DH putting an old battery in something - it’s given me the rage!

[AFingerofFudge]

We have a big fairly modern looking clock in our kitchen. A couple of days ago it stopped and so DH put a new battery in it.
Last night it stopped working again and so this morning I spent about 20 minutes looking through old orders at the shop I got it from and going through emails to look for when I bought to see if it had a guarantee as it was expensive. I couldn’t find any record so I asked DH if he had bought it and could he look and he replied saying it just needed a battery change. I said but he had done that and that’s when I discovered he has a stash of old batteries that the rest of the family put in the battery recycling as he says he can’t believe they can be totally out of power and he had put one of these old batteries in!
For some reason it has really given me the rage, mostly because he stood his ground and said it was a completely reasonable thing to do. I told him he could have at least told me when I had thanked him but he just stood there gawping at me.
So tell me- AIBU for being pissed off?

I rely on it being correct when I'm looking at it, yes.

I don't see the point of having a clock if you have to double check it with your watch or your phone!

Could have, or could've for short. Could of makes absolutely no sense.

Annoying yes, but reallly? 🤣 Think you need to get some perspective.

Buy a battery tester! We sometimes get batteries we think might be ok but not sure so you can just check it and recycle the spent ones

Not that it's the only source of time, obviously. But if you have a battery clock that you love then if course you want it to be reliable.

My son has ASD and was obsessed with a game we had that needed batteries. With full batteries it would last for days and days.

DH insisted on using rechargeable batteries in it which never fully recharged and would cause the toy to die within hours of DS playing it. Cue meltdown after meltdown from DS and it taking me a long while to realise what DH had been doing.

Murder would have been too good for him. I understand completely your rage.

Well he can get a battery tester for his next birthday or some rechargeable batteries - so the time wasted on the clock is cancelled out by him giving you inspiration for a present.

It would really annoy me too, can he agree to keep his crap batteries for his gadgets only?

It isn't a reasonable thing to do. It's the kind of things blokes do when they are being total knobheads. A dead battery is a dead battery which is why the clock failed.
Don't bother asking him to do anything in future or you will end up in a padded cell.
Throw all the old batteries out. It's the kind of thing that would make me hysterical.

It got you into a rage?🤷‍♀️

Change the batteries yourself next time.

Sorted. 👍

I bet he also saves odd bits of string and slivers of soap, and his most prized possession is a gadget for pressing the slivers into a new soap bar.

@FluffykinsTheFerociousFeralFelineFury you guessed it!!

It would annoy me if he knew I’d spent time wondering what was wrong, thinking it was damaged and looking for the receipt without telling me it was an old battery. It’s not clear from your post if that’s what happened here though.

Battery voltage declines as the battery is used. Electronic circuits require a minimum voltage, without which the thing stops completely. A torch, on the other hand just gets dimmer and dimmer.

I use a multimeter and check every battery I take out and before we put one in, but a simple battery tester should be in every household. You might want to consider switching to rechargeable batteries.

I do this too. After Christmas I have a stash of slightly tired batteries which I then use for clocks.

I would be angry too. Time is precious and he wasted yours. He owes you that time back. He could solve the problem by doing one of your tasks this week.

I remember reading a ‘top money saving tips’ recommendation in a magazine in a waiting room years ago that specifically mentioned keeping ‘flat’ batteries as they would keep a wall clock going for months. OP I think your DH must have been reading Take a Break or something 🤣

Thanks
Always struggled with things like this I’m of an age where at school you were called thick and put on the slow table
in my 30’s I was going to go back to college for English didn’t bother as what’s the point there’s always done smug arsehole ready to call out and correct your grammatical errors

So, OP, did he know you were looking for the receipt and not say anything or did you not tell him until you couldn't find it?