using batteries

It so happens that when the power went out, it was during premier week. I'm not a TV fan, but someone around here is. The TV nut was quite upset but didn't really make life miserable. Shown here is a portable TV. The little TV ate batteries like crazy. One set of rechargeables (500mAh) was only good for maybe one hour.

It normally takes 4 AAA batteries. We eventually went through all of our AAA's. The AAA is 1.2 Volts each according to the labeling. Four in series (typically the case when you have to flip flop the orientation from one slot to another) is 4 x 1.2 V = 4.8 Volts.

Here I've rigged up three double-A batteries. Double-A batteries are 1.5V (on the label), so 3 x 1.5 V = 4.5 Volts and it apparently was good enough. Stacking them as shown is the easiest way to make them connect to one another. The butt (the flat end) of the stack is pushed up against the last spring in the battery compartment. The top (with the nipple) is connected by a wire the contact tab (the non-spring) in the battery compartment. The triple-A battery is used to jam the wire up against that tab for a good contact; there is tape between the jamming battery and the wire to avoid making electrical contact to the jamming battery. Then I used tape all over to kinda hold things together with the right tension and such. (Oh, the hair band around the TV is for some other situation and is irrelevant here.)