r/Frugal • u/TheAlphaCarb0n • 1d ago
My frugal win this week: Rechargeable batteries 💻 Electronics
I moved into a new place recently and have been dreading the big grocery bills of buying all the occasionals like cooking oil, soy sauce, dish soap, etc etc.
The other day while unpacking stuff, I needed batteries for a remote. I smugly remembered that I'd recently charged up some AAs, so I found them and I was good to go.
Why it felt like a win is that I bought those batteries like 6 years ago. They've been used and recharged dozens of times and still last way longer than off the shelf disposable batteries. And I think I paid like $50 for a kit of 30 something mixed batteries. I've also saved a ton of material waste!
Buy rechargeable batteries!
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u/eastcoastian 1d ago
I have some NiCads that are over 10 years old that I still use. Just shredding them through Xbox controllers has had no affect.
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u/TheAlphaCarb0n 1d ago
I believe mine are NiMH but similiarly blew through them with camera flashes and they've been rock solid!
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u/curtludwig 1d ago
NiCad? I haven't seen any of those for years and years. 10+ years ago I started getting NiMH Panasonic eneloop rechargables, they've been great.
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u/bob_smithey 1d ago
There are rechargeable lithium batteries in AA sizes now. I'm about to switch to them.
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u/curtludwig 1d ago
Do some serious research on those before buying. Apparently an awful lot of them are scams.
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u/SaraAB87 21h ago
I have them and they work. I have tenavolts.
The only thing is I paid $11 for them in 2019 and now they cost like $40 for the exact same thing I bought back then.
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u/Sonarav 1d ago
I use NiMH (Eneloop) for a number of things like Xbox controller, soap dispenser and kitchen scale.
But a little under a year ago I got rechargeable lithium ion batteries for my Flume 2 unit that sits on my water meter to track usage and leaks. I use the brand Tenavolts and they have worked great.
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u/curtludwig 1d ago
This prompted me to check, I bought my first eneloop rechargeable batteries in 2014, they're still working great.
I did buy some Amazon branded rechargables, those suck, just about all of them have failed, never doing that again.
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u/high_throughput 1d ago
I bought Amazon brand rechargables, and had the same issue. Then I changed from a cheapo $10 charger to a $20 brand name charger, and all the "failed" batteries worked perfectly fine. Haven't had a problem since.
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u/curtludwig 1d ago
I've got a C9000, a high end battery charger. The Amazon batteries increase in resistance until the C9000 won't touch them. Potentially I could use a dumb charger to heat up the batteries and overcome the initial resistance but its not worth it, the Amazon batteries lied about their capacity anyway. The 2000mah Panasonic eneloop last just as long as the "2500mah" Amazon batteries.
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u/NOlerct3 1d ago
I'm surprised I haven't seen Ikea brand batteries listed on here yet. Ikea sells AA and AAA 4 packs for maybe $10 I think, and IIRC they are rebranded Eneloops. Only about 3 years in with them so far but they feel just as nice as they did on day one so far and I'm expecting a lot of time out of them.
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u/NoctisTempest 1d ago
I have some Energizer batteries that have to 15 years or so old. Charged them up yesterday along with my 7 year old Amazon ones. I kind of wish the quest 2 used AA batteries for an infinite play time hack
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u/curtludwig 1d ago
I bought Energizer some time ago and was dissatisfied with the level of self discharge. If I left them alone they'd go flat by themselves.
I moved to Panasonic eneloop, much better.
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u/NoctisTempest 1d ago
I haven't used those energizer batteries in ~8 years and the 2 I decided to use before charging were at 50% when I put them in my quest 2 controllers, no idea what they were at before they sat for years. If I need new ones I'll have to do some research since there's 3(?) main types of rechargeable batteries
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u/mummymunt 1d ago
Genuine question: I see a lot of posts about rechargeable batteries, but I'm only replacing batteries in something maybe once a year. What are people using that requires so many replacements?
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u/NOlerct3 1d ago
Gaming controllers is the biggest one, xbox and wii controllers go through batteries a lot so rechargeable was already the smart move. Then from there it just kind of spread to TV remote, sensors and wherever else needed.
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u/Bow-Masterpiece-97 1d ago
Smart door locks (almost every month). Old Apple keyboard. Alarm wireless keypad (every 2-3 months). Remote controls.
Stuff like that.
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u/cwsjr2323 1d ago
With Christmas decorations, my wife deploys more than 50 devices with batteries. She recharges them as needed, maybe three times during the Thanksgiving to Jan 6th period. We also use rechargeables for the stairwells that have both a light sensor and proximity sensor. With luck, we will never have to replace the too high up bulbs on the ceiling.
With alkaline batteries only? Those decorative pieces would be unlit and the stairs darker or I would have to mount light fixtures I could reach to change the bulbs.
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u/4cupsofcoffee 1d ago
Good for you. The only thing i buy is rechargables, they last so long and are way cheaper in the long run.
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u/hearonx 1d ago
Let me also add a recommendation for an associated item, the Battery Buddy, a 2-sided rectangular case with transparent sides that stores over 100 batteries and a tester. Inventory is visible at a glance, and all batteries are in one location every time. It has been a game-changer and reduced the complexity of the junk drawer!
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u/Secure-Art-8541 1d ago
I bought some rechargeable ones from ikea. Love them but i try not to buy anything battery powered since it takes a while for them to charge.
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u/TenOfZero 1d ago
I really don't understand why people buy alkalines, sorry baby a few devices that will work well with rechargeable batteries, but 98% of things will.
It's not even only a frugal win, it's just an efficiency wind not having to go buy new batteries.