Recharging your batteries: going that extra mile.

 

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Rechargeable batteries. They're a good thing, right? I reckon so anyway. I mean, I have an mp3 player which is on quite a bit. However, I decided before buying it that I wanted one where I could change the battery as and when the juice ran out - after all, you hear all these stories about iPods and the like being useless all of a sudden just because the battery died. 

The internal, hard-wired battery.

Sod that.

Naturally, I quite clearly had to invest in a set of rechargeables and a unit similar to the one above. Plug it into the mains and the little blighters soak up that juice like a happy sponge and are ready and raring to go in a few hours. Great stuff. I even went to the trouble of buying a unit with a built-in cut-out system that switches the whole thing off after the batteries have been done to a turn.

The thing is though.... you know those hand-cranked radios you can buy (as invented by the incredible Trevor Baylis)? Well, I was looking at them and wondering, 'surely somebody has come up with a wind-up charging unit?' Because my current unit still has to take juice from somewhere.

And they have.

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Sadly, it's only a power unit, rather than a means by which batteries themselves can be recharged.

So near and yet so far.

But then I found this. I hope you don't suffer from carpal tunnel or some other wrist-related RSI (stop it you mucky buggers, I know what you're thinking...).

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Yes, that IS an AA battery and yes, you do have to do what it says on the tin cover. Essentially, this little beauty is powered by vigorous shaking and works on the basic science of a kinetic motor. Take a look at the picture below for a peek at the internal workings.

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The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed one drawback with this otherwise brilliant design: the battery's capacity for storing energy is reduced by half - the price of installing a kinetic motor half the size of an AA battery inside an AA battery.

Having said that, for those that have the mind to do so, take a couple of these in each hand when you're out jogging and the pumping action should do both you and the batteries a world of good. 

And you know what?  They may last long enough to do the job.

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Thanks to I New Idea for the story.

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