"Dorothy" wrote in message
...
On Jun 7, 11:08 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
Dottie wrote:
I live in Florida and have accumulated a large collection of batteries
for use in case of power outages. The expiration date on most of them
say 2012 to 2013. Is there a device I can get to test these - without
having to take them all out of the package and put them in a flash
light or something . I need to feel safe and sure that they are in
good working order and would feel a lot better if I could test them.
Asked in the hardware and auto section of Walmart and they didn't
carry them ... hadn't seen them.... I just assumed there was such a
thing. I know there used to be. Any suggestions would be
appreciated.

Feeling secure is probably best accomplished by having spares. If, in the
emergency, the replacement battery doesn't work, toss it and use the
backup
battery*. Repeat until you get one that works.

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* Don't toss the problematic batter too far... it might be the bulb that's
bad. Or the switch.

Thanks. I have lanterns that require the large ones and then lanterns
that need four D size. The TV takes 6 D size. There are several of
those small round lights (4 AA each) ... one of each room. Weather
radio that can be recharged by turning the crank plus it takes plain
AA batteries in addition to the rechargeable one.

Last year I bought a generator but we have very little experience
actually running it - and that's fine with me. I want to be prepared
in case of several days without power - and not rely too much on the
generator. Everything appears to be working fine as long as the
battteries are still good.
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FYI - the TV isn't going to work after the changeover to digital TV next
week. There won't be any analog TV signals for it to pick up. -- There are a
few battery-poered digital TVs, but they take 8 AA cells and don't operate
for more than a few minutes before the batteries are gone. Of course, you
can pick up a 12-hour battery pack for $120.00 -- better to buy a generator
and use that to power a few essentials.