As caregivers, we all love a good deal, especially in this economy. Shopping at one of the various dollar stores (The Dollar Store, The Dollar Tree, The 99 Cent Store, etc.) can shave quite a bit off your monthly household and care giving budget.
If you have your PC case off you will see something on the motherboard that looks like a small thick silver coin. That is the battery. There are other types of battery used on newer machines (Ni-Cad, NVRAM) but these much less frequently found and so I won't discuss them further.
Tesla Roadster first started selling in 2008. It has a price tag of $111,000, it is a two-seater sports car. It is based on the Lotus Elise with a fiberglass body. This car is a rocket, it can accelerate from zero to 60 in under four seconds. It has a range of 245 miles with a massive 53-kilowatt-hour battery pack. Full charge takes 3.5 hours on a proprietary 240-Volt 70 amp charger. It has a very stiff and jarring ride with a very basic interior. It is awkward climbing into the cockpit because of the tall wide sill. The loud battery-cooling fans emit a constant lithium ion stocks roar behind you. Tesla is developing a lower cost $50,000+ model S sedan expected to be released in 2012.
The PrintStick is a mere 1" x 1.9" x 11" and weighs 1.9 pounds including the thermal paper and cartridge. It prints up to 3 pages per minute on 8.5" wide sheets. A cartridge will print 20 8.5 x 11 inches pages. Power options include AC 120-240, DC 12/24V, and rechargeable Lithium-ion battery.
There are some concerns when it comes to these high powered batteries and how good they are for the environment. But all hybrid batteries are set to be recycled (Toyota has a $200 bounty on each Lithium battery stocks pack), and so unlike some lead batteries from conventional cars, they shouldn't end up in landfills.
What are you going to be using the drill for? Let's say that you are planning on building some light furniture and maybe will use the drill on weekends mostly. You probably don't need a super powerful drill with the most expensive battery technology. You could probably get by with a 12 volt drill, no need for hammering action, and you could probably do fine with a NiCad battery as opposed to Lithium Ion. Sure, a Lithium mines Ontario Ion battery would be really nice, and would charge faster, but if you aren't planning on using the drill for continuous hours at a time you could save a few bucks in this department.
Laptop computer uses: If you keep the battery in your laptop for everyday use, and power it from the wall socket, unplug the power every few days and let it run off the battery, as a battery at 40% capacity lasts longer than one at 100% capacity. if you don't travel with it, you should remove the laptop battery when on fixed power.
And that's about it; not so hard, right? So, although lithium ion batteries might keep us on our toes, utilizing these few simple practices will help you keep your batteries performing at their peak for a whole lot longer. Respect your stuff and in return you'll enjoy really great results.