I was going through the light weight nuggets on the home page and found lots of useful information. Here is a perl I learned a while back. If you have a flashlight or device running on AAA batteries you can use a Energizer 9 volt battery as a source of spare AAA batteries. The Energizer Alkaline 9 volt battery contains 6 AAA cells inside, however the polarity is reversed. So the plus and minus are reversed. Its possible that other brands do the same thing, and its equally possible that Energizer has stopped making the 9 volt battery that way, so try it with a dead battery at home first. It takes a little practice taking the battery apart, but its not too hard.

Don't do this with lithium batteries. The lithium metal is extremely toxic and that wouldn't be good for your health.

Taking apart any battery isn't something I'd do; none of the styles I know of are friendly to your body or the environment. I maintain electronics as my job, and we have to recycle all dead batteries properly, whether they're lithium-ion, lead acid, big, small, you name it. I've seen regular alkalines that burst inside the user's equipment, and it's highly corrosive.

Your trick still sounds useful if you have to McGuyver something together so you can call for rescue. I think, though, I'd rather carry spare lithium batteries since they weigh little anyway.

Snopes says this is false.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/humor/batteryhack.asp

“The Energizer Alkaline 9 volt battery contains 6 AAA cells inside”

I believe they actually contain AAAA batteries. Now these are hard to find. Plus what uses AAAA batteries? I can only think of the Streamlight Stylus.
I hope people don’t backpack with items requiring this size of battery.

-Barry

Steven, just hold a AAA cell next to a 9V battery. It's pretty clear that 6 of them won't fit inside.

I have a modified Arc AAA flashlight that uses a AAAA cell. I have disassembled a 9V just for fun but it's a lot of work and the cells don't have a button on the top for contact. It's much easier to just buy a AAAA.

The Snopes article was about a 6 volt lantern battery containing 32 AAA batteries. I was talking about the 9 volt battery.

I will take one apart and get some photos. The batteries are smaller than the standard AAA batteries you would buy in the store. The don't have a label on it and extra protection.

I did work with electronic surveillance gear and this was something we did during a training class. The type of class where you build wired microphones for your body bugs and such. The reason for us to learn this little trick was you could end up needing a battery you didn't have and the 9 volt was a way to get the AAA battery.

9 volt batteries are mentioned at the very end of the article.

Well I have the photos. Trying to figure out how to post them.





Yes they are a little smaller than a standard AAA battery, and the polarity is reversed, but this is a 1.5 volt battery that will fit in the space of a AAA battery device. You will note this is also an older battery. I haven't done this with a new battery. Maybe if the pictures worked in the post, I will try this again with a new battery.

This is right, they're AAAAs, a very rare bird indeed.

cheers,

Rick

I make it a point to buy items that use AA batteries. This especially applies to travel items, not just hiking. Flashlight, electric shaver, alarm clock, digital camera, etc. I haven't managed it with a cell phone though.

AA might be the most common battery so relatively easy to find wherever I travel, carrying backup batteries is simpler as I only need one type, and I can scavenge from an item not currently in use if need be.