Watts Clever Alkaline Battery Charger Lets You Reuse Disposable Batteries

GADGETS

 

Got a bunch of disposable AA and AAA alkaline batteries that you’re holding off from throwing in the garbage for some arcane reason only you would know?  Well, you’re in luck.  Turns out you can reuse those erstwhile landfill fodder for powering your Xbox 360 controllers if you’ve got this: the Watts Clever Alkaline Battery Charger.

 

We know, recharging those throwaways will make them overheat.  But that’s why you need this special charger, which employs a built-in microprocessor to minutely control the trickle of charge into each battery without causing them to burn out.

 

The Watts Clever Alkaline Battery Charger looks like a regular charger, measuring 4.64 x 2.9 x 1.18 inches and holding four battery slots (which can fit both AA and AAA sizes).  It has a LED indicator for each battery (turns red when the battery can be recharged), with a maximum power output of 350mA (per slot) and a four-hour charging time for standard alkaline units.

 

Just to assuage any concerns you may have about refilling batteries meant for the trash, they threw in a bunch of safety features for the charger.  You should feel safe with the fire-proof plastic housing, reversed polarity auto-detection, built-in heat sensor (cuts off electricity to the slot when it detects overheating) and auto-off (both when a battery’s fully charged or when it falls out of the slot).

 

With alkaline batteries, the Watts Clever Alkaline Battery Charger can work for up to 20 recharges (minimum of 10).  Ni-Cd and Ni-MH varieties are fine too, although, the product page declines to give an estimate for how many times they can be juiced.  The charger is available now, priced at around $46.

 

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7 Responses

  1. I don’t know why, but battery chargers have never been my liking. Actually, my dad got me one a few years back, and all it did was soak up loads of electricity. I would keep my batteries in there for as long as 12 hours, only to realize that they were just what they were before being ‘recharged,’ mere soaked out alkaline batteries! I hope this one is something close to what it claims to be. This post is pretty reassuring though. It takes care of all the safety concerns one could have from such a device. There’s the fire proof plastic casing, and the overheating detector, apart from the other safety features.

  2. Mere 46 dollars for a charger that can juice up disposable batteries, freakin’ awesome! With all the remote controlled devices and mini utility items at my place, batteries are a regular feature of my weekend purchase list. I do not mind spending 46$ to virtually eliminate them from that list for a long time.

  3. How on Earth is this possible? I mean, a disposable battery is meant to be disposed off once it performs its job! I know I think too little of the powers of technology, and also that my knowledge of the working of an alkaline cell is ridiculously little, but hey, this is something I am finding hard to digest. This recharger seems to be claiming that it could make your batteries perform for twenty times their promised lifetime! Hell, if that is even half true, this one is worth its weight in gold!

  4. Even if this ultra cool device can charge worn out batteries partially, those batteries could work well for TV remote control and torch lights. It is simply amazing to realize that an invisible microprocessor can control the manner in which charge interacts with a used battery to make it active again!

  5. I can already think of many reasons that should suffice in enticing even the hardest of sceptics to the selling shelves of the Watts Clever Alkaline Battery Charger. It has all sorts of indicators to ensure that there is no overheating of the batteries, lest there be any fire concerns. The four hour charging time is also impressive (though I admit that I have not used many recharging devices in the past). It can keep on recharging alkaline batteries for twenty times, hell, I would get bored by then and replace them anyways! Also, it can handle AA and AAA type batteries.

  6. I never realized that there were so many things to be considered in order to make this device safe. A plastic casing to avoid fires, detector for reverse polarity, a heat sensor to automatically cut off electricity supply once the temperature trespasses the safety limits and an auto-off feature to tackle real issues such as avoiding overheating as the battery gets a supply even after being fully charged; there is literally no stone left unturned to make the Watts Clever Alkaline Battery Charger an absolutely safe device.

  7. I thought that this was a title to attract attention and get the readers peering through the lines. It succeeded, and I was drawn into the post. But, this sounds like something absolutely wonderful. I have never heard of something so damn useful. I can hardly calculate the amount it will save me having the Watts Clever Alkaline Battery Charger in my possession. My good old walkman generally soaks up a pair within a few days of usage. I guess it is high time I invested some of my savings in this product.

  8. I guarantee inside this unit is nothing more than a transformer, 2 diodes, 4 led’s and a capacitor. Alkaline batteries cannot be recharged safely – you’re all being conned. LOL

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