I know these are currently out of fashion but I’m still thankful they exist.

Let’s remind ourselves of devices that use(d) these standardized batteries:

  • Toys
  • Digital cameras
  • Torches
  • Gadgets like fans
  • Wireless keyboards
  • TV remotes

Thanks to having a standardized system of batteries,

  • You can use the same battery across several devices. This is a no brainer but it’s very practical.
  • Batteries can charge quicker thanks to being put in a dedicated charger and not being limited by USB cables. (But yes I concede that USB has been updated for faster charging over the years)
  • Devices don’t have down time when their battery is charging. To charge, the battery is removed from the device and can immediately be replaced with a fresh one.
  • You’ll never have to trash a device due to an expired battery. Just buy a replacement. And building on this…
  • Any improvements in future battery technology can be retro-fitted into your existing devices. And there is a high incentive for future improvement, because…
  • An accessible (due to easy replacement) and large (due to many devices) battery market is very attractive to competition.

If you look at the pros I listed, they all happen to be things that would be very useful for electric cars. So I think it would aid the adoption of electric cars if their batteries were standardized too.

  • happyhippo@feddit.it
    10·
    1 year ago

    Invest in a solid charger (30-40€ will do). You’ll keep it for years, it’ll charge an odd number of batteries as well (unlike some cheap ones that only charge in pairs) and it charges just the right amount, then stops. Some even have battery test/discharge function, and charge more than just AA/AAA.

    Then invest in a bunch of rechargeables, possibly Eneloops or something good from Amazon.

    Now profit for years to come. The planet will thank you as well.

    Honestly single use consumer batteries should be banned.

  • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
    9·
    1 year ago

    The 18650 should have become the ubiquitous replacement in most applications, but nooo, the manufacturers had to go all proprietary and enforce even more planned obsolescence

      • oldfart@lemm.ee
        3·
        1 year ago

        If they’re safe enough for teenagers with ecigs, they’re safe enough for general use I’d say

      • nyan@lemmy.cafe
        1·
        1 year ago

        There’s more than one lilthium battery chemistry. LiFePO4 is pretty safe even when mistreated. Lithium-cobalt chemistries are the ones that tend to catch on fire, make their pouches inflate like balloons, and so on. I’ve seen 18650s labelled specifically as LiFePO4, so safe ones do exist.

          • nyan@lemmy.cafe
            1·
            1 year ago

            Well, the rechargeable batteries that are least likely to blow up in your face are the ones with the old-style NiMH (nickel metal hydride) chemistry that they use in rechargeable AAs and such. They have lower energy density than the lithium chemistries, so there’s less there to explode. They’re pretty inert unless you stuff them into a charger that doesn’t work properly—a busted charger can set just about any battery on fire. (Why is the NiMH chemistry still used for AAs? Because the normal voltage of a single NiMH cell falls nicely in the middle of the voltage discharge curve of a single alkaline cell. Lithium chemistries don’t have that property.)

  • MonkderZweite@feddit.ch
    5·
    1 year ago

    That’ why i actively look for battery instead of akku in some wireless devices. They are the closest to universal akku size we’ve got. Now they only need to be flater. And charging over USB-C would be nice too.

  • snowfalldreamland@lemmy.ml
    5·
    1 year ago

    Tipp for people wanting to get into rechargeable AA and AAAs: get IKEA Ladda batteries and their charger. They are cheap and japanese made. Some people argue that they are just relabeled Panasonic eneloops!

    Edit: Oh also if you used rechargeable batteries in the past and you remember them sucking that’s probably true. But the battery chemistry is better now and it’s possible that your batteries degraded quickly because of “dumb” chargers. Modern chargers like the gray 4 battery Ikea charger detect how and for how long to charge and thus will not ruin the batteries.

      • stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca
        5·
        1 year ago

        The two cells tested in that video are different. The Ladda 2450 mAh is equivalent to the black wrapped Eneloop Pro, but the video only tests the standard white Eneloops which have less capacity but a better cycle life rating. This is honestly one of the most disappointing videos I’ve seen from Project Farm, he didn’t test most of what makes a cell better/worse.

        Whether or not they are identical cells, from what I’ve read there is only one factory in Japan that makes NiMH cells, so the Eneloops and the Ladda come from the same factory and are therefore likely to be very similar.

    • quicksand@lemm.ee
      1·
      1 year ago

      Thanks for the info! It’s incredible how much the quality of batteries and chargers vary. It’s good to know a cheap easy place to get them

    • Slitted@beehaw.org
      1·
      1 year ago

      LADDA are my go-to as well. I recommended going with the wall charges and not the USB-A charger, since the latter juices them up very slowly (compared to the wall outlet or the storage+charge box).

    • Damage@slrpnk.net
      1·
      1 year ago

      I’ve had horrible performances with IKEA rechargeables. The Energizers pictured above have been much better, even AmazonBasics lasted longer for me.

      • snowfalldreamland@lemmy.ml
        1·
        1 year ago

        Huh they work great for me. Which Ladda did you get? I think there was some brown or like yellow ones or something that were made in china and weren’t quite as good I think. Also the LADDA 1900 will have a longer lifetime than the LADDA 2450s. In the same way that Eneloop Pro have fewer recharge cycles than the normal Eneloops.

  • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Just saying modern devices could also have interchangable batteries. There are standard lipo pouch sizes and standard lithium cilinder sizes.

  • monotrox@discuss.tchncs.de
    3·
    1 year ago

    The single battery cells in electric cars are pretty much already standardized in size, just the assemblies and cooling systems are not.

    • Liz@midwest.socialEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      That’s true for kinda sorta everything? Battery manufacturers don’t want to have to deal with creating a bunch of custom battery runs, so they end up standardizing and higher level manufacturers buy from there. This is especially true in situations where space isn’t at an absolute premium (like it is in a phone). Open up the battery pack for your cordless drill and you’ll find very standard batteries inside there, probably hooked up in series to get to the desired voltage.

  • jaschen@lemm.ee
    2·
    1 year ago

    The downside is the volt is not 1.5volts. Its closer to 1.2volts. This is fine if you’re using 2 batteries for things like the TV remote. But when you’re using things that require more than 4 batteries, then you might get into some weirdness. I have a remote for my DSLR that sends infrared to the softbox. Every 10 shots, it would miss the shot. It turned out to be the batteries. It needed all 6Volts vs 4.8Volts.

    • nikt@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Alkaline batteries lose voltage as they drain, so 1.5V is at full charge but it drops down to about 1.2V very quickly and then stays at 1.0V - 1.2V for most of the alkaline battery’s operating life.

      NiMH batteries tend to consistently stay at their nominal voltage (1.2V) through their entire charge.

      So in other words, if you have devices that really expect exactly 1.5V per battery, they would only work with alkalines at the very top of their charge. Nowadays most non-garbage circuits should be designed to work just fine with anything above 1V per battery.

    • Fidelity9373@artemis.camp
      2·
      1 year ago

      Every battery has a voltage curve though; even alkaline batteries will drop off the 1.5v region after some time. Comparatively, ni-mh rechargeables will hold 1.2v more consistently and for longer than an alkaline, where it’s voltage drops pretty quickly as the battery dies.

    • wim@lemmy.sdf.org
      1·
      1 year ago

      These days there’s also Lithium ion AA batteries, with different voltages. You can get them downvolted to anything from 1.5 to 1.8V.

      The ones over 1.5V are commonly used in applications with electronic motors, since it allows you to effectively overdrive the toy or whatever it is you’re powering.

  • abhibeckert@beehaw.org
    2·
    1 year ago

    Those batteries in your photo are NiMH batteries… which discharge on their own at a fairly rapid rate even if you’re not using them at all. They’re also pretty big and heavy for the amount of power they provide (which, due to the self-discharge issue, is effectively a lot lower than the official number on the battery).

    I strongly recommend investing in devices that use 18650 batteries. They’re about the same size/weight as a AA, and they last much longer (both in terms of from full to flat and also the number of years (decades?) of use you’ll get from the battery.

    A lot of “proprietary” batteries are in fact a bunch of 18650 cells wired together.

    It’s worth investing in good ones - the quality varies significantly from brand to the next. With a good 18650 cell, you won’t be replacing it when the battery expires, you’ll be transferring it to a new gadget when the gadget is broken or so old that you decided to buy a new/better model.

    • Nawor3565@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      2·
      1 year ago

      While all this is true, unfortunately not many devices support swappable 18650s, either they have swappable AA/AAA or have built-in 18650s that would require disassembly to replace. However, if you CAN find a device with swappable 18650s (the only ones I’ve found so far are flashlights) they’re absolutely great!

      • Bobbinapples@kbin.social
        3·
        1 year ago

        I am not aware of many devices that use swappable 18650’s either. Off the top of my head the only ones i’m aware of are vape devices.

        • B0rax@feddit.de
          4·
          1 year ago

          There are also flashlights with 18650s. There are some powerbanks with exchangeable 18650s as well.

          But that’s all I know of.

          • sparkl_motion@beehaw.orgEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            I have a set of lasers powered by them as well. Love that it makes the whole thing a bit larger and durable.

          • ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml
            1·
            1 year ago

            These powerbanks can set your house on fire if the chip shorts out: the wire gets very hot and melts through the plastic like this: Odysee/YT/Piped. I recommend installing a 2A (for 1A powerbanks) or 5A (for 2.1A powerbanks) automobile fuse in series with the cells or each cell individually.

      • abhibeckert@beehaw.org
        1·
        1 year ago

        The main barrier is when you need multiple batteries.

        If you install a dozen 18650’s in a device (or thousands in a car), they will work great as long as they’re all at the same charge level and can maintain the same voltage throughout the discharge cycle. If they can’t do that, then the battery could catch fire. Yikes. So any device with multiple 18650 cells will hard wire them together so the user is forced to use and charge and discard the entire set of cells as a single battery.

        AA/AAA NiMH batteries won’t catch fire if they’re uneven, but being uneven will damage the batteries. You don’t need to keep them together to be safe, but you do need to keep them together if you want the batteries to last longer than six months. Keeping them together can be a logistical nightmare and it’s the main reason I’ve stopped using them… it’s just too much work to keep all the batteries together (especially if the device is shared in a household or workplace). If you get it wrong, then they don’t last much longer than disposables.

        Disposable batteries have the same issue - but since they’re disposable you’re probably pulling four brand new batteries from a packet.

        An 19650 cell holds about the same amount of energy as five AA batteries. So there are a lot of devices that can run well off a single battery, and those tend to be the ones that are user replaceable.

        • abhibeckert@beehaw.org
          2·
          1 year ago

          But 18650 size is manufactured at much higher scales than other sizes, and therefore it’s the cheapest, and therefore it continues to dominate.

        • anlumo@feddit.de
          1·
          1 year ago

          Besides being the wrong size by definition, AA batteries are expected to have 0.8V to 1.5V, while Lithium Ion cells (such as 18650) have a voltage range of 2V to 4.2V. That’s completely incompatible, you couldn’t even replace two AA batteries with a single Li-Ion cell.

            • Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca
              1·
              1 year ago

              Don’t they need a circuit protection to not over-discharge lithium batteries? Most AA devices would suck all the juice from the battery until it stops working.

    • Voyajer@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      18650s are in no way close to the same size as AA batteries. Your other points ring true and I generally agree with them though.

    • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Low self discharge NiMH batteries have been available for a long time now. They hold a charge for several years.

    • GoldenSpamfish@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      They make USB rechargeable lithium ion batteries in every common form factor. I use lithium rechargeable AAA batteries in my mouse and they work great. You don’t even need a charger, they are USB-C. Highly recommend.

    • TopHat@compuverse.uk
      1·
      1 year ago

      If it was so easy to replace them, with each Li-Ion battery being different for every type of device.

  • Dandroid@dandroid.app
    1·
    1 year ago

    The best part is that these batteries don’t leak and destroy your devices like alkaline batteries.

  • thingsiplay@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    @SubArcticTundra Also add XBox game controllers to the list. I have multiple pair of rechargeable batteries. It’s way better than having integrated batteries like in the PS controllers. I can just swap the set out for a full set, right away. Doing this since Xbox 360.

  • TopHat@compuverse.uk
    1·
    1 year ago

    Since I got those from Ikea, I just want devices to go back to those types of batteries instead of internal battery packs. Still got to appreciate the Xbox controllers sticking to that principle (for now).

      • TopHat@compuverse.uk
        1·
        1 year ago

        Don’t get me wrong - I think an included battery that’s rechargeable through USB is fantastic. Less customer inconvenience. But they should either go with a standard that’s easily reproducible or go with regular rechargeable batteries.

  • LollerCorleone@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    I still use them for my TV and AC remotes, flashlights and wall clocks.

    I never realised that many people don’t need to use it anymore.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      People don’t use them? Rechargeables are so easy and alkaline are so expensive! Rechargeables are about the same price now as alkaline but you get to continually recharge them forever! Why aren’t people doing that???

      • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
        0·
        1 year ago

        The alkaline batteries have higher energy density, so they can be significantly less annoying on devices that use more power, like flashlights. I don’t understand why anyone would use them for things like remotes or wireless keyboards since the batteries will last a long time either way on low power devices.

        • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I use rechargeables for basic things, keyboards, mice, remotes, and I swap them out maybe every couple of months. I wouldn’t call that annoying. For critical things though I do use alkaline, and that’s for emergencies. Flashlight has a set of rechargeable D’s ready to go but I also keep alkaline ones right next to it in case the power is out for longer. Smoke/CO detectors use alkaline because they can go for so long before needing to be replaced