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Old fashioned battery tester

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Stormin Mormon

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Mar 19, 2009, 8:42:54 AM3/19/09
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My Dad showed me how to do this, when I was a boy. Take a
flash light bulb (PR-4 is good, the old screw in 112 is
better, more close to the proper voltage). Then, take about
six or seven inch long piece of #10 or #12 solid wire. Wrap
one end of the wire around the bulb. Curve the rest of the
wire, so it looks like a letter C, or G.

Touch one end of the battery to the lead spot, on the bulb.
Touch the other end of the wire to the other end of the
battery. If the bulb lights, the battery is OK. Works for
AAAA through D cells. Have to bend the wire a bit, for
different sizes.

After using this for a while, you can also roughly guess the
battery state. New, used, weak, dead. By how bright the
light is. If using a PR-4 bulb, you can also test 3 volt
lithium photo batteries.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

McTavish

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Mar 19, 2009, 10:14:53 AM3/19/09
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No shit Sherlock. You are really telling me that if you put a bulb
across a battery and it lights that the battery is ok? That's amazing.
Your daddy was some guy!

Just Me

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Mar 19, 2009, 10:23:24 AM3/19/09
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"McTavish" <jock723...@tiscali.net> wrote in message
news:49c2535e$0$3338$6e1e...@read.cnntp.org...
Go on line and buy a Press #22 flashbulb, repeat the method cited!

Bob Larter

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Mar 19, 2009, 11:28:24 AM3/19/09
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<heh> And report back after your eyes start working again.

--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------

Just Me

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Mar 19, 2009, 11:41:48 AM3/19/09
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"Bob Larter" <bobby...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:49c26498$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au...

> Just Me wrote:
>> "McTavish" <jock723...@tiscali.net> wrote in message
>> news:49c2535e$0$3338$6e1e...@read.cnntp.org...
>>> Stormin Mormon wrote:
>>>> My Dad showed me how to do this, when I was a boy. Take a flash light
>>>> bulb (PR-4 is good, the old screw in 112 is better, more close to the
>>>> proper voltage). Then, take about six or seven inch long piece of #10
>>>> or #12 solid wire. Wrap one end of the wire around the bulb. Curve the
>>>> rest of the wire, so it looks like a letter C, or G.
>>>>
>>>> Touch one end of the battery to the lead spot, on the bulb. Touch the
>>>> other end of the wire to the other end of the battery. If the bulb
>>>> lights, the battery is OK. Works for AAAA through D cells. Have to bend
>>>> the wire a bit, for different sizes.
>>>>
>>>> After using this for a while, you can also roughly guess the battery
>>>> state. New, used, weak, dead. By how bright the light is. If using a
>>>> PR-4 bulb, you can also test 3 volt lithium photo batteries.
>>>>
>>> No shit Sherlock. You are really telling me that if you put a bulb
>>> across a battery and it lights that the battery is ok? That's amazing.
>>> Your daddy was some guy!
>>>
>> Go on line and buy a Press #22 flashbulb, repeat the method cited!
>
> <heh> And report back after your eyes start working again.
>
Was an old party gag, to replace the bathroom lightbulb with a #22 loads of
fun, especially if the washroom had multiple bulbs ;)

sna...@mailinator.com

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Mar 19, 2009, 5:20:54 PM3/19/09
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Old fashioned light meter:-

Open your eyes, if you can see it is light. If you can't see it is dark.

Charles

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Mar 19, 2009, 6:17:52 PM3/19/09
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"Stormin Mormon" <cayoung61**spamblock##@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:gptep9$1rl$1...@news.motzarella.org...

Hardly scientific ... guess by how bright the light is?

A load test must also include a voltmeter and some knowledge to be a real
test.

But, your Dad certainly understood an important fact: A cell or battery
must be loaded to evaluate its condition.


Paul Bartram

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Mar 20, 2009, 2:16:41 AM3/20/09
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"Charles" <charles...@comcast.net> wrote

> Hardly scientific ... guess by how bright the light is?

Reminds me of the very first camera I ever bought (no idea what brand it
was). The 'exposure metering system' on it was an eyepiece you looked
through and saw a piece of film with the numbers 1 to 10 in rows (white on a
black background). As the numbers increased, they got darker until you
couldn't see the next one. That was the number to set the exposure ring on!
Not sure what branch of the sciences this was based on (witchcraft maybe?)
but it didn't work, I do remember that...

Paul

George Kerby

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Mar 20, 2009, 9:33:30 AM3/20/09
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On 3/19/09 10:41 AM, in article gptp2s$1dd$1...@aioe.org, "Just Me"
<nos...@here.invalid> wrote:

Or, at night, in a dark room listening to The Doors and smoking whacky weed.

Tell your friend "Hey, I dropped the pipe, could you turn on that table
lamp?

Amazing results!

Message has been deleted

sligoNo...@hotmail.com

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Mar 21, 2009, 4:41:51 PM3/21/09
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On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:42:54 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
<cayoung61**spamblock##@hotmail.com> wrote:

Somewhat less effective with alkaline batteries.

Stormin Mormon

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Mar 21, 2009, 7:39:32 PM3/21/09
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I've used the bulb and wire tester on alkalines. Actually,
that's about only time and place I use it. Why would you say
less effective?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.


<sligoNo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:97kas4p2ridvfg5j6...@4ax.com...

GregS

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Mar 23, 2009, 1:38:32 PM3/23/09
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Many times you can get a good estimate without load.

A rechargable is best tested by
a very loooong test.

greg

GregS

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Mar 23, 2009, 1:40:05 PM3/23/09
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In article <gq3tru$iet$1...@news.motzarella.org>, "Stormin Mormon" <cayoung61**spamblock##@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I've used the bulb and wire tester on alkalines. Actually,
>that's about only time and place I use it. Why would you say
>less effective?
>

Just measuring the no-load voltage on these will give a fair
estimate.

greg

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