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

I buy rechargeables and use them but struggle to get other family members to grasp this terribly difficult concept - H buys crappy single use ones and puts them in the bin . Battery recycling points should be available at all supermarkets instead of just at council recycling sites. And it should be illegal to bin them (I know, hard to enforce etc). Big campaign on the danger of battery acid, cheaper rechargeables would also be good.

only buy rechargable batteries - save the world.......the higher power the better!

I tend to buy Energiser ones for things like the Wii, and cheaper ones for things such as alarm clocks and torches.

When on holiday with MIL and step FIL (yes, before anyone asks, I wasn't thinking straight when I agreed to it) she was changing batteries in her camera - we were in a rented cottage at the time - and the rest of us weren't paying much attention to what she was doing, suddenly we heard 4 almighty bangs, then some sparks and flames shot out of the coal fire! The silly mare had thrown her batteries on the fire
"OH I didn't know they did that" she said, while we furiously trying to stop the flames!

Top tip - Dont lick the end of a battery to see if it still has some power left in it.

Oooh, another top tip, don't microwave your batteries in the belief that they somehow get powered up in there.

Don't tell children that the dog's bumhole is where the batteries go.

Always buy branded batteries, Duracell or Energiser, I'm not fussy Have toyed with cheapie ones but it's definitely a false economy. I bulk buy in Costco and always have a stash.

I really want to know how batteries run flat when they're not being used. I dug out the Wii Fit this week to find that the brand new batteries in the two remotes and the Wii Fit board were flat as pancakes. They'd only been used once or twice before they were put away.

Aldi sell rechargeable batteries btw, I wonder if they are a false economy or just as good as, anyone know?

I use a lot of AAA batteries in my digital recorder, recording group discussions (I'm a qualitative researcher) and DS2 goes through a lot in his Wii.

I usually buy Energizer as I read in Which? that they were supposed to be the best. But have just bought a multipack in ASDA because it was on offer.

dp buys AA for his camera, forever taking pics for ebay. he never throws them though so we have a complete drawer full.

isnt't that a dull post.

I buy boots own batteries in a multi -pack because they seem to work out cheaper.

I haven't been able to establish if you get more if you pay more, although I don't think the really really cheap ones are worth it.

As a family we never remember to take batteries out of items when we are not using them but thankfully have not had too many disasters!

I always buy Duracell or Energizer. I am tempted occasionally to go cheaper but then I panic that they'll run out, I have no idea if they're any better, I have no scientific or even anecdotal evidence to back that up. Its probably one of those childhood things that gets drummed into you, my mum always made a big thing about cheaper batteries leaking - again no idea of that is true. She is a bit odd tbh.
I tend to stock up when there are 50% extra free packs (Boots seem to always have them, or maybe I just notice them there because they're at the till).

On a seperate point, I'd just like to say that the Energizer bunny ad makes me feel ill, really actually nauseous
I have a weird visceral reaction to very intricate, repetitive patterns - usually naturally occuring, like coral reef or rain thats settled in droplets on a car etc - but the thousands of little bunnies forming a larger shape is even worse than them.
I cant be the only one, can I? Please someone else tell me they get what I'm on about...

Bring your cycle lights in from the cold when not suing them, batteries work much better when they are at room temperature.

btw... in defence of cheap batteries;

i've never had a single battery leak e ven though i go through hundreds of cheap batteries yet i distictly remember when i was a child often going to toys/remotes/appliances and finding oozing batteries and my parents always tended to buy branded batteries. possibly batteries have just improved in the years since but either way, i've never found cheap batteries t be leaky

i think it is well worth while investing in better 'named' batteries rather than store own.

Our down fall is taking batteries out of one thing to put in another and then not having any batteries and anything working either!

I vary between cheap batteries (for the DSs' torches which they leave switched on, so the batteries run out in a day anyway , and more expensive ones for remotes etc.

I never remove batteries if I won't be using the item.... except for our battery powered lantern which takes 8 ginormous batteries which cost the earth.

My question is... are the branded batteries you see in £ shops and the like likely to be fake?

We buy cheap watch style batteries for Happyland items. We use branded batteries, as a general rule, for toys and such. For the Wii, our cameras and other electrical items that get heavy use we do rechargeable batteries. They're just so convenient.

I agree with what others have said about the need for more affordable rechargeables and more recycling points for non-rechargeables.

Oh yes, the famous remote control shuffle

i buy em at IKEA a lot as you get lots.

I use rechargeables. There is always 2 pots in the cupboard, 1 with charged batteries in and 1 with used. It means I always have batteries to hand, when the charged pot starts getting low I stick some on the charger.

I use the extra super strength long lasting ones for my camera, branded (but usually pound shop) ones for my vibrator which doesn't take rechargables and rechargables for everything else.

if you rub them you can get a bit of extra life out of them. hmm sounds rude