ReZap alkaline battery charger provides 10 tries at explosion or leakage
Posted on 28 August 2008, at 6:58 pm, by Wayne Schulz
Stupid me -
I always pay attention to the warnings on Alkaline batteries that clearly state – Caution: Do not connect improperly charge or dispose of in fire. Battery may explode or leak”Apparenly Hammacher Schlemmer, whose latest catalog features an alkaline battery recharger, has decided it’s ok to recharge old alkalines despite manufacturers warnings about explosion or leakage.
The company’s recent email promotion featuring their ReZap Battery Charger states:
This is the only battery charger that can revitalize standard alkaline batteries up to 10 times verified after rigorous testing by the Hammacher Institute–enabling you to re-deploy previously useless alkaline AAAA, AAA, AA, C, N, D, 6- and 9-volt batteries.
Step right up and take your chances on an electrical fire – only $69. Hehe – yeah right. The Hammacher Institute.
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August 29th, 2008 at 6:56 am
If you recharge an alkaline in a “dumb” charger, yes it’s dangerous, but like Lithium Ion, if it’s monitored electronically, it can be done.
August 29th, 2008 at 7:02 am
…the “Hammacher Institute” certification is what convinced that this thing would be safe…
August 29th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
While that certification is clearly extremely reputable, and the Hammacher Instute would never have any vested interest in a product, I would suggest http://the-gadgeteer.com/revie....._recharger as an interesting review of such a device from 3 years ago.
Apparently if you’re tender with them, the alkaline chemistry is reasonably reversable. I was a bit surprised.
August 29th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Heh! I wrote that review for The Gadgeteer, and I used that charger for years and never had a problem. Sorry I missed this discussion (been at the ranch all day), and thanks for bringing up an old review I had written, stevew.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Gotta love the most recent comments in the original story…
July 13th, 2009 at 6:10 am
interesting that the picture is one of charging Duracells.
according to:
http://users.tpg.com.au/users/p8king/rezap.htm
Duracells leak.
have tried charging Energizer alkalines, seem OK.
will be trying Dorcy & Chevron alkalines soon.
August 11th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I purchased an alkaline battery charger from hammacher back in 2001 & it’s worked GREAT up until about a week ago when it just stopped working.
If a battery was not rechargeable the machine would whine & I would discard the battery.
It had options to recharge NiCd batteries but I rarely used this feature.
I would totally endorse hammacher’s product as it has worked fine for me & I’ve ordered this new one just now to replace my old one.
I expect it will work as well or better given that it’s about 8 years later & likely the technology has improved. I’ll report on it once I’ve had more experience with it.