Classic Rant #1,045 (September 19, 2013): Rechargeable Batteries

As I recharge my own batteries after yesterday's Rant, today I am going to talk about rechargeable batteries.

I have been using this type of battery for the past five years or so, or ever since I got my then new 2008 Kia Spectra.

Why would there be a link between the two?

I bought my car right before the electronics explosion in cars. Today, cars come with Internet, GPS, the works, but back in 2008, not every car came with such devices.

My Kia certainly didn't.

It did come with a hookup for an iPad or MP3 player.

Since the radio in the car is very retro--like circa 1990 or so--I listen to stuff in the car through this hookup, and I use a relatively old fashioned MP3 player to play various disks I have burned on my computer.

It is an OK setup, although I would much rather have a radio that played MP3 disks.

Anyway, to supply the power for the MP3 player, I use the Duracell rechargeable batteries, the ones shown in the photo. I figured that I would spend less money using them than using regular AA batteries.

And it supposedly is better for the environment, too.

These five years later, I am still using the same rechargeable batteries, or should I say, the same three rechargeable batteries.

The original pack, I think, came with at least eight of these batteries, but over the years, I have lost five of them.

One I know I lost the first time my family saw a baseball game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was using one of these batteries to power a camera I had back then, and one of the batteries fell on the floor and rolled somewhere. I could not find it, even though there were maybe 10,000 people at the game that night.

Others I have lost here and there, and one is actually lost in my car, stuck somewhere around my driver's car seat. I have looked and looked, but I cannot find the battery anywhere, but it is in my car.

Anyway, as to performance, the batteries do work.

They are not as good or as reliable as regular batteries, and since I use them every day, they do go out pretty quickly, quicker than regular batteries.

When they are done, you really have to charge them up for six to nine hours at a time for them to reach full power.

Again, these are batteries that are more than five years old, so maybe it takes longer time for them to be charged than new, current rechargeable batteries.

But they seem to work when you give them enough juice.

I have to say that I am satisfied with them, but since I only have three now, I do have to use regular batteries from time to time when they are charging.

Yes, it is a pain, and I have vowed that one day, I will get a radio that allows me to ditch these batteries.

But for now, it is the best arrangement I can think of for doing what I want to do in the car.

I wish I had my own inner set of rechargeable batteries, because right now, I feel a bit powerless myself.