Survey posted 2006-01-11 05:23 by Jon.

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Yes! When I got my calc, I had to replace batteries more than once a month. Rechargable batteries are the only way when you use the calc for games as often as I do.

The 83+ wants 1.5 volt AAA batteries, but I found out that 1.2 volt batteries work fine as well. And they are cheaper.

Interesting...I would think it would have an internal 5V LDO, so 4.8V (from 1.2V batteries) wouldn't be enough...

It does work, though. I'm not sure why...

The 83+ will run (minus flash operations) on down to 3 volts I believe. I ran experiments a number of years ago. At a certain point when the input voltage drops below the minimum required for the voltage regulator, the screen just very slowly begins to fade out...

Most battery-operated devices work fine on 1.2-volt cells, in my experience. Even 1.5-volt alkaline batteries drop down to 1.2 volts about halfway through their life.

Maybe they designed the power supply to bypass the regulator if the batteries supplied under 6V or something.

I've tried to hood a 6V solar panel to my TI-83, but I had to use a 3 million candle power spot light to even get it to turn on, and when I tried to run a program the calculator died. So, I guess solar power isn't powerful enough for the Z80. I would have tried it outside, but it was cloudy. The spot light should have worked, but apparently not. If I remeber right, when I first turned it on, the screen was dark, but if I added something, the screen became very light, and then dark once it finished calculating.

I know exactly what you mean. It's too expensive not to use rechargables!

I was not under the impression that 1.5V rechargable AAA's were actually made. I also use 1.2V AAA's.

One other benefit (besides being more ecologically sound) is that when the batteries get low, the calc automatically shuts itself off. There's no way to run the calc into the ground, so to speak. And, it makes it obvious the batteries have to be recharged. Because this does happen every 1-2 months, I carry around a spare set of alkaline AAA's, just in case.

I find it amazing how many people don't take care of their calcs in terms of replacing the batteries when they get low. I can't count the times when people have wanted games or programs, and then it turns out their batteries are low. Luckily for them, I always have my spare AAA's with me...

I would say I use my calculator a lot, not as much now that I got a DS and my school has wifi, but I've ran it off of $2 kodak batteries for over eight months before they died. I always buy the cheapest batteries, I only need to replace them every five or six months.

So does the 89. It helps to get higher-current batteries, also.

Well, it is just an equivalent, but it is made to replace the 1.5V.

i always buy a new set of relatively expensive batteries for my calc. i like to think this makes up for all those times it's been dropped in a stream...

Dropped in a stream?!? You mean more than once for the same calc? Wow, that's one well-built calculator!

Did you have to open it up and let it dry or what?

I suspect a strong correlation between people who have been using calculators for more than, say, a year, and those who use rechargeable batteries...

I have been using my TI-92+ for over 2 years now (& my TI-86 got used regularly for a few years before that), but I see no need for rechargable batteries. I use them in my GBA (since they only last a day or so), but I only have to change the batteries in my calculator once every few months (even though I use it a lot, often playing Tetris for 30 minutes to an hour at a time & running long math problems elsewhen), so it is not really worth the hassle (though it might pay for itself after a year or so).

A new set of batteries every couple months...I pity you...

Make the switch to rechargables. You'll find it worth it (in both monetary AND environmental terms).

I disagree. I use my 84+ (and 83+) SE Calcs daily for about 2 hours each and my batteries last about 6-8 months. Since I use my computer over breaks, I only need to replace the batteries about once a year.

It's not worth the $20-30 to buy some high-end NiMH batteries and a $10-20 charger and then have to charge the batteries every 2-3 months.

That's what I go through with my 2-way radios. I switched to regular batteries there too and they last about twice as long.

If you're that up tight about stuff, get a AC Adapter and some wire so you can build a really cheap power supply. 5-6V across the appropriate terminals of a 83/84 would run it.

But think about the trees and the fresh air...

Let's say that your batteries last six months before you have to change them. Let's also assume there are 10,000 people like you, who change batteries every six months. Again, I'll assume you change all four of the batteries (correct if I'm wrong), and a AAA battery weighs 1 oz. That would be:
4 oz * 10000 people = 40000 AAA batt/month.
40000 oz / 16 oz = 2500 lbs, or 500 lbs/batteries per year, or 1.25 tons of batteries per year.

Where do all the trees and happy cute fuzzy animals go? They usually perish. The End

P.S. The was not directed to you in particular, but the non-recycling populace. That includes me, but I'm trying to change my corrupted ways.

I'm way ahead of all of you. See the URL of this post.

It's just hard to type with your nose (as the other hand has to hold the apparatus steady).

haha i figured out the solution:

DUCKTAPE :D :D

Ducktape fixes everything

This way one hand can be free!!

Wow...
That's my comment when I viewed the picture. Great idea, though. To solve the problem with the hand charger, couldn't you hook the hand charger up to a rechargable battery, so you can recharge the batteries without using some cheap battery charger? I don't know how this would work though, and the effect on the rechargable batteries.

Well I don't think it's very practical, but sure, you can charge batteries by cranking.

Better would be to connect a few of those carbon aerogel supercapacitors to the design so you could perhaps crank for a minute and then use the calculator for a few minutes.

Only 1.25 tons? Wow the TI community might be the best in terms of waste... And about those fuzzy animals; 1.25 tons doesn't really use up too much trees. Considering the batteries are made of metal... And rechargables sometimes overcharge and break, meaning you just wasted electricity and trees and have to buy more. Then again sometimes they undercharge meaning you wasted electricity and trees and have to waste more electricity and trees to get it fully charged. Sometimes the charger itself won't work, meaning you wasted electricity, trees, and money. On top of that, money is made from paper and if you wasted money you wasted a tree. Now which one wastes more trees...

Bah!

Not to mention, charging rechargeable batteries most likely requires the burning of fossil fuels at a power plant.

which degrades the environment and causes more pollution

ok, now therorically, arent we all degrading the envionment by using the computer to read all this stuff, and the computer uses electricity, wich is produced by burning fossil fuels which degrades the envionment further, but we use them to protest this use?.........
endless cycle

and I'm using rechargible batteries to run my laptop computer to protest using rechargible batteries...

how ironic...

Sounds like we need a Civ-style game where the resources are electricity, trees, and money. Sounds like fun!

Gotta love fermi questions...

Anyway, that's really not that much, especially when you bring used batteries to a proper waste desposal facility.

I think that's most of the problem, though - it seems like a lot of people don't know that batteries should be recycled or don't have somewhere nearby where they can recycle them. A friend of mine, for example, said that he just throws out his used batteries. It made me cringe thinking of all that stuff leaking into the soil (and possible groundwater)...

There's no place to recycle used batteries where I live, or here on the UW campus (that I know of).