Hints From Heloise

Fri., Sept. 6, 1996

King Features Syndicate

Dear Heloise: Many consumers don’t know that by investing in a cheap battery checker ($3-$5), they can cut battery purchases by 30 to 40 percent. If your battery-operated unit uses multiple batteries and has a motor (radio, toy, etc.), it will drain the energy from one battery first, then quit because there is not enough voltage to continue to run the unit.

At this point, most people replace all the batteries.

However, if they had checked the batteries first with a battery checker, they would have noticed that only one battery needed replacing. - Charles Skelton, Flower Mound, Texas Great idea! A major battery manufacturer says to replace all batteries at once, though. Mixing old and new, and different battery types reduces performance and could cause leakage or rupture. - Heloise

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