What Happened To Duracell PowerCheck?

What with the weird freebooting article? This ‘article’ is just a description of Alec’s video with the clickbait cranked up to ten. Gotta love a major corporation using small creators’ work for free ad revenue…
- You could add the link so people don't contribute to ad revenue if you feel strongly! https://youtu.be/zsA3X40nz9w 💜
  
  Someone already had, but good point.
  
  EDIT: That was an undeservedly harsh phrasing. The matter touched a nerve, but that's not OPs fault. I'll clarify, but leave the original comment at the end for transparency.
  I'm not a fan of videos and much prefer having texts to read. I find them more comfortable to process, interrupt, resume, search for a specific section and consume while not on WiFi (due to a limited data plan, which YT tends to eat through).
  Both professionally and privately, I have been frustrated by the number of tutorials and guides that are presented as videos where articles would work well enough. They seem to be more popular too, to the point that useful articles are buried deeper in the results.
  I like textual summaries of interesting videos, because I'm curious, but often not enough to warrant clicking a YouTube link. I understand people's frustration with AI ripoffs stealing content, but if the original content creator doesn't cater to a textual medium, then someone else steps into that gap, I don't feel like it's so much ripping off as adapting to a different medium.
  If the original creator offered a textual summary, and someone stole that to sell it as their own, I'd share the frustration. But if they didn't, you can't really steal what never existed.
  Not that I'm a fan of AI slop specifically, but it's better than nothing. If I can't have a human one, I'd rather have an AI transcription than be excluded.
  Sorry about my rudeness. This is a sore spot, but being snarky doesn't help anyone.
  Original comment below
  Does someone have a content description so I can read instead of having to watch it?
  Oh wait, here's an article, nevermind.
- I'm fairly sure that the image is even a screenshot from the video. Uncredited I notice.
  
  It is, I just watched the video an hour or so ago.
  edit: In fact, until I read this thread, I didn't notice the URL and thought this was a link to the video.
  
  That’s what pissed me off the most.
- That's enough YouTube videos just recapping an article. But I agree it's lazy
  
  Huh?
- This is how hackaday posts have been… for like a decade. I guess it’s somewhere between articles and link aggregator.
- Tbf I hate watching videos, so I found it useful.
  
  Doesn’t mean this is good content I think belongs here. The original video that links to a transcript and a source article do belong here. You want a description cause you don’t want to watch it? go feed the link into chat got. Or ask in the comments. I’m gonna call out corpo freebooting bullshit when I see it and it doesn’t belong on lemmy.
  Sorry, I’m pissy rn.
- And Alec's video is mostly a freeboot off someone's article.
  So this is a full on article and YouTube circle jerk.
  
  You know there’s a difference between using sources and just regurgitating a summary of something with AI right?
  
  Alec also clearly says which article he used as a source and credits the author

Video on technology connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsA3X40nz9w
- "Wait, is that a Duracell battery check?"
  Oh man that transition. Chef's kiss. Amazing
- Nice try, Alec Watson...
  
  I mean I’d rather Alec get the direct views than this weird hackaday article that’s just a description of his video with a link. Not trying to knock hackaday but this is real close to freebooting.
  Ok now I am trying to knock hackaday after learning the ownership chain goes up to Siemens. Frigg off with this corpo garbage.
  
  Naw, we're all just his stans.

But the video purports that normal people don’t really test batteries.
Yeah, it was a novelty that increased the price to manufacture and didn't actually add anything of value to users.
Either you put batteries in something and they worked or they didn't, and if they stopped working the next step is try different batteries whether or not the little gauge showed it had charge left.
Now if it was added to rechargeable batteries, it would be pretty useful because tou could do something with the knowledge of a battery being at 50%. But a lot of systems with rechargeable batteries have them built in and some other way to show remaining charge like a percentage on a screen.
- Now if it was added to rechargeable batteries, it would be pretty useful
  I think the reason we haven't seen that is that NiMH rechargeables have fairly stable voltage during discharge while alkalines don't.
- I think all of your points were covered in the video, sometimes almost verbatim.
  
  Neat!
  I didn't bother watching the video, so I guess the reasons were pretty obvious.
- I concur about rechargeables - it doesn't seem common for devices that take AA or AAA to have a battery gauge and it would be nice to be able to check the level on my rechargeables stock so I can know if I should top them off without needing to put each of them into the charger.
  
  And pairing them correctly for paralel charging too!
- It was pretty useful as a kid for feeding my Gameboy and Game Gear with batteries I rescued from the junk drawers of friends and family. If they were low, I knew I had to save more often to avoid losing progress if they went dead while I was playing.

I was a kid then, but I remember that I had to push so hard my fingers hurt... I used a multimeter.
- Well the pros and cons of the multimeter are addresses in the video! He uses a meter on a dead battery and it still shows a deceptively reasonable voltage when not under load. The built-in tester draws more current.
  
  My technique is to use the 10a mode on the multimeter and check the battery. A full AA will do nearly 10 amps and dead ones much less. Careful with larger cells or rechargeables since you might blow the fuse in your meter.
- Let me introduce You to these spent uranium fuel rods.
- you just had to put one of the other fingers on the battery groumd and not push that hard iirc

It turned out that batteries randomly lying around are always empty. Functioning batteries are still in the device it's operating or in the box it was sold in.
- He draws similar conclusions in his video.

This guy is great. He can make anything sound interesting.
- He makes everything sound interesting.
  Ftfy

It broke too many thumbs.

He used old batteries, but I actually had new Duracell batteries with this feature very recently, in 2022 or so (Germany).
- You could’ve saved him so much movie magic!

Did the power check work or was it snakeoil I remember trying to see it while hurting my hand.
- It did, see Technology Connections' latest video on it, he explains fully how it worked. Quite clever tbh.
  
  The video is in the article.
  
  Although, he admits in the video to "faking" his footage of it working, by using a off-camera heat source. (His batteries were quite dead.)
  But, as someone that lived through this time, they did work, as long as you pressed hard enough in the right places. It was hard to tell if the battery was dead or if you weren't pressing hard enough
  
  oh maybe might watch
- It was gimmicky as hell. Did it work? Who cares. It was irrelevant for 90% of consumers.
  
  I really miss it honestly. Kids, so, so many batteries in my house.
  Dad, my blah blah blah isn't working right. Then I have to go dig out this monster:
  
  i think it did

It never went away. I have a duracell battery with power check sitting next to me on my desk
- What sizes are still sold with the on-battery tester? AFAIK it’s now only available on the multipack box.
  
  I think it was a 4-pack
- USA?
  
  also germany, actually

Does anyone remember the battery testers that were built into the packaging? I think they were based on the same concept.
- They are mentioned in the video.
- I do

I have a really distinct memory of finding a bunch of these in a friend’s house when I was a kid and every one was empty. After watching the TC video I think it’s more likely I just wasn’t pressing hard enough and had no way to know that. Anyway, I can see why they stopped making them.
- Yea, you have to press till it hurts, lol
- I ended up buying a couple testers from Walmart for like $5 and they've been super useful! Definitely worth having in every household

I remember those.
Would be nice to have them on my 18650s
- The voltage-to-capacity radio for lithium is much less linear compared to alkaline so it wouldn’t really work well :(
- This I can get behind.
  I don't need it on all my 18650s, but a few would be nice. Also 21700s.
  Someone bring this back.

It failed often enough that it wasn't all that useful. A cheap battery tester is better. And for 9volts you can also use the tongue test, lol (don't really though). My grandfather used to do that all the time.
- What's wrong with the tongue test for 9 volts? I know it tickles some but is it actually harmful? I've been doing that for over 30 years...
  
  It's not much power, so it's not likely to cause major or permanent damage, but it may affect others differently and could cause burns if left on too long like if someone is less sensitive and doesn't think it's live.
  And if the person is grounded and if they touch the hot side of the battery first there's a chance the charge could travel through the body rather than just the tongue. It's not enough to affect a heart, but might disrupt a pacemaker or other embedded device.
  And of the battery is leaking, it could cause permanent damage from chemical burns from the alkaline and poisoning from heavy metals which while unlikely to be deadly with just one battery, heavy metal poisoning is cumulative across a lifetime.
  So under ideal circumstances it is safe, but there are always risks with electricity and toxic chemicals, though relatively small.
- The tongue test works great. Be warned, though, that a full battery will make your tongue go numb. It'll feel like you have a big hole in the middle. Try it.
  
  Ouch, I never had that problem, but I only barely touch it, lol. It's a little shock and slightly numb briefly. But fortunately I never had full numbness that lasted more than a second or two. But I haven't done it in a long time since I have a tester now. 😁
- Everytime i test a battery like this, my wife just shakes her head and reminds me that I'm definitely from Kentucky lol

There were cheaper ones with a tester attached to the box, maybe they were energizer?
- Oh, I remember that! It was inside the little packet

If they are not rechargeable, they don't make sense, you just use them and throw them in the used up recycle pile. And if they are rechargeable, you already have a charger that does it.
- It also has to be a waste of some resource that is rare to not use up and throw away like this.

Just use your $200+ Fluke to check the batteries, problem solved.

My dad used to just put them on his tongue for a power check. Not entirely sure how that worked. Personally I just use a multimeter.
- You can do that with the 9 volt batteries and feel how much "tingle" they have, but never heard of it working with aa batteries. Wouldn't he have to stick the whole thing in his mouth to complete the circuit?
  
  It's pretty shocking, but I can fit 2 Ds in my mouth.
  
  -Are you testing batteries again? -(with my mouth full) nogh
  
  I did know a girl in college ......
  
  Even if you did (don't eat batteries), the voltage range is much lower and you probably wouldn't feel anything.
  
  Yeah. Doesn't make any sense honestly. I think he thought he could power check it but didn't understand the actual mechanics of how it works. Glass onion eh.
  
  I do this with AAs. Basically put the side with the bump (positive) on the tip of the tongue and touch the flat (negative) side with a wet finger. It gives out a mild but distinctive 'taste', not enough to tingle but definitely something I am able to notice, when the cell has decent juice.

We just can't have nice things
- IDK. It never worked that great and TC guy makes a good case why it went away.
  The battery industry made rechargeables good instead of decorating disposables.
  
  I remember having to squeeze hard to make the ends contact
  
  I never had any issues with them. You can't expect a real accurate calibration, but it beat trying to find a tester to see if it was a new battery or kaput.
  I tried rechargeables in the 90s and was not impressed. I hadn't realized they are better now. Will have to give them another go. These powercheck strips would still be very applicable to rechargeables too.

They checked out