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What with the weird freebooting article? This ‘article’ is just a description of Alec’s video with the clickbait cranked up to ten. Gotta love a major corporation using small creators’ work for free ad revenue…
That’s enough YouTube videos just recapping an article. But I agree it’s lazy
Huh?
I think they mean the same thing happens alot in reverse: YT vids about news articles. Not wrong, but whataboutist.
This is how hackaday posts have been… for like a decade. I guess it’s somewhere between articles and link aggregator.
And Alec’s video is mostly a freeboot off someone’s article.
So this is a full on article and YouTube circle jerk.
You know there’s a difference between using sources and just regurgitating a summary of something with AI right?
Yes. I didn’t misspeak.
ok bud
Alec also clearly says which article he used as a source and credits the author
You clearly haven’t looked at either article. Parasocial relationships are weird.
Video on technology connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsA3X40nz9w
“Wait, is that a Duracell battery check?”
Oh man that transition. Chef’s kiss. Amazing
Nice try, Alec Watson…
I mean I’d rather Alec get the direct views than this weird hackaday article that’s just a description of his video with a link. Not trying to knock hackaday but this is real close to freebooting.
Ok now I am trying to knock hackaday after learning the ownership chain goes up to Siemens. Frigg off with this corpo garbage.
Yeeaah I drew the line at the printscreens, it was a really interesting video with a lot of effort and research put in, unlike this article.
But the video purports that normal people don’t really test batteries.
Yeah, it was a novelty that increased the price to manufacture and didn’t actually add anything of value to users.
Either you put batteries in something and they worked or they didn’t, and if they stopped working the next step is try different batteries whether or not the little gauge showed it had charge left.
Now if it was added to rechargeable batteries, it would be pretty useful because tou could do something with the knowledge of a battery being at 50%. But a lot of systems with rechargeable batteries have them built in and some other way to show remaining charge like a percentage on a screen.
Now if it was added to rechargeable batteries, it would be pretty useful
I think the reason we haven’t seen that is that NiMH rechargeables have fairly stable voltage during discharge while alkalines don’t.
I think all of your points were covered in the video, sometimes almost verbatim.
Neat!
I didn’t bother watching the video, so I guess the reasons were pretty obvious.
How dare you ignore Alec’s video? 😤
Select one or more of the following.
- Too lazy.
- I assumed it was a rickroll.
- Figured the video was just another version of the article.
- At work and didn’t headphones handy.
I selected all and it’s still not enough of a reason!
Bow to Alec! Let Alec consume you!
It was pretty useful as a kid for feeding my Gameboy and Game Gear with batteries I rescued from the junk drawers of friends and family. If they were low, I knew I had to save more often to avoid losing progress if they went dead while I was playing.
I concur about rechargeables - it doesn’t seem common for devices that take AA or AAA to have a battery gauge and it would be nice to be able to check the level on my rechargeables stock so I can know if I should top them off without needing to put each of them into the charger.
And pairing them correctly for paralel charging too!
It turned out that batteries randomly lying around are always empty. Functioning batteries are still in the device it’s operating or in the box it was sold in.
He draws similar conclusions in his video.
Did the power check work or was it snakeoil I remember trying to see it while hurting my hand.
It did, see Technology Connections’ latest video on it, he explains fully how it worked. Quite clever tbh.
oh maybe might watch
It was gimmicky as hell. Did it work? Who cares. It was irrelevant for 90% of consumers.
I really miss it honestly. Kids, so, so many batteries in my house.
Dad, my blah blah blah isn’t working right. Then I have to go dig out this monster:
Your kids will inherit that charger, and their kids afterward.
Why does it look so weird? I’m not even sure what shape I’m looking at.
Just an inch thick plastic box with a perspective drawing sticker on top of it, But the box is shaped to fit the perspective drawing.
Haha yeah, it looks like a fake picture or some cartoon.
I just use an old multimeter that I saved from eWaste 😂😇
I have no lack of proper test equipment, this is actually kind of nice because the kids can use it easily without trying to wrangle a battery and two leads.
What in the fuckiest of fucks is this? 😱
Ancient voltmeter for children
i think it did
He used old batteries, but I actually had new Duracell batteries with this feature very recently, in 2022 or so (Germany).
You could’ve saved him so much movie magic!
Does anyone remember the battery testers that were built into the packaging? I think they were based on the same concept.
They are mentioned in the video.
I do
I have a really distinct memory of finding a bunch of these in a friend’s house when I was a kid and every one was empty. After watching the TC video I think it’s more likely I just wasn’t pressing hard enough and had no way to know that. Anyway, I can see why they stopped making them.
Yea, you have to press till it hurts, lol
I ended up buying a couple testers from Walmart for like $5 and they’ve been super useful! Definitely worth having in every household
I remember those.
Would be nice to have them on my 18650s
The voltage-to-capacity radio for lithium is much less linear compared to alkaline so it wouldn’t really work well :(
If they are not rechargeable, they don’t make sense, you just use them and throw them in the used up recycle pile. And if they are rechargeable, you already have a charger that does it.
It also has to be a waste of some resource that is rare to not use up and throw away like this.
It failed often enough that it wasn’t all that useful. A cheap battery tester is better. And for 9volts you can also use the tongue test, lol (don’t really though). My grandfather used to do that all the time.
What’s wrong with the tongue test for 9 volts? I know it tickles some but is it actually harmful? I’ve been doing that for over 30 years…
It’s not much power, so it’s not likely to cause major or permanent damage, but it may affect others differently and could cause burns if left on too long like if someone is less sensitive and doesn’t think it’s live.
And if the person is grounded and if they touch the hot side of the battery first there’s a chance the charge could travel through the body rather than just the tongue. It’s not enough to affect a heart, but might disrupt a pacemaker or other embedded device.
And of the battery is leaking, it could cause permanent damage from chemical burns from the alkaline and poisoning from heavy metals which while unlikely to be deadly with just one battery, heavy metal poisoning is cumulative across a lifetime.
So under ideal circumstances it is safe, but there are always risks with electricity and toxic chemicals, though relatively small.
The tongue test works great. Be warned, though, that a full battery will make your tongue go numb. It’ll feel like you have a big hole in the middle. Try it.
Ouch, I never had that problem, but I only barely touch it, lol. It’s a little shock and slightly numb briefly. But fortunately I never had full numbness that lasted more than a second or two. But I haven’t done it in a long time since I have a tester now. 😁
Just use your $200+ Fluke to check the batteries, problem solved.
My dad used to just put them on his tongue for a power check. Not entirely sure how that worked. Personally I just use a multimeter.
We just can’t have nice things
They checked out
