Red Wave Radio

This my be sort of off-topic for this newsgroup, but I thought I would
ask anyway.

I have seen recently on TV a product being advertised called the
"Buddy-L Super Charger".  This is a battery charger designed to
recharge ALKALINE batteries.  They claim that thier charger is safe
to use, and that you can ignore the warning message on Alkaline batteries
when you use THIER charger.  This was a half-hour infomercial seen
on local TV, and several time on Cable.  Program was put together very
well and was hosted  by*** Clark.

I am considering ordering this charger, but I would like to talk
to someone who has one first.

Does anyone reading this  have this product.  Does anyone know of
any other ALKALINE battery chargers manufactured by other companies.

Thanks

George S. Thurman
--

: This my be sort of off-topic for this newsgroup, but I thought I would
: ask anyway.

: I have seen recently on TV a product being advertised called the
: "Buddy-L Super Charger...

I've read a little about the so-called safe chargers for alkaline
batteries, and my impression is you would be better off putting your
money into nicads

# This my be sort of off-topic for this newsgroup, but I thought I would
# ask anyway.
#
# I have seen recently on TV a product being advertised called the
# "Buddy-L Super Charger".  This is a battery charger designed to
# recharge ALKALINE batteries.  They claim that thier charger is safe
# to use, and that you can ignore the warning message on Alkaline batteries
# when you use THIER charger.  This was a half-hour infomercial seen
# on local TV, and several time on Cable.  Program was put together very
# well and was hosted  by*** Clark.
#
# I am considering ordering this charger, but I would like to talk
# to someone who has one first.
#  
#
#
# Does anyone reading this  have this product.  Does anyone know of

Not sure how well it works.

# any other ALKALINE battery chargers manufactured by other companies.

There were at least two potential companies (one Canadian based and
other U.S.  based?) doing this. I THINK Duracell (batteries being their
bread and butter) had taken more of a hit in the stocks prices than other
battery companies when it looked like the prototypes worked.  The
"Buddy-L Super Charger" is the first one to be introduced.  I expected
them to be out before Christmas this year - maybe another one will come
out soon.

#
#
# Thanks
#
# George S. Thurman
# --

--
Johnny Chee Wah, University of Toronto, Dept. of Physics
60 St. George St., Rm 803, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. M5S 1A7

Voice: 416 978 2746  FAX: 416 978 8221

        I am not a chemist. I am sure a chemist would able to explain
why primary cells can not be charged.

        This recharging of primary cells pops up now and again. In
fact when I first came across it, it was explained that only carbon
zinc cells could be recharged and only if they were not completely
flat. Furthermore, the charging current had to be DC with an AC
component. I first saw this in an RSGB publication, I think Pat
Hawker's column.

        I built one of these chargers. Without doing a controlled
experiment, I would say that they did not increase the life of my
batteries. The only effect I was able to notice was that one cell
exploded and left black crud all over the cieling.

        If you seriously think that someone has discovered that
Mallory and Union Carbide have lied to us for all these years and you
can really recharge Alkaline batteries, how come it has taken  DIck
Clark and this long for the secret to come out?

        Also, how come no-one has built a "made for recharging"
alkaline?

        I don't think the shareholders of Union Carbide or the
manufacturers of Ni-Cads are too worried.

--

Paper Mail: 742 1/2 North Hayworth Avenue, Hollywood, California 90046-7142

[ about the "Buddy-L" alkaline recharger/exploder deleted ]

Quote:>    Also, how come no-one has built a "made for recharging"
>alkaline?

>    I don't think the shareholders of Union Carbide or the
>manufacturers of Ni-Cads are too worried.

Ray-O-Vac has started to advertise a rechargeable alkaline cell.
It is supposed to be good for up to 25 rechargings, and it is
supposed to have 4 times the energy storage of an equivalent
NiCd cell.  This latter claim is easy to believe; the former claim
remains to be verified by real-world experience.

Apparently Ray-O-Vac was spurred into action by another battery
company (name unknown to me) which already has such a product
ready for the market.

Bob Hale                                      ...!ucsd!btree!hale

I used to be a Product Reliability Engineer for Ray-O-Vac.  I strongly
advise against attempting to recharge an alkaline battery unless it is
designed to be recharged.  Alkaline batteries can explode if reverse
current is forced through them, as it is in recharging.  In fact,
placing a partially discharged alkaline battery in series with other
fresh batteries can force a reverse current through the battery,
causing it to explode.

Since, unlike zinc-carbon (ordinary) batteries, alkaline batteries have
a steel can, the explosion can be lethal.  All alkaline batteries are
designed with a safety vent in the cap, but I wouldn't trust my life
or limbs to that little piece of plastic!  If pressure build fast enough,
the can can still explode.

In addition, the contents of an alkaline battery are carefully designed
so that no more material is placed inside than necessary to give the
advertised life under the rated load.  You can recover the electrolyte
by recharging, but the other components (MnO2, separator integrity,
etc.) cannot be recovered by recharging an ordinary alkaline battery.

My advice:  Buy Nickel-Cadmium.  The "Millenium" batteries from Gates
(I think) are guaranteed for life.

Jon

        If this is so, and the cost is only about 50% above the
current bloated cost of alkalines, they have a winner. I assume the
self discharge rate would be the same as a standard alky. In which
case it would be ideal for all those low current constant drain jobs
like receivers, flashlights etc.

        Where are the Ray-O-Vac ads?

--

Paper Mail: 742 1/2 North Hayworth Avenue, Hollywood, California 90046-7142

There was a spate of news coverage a month or so back on a Canadian
company licensing technology for recharging alkalines. From my
hazy memory, I seem to remember:

 * The alkaline batteries were specially designed and manufactured
   for recharging.
 * The chargers would not be the same as NiCad chargers.
 * The company Rayovac(?) came into it somewhere - I think as a licensee.
 * Battery life was in the 25 cycle range, but each cycle gave the
   same performance as an Alkaline (as opposed to a NiCad).
 * Product launch was supposed to be this year

Anybody else remember this?
--
| -- Mike Bell --             | Leapfrog Software Technology Inc.     |

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Re: Recharging ALKALINE batteries
As I recall, Mallory came out with rechargable alkaline cells about 1969.
 I remember because I bought a set for a 1.5 Watt CB walky-talky along
with the required charger.  The charger was nothing special- just a low
current 16 hour charger.  The batteries (I had the AA size, but you could
get C and D also) were more expensive than regular alkaline,  they had
poor capacity and had a short life.  They were not on the market long.

About the same time there was a lead-acid wet cell battery on the market
that replaced a standard 9V battery.  It had 4 compartments and looked
just like a tiny car battery with a clip on it.  They were cheap ($2),
could handle high currents, had a reasonable capacity and were simple to
charge.  One problem -when they leaked, they destroyed whatever they were
in.  
Ken WB0QNA

I don't know but I have something I'd like to bring up. In r.r.a.e
someone mentioned just ditching the alkalines for NiCd batteries but the
problem with them is current capacity. They aren't quite up to the same
level as Alkaline.

On another subject, what ever happened to lead-acid gel-cells? I know my
Sony cordless phone uses one and I've left it off the charger for days
on end and it still works. The battery is EXTREMELY small for a
lead-acid. What's the dope on these things?

Tony, KD1NR

Nope, can't say that I do. But I do remember hearing something about a
rechargeable lithium cell. I wonder if that might have been it?

Tony
___________________________

  Tony Pelliccio kd1nr/ae   "Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants
  *!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*    with diarrhea --  massive, difficult to

___________________________  source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement
                             when you least expect it."  --spaf (1992)

Ken,

And that brought about the lead-acid gel-cells that are used in lots of
applications, such as my Sony SPP-75 cordless phone. :)

Tony
___________________________

  Tony Pelliccio kd1nr/ae   "Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants
  *!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*    with diarrhea --  massive, difficult to

___________________________  source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement
                             when you least expect it."  --spaf (1992)

Just to cloud the issue, I saw an infomercial this weekend with***
Clark touting a recharger for STANDARD ALKALINES (they were using
Duracells in the ad, judging from the packaging, although the camera
never got quite close enough to tell...).  They made a big deal about it
using standard alkalines and recharging to give up to a total of 500
hours service in xstr radios, tape players, etc.

Q1: Anyone else catch this?
Q2: How in the world do they keep them from exploding--charge
reeeeeaaaal slow?
Q3: What about the MnO2 deplenishment a recent poster noted occurs,
as a part of normal discharging, which recharging doesn't reverse?

Q4: Why ask why? (sorry--listening to too many beer commercials!)

Ted Morris, WB8VNV

        Well, I don't have one but I was talking to a couple of people at
work shortly after seeing one of these commercials (wondering if they were
trying to pull a fast one or whether it only APPEARED to charge but it was
only a surface charge).  I heard (possibly rumour) that battery companies
have known all along that alkaline batteries are rechargable (if built
correctly) but kept that covered up in the interest of selling more
batteries.  It has also been said that these alkalines can only be charged
something like 10-20 times whereas NiCds are ~500 times.  Alkalines also
have a lower internal resistance (suited for running transmitters, RC cars,
photo flashes etc...) but alkalines have a MUCH higher capacity (ie. D-Cell
is about 15Ah).  There are apparently a lot of tradeoffs but I can see
where rechargable alkalines would fit in.

        As a side note, my schools A.R.C. has these "alkaline" batteries
that were used as backup in commercial radio installations.  I believe that
NaOH is the electrolyte.  I don't recall what material is used in alkaline
DRY cells (will look it up) but.....

--

: Just to cloud the issue, I saw an infomercial this weekend with***
: Clark touting a recharger for STANDARD ALKALINES (they were using
: Duracells in the ad, judging from the packaging, although the camera
: never got quite close enough to tell...).  They made a big deal about it
: using standard alkalines and recharging to give up to a total of 500
: hours service in xstr radios, tape players, etc.
:
: Q1: Anyone else catch this?
: Q2: How in the world do they keep them from exploding--charge
: reeeeeaaaal slow?
: Q3: What about the MnO2 deplenishment a recent poster noted occurs,
: as a part of normal discharging, which recharging doesn't reverse?
:
: Q4: Why ask why? (sorry--listening to too many beer commercials!)
:
: Ted Morris, WB8VNV

:
 One  CANNOT charge primary cells, PERIOD.
All that it does is offset the normal 'leakeage current' that runs the cell
down even if not in use.
 Sounds like another Dr. Zooks  Snake Oil treatment to me.

Randy, KA1UNW