Rechargeable Battery or Disposable Battery?
What is the difference between rechargeable batteries and non-rechargeable batteries? What type of battery should you choose when?
Most modern devices today use lithium-ion batteries that are capable of charging. However, there are still some devices that ask you to open the cover and place a few "pen batteries" in it.
Suppose you have a battery-powered device that you will purchase and assume that you need AAA batteries for this device. Which type of battery should you buy? Are rechargeable batteries better or disposable batteries? The difference is often hidden in the cost and technology used.
How Do Batteries Work?
Each battery has one positive and one negative connection. The positive connection is connected to the cathode and the negative connection to the anode. The cathode and anode pair are known as electrodes. Chemical reactions take place at the electrode that covers most of the battery. Electricity is the result of these electrochemical reactions.
Batteries work with oxidation and reduction. The anode oxidizes, which means it loses its electrons. At the same time, the cathode absorbs electrons in a process known as reduction. This process occurs only when the load between the two connections forms a circuit. This load is your device.
Why can't we charge all the batteries?
All disposable batteries are alkaline, ie cathode, manganese oxide, anode is made of zinc powder. The electrolyte (e.g., alkaline moiety) is formed from potassium hydroxide. The energy-producing reaction eventually erodes the anode and begins to inhibit reactions. At this point the battery dies.
There are several types of rechargeable batteries. Lithium ion batteries are used in phones and laptops. These batteries use lithium cobalt oxide as the cathode and carbon as the anode. Unlike disposable batteries, electrons can be transported from the cathode to the anode by providing external electric current.
However, instead of disposable batteries, the batteries are not lithium ions, but nickel cadmium (NiCd) or nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. In NiCd batteries, the cathode is nickel and the anode is cadmium. These batteries lose their total charge capacity after several hundred charges, so they are not perfect.
Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries lose their charge much slower than where they stand when compared to NiCd. A NiMH battery that has been on the shelf for one year retains much of its capacity. The total charge capacity of these batteries is 2-3 times higher.
So why are not all batteries charged? This is because of the cost. The materials used in disposable batteries are less expensive and are very suitable for devices with very low power. Lithium ion batteries are more expensive to produce and can produce plenty of power. The cost of nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries is in the middle.
Which Type of Battery to Choose?
This depends on your needs and budget. Disposable batteries cost much less in advance. Imagine you need to buy a few flashlights, a digital camera, a joystick, a radio, a fire alarm and a thermostat. If you buy a rechargeable battery for all, you can exceed $ 100. Instead, you can choose to buy a dozen cheap batteries for 15-20 TL.
However, particularly cheap disposable batteries will last much shorter than other disposable batteries. Here, of course, how much power the devices you use is important.
For devices that use faster power, such as a camera or joystick, you should use rechargeable batteries. For example, you can use a dual-charge battery of $ 20 several times. If you think about the environment, you have to choose the rechargeable battery. So instead of using hundreds of batteries in a few years, you can handle ten batteries.
Let us mention that the brand is important for rechargeable batteries. Duracell, Energizer, Panasonic and Sony have rechargeable batteries to choose from and offer a variety of options.
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AmazonBasics AA Rechargeable Batteries (16-Pack) Pre-charged - Battery Packaging May Vary