The battery in our smoke detector died. I pulled it out and set it on the kitchen counter while looking for a new one. Rob wandered in, picked up the battery and stuck it on his tongue. While he claims that this is a valid method for testing, I don’t know anyone else who taste tests batteries. I’m sure it would discharge if it were not dead, so yes, valid test, but still!
Does anyone else find this odd?
I’ve always tested my 9-volts that way. *g*
Well, it was a common thing for a lot of the guys to do in elementary school, but they also ate glue, paper, pencils, and even attempted the plastic from their pencil boxes…
I, however, am a wuss and have never tried it.
The best time to test them is fresh out of the blister pack.
Clearly, I have been missing out on all the fun.
I test them that way, too. Have since I was, oh, seven or eight. I tried a battery that I had pulled out of a smoke detector that was beeping (indicating low voltage), and it still created that wonderful buzz on my tongue. It was not a “full strength” buzz, but it was there, the point being that it’s not always easy to tell if a battery is good using this test…
My father… an electrical engineer, no less, taught me this trick as a child. I agree with Brad, that it is really only good for telling when you accidently put a really dead battery back into the junk drawer.
I’m surprised Rob would expose his sensitive palate to such an assault… oh well, as long as there wasn’t too much oak, I guess it’s all right…
I can’t believe you’d never heard of this method of battery testing, Mary! I can’t bring myself to do it anymore (I don’t enjoy the tingly buzz on my tongue or the metallic aftertaste) but I certainly did as a kid.
Fine. Fine! I’ll apologize to Rob for thinking he’s a crazy man.