What To Do With Old Button Battery Stuff?

[easysurfer]

I bought a new battery tester. One that does a good job testing button type batteries. You know me looking for an excuse to get another tester.

I have a few devices that I really don't need which uses button type batteries. So, not sure what to do with them. Donate to get out of my hand or keep for sentimental value.

The Sharp EL-506P calculator is a good example. It works fine, but needs new batteries. At one point, this was a splurge purchase as the calculator came in very handy when I needed quick conversions from Decimal to Hex notation and vice versa. But today, I don't see me having a need to use, especially since things have gone the way of apps and Googling.

 

[travelover]

You can buy button batteries cheaply at a place like Harbor Freight. If you just don't want the stuff, give it to a charity resale shop or sell it on eBay.

 

[aja8888]

I just throw out that kind of stuff. No one wants it and donating it is a waste of time.

 

[MichaelB]

I have a few devices that I really don't need which uses button type batteries. So, not sure what to do with them. Donate to get out of my hand or keep for sentimental value.

What’s the long narrow thing in the middle. It reminds me of something, but I just can’t place it ...

 

[easysurfer]

What’s the long narrow thing in the middle. It reminds me of something, but I just can’t place it ...

A sundial.

 

[easysurfer]

Looks like the respondents so far aren't hoarders.

In a similar situation a couple years ago I said goodbye to my Sony Mavica digital camera that uses floppy disks. I still have second thoughts as in digital camera history, that was an important camera. But on the other hand, also getting rid of my about 100 floppy disks was liberating.

 

[W2R]

I take out and use my HP scientific calculator once a year, when I do my taxes. Well, TurboTax does most of that but my calculator is right there at hand just in case I need it. OK, it's a security blanket of sorts.

My watch is sitting on a counter in my dressing room area. I look at it now and then, think about wearing it, and then think I might do that later but not now.

My Canon point-and-shoot digital camera is stored in a plastic container with all those cords and connectors for computers and other devices, as well as old phones and cameras and goofie things like that which are probably decades obsolete by now. "Some day I might need this connector", yeah right. One more box for the dump at some point.

 

[easysurfer]

I take out and use my HP scientific calculator once a year, when I do my taxes. Well, TurboTax does most of that but my calculator is right there at hand just in case I need it. OK, it's a security blanket of sorts.

My watch is sitting on a counter in my dressing room area. I look at it now and then, think about wearing it, and then think I might do that later but not now.

My Canon point-and-shoot digital camera is stored in a plastic container with all those cords and connectors for computers and other devices, as well as old phones and cameras and goofie things like that which are probably decades obsolete by now. "Some day I might need this connector", yeah right. One more box for the dump at some point.

I agree about the security blanket feeling. If "doing battle", I'd want the have by my side what brought me to the big dance. Of course, the likelihood of doing battle again for some things (like my Sharp scientific calculator) is slim to none.

 

[Jerry1]

DW donated some of these types of things. One was a digital camera. I tried to help her understand that it wasn’t worth it even to donate. By the time some got it all running again, they could use their phone and get a higher resolution picture. It is a shame that progress moves so fast and makes these things obsolete when they actually still do a pretty good job by doing what they were originally designed to do.

 

[misshathaway]

I have a few devices that I really don't need which uses button type batteries. So, not sure what to do with them. Donate to get out of my hand or keep for sentimental value.

Put a battery in the watch and put it up somewhere where you have wished there was a clock. For instance I have one around a pipe over the sink in my basement.

 

[gauss]

Button Batteries can be gotten quite cheap on eBay. Maybe $2 for 10 cells, shipped, if memory serves.

 

[38Chevy454]

Button Batteries can be gotten quite cheap on eBay. Maybe $2 for 10 cells, shipped, if memory serves.

That's what I do also, buy them cheap on ebay. They ship form China, so it takes a couple weeks to show up usually. You can find US sellers that ship quicker, of the same Chinese batteries, for a small increase in cost.

 

[aja8888]

That's what I do also, buy them cheap on ebay. They ship form China, so it takes a couple weeks to show up usually. You can find US sellers that ship quicker, of the same Chinese batteries, for a small increase in cost.

I bought a package of 12 or so of button batteries from Amazon for our ancient garage door openers. Most were DOA and the ones that weren't lasted about a week. Nice!

 

[samclem]

You can buy button batteries cheaply at a place like Harbor Freight. If you just don't want the stuff, give it to a charity resale shop or sell it on eBay.

+1. I buy a "sheet" of these batteries about once per year from Harbor Freight. 24 of them, various sizes, $3. They are handy for a few things I have around (kitchen timers, tiny flashlights, digital thermometers, etc.). I try not to buy things that need them, but once or twice per year I find I'm glad I have them around. I've never had one that was DOA.

 

[mpeirce]

The Sharp EL-506P calculator...

Wow. For some reason I still have an EL-323 I got back in the early 80's.

I don't really use it, but I do turn it on every year or two and it's still running ON THE ORIGINAL BATTERY. I though that was mildly amazing a decade or two ago and it is still working.

I wish my iPhone battery would last 35 years ;-)

 

[easysurfer]

Wow. For some reason I still have an EL-323 I got back in the early 80's.

I don't really use it, but I do turn it on every year or two and it's still running ON THE ORIGINAL BATTERY. I though that was mildly amazing a decade or two ago and it is still working.

I wish my iPhone battery would last 35 years ;-)

That's a nice looking calculator!

My EL-506P which I have replaced thicker, not scientific calculator that used a regular battery (I forget if AA or AAA). I gave that one away, but kinda wish I kept that one.

 

[easysurfer]

The main calculator I use now, when not using a smart phone or calculator on the computer is an old TI-1795 solar calculator.

All I really need is simple operations and I like the feel of actual buttons and the calculator size is larger than pocket size which is good for my older self .

The solar cells hasn't failed me yet as this calculator is about 25-30 years old.

 

[ERD50]

... It is a shame that progress moves so fast and makes these things obsolete when they actually still do a pretty good job by doing what they were originally designed to do.

No!!!! Don't say that! Progress is good!

Sorry, but that's a hot button for me. I worked hard in the electronics industry to help make things progress, and it's weird to see someone complain about it.

It's like you just can't please some people. We get progress, they don't like it. If we didn't have progress, they wouldn't like that either!

You want to live in a cave - go for it! (This is in jest, but with a serious side to it)

DW donated some of these types of things. One was a digital camera. I tried to help her understand that it wasn’t worth it even to donate. By the time some got it all running again, they could use their phone and get a higher resolution picture. ...

I do agree with that. Other than nosalgia or something, the newer tech is better cheaper and available to the point that it often just is not worth it to try to use the old stuff if it takes any time, money or effort.

I will also nitpick the use of the word "obsolete" above. I know that it has several meanings, and some are loose enough to cover what you describe (better options available). But I think it should be reserved for truly "obsolete" things - like if it used batteries that you could no longer buy, or some file format that was no longer supported.

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

I bought a package of 12 or so of button batteries from Amazon for our ancient garage door openers. Most were DOA and the ones that weren't lasted about a week. Nice!

I've read about duds like that, so I try to avoid them. I've read they may be getting old bateries, that may have been stored in a hot warehouse, and were going to be trashed. Someone gets hold of them and sells them.

I've had good luck with Harbor Freight, and the Dollar stores. I've actually been jotting down the replacement date on a piece of paper and slip it in the battery compartment. I've found the HF AA, AAA and CR2032 to be as good/better than any others I've bought from B&M stores.


-ERD50

 

[samclem]

I've trying to think of a good purpose for the button batteries I don't use on those Harbor Freight sheets. Maybe I'll stack 8 of them in a tube to make a small 12V power source I can use to keep my car radio station memory alive when I get a new battery, to test my trailer lights, etc. Or make a holder with snap-top terminals so 6 of them can replace a 9V "transistor radio" battery.

This is how you can use things you already have around the house to make useful items and economize, if you don't count the time spent making them. If you >do< count the time at the present national minimum wage, this is how you can make a $20 9v battery.

 

[mickeyd]

Those are the ones that go with my hearing-aids I believe. I just toss them in the trash "as is." There will be plenty room in the future now that plastic straws will be eliminated from local trash cans.