12 Volt Battery Hack! You'll be Surprised...

Step 3 Save $40!!

I matched the battery at Radio Shack and 1 of those button cells cost $4.99! Do the math! This easy hack gets you 8 button cells for about 1/2 of what one costs! Have Fun, Be Sfae! Hope you enjoyed this EZ, money saving hack!

Comments

[grharder]

Just tried this the other day (2-16-12) and it was still as described here. It was a generic brand though, so that may make a difference.

[minimoto]

LISTEN UP THIS ONLY WORCKS WHITH ENERGISER. I opened up a 1.5v battery up and got 8 button battery's. Than I opened up a 9v battery and found 6 AAA batters inside. Last I opened up a 6v heavy duty battery up and found 32 AA or AAA I forgot !!!!!!!!

[sbeltz]

HD 6V batteries have 4 F cell batteries. THERE ARE NO AA BATTERIES in 6V batteries.

[account3r2]

9v=6AAAA not AAA

[account3r2]

32AA or 32 AA batteries as in there are thirty-two batteries

[sharlston]

no a lantern battery has around 4 d cells

[cjmproduction]

wrong 1.5 battery is actually a cell not battery 9 volt has 6 AAAA cells in it...(1.5v each) 6 volt has 4 large cells...(1.5v each) if a 6 volt had 32 AA or AAA batteries it would be 48 volts

[minimoto]

shosh up alright thats just what i found and the 6v heavy duty has so got that many batteries otherwise it would last 5min in a torch

[account3r2]

do you have a camera for pictures?

[Colonel88]

If it is wired in parallel then it is more current not voltage so it will be like 6 volts and a lot more mAh. But it does have 4 D cells...

[mikerice126]

minimoto right
cjmproductoin partial credit. :)

32 AA or AAA *in series* would be 48 V. (32 * 1.5 = 48). However, 8 *parallel* banks of 4 AA or AAA in series would be 6 V at 8 times the current (amps).
(4 * 1.5) = 6, 8 times. Series connection adds the voltages; parallel connection adds the currents.

*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*                    * is 6 v, i amps

*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*    *   *     *   *
*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*    *   *     *   *
*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*    *   *     *   *
*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*    *   *     *   *
*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*    *   *     *   *
*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*    *   *     *   *
*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*    *   *     *   *
*-+*-+*-+*-+* 
*                    * is 6 v, 8i amps

[brocknessmonster27]

what do you mean

[BucketBasher]

I have a question: Does anybody know if the info from this instructable is still usable? You know, if you can still find some A23 Energizer batteries a a relatively low price? Cause I noticed the date this was published is August 18, 2007, which was 2 years ago and the batteries could have changed since then.

[nepheron]

Actually I meant meijers, not wall mart!

[nepheron]

I just picked up a pack of A23's for $3.45 at wall mart.

[Colonel88]

FYI in Target i found em for like 4-5$ for a pack of 2 in the battery section. The battery section is near the elctronics thing

[mikerice126]

Just bought two-pack of A23 for less than $4 at Wal-Mart.

[BucketBasher]

"at" a relatively low price. P.S. Since seeing this Instructable, I have only looked at 1 WalMart for those A23s and couldn't find any. I don't mean any criticism by my previous ?, I just would like to find out where I can get some A23s, That's all.

[nepheron]

Go to meijers and poke around the camera area. Look next to the Li batteries. I bought some for only $3.45.

[alphaglider]

you spelled safe wrong

[paqrat]

All nit picking aside, ( and the farther aside we can put the nit picking the better) , this it a most useful instructable. Thank you.

[Dr.Bang]

You screwed up...oh, wait

[paqrat]

and for the nitpickers, it = is.

[ya2sabes]

What brand of batteries have been proven to work with this hack? -Definitely Energizer? (and they have to be 12V and not the normal 1.2V?)

[Kwitmeh3]

Duracell

[marshman19]

the normal batteries are 1.5V NOT 1.2V

[fennecfanatic]

I opened up a RadioShack brand 12V 23A (RS 23-144) yesterday for a project I'm working on, and it's identical - bend-out casing, paper insulation, and eight LR44 batteries. Also... "...and not the normal 1.2V?" If you mean, say, AAs or AAAs, no, those are single cells, and they're actually 1.5V. If you open one of those up, you'll just get a handful of alkali metal hydroxide powder, which is rather caustic and not of much use unless you're trying to make salt.

[mikerice126]

Not LR44. Don't know what it is, but definitely not LR44.

[fennecfanatic]

Before someone sues me, I would not recommend consuming any salt made from battery innards - for one thing, there's no guarantee it'll be the NaCl (sodium chloride) table salt we're all so familiar with. It might be KBr (potassium bromide) or maybe NaI (sodium iodide). One of those has little flavor, and the other is toxic.

[Agroking]

You would not need to say that if the English language wasn't so bastardized.

[Gilrostwo]

Meh.

[jerwhite]

I like the instructable. I like the point about it being a LR44 and not an SR44 but still a good instructable.

[Mongo Of Fire]

Just go on and guess what's in a 9 volt! I opened one thinking I couuld use it for an acid bomb (Don't ask) and I ended up with a few smaller batteries!

[gilleseg]

Freaking sweet. These batteries are used in remotes for Garage doors and we sell them were i work (it rimes with Bowes for about $1.88 for two batteries) Thanks man.

[Default117]

Just a question, is there a no store naming policy at Instructables or something? I've seen several people do that now.

[gilleseg]

No i don't think there is a policy.... I just didn't want to say where I work. It does not really matter though. Just keep comments appropriate and keep out the vulgar language and you will be alright...

[jakethink]

I think its more that stores get pissed if you work there and mention them online. people got fired from my friends work because they were talking about work online.

[futzwith]

Thank You! This will come in handy!

[fennecfanatic]

Okay, before I get into what I'm about to say, I should point out that I use this trick myself, and am not at all saying anything negative about this Instructable or KipKay for that matter, but there is a little clarification in order:

One important thing to note about this trick is that the small batteries in the 23A are NOT the same thing as the RadioShack watch battery given as an example. The RadioShack battery being compared to is an SR44, with silver-oxide chemistry, while the batteries in the 23A are alkaline LR44s. These discharge much faster than their silver-oxide cousins They also have a "flat" discharge curve, meaning that they work at full capacity throughout their lifetime, then abruptly stop working, as opposed to alkaline cells, which enter a sort of logarithmic loss-of-energy curve about halfway through their lifetime - i.e., they start "going flat" rather than just giving out all at once. Many things which use SR44s rely on this behavior, and may not work properly with LR44s. (http://support.radioshack.com/support_tutorials/batteries/bt-siox-main.htm).

They're also a lot cheaper - you can buy a 20-pack of Maxell LR44 batteries for $3 on Amazon, for example. (http://www.amazon.com/Maxell-Alkaline-Button-Watch-Battery/dp/B000BW5CV4), but there is one catch, and it's why I like this tip:

LR44s are extremely hard to find in brick and mortar retailers, and if you buy them online, you have to (1) wait for them, which may or may not be a problem, and (2) pay for shipping, which should immediately sound like a problem.

If you open up the Walmart 2-pack of 23As, you aren't getting as good a deal as the $3 20-pack, but since you tack at least $5 of shipping on there, the savings vanishes instantly. In other words, you'd have to not care about shipping delays and be in the market for at least 100 batteries for the Amazon deal to start making any sense.

If you don't need the special properties of the silver-oxide SR44 (I, for example, am just powering a pair of infrared LED fingertipped gloves, and wanted small 1.5V batteries), and don't ned a bajillion batteries, this trick is definitely worthwhile.

Plus, there are some neat tricks you can pull with the empty battery casing - I, for example, used some parts from it to make a holder for the little LR44s, 'cause I couldn't find one at RadioShack.

[fennecfanatic]

And become someone might be interested, LR44 and SR44 are standard IEC battery codes - the "L" stands for "alkaline", the "S" for "silver-oxide", the "R" for round, and the 44 is a size designation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LR44_battery has some good information.