Talk to us about batteries - for a chance to win £500 and free Energizer batteries!

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello.

Energizer wants to talk batteries with you!

Do you simply buy the cheapest, or are you a battery connoisseur? Are you a power planner or a power player? Do you leave batteries in when appliances are out of use for a long time? Or do you take them out (and then lose them)?

Please do post and tell us on this thread.

And also feel free to share your best battery tips - or your worst battery disasters - particularly if they're Christmas-related.

Energizer's expert Clare Burke will be monitoring this thread and then coming on to answer your questions, and provide lots of info to help you save money and ensure you have the right power source for all the gadgets in your home this Christmas.

Everyone who adds a question, tip or comment to this thread (or who shares a battery disaster) will be entered into a prize draw to win £500.

The draw will be made on 10 December and the winner's cheque will be mailed out, via special delivery, on 11 December, so it'll definitely arrive in time for Christmas.

And that's not all! The first 100 Mumsnetters who post a question, comment, battery tip or battery disaster on this thread will receive free Energizer batteries worth up to £15.99.

In order to claim your batteries, you need to complete your details, including a UK address here

Please include an indication of what type of batteries you would like or the type of product you need batteries for.

Your details will only be used to send out the batteries and will be destroyed after the mailout. You will not receive any additional marketing.

Many thanks - and good luck!
MNHQ

We tend to buy cheap batteries unless we see branded ones on offer. We did recently get a battery charger so we could use more rechargables.

A tip though is do not bother buying reusable batteries from Poundland unless you want to come home and find them dripping their contents onto your carpet!

oh just thought my Mum always always buys duracell and when I asked why she didnt honestly know but I think people buy duracell bwcause its a well known brand, is there alot of difference between shops own vs named brands also I have founf tesco value batteries do actually seem to last longer than tesco normal batteries

Like some others here I use Energizer or Duracell depending on who's offering a bogof, I don't get the nonbranded ones as they never last as long.

At the mo have quite a collection of Energizer as with 6 month old DD we are just starting to have more battery requirements than previously e.g. musical bouncy chair. I'm sure this is only the start as we move on to toys that need batteries...

I get through a lot of AA batteries as listen to the radio on my walkman when I can't sleep at night, it uses them up v quickly.

I don't know why we haven't switched to rechargeable but I don't think we will get round to it now. We do recycle though.

I buy branded ones either engerizer or duracell which ever the shop has on offer at the time, I use to buy the cheapest but they run out after about 1 week.
We always bulk buy them aswell so last week toys'r'us had some on offer buy 16 get 16 free (I think) so we bought them in every size so we should have enough for xmas toys.

Oh and I always leave them in toys ect then I know if the one's in the remote or the wii-mote run out I can nick some out of the toy's in the toy box.

Had forgotten all about rechargeable batteries - which is actually what we use most of.

yes...we do the battery swapping too!!!

(does anyone else also find that the battery covers all get lost...and then you find them...put them in a safe place...till you find what they fit on...and then can't find them???!"!! I have a roll of DuckTape which i use to cover battery compartments...!!)

Our rechargable unit and batteries was actually very reasonable we got it in currys was £12.99 for small plug in charger (holds 4 AA or 8 AAA) and came with 6 AA batteries, charge normally takes around 6 hours

I like Energizer and Duracell batteries.

Just now I have a digital camera that eats them within half an hour so I use rechargeable ones in that and DS's Leapster 2.

I'd like to have a chart on the back of packs to say how long they will roughly last, I would be more likely to buy rechargeable ones if they had a guide to what would be the best value for money.

e.g. do not even think about putting these in a musical light flashing annoying toy as it will only last an hour before dying and you will have a screaming child, however they are ideal for a tv remote.

I buy rechargable ones as so many of the childrens toys need batteries. Plus the kids never turn stuff off, so I find that I'm just throwing batteries away.

It's much greener to recharge.

I'd like to know, will they develop a battery that doesn't leak. Very often the kids will dig out a toy that hasn't been used for years and when I open the battery hatch the batteries have leaked all over the place. Surely they can make safer batteries now that don't leak?

Oh and I second buying branded batteries. If you buy cheap own brands, they don't last as long and you are spending more money in the long run on replacing them.

Energizer or Duracell are one of the better brands.

Oh I have another one, what is the difference in all these lithium /power plus/ extra power batteries in simple language please?

I always buy branded batteries, but always when they are on special offer. They are stockpiled in my office. I do recycle them.

In the days when I listened to a battery Walkman all the time (walked a lot) I used rechargeables, but haven't used them for a while for some reason.

i buy duracell/energizer...and like the duracell idea that you can press two dots and they supposedly indicate life left in battery.

I'm always left with batteries that I want to recycle but don't know where to recycle them. I think we should be able to put them in the recycle wheelie bin.

As for what type I buy, I always buy the cheapest brand that I recognise.

My camera...if i use basic duracel etc...and switch it to 'nightime mode' takes precisely 3 photoes before it runs out of battery!!!!

I tend to buy the cheapest for things like remote controls etc.

High powered re chargables for the camera.

Branded for things like the baby swing or kids toys that get a lot of use.

I leave the batteries in even when not in use as its such a faf unscrewing/taking out/screwing.Unscrewing/putting in/screwing..

Duracell tend to have lots of BOGOFs or offers.

The trouble with rechargable ones is that they take forever to recharge, and when you're faced with two kids who want to play walkie talkies NOW what can you do? I'm not organised enough to have a stockpile of ready charged batteries.

What I'd like then is for them to make the whole process of recharging speedier.
Unleakable batteries.
AND I'd like to see more battery recycling facilities or a scheme set up by battery companies to offer incentives to people to recycle them. I must admit I've thrown a fair few away because I've not known where there is a battery recycling point.

DP usually insists on getting Alkaline ones, which are better than the Zinc Chloride ones. He does pick up Morrisons own D size ones for Toms music box, but can't remember what type they are.

I usually buy whatever is on offer . B&Q had big packs of Duracell AAA & AA for £6 each, so got 2 packs of each. Argos usally have big packs of Panasonic, possibly Energiser batteries.

It's when you go to put batteries in something where you've not changed them for awhile and its all crusty and corrided! Nice.

I would have thought rechargables would have gone down in price, but they seem to have stayed the same over the last few years. Well at least they've not gone up!

We seem to go through lots of batteries, particularly in toys and we are going to switch over to rechargeable ones, can you tell me which ones to go for as there just seems to be so many out there and it's very confusing?! As I say they will mainly be used for toys, but also remote controls and ordinary household things like that. Thanks

i've always wondered...does the whole wide world () use the same battery types???? As opposed to diffrent electrical sockets etc...

Mainly use rechargables agree with eandh that baby annabell eats batteries

Reclycing is a good point. We save all ours up and take them to the local reclycing centre which is only a 5 min drive away. Not everyone is so lucky having one close, so ones at the supermarket would be good. Although our local Morrisons now doesn't recycle carrier bags at the recycling bit.

I buy duracell mostly, and rechargeable duracell for the video games controllers. I really don't think energizer are as good as duracell, sorry!

I do buy cheap basics ones which we have a stock of for the kids toys, because I know they will lose them! But those are the really cheap ones.

I never remember to take them out of things that aren't be used, so they leak nicely in the meantime.

We buy Energizer when they are on offer as they are great for the children's toys.

We have a charger with a car adaptor but we only use those batteries for our camera.

We recycle out batteries via the black box collection.

I buy cheaper batteries for the children's torches as they seem to leave them on.