Battery tests: or, does the Duracell Rabbit really run that much

How could you help?

By donating batteries

If you have alkaline batteries you want tested, you can send them to me (as I live in Bulgaria, shipping could be a bit problematic, but please feel free to contact me on such matters). АА/ААА cells need to be a four-pack. Contact me by the methods listed so we can arrange the shipping.

By donating money - using some of the following methods

PayPal:

Wire transfer:

Beneficiary: Veselin Anriev Georgiev
First Investment Bank
SWIFT: FINVBGSF
IBAN: BG86FINV915010BGN0CSCI

Please write „batterytest“ or something similar in the comment field, so that I know where the money came from.

Bitcoin address:

1MmHmXGWGzsC8XddYZ9ybSu8XDdHWFtZXL

How are your money going to be spent?

The finances are to be distributed evenly between these two causes:

Purchase and test of more rechargeables: they aren't exactly cheap, and I want to test out a lot of other brands — the small Eneloops, Duracell, Energizer, etc. After the tests, any surplus batteries I don't need would be given away (this will be noted in this website; if there are a lot of applicants for the battery giveaway, the „winner“ would be selected via a random.org draw).
Besides that, I will need to purchase again all brands of alkaline batteries, to be tested again at higher discharge currents (see below).

Battery Level Meter 2.0: the current version of my battery meter is created as a hobby project, for educational purposes. It has several drawbacks - e.g., it cannot work on input voltages below 2.25 V (that is, it cannot measure a single AA/AAA cell), it has quite low maximum discharge current (22Ω load max), convoluted interface, etc. The new version will be significantly enhanced:

Can be powered from an internal source (one AA cell), giving more accurate measurements, and support for input voltages down to 0.7V.;

Mini-USB port for PC connection: downloading discharge data, putting new discharge curves, and more;

Considerably higher max current: a few amps (at least 3), practically limited by the heat dissipation requirements;

Higher maximum input voltage - up to 15 volts;

Completely open source / open hardware. It will use PCBs inside, easier mounting, it should be easy to assemble by the novice enthusiast. The future plan is to make the Battery Level Meter available for purchase through the popular DIY websites, either in a kit variant, or as a finished product.

Be tuned for news in the following months!