On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 12:58:19 -0600
"McFadden, Mike, A" <mamcfadden at cmh.edu> wrote:
Chuck wrote
Tangentially OT:
I've got a friend who owns some rental property. When a tenant moves
out, he
replaces all >of the smoke detectors as a matter of routine.
Because he doesn't want to be bothered >with replacing batteries, he
equips all of them with 9v lithiums. I've arranged for him >to give me
the castoffs, if they've been installed for only a year or so (which is
quite >common). I've got the batteries installed in everything from my
garage door openers and >metronomes to my DVM. Great stuff and best
when you get it for nothing. One even serves >as backup for my lawn
sprinkler system's clock.
Actually many smoke detectors have two 9
volt batteries one for the
detector and one for the light. Since the light is rarely used the
battery is basically new. Most people replace both batteries. I
volunteer at a recycling center, we take household batteries, I have a
little handheld tester and when things are slow I test the "donated"
batteries. I have several shoe boxes full of batteries. I give the
scouts some of the batteries, they camp every month all year. We had a
donation last month of 4 cases of batteries that were date expired 2
months ago, new never opened, they still work great.
It's amazing what is discarded.
One side affect of recycling in a small town is everyone knows I also
recycle/collect computers. They appear on my door step or are dropped
off at the monthly recycling. One of my neighbors called up and offered
me 2 PDP-11/70's and a VAX 11/785 from an engineering film. My wife was
not very happy about the space they filled in the garage.
I once worked at a place where the main product used a 9 volt battery. One day I was
bored and connected end-to-end about 100 semi-discharged batteries. That was a DANGEROUS
voltage source as I found out when we were checking it out. A lot voltage and a
substancial peak current behind it. The wire didn't just arc, it caught fire.
The foolish things one does when young...
Mike
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