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Rant: POS Chinese batteries

J

janas19

Platinum Member
So a few months back, my smoke alarm started beeping it's loud, ear-piercing beeps (at 2 am in the morning, of course) indicating a new battery was needed.

Being the upright citizen I strive to be, I made the trip down to RadioShack (where the original battery was from) to purchase a replacement. I showed the sales associate my battery and asked where the 9v batteries where so I could get a replacement. I saw one for 6.99. "Eh, that's not too bad, I suppose," I said to myself.

So I went to the counter to make my purchase. The guy looked at me and said, "Is that all for you today?" "Yes, uh huh, thank you," I said, trying to be polite. "You know we are having a sale on batteries? You can buy 4 packs of Enercell batteries, any size, for $10." $10, I thought to myself. Well, I suppose it won't make sense to buy this one battery for 6.99 when I can get 4 packs for $10.

So, unaware I had been duped, I went back home and replaced the smoke alarm battery, thinking I had gotten a "deal."

Boy, was I wrong. Last night, I'm lying asleep in bed when I hear the beeps of the smoke alarm - one every 5 minutes to indicate a bad battery. "Bad battery?" I thought groggily to myself. "That CAN'T be. I JUST purchased the battery two months ago."

Sure enough, that POS Enercell was dead. And I was stuck with an additional $7.50 of worthless, POS batteries. I was pretty pissed.

Moral of the story: never buy cheap, firesale batteries. They may burn your house down.

🙁
 
Yeah I hear you.
Cheap batteries really do show their shittiness over time vs the more expensive ones.
Any major brand are fine.

Panasonic
Duracell
Energizer
Rayovac

They all work fine.
 
CraigRT said:
Yeah I hear you.
Cheap batteries really do show their shittiness over time vs the more expensive ones.
Any major brand are fine.

Panasonic
Duracell
Energizer
Rayovac

They all work fine.
Click to expand...

I'm angry because it lasted 2 months. For $2.50, I can live with 6 months. But 2 months? What kind of crap is that?
 
I'm convinced that the Chinese plan for world domination is to flood the US market with cheap shit that breaks down and doesn't work.
 
Kadarin said:
I'm convinced that the Chinese plan for world domination is to flood the US market with cheap shit that breaks down and doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Invade America
America's cheaply made Chinese defense system fucks up
Invasion successful :thumbsup:

At least the stuff made by Mexicans actually works.
 
Kadarin said:
I'm convinced that the Chinese plan for world domination is to flood the US market with cheap shit that breaks down and doesn't work.
Click to expand...
30 years ago we said the same shit about japanese products. Now we wish shit was made in japan!
 
Oyeve said:
30 years ago we said the same shit about japanese products. Now we wish shit was made in japan!
Click to expand...

Was Japan a third world country at that time? That's a real question. I don't know. It seems like China just appeared out of nowhere. It's this big country of nothing then they're suddenly the biggest exporter and accumulating huge amounts of money.
 
ShawnD1 said:
Was Japan a third world country at that time? That's a real question. I don't know. It seems like China just appeared out of nowhere. It's this big country of nothing then they're suddenly the biggest exporter and accumulating huge amounts of money.
Click to expand...
And the kicker is they probably buy the raw materials from us only to sell us our shit back. I beleive we sold most of the steel from the world trade center to them.
 
ShawnD1 said:
At least the stuff made by Mexicans actually works.
Click to expand...

I've advocated buying Mexican for awhile. It splits the difference in price between American and Chinese, and if we support Mexican business it should help keep the Mexicans down there. It's a win for everyone.
 
Oyeve said:
30 years ago we said the same shit about japanese products. Now we wish shit was made in japan!
Click to expand...

You're kinda behind....most of japanese co.'s now manufacture most products in other asian countries too. Except sushi...
 
Kadarin said:
I'm convinced that the Chinese plan for world domination is to flood the US market with cheap shit that breaks down and doesn't work.
Click to expand...

Really?

I'm convinced, that you're kinda participating/supporting that...

Just wonder, your computer, and all computer parts you've used to type your message above, where are made?
In your garage or in Bill Gates garage?

If not China, you would have not been able to type your message.
Think about. and no one has forced you to buy a computer "made in china", you could have to buy a computer "made in u.s.a."
It would have been more legit to type a message about "the Chinese plan for world domination"
 
I remember one of the gadgets I got from Deal Extreme has a few AAA batteries in them. They were so cheap, I was actually able to bend the batteries almost like clay.
 
Analog said:
Radio Shack = The suck.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I needed a disc battery for one of my car remotes.

Me: Hello, I need 2 (battery number whatever)
Sales person: Here we go, $6.99 each
Me: Yeah.... I'm going to go look on ebay
Sales person: I don't blame you

On ebay I find a 4 pack of the disc batteries for 3 bucks with free shipping. They haven't let me down, and if they do, I have two more in reserve. Sometimes cost > quality. If I get some batteries that last half as long for a quarter the cost, I'm still winning.

Edit: Example
Ebay: $2.49 for 5 batteries with free shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-5-PK-SO...640673194?pt=US_Batteries&hash=item45ff949daa

Radioshack: $12.99 for 3 batteries with $6.05 shipping. Total: $19.04. Enercell ones too like the OP is having a rough time with.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12378446

Fuck you radioshack
 
Last edited:
lxskllr said:
I've advocated buying Mexican for awhile. It splits the difference in price between American and Chinese, and if we support Mexican business it should help keep the Mexicans down there. It's a win for everyone.
Click to expand...


yea...and keeps more Americans on unemployment and welfare and pushes those that do have jobs down to the lower class. A real win.
 
Engineer said:
yea...and keeps more Americans on unemployment and welfare and pushes those that do have jobs down to the lower class. A real win.
Click to expand...
Well I can always buy American-made.......um.....hm...
Cheeseburgers? I guess.
:\

<--Glad to be working for a manufacturer that is based and located in the US, which produces some assemblies that use plastic injection-molded parts and printed circuitboards that are also made in the US. But of course, any of the individual electronic components used are manufactured overseas; there doesn't seem to be any alternative to that.



(I did recently buy a Japanese-made car. I looked at some US-made brands, but none offered the combination of features I was looking for.)
 
Jeff7 said:
Well I can always buy American-made.......um.....hm...
Cheeseburgers? I guess.
:\

<--Glad to be working for a manufacturer that is based and located in the US, which produces some assemblies that use plastic injection-molded parts and printed circuitboards that are also made in the US. But of course, any of the individual electronic components used are manufactured overseas; there doesn't seem to be any alternative to that.



(I did recently buy a Japanese-made car. I looked at some US-made brands, but none offered the combination of features I was looking for.)
Click to expand...

Japanese made, or Japanese designed?
And US made, or US designed?
 
Lonyo said:
Japanese made, or Japanese designed?
And US made, or US designed?
Click to expand...
The sheet that came with the car says:
Major sources of foreign parts content: Japan: 100%"
Final assembly point: Ota Gunma, Japan
Country of Origin:
Engine: Japan
Transmission: Japan
Click to expand...



As for the "US made" stuff where I work:
- Assemblies and circuitboards are designed in the US.
- Plastic injection molded parts are manufactured in factories located in the US.
- Printed circuit boards are manufactured in factories located in the US.
- Placement and soldering of individual electronic components on the circuit boards is performed in the US.
- Final assembly is done in the US.

- Individual electronic components, such as diodes, capacitors, microcontrollers - they're mostly manufactured overseas, because that's darn near the only way to get them, regardless of price.
 
And how do you know your smoke alarm hasn't developed a fault which is prematurly draining the batteries? Just sayin
 
Yup.

I was looking for some rechargeable NIMH the other day and just happened to pass one of those bargain basement "everything for $1" type stores.

They had twin packs of NIMH AA batteries for basically $1. WTF, I though. That's a shed load cheaper than your regular duracell/eneloops.

On close inspection, I found something interesting - the capacity was somewhat inferior. 300 mAh. WTF? 300 mAh. That's less than half the capacity of a typical AAA NIMH, and about 1/8 the capacity of a good quality AA NIMH.

No wonder they were 1/6 the price - they contained 1/8 the active ingredients!!
 
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