Batteries!

Oh how my life revolves around batteries. I think we all have this issue to some extent. Anyone with a cell phone has to charge it at some time or another. I know my Iphone requires at least one charge a day if not two. It really depends on how much I use it during the day. My son has his cell phone that has to be charged. We have two laptops in the house and at some point during the day, if we use them, they need to be charged.

Elijah has his Nintendo DS that is charged at least every other day and he even has a car charger for it. Oh and I have a car charger for my Iphone! I even bought an adapter that has a typical plug that can be plugged into a cigarette lighter in the car. I have given breathing treatments with a neublizer using that before. However, its main use is for Jacob's laptop when we travel. Do yout think these kids could ever live without their electronics?

Our Wii uses alkaline batteries in the remotes and those are changed every few weeks. Our Wii sensor bar is a wireless one that uses four double AA batteries. We had to buy it because the one that came with the Wii that plugged straight into the Wii console disappeared one day. We think the cats got tangled in the wires and drug it off. We have never found it and this happened months ago. Who knows where those cats drug that thing off too.

I now have a flip camcorder that takes two double AA batteries and I am sure to get those zin powered batteries just for cameras. I use those in my other camera too. They just eat typical alkaline batteries. I can buy a rechargeable battery for my flip camcorder, but haven't seen the need yet!


The batteries that matter most around here are the ones for Elijah's cochlear implant processors. We have two options, disposable and rechargeable batteries. Now during the school year he uses the disposable batteries. Dispsoable meaning you use them and when they run out of juice you throw them away. These are size 675 cochlear implant batteries. They have a lot more juice to them than the typical hearing aid battery and cannot be bought at your local drugstore. I purchase 300 of them at a time, and yes I did say 300. Each processor takes three batteries, so a total of six batteries for him to hear out of both ears. They last about three days, so you can see in one week he may go through about 12-18 batteries.

During the school year he wears the disposables, because once he gets to school he removes the battery rack(where the batteries go) and puts in his FM battery/boot. The school provides those batteries, so really during the school year his batteries are not used as much. At the end of the day he switches back. If his batteries in his battery rack go dead the school provides him the batteries to change the, so really they last about a week. Now on weekends we do use the disposables also. Now this means that I have to carry batteries with me all the time. I have them in my key ring zipper coin purse and in my purse. It never fails, that in the middle of soccer game I'll see his "ear" blinking red and know he needs a battery change. He can change his batteries, but I have to get them to him. As he gets older he will learn to carry batteries with him. We went to my mom's over spring break and about half way there I almost freaked remembering that I had forgotten to pack batteries. Thankfully I had three packages(six batteries to each) in several different spots. When we went to the beach recently I packed about six extra packs of batteries.

Now that we are home for the summer we use rechargeable batteries. I charge two batteries each night and then replace them in the morning. They last all day for him(about 14 hours) and I never have to worry about him needing a battery change in the middle of the day. Plus, it is nice for my pocketbook. If I don't have to use the disposable batteries for three months, then that is a lot less disposable batteries being used. HOORAY!

Oh I just remembered, my electric toothbrush is charged daily. Thinking back to my childhood the only batteries we ever used were alkaline batteries. I don't remember any toys have rechargeable batteries. Of course, I played outside more and spent less time on electronics. Was this just only 30-35 years ago. It seems just like yesterday. How things have changed!