ticking time bomb?

looks kinda nice but look inside!
no charge control at all!
i can see these leaking or going bang.
dont rechargeable alks need strict voltage controlled charging? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif

btw it has 3 sets of 9 in series paralell

Looks bad to me...I hope you didn't pay very much for that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Wouldn't 9 batteries only equal 10.8v? Or are rechargeable alkalines 1.5v each?

Those are not rechargeables at all. They are just the plain cheap AA alkaline batteries. As an earlier thread pointed out, if you don't completely drain the batteries and top up the charge as soon as possible, those non-rechargeable alkalines can accept a few recharge cycles.

The primary purpose of the battery pack is that if you get a totally flat car battery---like one night you forgot to turn off the headlight---then you can save yourself by plugging the battery pack into the cigerret lighter socket and let the alkalines charge up the car battery to a point you can start the engine. This can be useful if you are in a camping trip to some remote areas where AAA/CAA help is just out of the question.

For this kind of emmergency use, you probably won't need the battery for more than twice a year. Even if the battery pack can not be charged at all, it probably still worth keeping one of these in your car when going for a field trip just as a back-up. I will not attempt to use it to power the other crazy stuffs as printed on the battery pack, because I don't want to spend some $40 on half hour of "entertainment".

And yes, it will go BANG or leak if it is not used/charged carefully or you are just unlucky.

Take a close look at those batteries...it says "rechargeable alkaline". Like NiMh only worse...

These guys are safe to recharge in a PS1/3... But stick them in a DC, and you're in for SERIOUS trouble...

I'd buy the thing, if it isn't too expensive, just for the batteries, not the setup...

That's absolutely insane! Charging it DC or AC!!! No control chip whatsoever...

I smell FTC Consumer Protection complaint comin...

I think the idea is to remove the cells and charge them in a charger. That plug coming out is a 12V lighter plug, right?
And it also has a 12V lighter socket, right?

It seems that pluging it into a cigarette lighter socket, with about 13-14VDC, would charge rechargeables.

Looks like it may be kind of handy. Too bad it didn't come with high capacity NiMH.

they are glued together and not intended to be opened.
this one was dead when i got it and was plugged into my 12v ups conversion to recharge by a shop employee.
even after overnight it would not run a small tv so i cracked it open.
it does have a thermal cutout in the bottom though.

I checked the charging voltage of both of my chargers. I'm assuming they both charge to cells in series, and the charge voltage is over 6VDC. Plugging this into a cigarette lighter should charge it, albeit very slow.

Strange that they made it "permanently closed", huh? Rechargeable alkalines only recharge about 25 times, right?

Good thing it's open, now you can replace the cells and fix it right up.

How would you like to take this item thru airport security as carry-on luggage?

I also bought one of those 3 years ago..-and also carefully opened it up...found 27 Sanyo regular alks in it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

I hate to admit it, but:
1. It worked one time when I really needed it.
2. I paid $40. for it originally. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif