9 Volt Battery Hack

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Maverick, Aug 20, 2007.

  1. Maverick

    Maverick Lord Vader

    This is interesting when ya are a road-warrior who needs lots of juice for your devices and gadgets.
    [metacafe]360955/9_volt_battery_hack_youll_be_suprised[/metacafe]
     
  2. Maverick

    Maverick Lord Vader

    Proof that this actually works and is not a hoax!!!

    Testing the 9V Battery Hack (or: Assault on Battery)

    Kipkay over at Metacafe has posted videos showing how you can take apart a 9V battery and use the cells as AAAA or AAA batteries (he has a similar trick for 12V -> 1.5V button batteries. I have played with batteries a lot in my life and never knew this. There was some speculation on reddit that it was a hoax of some kind, so as a good sciencer (like a scientist, but we don’t get the lab coats) who really didn’t want to get started on the morning chores, I decided to try it myself with a new 9V I had sitting around. I learned a couple useful things.
    [​IMG]
    Duracell batteries are harder to open than the video implies. My dainty needle-nose pliers weren’t enough — I had to go find larger clampy ones. The edges of the case are also sharp. This would be very tricky to do in a car somewhere without tools.
    [​IMG]
    He tells us these are AAAA cells, which makes sense. You know, I didn’t even know AAAA cells existed until I encountered a tablet stylus that used them. The handy thing is that they can double for AAA batteries in most cases — they just won’t last as long.
    [​IMG]
    I decided to test them in my TI-86. One important thing he doesn’t mention is that there’s no reliable way to tell the polarity once you’ve disconnected them, so mark them somehow as you take them apart. If you’re just guessing, you’ve got 16 combinations to work through.
    I didn’t think about this, so I cut them apart and folded over the remaining half-tabs on each end, then tested them all with a multimeter to get the polarity (my digital multimeter is missing, so I couldn’t get exact volt-readings).
    [​IMG]
    I put them in the calculator. It didn’t turn on. I added a bit of aluminum foil at the contacts to make sure they were all touching.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    It works!
    So, in conclusion: This is a decent way to get AAA batteries in a pinch for a bit less than what they cost in the store, although I don’t use 9Vs for much, so situations where this is helpful are gonna be a bit rare. AAAs in a pack of 8 usually go for about $0.70 a battery, 9Vs for around $2 — so $0.33 per AAA. AAAA batteries are rare enough, and marked up enough, that if you have something that uses them this could be a worthwhile main source.
     
  3. ab289

    ab289 Well-Known Member

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    Maverick is on the roll to hack batteries! haha ..
     
  4. robsh

    robsh Well-Known Member

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    wow mav nice effort
    so wot happens when u need a 12V battery for u r car?
     
  5. [N]

    [N] RATED [ ]

    wow nice man, but the 9v battery to the aaa battery is not worth it though lol probably could find cheaper aaa batteries out there, and i use rechargeable and they are like 5 dollars each and have like a lifetime of 1000 charges or something, but nice hack man, now try the laptop battery lols
     
  6. shw

    shw Well-Known Member

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    that battery lady in chinatown is going to sell some more batteries due to mavericks posts ...
     
  7. asiangang

    asiangang Well-Known Member

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    cool...i use to think if u did that...you'll get electrifyed or sumthin...but i guess not..
     
  8. dragonside

    dragonside Well-Known Member

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    this is pretty cool
    so awesome for emergencies ahaha if you can open the stupid battery easily.
    better start training >.<
     
  9. nyckeion

    nyckeion ....Boo....

    but if it dont last long doesnt it mean that it just dies out really fast also .