If you use batteries, this universal tester can save you hundreds of dollars

Dlyfull B4 Universal Battery Tester

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• This battery tester handles an enormous array of batteries, from one-use alkaline batteries to rechargeable cells.
• It is fast and simple to make use of, and can be utilized to check whether or not rechargeable batteries have come to the tip of their life.
• The small show will be exhausting to learn.

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I’ve misplaced rely of what number of instances I’ve seen somebody throw away good batteries. Man, these issues price cash, and it is so wasteful. However it appears to be the very first thing individuals do when one thing is not working. 

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Earlier than I toss a battery into the recycling, I all the time take a look at it. I usually use a multimeter, however that includes figuring out what the voltages of a battery are after they’re full and lifeless, so until you could have a mind that remembers stuff like that over individuals’s birthdays, this is not a sensible methodology.

However worry not, as a result of I’ve discovered a very cool battery tester that is simple to make use of, correct, and can be utilized with nearly any battery you will discover across the dwelling — each one-use and rechargeable.

And once I say just about any battery, I imply simply that. The Dlyfull B4 battery tester works with 1.2V Ni-MH, 1.45V zinc air, 1.5V alkaline, 3.0V lithium manganese, 3.2V LiFePO4, 3.7V Li-ion, and 6.0V, 9.0V, and 12.0V Alkaline packs. It’s suitable with AAA, AA, C, SC, D, N and PP3 sizes, in addition to an entire vary of button cells, together with CR123A, CR-V3, 2CR5, 23A, and 27A.

The system itself wants two alkaline AAA batteries to work — and a set are offered to get you going. 

Utilizing the tester is straightforward. The toughest half if determining which slot matches which battery, as a result of in case you get it mistaken, it will offer you an inaccurate measure of how a lot energy stays. As soon as you have found out the place your battery goes, push the constructive finish into the slot and use the probe to the touch the opposite finish (button cells slot into the tester in such a approach that you do not want the probe), and the LCD display screen will present you the voltage, remaining capability, and a degree bar show.

It is so easy that I can do it single-handed and take a photograph. I used this the opposite day to undergo a pile of batteries left for recycling at a retailer, and out of the 50 or so batteries left, greater than half had been lower than 50% discharged, and had loads of life left.

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You can even use this to check to see if rechargeable batteries are on the finish of their lives. Totally cost one and see what it says on the meter — if it reveals lower than 80% cost, the rechargeable battery is on the finish of its life and wishes changing. 

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

For $30 (on the time of writing, there’s $5 off the worth), I believe that the Dlyfull B4 battery tester is an effective purchase, particularly for many who are nonetheless utilizing a variety of disposable batteries in issues like distant controls, recreation controllers, flashlights, radios, and different such gadgets, as a result of that is going to avoid wasting you cash. Too many batteries are being thrown out when there’s nothing mistaken with them.

When you do not wish to purchase a tester, then attempt taking the battery out and put it again in. Generally the issue is so simple as a poor contact between two batteries or the battery and the contact (for this reason my grandma all the time used to open the battery cowl and provides them a roll earlier than condemning batteries).