Self.RitualIdiocy++

[thewayne]

*sigh* [grin]

I've been looking for a new battery for my car remote for a few weeks now. A CR-2032, fairly standard battery. Radio Shack didn't have it. K-Mart didn't have it. Wal-Mart didn't have it.

I finally found it at Albertson's.

Yesterday I literally cut the package open while I was at work and installed it. I go to leave for the day, and the remote doesn't work.

Crap. I couldn't imagine that the battery had sat on the shelves for very long as the store has only been open for a couple of months.

I don't want to mess with the thing when I get home, so I wait until I'm back at work this morning to take the remote off my key ring, pry it apart with a knife, pull out the battery, put the old one back in. Fortunately it works well enough, I was replacing it because I noticed the range had decreased a bit.

I go to put the new battery back in its package to return it to the store. And I turned the battery over.

There was a sticker covering the back of the battery so it wouldn't discharge as rapidly as it sat on the shelf. Thus, it could not make contact with the terminal springs in the remote as the sticker was a plasticized insulator.

*facepalm*

Remove sticker, take remote off the key ring and take it apart YET AGAIN, replace battery, test it BEFORE putting it back on the key ring, it works great.

I'd never seen a sticker seal on this type of battery before. And it just happened that I'd not needed to turn the battery over or I would have seen the sticker.


There's an episode of Magnum, P.I. where Magnum saves a cat, I think it happened off-camera/between episodes. Agatha is the head of the Honolulu Cat Fanciers Society, or somesuch, and they give Magnum an award for saving the cat. He gets up to give a little speech that goes something like this: "I love cats. We had cats when we were kids, and we used to play this game called Spin The Cat. We'd wait until Mom waxed the kitchen floor, then we'd put the cat on the ground and spin it around and around. No, honestly, the cat loved it!" People are looking increasingly aghast. Scene cuts to Agatha and Magnum walking in the parking lot, Magnum looking kind of dejected. Agatha says "Mister Magnum, I believe in everyone's life that we are allotted only a certain number of times to make complete and utter fools of ourselves. Think of it as you've just reduced your number by one."

(and I just discovered that my spell checker in Firefox stopped working. Again. *sigh*)

Comments

[silveradept]

Those sorts of things tend to be on devices that actually include batteries. I haven't seen them in pack replacements.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Hearing aid batteries have those little tabs. Once they're removed, it exposes air holes and the battery begins discharging. So the little things have a very short life, regardless of how much the device is used.

I'd like to see info on their power production capacity. It must be tough getting decent life in to such a small container.

[silveradept]

Maybe. Some of the new piezoelectric designs look like they're meant to be long-runners, and it seems like we should be able to develop a self-charging battery for those, since we have watches that do it by walking.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I've actually taken to finding those kind of cells at the bargain stores - last need I had for such, I picked up a blister pack of something like two each of four different sizes for £1. Of course, whether any of the others will still be any good when there's another need for such.. so little I have uses non-rechargeable batteries now. (I think that package was for some bathroom scales, but it turned out the old device had just given up the ghost, and was replaced shortly afterward)

More than once, I've had to prevent myself from pouring the coffee grounds into the mug, rather than the press. (And more than once, not quite remembered in time) Still, I maintain that my success factor in making coffee is at least 98%. ^_^

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

2x of four batteries for a pound? Wow! I've never seen such a pack, much less for that low of a price. I use rechargeables all over the place: weather remote sensors, camera flashes, etc.

Speaking of coffee, you might want to check out Humble Bundle. They're doing a sale on Make Magazine stuff, and one of the evolumes is dedicated to coffee. Myself, I'm not an imbiber (after a very serious food poisoning incident) but if you use a press you might find it useful.