Funny(ish) Duraloop story

[H.Roark]

I have several of the Sylvania Dragon-Eye lights that I use for under-counter task lighting. I generally use Energizer 2650 and Maha 2700 AA's for guilt-free lumens. Once in a while I find some old alkalines laying around and toss them in in one to finish them off. Sometimes I do not have time to wait for the high capacity cells to charge so I use LSD's.

Anywho - one of the lights went out this morning so I opened it up, intending to take out the cells and recharge them. The following ensued:

Voice in my head:
​

"No wonder it went dead - just some old alkaline Duracells"

Pick out the first cell, toss it in the garbage -- the kitchen garbage. (Yeah, I know, they should be recycled. I generally have no alkalines around, and I was in a hurry.)
​

The cell leaves my hand and I get a look at the positive end as it arcs toward the garbage can.
​

Voice in my head:
​

"That's funny, why is there a white insulator around the button?"

Take out the second cell, notice it has a white insulator as well

​

Voice in my head: (seriously)​

"That's odd"

Wait a beat

Cue dramatic music as realization slowly dawns.

I look closer at the second cell, and sure enough, read "RECHARGEABLE" on the side.

Voice in my head: (cleaned up)

​

"Oh, for pity's sake!"

Our hero sheepishly digs the Duraloop out of the garbage and cleans it up with a paper towel and Windex.
​

I remember someone posting that they would not buy Duraloops because they look too much like the alkaline Duracells and would therefore be too easy for his family to throw out. I thought, "Poor guy. Good thing I'm the only one who changes batteries. No worries here."

 

[csshih]

whoops.

the voices in my head are lmao.

oh wait.. more like ltao..

 

[^Gurthang]

It happens..... M@G was running low, opened up, took out nearly dead D cells, threw M@G into garbage can.... opened up fresh D pack, went looking for M@G... WHERE THE HELL IS THE M@G!!!! Oh Duh! %^#%&.... retrieve M@G from garbage....

^G

 

[VidPro]

i have done drastic things to try and identify the rechargables, one of the Stupidest things i did , was to paint them GOLD, that way other people would know how Precious they were, and at least Wonder why some dork had bothered to paint cells.
The gold paint was conductive, so i had to "mask" them better.
other things like big black magic marker markings, or anything that looks like a human was messing with them for some reason, then at least someone might ask, uhh Why is this Stuff on there anyways.

 

[Yucca Patrol]

My biggest complaint is that the Duraloops look like disposable alkalines. I remember thinking that they would be easy for someone to accidentally throw them away if they didn't look carefully.

Lucky, we don't use disposable batteries in our household except for the smoke alarms.

 

[yuandrew]

Happened to one of my neighbor's before (with Energizer 2650mah AA cells)

Some co-worker borrowed his digital camera and the batteries ran out on it. Needless to say, the person who had borrowed his camera didn't realize the batteries were rechargeable and threw them away when he replaced them (with regular alkaline batteries)

I guess it's all out of habit if one is normally accustomed to regular batteries.


^Gurthang V

M@G was running low, opened up, took out nearly dead D cells, threw M@G into garbage can.... opened up fresh D pack, went looking for M@G... WHERE THE HELL IS THE M@G!!!! Oh Duh!

"Oh Wait, you'll need that"
-LEDmuseum

 

[Toohotruk]

I've wondered about that myself...they really do look like normal alkies, at a glance. Makes you wonder if that's part of Duracell's plan. Make them look like disposables and when they get thrown away, people will have to buy more of them. :shrug: