Battery Magic...interesting!

[Jon Goodman]

While shaving to get ready for church this morning, I had a thought. Looking at two 1.4 v hearing aid batteries which were pretty dead (one registered .07 v and the other registered .8 v), I wondered if I could revive them with a drink. After warming them both with my hair dryer, I dropped them into about an inch of cool water and left them there while I finished getting dressed. Why did I warm them up and drop them into cool water? The little vent holes are tiny, and it seemed to me that this might be a good way to get the battery to draw water back into it. After about 30 minutes in the water, each battery registered less than it had before, so I was not initially encouraged, but I left them out of the water (holes facing upward) and went to church. When I came back, I tried them, and...wow...each one registered 1.39 v.

They still do.

Maybe everybody in the world knows about this but me, but I thought it was pretty neat. Two batteries I was going to toss away are now doing just fine.
Jon

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Wow. I would have never thought of doing this myself. It just happens that I have one "dead" zinc-air 1.45 V battery; I might just do this. Like, totally cool 😎

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Jon Goodman]

It was just a thought. They stop generating electricity when they dry out. So...it seemed sensible that they might just start again if you could get some water back in there. The one I have in a Konica Auto S2 seems to be doing fine. I'll watch it for a week or so.
Jon

 

[Gerry M]

Hi Jon, Any follow up on reviving dead zinc air batts? I tried it with 2 #675's and had 50% success. Don't know about long term yet. Mine were from an old Gossen lght meter and I'm not sure what the current draw is. I would be interested to know if yours survived any current drain.
Gerry