heartedly implemented as I grew tired of banging in C9000 operation results into a simple text file table or later into a spreadsheet.

The data for this application is kept in an object database; there are some fairly basic objects such as a CellType, instances of Cell have a few attributes including date in service, a label, a CellType reference, and history which is a collection of Events. Events are at this point exclusively charger operations (patterned after the C9000). Check-in/Check-out is at present little more than a flag, note and estimated date and I don't use it for all cells out there in the wild. I was in a hurry that day, I should refactor the check out process and make it a specialised form of DischargeEvent. I've not implemented anything for managing matched groups of cells but should do that some day.

(and if I do I'll need an easy visual way of marking grouped cells, since at presented I'd sort cells by capacity and then look for available cells)

 

[Halfpint]

I use a Brother P-Touch labeler for all of my labeling needs. The label is plastic, but I don't have anything that is such a tight fit that the labels make a difference. If you print a larger strip, it stays on the battery longer. I wouldn't use paper labels or permanent marker, neither will last.

I've been using one of those "P-Touch" labelers for quite some time myself. Because the majority of my devices that use batteries are mainly portable scanner radios and such I've really never had any `clearance' problems with the labels. However... I *have* discovered that using at least a 3/4" wide label ensures that the label will remain attached.

As an `aside'... What initially `drove' me to using the labeler was my need to try and keep my batteries grouped into `sets'. With the wider label and it's ability to take up to 3 lines of info I am able to know not only the `general' info such as when I first bought the bats, initial charge state level after the first `conditioning, ETC. but also what radio, or radios, they are used in. It basically followed that this was the way for my flashlights, too.

Doleo ergo sum,
Halfpint

 

[xoomercom]

P-Touch is what I am going to use. I can fit 2 lines per label and have plastic labels that are very thin. Pictures to follow.