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Battery Power

B

Brookfields Lad

master brummie
The news that a battery factory may be built in Coventry got me thinking.

The use of batteries to power many things in our life is increasing rapidly.

In the 50/60s I can only remember having a torch or a transistor radio that were battery powered.
I have listed the items that I have today that are wholly battery powered.

When can you remember their first use of batteries?

My list is: Car (Nissan Leaf), watch, clock, floor cleaner, vacuum, window cleaner, hearing aids, guitar amp, umpteen remote controls, air fresheners, Christmas decorations, garden sprinkler system, car locking fob.

I am sure there will be more.
 
1950. grandads radio. 1x90v battery 1x1.5 battery.
electric drills.
mobile phones
door bell.
garden strimmer.
camera
 
cookie273uk said:
I can remember just before the war taking our radio's 'flat' accumulator round the corner to the electrical shop to swap for a fully charged one, I think it cost 6d. Eric
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I remember the glass accumulator
I think we had one at home and one on charge at the local newsagents.
 
You no longer see any of those large, chunky batteries (about 3”x2” squared). What were they for ? I remember we had them at home but can’t remember what they were for ? Viv.
 
mw0njm. said:
i still have the radio in the loft that takes them viv.View attachment 153143View attachment 1531451950s
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I used to have to walk up High Street Harborne to change the accumulator that powered Grandad's Radio, because in !945 the house in Greys Road was still all gas. Uncle John put the electricity in after Grandad died. The first batteries I really remember where the double ones which fitted the front light on a bike. Do they still make them? The range of batteries both the old fashioned ones that we all remember and the modern lithium discs is so wide that we now keep a box that has everything from AAA to the rectangular 9v and a sheet of mixed lithium (never the one we need). It's called progress.

Bob
 
We also used to take the accumulator as we called them, to be charged up at a shop on Slade Road Can you imagine allowing young kids doing that today. Hated the smell of the acid in them. Took, a few months ago, a radio like that pictured above, with some other stuff, to the Auctions in Lichfield. Also have several sheets of the Lithium batteries, many never used. Glad of the battery in our gas fire to easily start it up in the morning. Got me wondering how many batteries are sold each year.
 
At least things were reuseable in those days as far as accumulators go - just recharge them and you're good for another few days. A few batteries are now rechargeable today, but most go for recycling. Is the lithium recoverable? I've no idea & am too busy to look it up. But every month we take a bag of batteries and deposit them in the special containers in the pharmacies and hospitals. The large lithium tablet batteries that keep the clock going in our computers, CR2032, are supposed to last 5 years, but I've lad them last for as little as two and as many as ten years. The same size battery powers the bathroom scales and a few other things and all the other sizes on those cheap Poundland-type cards never seem to fit anything - what a waste.

Maurice :cool:
 
sospiri said:
At least things were reuseable in those days as far as accumulators go - just recharge them and you're good for another few days. A few batteries are now rechargeable today, but most go for recycling. Is the lithium recoverable? I've no idea & am too busy to look it up. But every month we take a bag of batteries and deposit them in the special containers in the pharmacies and hospitals. The large lithium tablet batteries that keep the clock going in our computers, CR2032, are supposed to last 5 years, but I've lad them last for as little as two and as many as ten years. The same size battery powers the bathroom scales and a few other things and all the other sizes on those cheap Poundland-type cards never seem to fit anything - what a waste.

Maurice :cool:
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Battery waste is horrendous. I have a 'bin' in the kitchen specifically for batteries. I agree about 'Poundland' batteries.
 
Bob Davis said:
I used to have to walk up High Street Harborne to change the accumulator that powered Grandad's Radio, because in !945 the house in Greys Road was still all gas. Uncle John put the electricity in after Grandad died. The first batteries I really remember where the double ones which fitted the front light on a bike. Do they still make them? The range of batteries both the old fashioned ones that we all remember and the modern lithium discs is so wide that we now keep a box that has everything from AAA to the rectangular 9v and a sheet of mixed lithium (never the one we need). It's called progress.

Bob
Click to expand...
I have a box for the batteries. I order a hundred at a time because they are so much cheaper to purchase that way.

In the box there will be - AA - AAA - Cr2032 - plus all the other popular ones. Then the inevitable happens, the remote to the television packs in and guess what, of all the batteries you have in stock, you haven't got one that fits.
 
Pete,

You mean the old Grid Bias batteries - 6 x 1.5volts in series - very useful those were. Ain't seen 'em for years.

Maurice :cool:
 
Bob Johnson said:
Great pic of the radio and the batteries. 'Ever-Ready' that's the make I couldn't think of. I used Ever-Ready batteries on numerous electrical projects I used to experiment with as a teenager, they went flat very quickly if I remember.
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My first job was at Eveready in Wolverhampton as a laboratory assistant, £4.50/week and from that I had to pay board to mum & dad and bus fares from Cannock. There were 400 women working on the assembly line quite unnerving for a shy 16 year old. They had a twilight shift too, when I was leaving work at 5pm mum was on her way there for the evening shift.
 
Bob Johnson said:
Great pic of the radio and the batteries. 'Ever-Ready' that's the make I couldn't think of. I used Ever-Ready batteries on numerous electrical projects I used to experiment with as a teenager, they went flat very quickly if I remember.
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Bob.as a kid i found that out. pp9 batteries went flat in minutes,on my electric motors.:grinning:. so i changed to bell batteries.
1613574205063.png
 
mw0njm. said:
Bob.as a kid i found that out. pp9 batteries went flat in minutes,on my electric motors.:grinning:. so i changed to bell batteries.
View attachment 153159
Click to expand...
Yes. That's another one I used. I also remember using one battery that had different voltage tappings on it.

I tried various battery's to power an electric cart I made or to power a 'Lucas King of the road' 12volt spotlight. I knew nothing of 'Ohms Law' or electrics in general. I just kept experimenting. Later in life I became an electrician. I realised how futile my efforts were as a child to try and power everything from an 'Ever-Ready' battery not understanding different voltages and current draw.
 
Bob Johnson said:
Yes. That's another one I used. I also remember using one battery that had different voltage tappings on it.

I tried various battery's to power an electric cart I made or to power a 'Lucas King of the road' 12volt spotlight. I knew nothing of 'Ohms Law' or electrics in general. I just kept experimenting. Later in life I became an electrician. I realised how futile my efforts were as a child to try and power everything from an 'Ever-Ready' battery not understanding different voltages and current draw.
Click to expand...
love it.......Bob i was the same. wish they had rechargeables back then. :grinning::grinning:
 
Pete,

That guy seemed to make hard work of making a grid bias battery - looks all very posh and that, but ,,,,,, I remember as a kid I bought a silly little build-it-yourself electric motor by Mail Order from Wm Penn Ltd. Well you didn't even get what you paid for with that shyster outfit, so my uncle made a proper one for me, wound the armature, added a proper commutator, and it went well and was quite powerful, but rather heavy on battery power. No problem he said, and the following week came back with all the bits to make a pair of Leclanché cells. Zinc rods for the negative side, porous ceramic pots full of manganese dioxide with a carbon rod for the positive side and the whole contraption is immersed in a big glass jar and filled with a solution of sal ammoniac. That worked a treat and lasted for ages and was just a matter of renewing the chemicals to set it all going again. I hadn't see one of those since my physics days at school. And the chemicals were available at the local drysalters - there used to be one on Stratford Road almost next door to the British Restaurant by Formans Road.

Happy days. That was how to have fun as a kid! By then I'd grown a bit too old for cowboys & indians. :)

Maurice :cool:
 
sospiri said:
Pete,

That guy seemed to make hard work of making a grid bias battery - looks all very posh and that, but ,,,,,, I remember as a kid I bought a silly little build-it-yourself electric motor by Mail Order from Wm Penn Ltd. Well you didn't even get what you paid for with that shyster outfit, so my uncle made a proper one for me, wound the armature, added a proper commutator, and it went well and was quite powerful, but rather heavy on battery power. No problem he said, and the following week came back with all the bits to make a pair of Leclanché cells. Zinc rods for the negative side, porous ceramic pots full of manganese dioxide with a carbon rod for the positive side and the whole contraption is immersed in a big glass jar and filled with a solution of sal ammoniac. That worked a treat and lasted for ages and was just a matter of renewing the chemicals to set it all going again. I hadn't see one of those since my physics days at school. And the chemicals were available at the local drysalters - there used to be one on Stratford Road almost next door to the British Restaurant by Formans Road.

Happy days. That was how to have fun as a kid! By then I'd grown a bit too old for cowboys & indians. :)

Maurice :cool:
Click to expand...
he sure did our maurice..... na there are still loads of cowboys about:grinning:
 
Vivienne14 said:
You no longer see any of those large, chunky batteries (about 3”x2” squared). What were they for ? I remember we had them at home but can’t remember what they were for ? Viv.
Click to expand...
Vivienne it could have been two what you're describing , first one Ever Ready 1289 alternatively B126 , At places I've worked they used to sell hundreds of batteries not so many of the above as I think they were on the way out .
 
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