This Trick Will Tell You If Those Batteries in Your Junk Drawer Are Good or Bad

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of putting batteries in your electronics to test them out, then you’ll want to try this easy trick to help tell whether a battery is still good or bad. I was a little dubious at first so I took some batteries I knew were both good and bad and tested them using this trick to see how accurate it was. I was surprised to see that 85% of the time this trick worked in predicting whether a battery is good or bad. What’s the trick? Check out the video below to see an example:

Curious about the science behind this? Engineer Lee Hite explains why in this video.

So if you’re ever unsure about a bunch of batteries you have in your junk drawer, all you need is a hard surface to test them out! Another strange trick that works is if you ever wonder whether the battery in your remote control is empty just hold down a button your report control and look at the top of your remote through your smartphone camera. If the battery is still working you’ll see a small light that is not perceptible to the human eye but IS perceptible to your smartphone camera. Show your kids this one it’s a hoot and a nice teachable moment.