Thanks for the article, QS. It shows a whole lot more than Batterizer’s website. Now that I see what it looks like and how it works, I’m more convinced that it’s not snake oil.
According to the article they have been able to miniaturize the circuit. They say the circuit has been around for awhile. If so, it could mean that any battery operated device could have the full-size circuit added at minimal expense and the need for the batterizer would be eliminated.
I see a few other issues.
What would people do if companies stated that the use of a product such as a Batterizer would void the warranty?
My guesstimate is that more than 50% of the battery capacity is used up at the 1.3 volt point, and I’m not sure if the Batterizer will extend battery lifetime as much as 8x. My thinking is more like 2x. But that’s enough to justify the use of one.
The way a typical zinc-carbon cell works is as the cell is used, the zinc is used. With less zinc, the cell’s internal resistance goes up. At this point the cell may still have a good part of its capacity left but it cannot deliver enough power to its load because most of its power is wasted heating its internal resistance. In this case the Batterizer will not help at all. The cell may be able to run a low current load for a long time, but not a full load with or without the Batterizer. I don’t know if this same chemical action applies to alkaline cells, but if the alkaline cell’s internal resistance goes up, it will have the same problem supplying a normal load.
I’ve seen a lot of alkaline cells leak when they’re drained by a Joule Thief circuit. I think the same thing may happen with this Batterizer. You then have a damaged Batterizer and the battery holder will probably be damaged.
The circuit has no on/off switch so it draws some power all of the time it’s on the battery. Today’s chips draw very low standby current, probably in the tens of microamps, so the battery life should not be affected much by the Batterizer. But for storage or long periods of time this should be removed from the battery.
The electronic devices made today are a lot smarter than they used to be. The circuit may have a battery monitoring circuit that constantly evaluates the state of the battery. Adding the Batterizer may confuse this monitoring circuit, causing the circuit to show the wrong amount of charge left in the battery. You check, for example, to see that your camera has enough charge left, and it seems okay. But then a few minutes later your battery goes dead. There is nothing worse than missing a good photograph. So it is probably a bad idea to use the Batterizer on important things like a camera.
I’ve noticed that many, if not most of today’s battery powered equipment have a DC to DC converter, to prevent the battery’s voltage variations from affecting the circuit. If you use the Batterizer, how is this going to affect this circuit?
Many of today’s electronic devices use the USB port to charge the batteries. Will the Batterizer confuse the charger so it gives only a partial charge? That would mean that the Batterizer can’t or shouldn’t be used on batteries that are recharged in the equipment.
Some of the equipment that I have uses a metal battery holder. The Batterizer may cause the holder to short out the battery, which can cause it to get very hot or even start a fire. This might cause very big litigation problems for the company.
There may be other factors that are detrimental to the operation of this voltage booster.
Even if the product is using the latest DC-DC conversion, there are 3 weaknesses that come to mind:
1. The booster will need to start working as soon as the battery voltage drops below 1.5v, so the drain on the cell goes up. That would mean that the time before the cell reaches ‘termination’ would be appreciably shorter.
2. There are inherent losses in all of these circuits, more so in boosters. Even an industry high of 90% will take a chunk out of the useful life. If there is a coil involved, the form-factor will necessarily dictate one with a fair bit of loss.
3. How many advanced/revolutionary components can be packed in there given the limited real-estate and the $2.50 they’re charging for the finished item?
I hope the ‘inventor’ provides some verifiable run times to support the grandiose claims.
Oh yeah… would an accidental short break it?
I think it uses a charge pump, with caps but no coils. The sooner we can get our hands on one, the sooner we can find answers to our questions.
Dave Jones has already debunked much of the batterizer claims in his latest eevblog video http://www.eevblog.com/2015/06/05/eevblog-751-how-to-debunk-a-product-the-batteriser/
As for this not being Snake oil… I am sorry but this stopped me in my tracks.
“How it works.
Most new batteries contain 1.5V of energy when first bought.”
Since when have Volts been a unit of energy? I could not get to 800% even using their logic.
Paul
Marketing speak? Batteries have amp-hours of capacity. The voltage does fall as the cell is discharged, but it will depend on the load. The internal resistance of the cell rises as the cell is discharged. Whatever the case, I don’t believe there is much capacity left when the cell gets down to 1.3 volts. Batteries are the domain of chemical engineering and something the typical electronic engineer and technician aren’t familiar with, so I think it’s wiser to not get into a discussion about them. We’ll have to wait and see how well the Batterizers work when they come on the market. Let’s hope they don’t end up in infomercials ‘As seen on TV’.