TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM ARRL DISTRICT 3
EMERGENCY COORDINATOR WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INC.
WOOD COUNTY ARES BULLETIN NR 21.20 DATE: May 16, 2021
SUBJECT: REMOVE THE BATTERIES
A lot of inexpensive tools and toys which you can buy today comes with batteries, or batteries are already installed. If they are inexpensive enough, you will probably acquire or purchase several of them. How soon after you have them, do you use them. Since you may have several of them available, chances are the extra ones will be put away until you need one, if you remember where you stored them.
If you're not going to use the device. or devices, for six months or more, the best thing to do is remove the battery or batteries. Most of the inexpensive batteries, that come with the device, will begin to leak after awhile. If they are still installed in the tool or toy you received, you'll see they will have leaked and have the battery contacts corroded, and they may not make contact. If you're luck enough, you may be able to remove the battery, and clean the contacts, and install a new battery.
The best thing to do is remove the battery or batteries before you store them away. You might be surprised what else you may be able to do with the batteries you remove. You may have another device that needs a battery, and you might just have plenty to use. In any case it's best to remove the batteries and store the device. It may be years before you will need one of the devices, and it should be as good as new, if you've removed the batteries. Other wise you may just have to throw the whole thing away, and acquire another one.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV