Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: Soeren on February 01, 2010, 04:33:00 PM

Title: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Soeren on February 01, 2010, 04:33:00 PM
But I'm probably too sleepy to see it
400 Alkaline AA's a buck (http://www.rc-fever.com/oem-alkaline-battery-pack-aa-4pcs-p-10077.html) (plus shipping).

Page says:
"DESCRIPTION
This is OEM battery and it is free of charge, you only have to pay for its shipping fee.
They are suitable for toy transmitters."

When a deal looks too good to be true...
They must be leaky or something.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Hertz32 on February 01, 2010, 04:47:31 PM
woah!! :o :o
4 o o 5 stars
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: paulstreats on February 01, 2010, 04:55:35 PM
They are very long life (as in last a long time) so suitable for clocks, tv remotes and as they are advertised transmitters (low power). They dont provide a lot of power though, so bad for motors.

 An interesting thing is that on the picture, the 2 left cells appear to have offset Positive terminals (they dont appear to be centred, they look offset to the right). This shouldnt be a problem for most battery fittings but a lot of remote control transmitters(or the cheaper ones) have quite a tight mounting at the positive terminal.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: madsci1016 on February 01, 2010, 05:08:10 PM
Did no body else see this?

"This is OEM battery and it is free of charge,"


last time I checked, doesn't 'free of charge' mean 'lack of charge' meaning they are dead batteries?

LOL, It's probably an ambiguity, but still would concern me.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Hertz32 on February 01, 2010, 05:12:14 PM
buy 4 and c
 they dont look offset 2 me
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: SmAsH on February 01, 2010, 05:12:52 PM
Does that not relate to money? I'm pretty sure it means they are free...
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Hertz32 on February 01, 2010, 05:14:01 PM
im with smash
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: madsci1016 on February 01, 2010, 05:14:57 PM
well, i found this by google translate:

" in accordance with international standards 3.9 Ohm discharge time of 118 minute"

which is roughly 500 mAh capacity (math in my head, could be wrong) which is way low for a standard AA

wikipedia on AA's

"Alkaline batteries from 1700 mAh to almost 3000 mAh"
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: madsci1016 on February 01, 2010, 05:16:48 PM
Quote from: SmAsH on February 01, 2010, 05:12:52 PM
Does that not relate to money? I'm pretty sure it means they are free...

Ah, but they are not free. They cost $.01!   

Like i said, an ambiguity, but seeing as this is a ridiculous deal, i wouldn't put it past an untrustworthy person to word it like this to sell off dead batteries.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Hertz32 on February 01, 2010, 05:24:44 PM
not meaning to be a  :o but its GBP £0.01 :D
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: madsci1016 on February 01, 2010, 05:27:49 PM
Quote from: Hertz32 on February 01, 2010, 05:24:44 PM
not meaning to be a  :o but its GBP £0.01 :D

Huh? It says this:    USD0.01  ie. US Dollar .

Unless they sense what country you are viewing from and switch what you see.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Hertz32 on February 01, 2010, 05:32:41 PM
v.likley (not being sarkastic) 8)
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Soeren on February 01, 2010, 06:17:23 PM
Hi,

Quote from: madsci1016 on February 01, 2010, 05:08:10 PM
Did no body else see this?

"This is OEM battery and it is free of charge,"


last time I checked, doesn't 'free of charge' mean 'lack of charge' meaning they are dead batteries?

LOL, It's probably an ambiguity, but still would concern me.
Everyone who has had even the least brush with "Shopping Cart" software knows, that most of them cannot sell anything at zero cost.
They might subtract the amount if you order some and make a fuss about it - I have seen $0.01 "sales" used on aucktion sites when people wanna give something away and so they cover the fees themselves.

If they make good on large(ish) amounts, I imagine that some of the younger users here could earn a little pocket money on the local flea market or selling them cheap to friends.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Soeren on February 01, 2010, 06:33:08 PM
And of course they're substandard - business doesn't thrive on altruism.
As the page says: OEM batteries.
In DK they're called "bestykningsbatterier", which means they're used for new equipment to function long enough for the consumer to verify working order and perhaps a bit more

They may not be alkaline though - carbon/zinc is more likely (which means they may have a nice carbon rod inside them, good for lots of purposes).
They probably have a lot of them which is rapidly running towards their due date, after which they're worth nothing, so better get some Mojo points out of them while they still have a little juice left.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Razor Concepts on February 01, 2010, 07:13:35 PM
Shipping rates are incredible. 10 packs (40 AAs) is 30 dollar shipping, 100 packs (400 AAs) is 110 dollar shipping. You can find cheaper at office depot, home depot, etc on sale.
Title: Re: I'm sure there's a catch somewhere.
Post by: Soeren on February 01, 2010, 08:09:39 PM
Quote from: Razor Concepts on February 01, 2010, 07:13:35 PM
Shipping rates are incredible. 10 packs (40 AAs) is 30 dollar shipping, 100 packs (400 AAs) is 110 dollar shipping. You can find cheaper at office depot, home depot, etc on sale.
Strange, I got a shipping price of $45 for 11,111 packs (44,444 cells)!
(But my girlfriend veto'd it... *tsk* girls  ::))