Video: SuzelleDIY – Brilliant Bouncy Battery Tips (seriously!)

Suzelle, the DIY Goddess who has taken YouTube by storm with her lekker South African accent, fab humour and brilliant DIY tips, has released the latest video in her “bitesized DIY webseries”. This one’s about batteries. Boring? No!

First, she teaches her fans how to check if your battery is dead or alive.

1. Take the battery and hold it upright a few centimetres from a hard flat surface
2. Drop it…

And that’s it! If it lands with a “dull thud” it means it’s alive; and if it bounces slightly it’s dead. No more wasting time trying out different batteries in your remote, unsure which are alive or not!

Suzelle admits she doesn’t know how it works. “Maybe it is science?” she says. (*See bottom of page for an explanation if you’re curious.)

The 31-year-old from Somerset West in the Western Cape delivers another hot battery tip at about 1:40 on what to do if you need a larger battery than the AAA you probably have at home! Worth knowing!

Watch Video: SuzelleDIY – How to Know if your Batteries are Dead or Alive

Click here for more info about Suzelle and to watch her brilliant Braai Pie video.

Follow SuzelleDIY on FB – www.fb.com/suzellediy

*Why Do Flat Alkaline Batteries Bounce?

Suzelle’s right. It is science. In a YouTube video uploaded last year, which has already received over half-a-million hits, American electrical engineer Lee Hite, explains: “A non-rechargeable alkaline battery begins life using zinc powder mixed into a gel containing a potassium hydroxide electrolyte separated from a paste of manganese dioxide powder mixed with carbon powder using a porous membrane. To minimize hydrogen outgassing an extra measure of manganese dioxide is added. As the battery discharges manganese dioxide powder changes to manganese oxide causing the powdered granules to bond both chemically and physically. This packed-sand consistency reduces the antibounce effect exhibited by the gel mixture when the battery was fully charged.”

There. Now you know.