There is a commonly held belief that overcharging rechargeable batteries or attempting to recharge a flat disposable one will lead to a massive explosion. This may sound a bit like the urban myth about seagulls exploding if they eat aspirin but there is some element of truth in the story which can help us avoid damaging our batteries through bad use of the recharger.

Firstly, we need to understand that disposable batteries are not designed to be recharged and that doing this can be dangerous. Disposable power cells are not designed to be recharged under any circumstances. There are plenty of internet sites which will tell you how to recharge disposable batteries but it is strongly advised that you do not attempt this under any circumstances. Recharging a spent disposable battery may not always result in the huge, dramatic explosion which the urban myth tells us about but it will quite possibly lead to the battery rupturing and the corrosive internal elements leaking out. Is it really worth the potential damage and health hazard which a ruptured battery can cause when replacement units are so cheap online?

The next point is to do with overcharging rechargeable power cells. These portable power units are designed to be recharged, but there is a limit to the amount of charge which they can take and going past this can be dangerous as it produces a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen which cannot escape from the battery casing without breaking its way out. As in the first example, the result is more likely to be a leakage than a big explosion but the potential risk and the damage to your battery charger isn’t worth the risk, and making sure you avoid overcharging your rechargeable batteries is the best solution.

Another area to avoid is putting your rechargeable batteries in the charger with the polarity reversed, in other words putting them in the opposite way from that which is indicated on the charger.  Even if you are lucky and there is no leakage or explosion there will be significant damage made to the life span of the power cell concerned.

To sum up, using your battery charger is not at all difficult provided you follow these three simple rules:

1)    Only recharge batteries which are designed to be recharged.

2)    Avoid overcharging

3)    Make sure that the battery is correctly positioned in the charger and that the polarity is correct.