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.
I actively avoid buying things with a built in battery. Long ago I spend a pretty good amount on a rechargeable Braun electric razor. A few years later I had to throw it away because the battery stopped taking a charge and I had no way to replace it. I had a drill with the same fate. There was plenty of life left in these devices but not in their custom batteries.
I refuse to buy cordless powertools. I know it’s not exactly the same as built-in batteries, but In their short existence, I have already seen proprietary rechargeable batteries become discontinued (My mom wanted to get an extra battery for a handheld vacuum, couldn’t find the battery by itself, so bought what she thought was the same model; nope, they changed the battery design, even though the rest of the new vacuum was the same as the old one)
It’s be way harder for me to go back to corded tools. Li-Po tools are incredibly convenient. I’ve been able to buy adapters for dewalt batteries that make them work with all kinds of tools and devices (including an adapter for a Dyson handheld vacuum).
Lightweight, powerful, and the batteries can be swapped (as well as a decent amount of aftermarket batteries and adapters).
I have a few, select cordless tools. Drill is the first that comes to mind. I also have a corded drill because it was cheap to buy and has much more torque than the cordless.
Hmmm. Drill might be the only one. Most of my use is around the house so not a lot of need for cordless.
Cordless power tools are absolutely worth it, if you use them even infrequently, and every single contactor I know uses them. The battery packs are ridiculously priced but they wouldn’t be used so ubiquitously (especially by professionals) if they weren’t worth the drawbacks. Having to string out extension cords for every tool would be a nightmare.
I dunno, if you use them infrequently, having to string out a cord shouldn’t be any more of a hassle than for a vacuum, no?
And if you’re buying a cheap, probably-won’t-use-this much tool, I think you can get better power out of a corded tool for the price, which seems like a god tradeoff to me.
If you’re in the US, Ryobi has changed chemistries once or twice, but they haven’t changed the voltage or physical format of their batteries for 20+ years.
There’s nothing stopping me from using my phone’s battery in my toys. The same way nothing stopped me from connecting a small toy electric motor to a straight up power connector to plug into a wall socket when I was a kid.
All you need to do is connect the red and black wires from the battery to the leads on the device. Now, it might cause the thing to break/melt/catch on fire, but that’s not the fault of the battery. 🤷🏻♂️ 🤣
Do you mean built-in rechargeable batteries? Because that’s way worse than removable batteries.
Zigbee smart home devices last a very long time on cell batteries (CR2050 or something similar) that I’m not really worried about those. I’ve got door sensors that have been going for over 2 years on the same batteries.
No - look at the IKEA smartphone line (TRÅDFRI and the like). They have stopped producing Zigbee devices that require CR2032 batteries and have released larger units that take AAA/AA rechargeable batteries.
I use a Logitech Marathon M705 mouse that lasts 3 years on two AA batteries, according to Logitech. I’ve got Eneloops in it that I’ve been using for around 10 years now, and I’ve had to charge them maybe 4 times in total?
I’ve got an older model. They cheaped out on newer revisions, making the plastic thinner and replacing the metal scroll wheel with a plastic one.
I remember shopping for a Bluetooth speaker and while I settled on a JBL one, I did consider the IKEA model that takes AAA’s but it wasn’t available to try nor buy - it would’ve been nice to be able to consider one that was externally powered but ah well.
@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.
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.
The Liitokala charges seem nice. I’ve got Lii-PD4 for €13 on AliExpress. Unfortunately I didn’t have any extra money to spare for one with discharge capacity testing, otherwise I’d get the Lii-500.
Just be careful not to accidentally press a button on it right after inserting the battery, while the percentage is still blinking, otherwise you may happen to accidentally override the charging voltage and e.g. give the battery 4.35V instead of 4.2V. boom.
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
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.
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.)
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).
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.
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???
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.
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
why anyone would use them for things like remotes or wireless keyboards
Alkalines leak a lot and they seem to be worse these days than they used to. From personal experience, there is about 1:10 chance you’ll be scrubbing battery contacts after using Alkaline. And if you forget to remove the battery when the device goes into storage, there is about a 100% chance it will be a crusty mess once you look at the device again, it can take years, but it’s pretty much unavoidable.
NiMH don’t leak, or at least much less frequently with much less catastrophic results. Also with modern low-self-discharge ones (Eneloop, Ikea LADDA) they last years, so they are very usable in TV remotes and the like.
There are a couple of rare devices that really want 1.5V to function properly (e.g. WMR Controller), in those cases 1.5V LiPo batteries can make a good rechargable alternative, but they are substantially more expensive than plain NiMH.
Yeah, to me this seems like such a strange post. I can easily pick up batteries at most stores I go to and use them in various stuff in my home. Never thought about them phasing out right now, but when I think about it I guess it’s true, I see a lot of gadgets that just charge with USB plugs now.
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If we’re gonna keep putting batteries on stuff we’d better put these
Thank you for this post.
I actively avoid buying things with a built in battery. Long ago I spend a pretty good amount on a rechargeable Braun electric razor. A few years later I had to throw it away because the battery stopped taking a charge and I had no way to replace it. I had a drill with the same fate. There was plenty of life left in these devices but not in their custom batteries.
I’ve pulled one of those wireless trimmers apart when it quit working. I found a rechargeable AA battery soldered in there.
Exactly! It’s a shame that they’re becoming less common as hardware gets enshittified
The batteries in Braun razors are replaceable. They even sell those. It’s not terribly difficult, but you need basic solder skills.
I refuse to buy cordless powertools. I know it’s not exactly the same as built-in batteries, but In their short existence, I have already seen proprietary rechargeable batteries become discontinued (My mom wanted to get an extra battery for a handheld vacuum, couldn’t find the battery by itself, so bought what she thought was the same model; nope, they changed the battery design, even though the rest of the new vacuum was the same as the old one)
It’s be way harder for me to go back to corded tools. Li-Po tools are incredibly convenient. I’ve been able to buy adapters for dewalt batteries that make them work with all kinds of tools and devices (including an adapter for a Dyson handheld vacuum).
Lightweight, powerful, and the batteries can be swapped (as well as a decent amount of aftermarket batteries and adapters).
I have a few, select cordless tools. Drill is the first that comes to mind. I also have a corded drill because it was cheap to buy and has much more torque than the cordless.
Hmmm. Drill might be the only one. Most of my use is around the house so not a lot of need for cordless.
Cordless power tools are absolutely worth it, if you use them even infrequently, and every single contactor I know uses them. The battery packs are ridiculously priced but they wouldn’t be used so ubiquitously (especially by professionals) if they weren’t worth the drawbacks. Having to string out extension cords for every tool would be a nightmare.
I dunno, if you use them infrequently, having to string out a cord shouldn’t be any more of a hassle than for a vacuum, no?
And if you’re buying a cheap, probably-won’t-use-this much tool, I think you can get better power out of a corded tool for the price, which seems like a god tradeoff to me.
If you’re in the US, Ryobi has changed chemistries once or twice, but they haven’t changed the voltage or physical format of their batteries for 20+ years.
There’s nothing stopping me from using my phone’s battery in my toys. The same way nothing stopped me from connecting a small toy electric motor to a straight up power connector to plug into a wall socket when I was a kid.
All you need to do is connect the red and black wires from the battery to the leads on the device. Now, it might cause the thing to break/melt/catch on fire, but that’s not the fault of the battery. 🤷🏻♂️ 🤣
I wouldn’t say they’re out of fashion - a lot of smart home devices are moving away from disposable cell batteries and over to rechargeable batteries.
To built-in lipo batteries that go bad after a few years and you have to trash your device or tinker?
No - rechargeable AA/AAA batteries.
Do you mean built-in rechargeable batteries? Because that’s way worse than removable batteries.
Zigbee smart home devices last a very long time on cell batteries (CR2050 or something similar) that I’m not really worried about those. I’ve got door sensors that have been going for over 2 years on the same batteries.
No - look at the IKEA smartphone line (TRÅDFRI and the like). They have stopped producing Zigbee devices that require CR2032 batteries and have released larger units that take AAA/AA rechargeable batteries.
That’s good to hear, I had a feeling it was all moving in the direction of glued in battery + usb
My mouse uses batteries too, Just swap out once it dies on me.
All month, because rapoo energy management sucks.
My wireless mouse is running on the same 2 AAAs for over a year already. I have no idea how. They still show 1.2V. I expected like a week or two.
The logitech g305 runs on a single rechargable AA for half a year and is probably the only reason I even considered a wireless mouse
I use a Logitech Marathon M705 mouse that lasts 3 years on two AA batteries, according to Logitech. I’ve got Eneloops in it that I’ve been using for around 10 years now, and I’ve had to charge them maybe 4 times in total?
I’ve got an older model. They cheaped out on newer revisions, making the plastic thinner and replacing the metal scroll wheel with a plastic one.
I remember shopping for a Bluetooth speaker and while I settled on a JBL one, I did consider the IKEA model that takes AAA’s but it wasn’t available to try nor buy - it would’ve been nice to be able to consider one that was externally powered but ah well.
Yeah, the first USB power bank we had at home also used 4 replaceable AAs. I wish this was still common
@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.
Just saying modern devices could also have interchangable batteries. There are standard lipo pouch sizes and standard lithium cilinder sizes.
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.
The Liitokala charges seem nice. I’ve got Lii-PD4 for €13 on AliExpress. Unfortunately I didn’t have any extra money to spare for one with discharge capacity testing, otherwise I’d get the Lii-500.
Just be careful not to accidentally press a button on it right after inserting the battery, while the percentage is still blinking, otherwise you may happen to accidentally override the charging voltage and e.g. give the battery 4.35V instead of 4.2V. boom.
Li-Ion solved this problem.
If it was so easy to replace them, with each Li-Ion battery being different for every type of device.
I wish power tool companies would get off the proprietary batteries and adopt the CAS standard https://www.cordless-alliance-system.com/
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
18650s can be pretty explosive if not properly handled though compared to traditional Lithium based rechargeables though, no?
If they’re safe enough for teenagers with ecigs, they’re safe enough for general use I’d say
Adult devices != children’s toys for obvious reasons
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.
Sweet, I wasn’t sure of the polymer carpets or the lithium nickel ones were more or less explody and murdery
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.)
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).
Exactly. The trend of switching to built in batteries + USB is dumb.
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.
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.
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???
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.
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
Alkalines leak a lot and they seem to be worse these days than they used to. From personal experience, there is about 1:10 chance you’ll be scrubbing battery contacts after using Alkaline. And if you forget to remove the battery when the device goes into storage, there is about a 100% chance it will be a crusty mess once you look at the device again, it can take years, but it’s pretty much unavoidable.
NiMH don’t leak, or at least much less frequently with much less catastrophic results. Also with modern low-self-discharge ones (Eneloop, Ikea LADDA) they last years, so they are very usable in TV remotes and the like.
There are a couple of rare devices that really want 1.5V to function properly (e.g. WMR Controller), in those cases 1.5V LiPo batteries can make a good rechargable alternative, but they are substantially more expensive than plain NiMH.
I feel like in many places they’re getting replaced with a built in battery and a USB port
Yeah, to me this seems like such a strange post. I can easily pick up batteries at most stores I go to and use them in various stuff in my home. Never thought about them phasing out right now, but when I think about it I guess it’s true, I see a lot of gadgets that just charge with USB plugs now.
My wife gave me a bunch with a charger for Christmas like 2 years back. They’re all still in rotation for controllers around the house!
How old are those batteries? I have some that look exactly like that and they could be since 10 years ago or more, and I swear they still work lol.
Yeah we must have these since like 2012. I’m impressed they still work