April 6, 2011

• RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES

  One way to keep batteries out of the landfill is to use rechargeable batteries. They are more expensive, but practical in the long run.  I have a solar charger that will recharge AA and AAA batteries.

  It’s very small, you can hold it in the palm of your hand.

  For C and D sizes, I use adapters that I bought online.  I use AA batteries that slip inside the adapters to convert them to C and D sizes.  Using the adapters, the only ones I can’t charge are the 9 volt batteries, but I have a plug-in charger for those.
  
  

  The charger has a port and cable to charge small rechargeable devices like cell phones, iPods, etc.  It also has a port to allow battery charging from the USB port on a computer at night or when the sun isn’t shining.
  
  

  It usually takes a day or possibly two days to fully charge batteries depending on the amount of sunlight, the number of batteries, and how much the batteries are discharged.  LEDs show when the unit is charging and indicating the status of the batteries; red for uncharged, yellow for partially charged and green for fully charged.

  • 12:12 pm
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