Battery Rack

Besides button batteries, I've only ever used rechargeable batteries as early as 2003. First with Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) and then with Nickel Metal-Hydride (NiMH). Switching to rechargeables means you'll rarely step out of the house to buy a new battery and you'll end up saving money in the long term. However, with an abundance of electronics comes an abundance of batteries, and with an abundance of batteries comes a need to store and sort them. And, with any substitute, rechargeable batteries have their weaknesses compared to non-rechargeables: capacity and rate of dissipation. As I've read and come to experience, rechargeable batteries do not hold as much potential energy, hold as much voltage, nor do they last long at room temperature. The first two problems I have no control over, but the last one is an each fix: store them in the fridge.

So I had to design something that could store the batteries in the fridge in a way I could easily get to them while at the same time sorting them by four types I own in my arsenal: AA NiCad, AA NiMH, AAA NiMH, and 9V NiMH. And this is what I came up with.

There are three main rows with the most recently charged batteries in the back and the ones to be first used at the front. This ensures that all batteries are in constant rotation. The NiMH AA batteries sit on the left, the NiCad AA's share a row in the middle with the NiMH AAA's sitting on the right and flowing toward the middle. This is because the NiMH are the most used and outnumber the others. I put the least used in the back: the 9V's.

The acrylic glass left over from the construction of the terrarium was used to fashion the three parts. The diameters of the AA and AAA batteries were measured and, with some wiggle room added in, and couple flat headed drill bits were used to put the holes in. Without the use of a drill press, a small guiding hole was drilled first to make it look presentable. Finally, the holes for the 9V's were carefully shaped using a router, and all four pieces were pieced together using a bathroom sealant that turns clear upon drying.