backwards battery

[zachtheterrible]

hey hey.

got a real simple question. in a project of mine, i dont have an on/off switch, just plug in the battery n its on. the project uses 2 AA batteries. I was wondering if i could put one of the batteries in backwards, so that instead of having to take out the batterie(s) to turn it off, and possibly loosing the batterie(s), just connect it backwards. is this bad?

 

[audioguru]

Hi Zach,
Why not just add a little switch that costs less than $1.00?
I put in an AA battery cell backwards one time and had a hard time getting it out without damaging it. The negative spring in the battery holder grabbed the positive bump on the cell and wouldn't let go.

If both cells measure exactly the same, no current would flow and they will last a very long time. If one is a little weaker, the stronger cell would discharge down to the level of the weak cell.

 

[thisistausif]

hello
you can take out spring of negetive terminal and put it hanging out with the wire, or can put a piece of papper or plastic between the contact of the +ve terminal. :idea:

 

[zachtheterrible]

Thanx audio, i guess ill do just that :lol: .

if two batteries aren't @ the same level, as you run the circuit, would the two batteries level out? just curious.

thisistausif, why didnt i think of that!?!? duh, piece of paper :x :roll:

 

[audioguru]

Hi Zach,
Since the battery cells are in series, the same current flows through both of them while they are powering something. So of course the weakest one will go dead first and the strongest one will still have whatever remains of its capacity.

My 3V Chaser projects don't have power switches. I just turn-down the speed and brightness controls when they are not needed. Even though both oscillators are still running, the drain on the battery is next to nothing.
I just finished another one but used Ultra-bright BLUE LEDs. I had to use 4 AA cells to provide enough voltage. Extremely bright flashes go around and around. My next one will be Green, then White.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi Zach,
Since the battery cells are in series, the same current flows through both of them while they are powering something. So of course the weakest one will go dead first and the strongest one will still have whatever remains of its capacity.

This is why it's VERY!! important NEVER to mix old and new batteries, or batteries of different makes or types!.

As one battery goes flat first, the other battery reverse charges it, this causes the flat battery to vent, and leak corrosive chemicals everywhere!.

 

[audioguru]

Yeah Nigel,
Ni-Cad batteries especially dislike being reverse-charged. People say to fully-discharge a Ni-Cad battery to remove its "memory" but if you discharge a battery of cells, the weakest one gets reverse-charged by the stronger ones. So the cells must be fully discharged individually. Try that with a 9V Ni-Cad!

Hi Zach,
You despise AOL, me too. I'm using their CD-Roms that come in my newspaper for making my Chasers. The metal layer of CD-RW's comes off when I drill them.

I needed to upgrade the Internet Explorer 4.0 on my 486 computer but Microsoft wouldn't let me into their website. So I installed AOL's IE5.0 which allowed me into Microsoft and now I am running IE6. It's picking up many adwares and spywares.

 

[Kaos_Winner]

hello
you can take out spring of negetive terminal and put it hanging out with the wire, or can put a piece of papper or plastic between the contact of the +ve terminal. :idea:

i agree with that..

 

[stevez]

You might slip a small pc of plastic between one end of the battery and the holder to act as a switch.

 

[zachtheterrible]

486!! i remember those days. that was my first computer. how in the world can you take the lack of speed? im assuming you have a 28k modem in it also?

and yes, i cannot stand aol. reasons: i pay $5.95 for my isp (dialup), but i always get a 50.6k connection, and its very, very dependable. aol, on the other hand, asks $21.95 a month . . . for what? a bunch of stuff that i would never use. they have all of these buttons for shopping, movies, and on and on. and they force you to use their stupid little window (which has all of the shopping, etc. icons on it) instead of good ol' internet explorer. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: and i also think that their service is too user friendly, it just gets annoying :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

486!! i remember those days. that was my first computer. how in the world can you take the lack of speed? im assuming you have a 28k modem in it also?

My first modem was only 300 baud!.

The modern need for high speed machines is driven by badly written operating systems and applications, software developers find it far easier (and cheaper) to rely on machines getting faster, rather than writing efficient code.

I've still got my old Amiga A500, the processor in them runs about 8MHz (it's been so long I can't remember the exact value), as standard they have 512KB of memory, and a single 720K floppy.

That machine will play some amazing games, at really good speeds, but the games were all written in machine code - none of this lazy bloated C stuff!.

Also, the basic machine (one floppy, 512KB) will multitask better than any Windows PC - the Intel/Microsoft system isn't very good at multitasking, the 68000 is FAR! better at it.

 

[TheOne]

and yes, i cannot stand aol. reasons: i pay $5.95 for my isp (dialup), but i always get a 50.6k connection, and its very, very dependable. aol, on the other hand, asks $21.95 a month . . . for what? a bunch of stuff that i would never use. they have all of these buttons for shopping, movies, and on and on. and they force you to use their stupid little window (which has all of the shopping, etc. icons on it) instead of good ol' internet explorer. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: and i also think that their service is too user friendly, it just gets annoying :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Also, have you ever tried to un-install AOL? Almost impossible! It takes over your whole machine, and have a tendency to pop up every now and then when you start applications, after you un-installed it :?

 

[audioguru]

Sure I'm using my 10+ years old 486 computer, running Win98 and connected to hi-speed cable. It's not too slow, my son's Pentium4 can download a huge file in only 1 second and mine takes 3 seconds, big deal! Mine boots much faster than his bloated WinXP-Pro. I can't watch full-screen video's very well (jerky) though because I have only 1/2 Meg of video Ram.

 

[zachtheterrible]

yeah, wut a PAIN!!! it doesnt delete registry keys either. i went through my registry n deleted everything that had to do w/ aol.

almost forgot about this, my experience w/ trying to cancel their 30 day trial. btw, the only reason i used the trial was to download another isp :lol: :lol: . here it is:

so i call up and after 1/2 hr finally get someone on the fone that sounds like arnold schwartzenagr.
so he ses, "i will do everything in my power to help you."
so i say, "hi, i'd like to cancel the service."
he then ses, "oh, ok."
THEN I GET CUT OFF!!!!!!
so i call back again, and after finally convincing the person that i do not want another extra 30 days, i finally get it cancelled.

ONE MONTH LATER:
we get charged on the credit card for aol!!
so i call back and finally get everything straightened out, money back.