Is It possible to recharge non rechargable batteries in the fridge?

Question

That's what I have been told, What do you think? Can it really be done?

Answer 1

Cooling batteries slows their chemical reaction process, and may slightly prolong the life of a battery until it warms back up. It does NOT recharge it. Also, a little known fact is that batteries that have been subjected to a heavy drain, when removed from the device they were powering, will "bounce back" a little bit, meaning they regain some of the capacity they have lost. When a battery gets really warm, it is less efficient at producing energy. Maybe this is what your friends are experiencing, enhanced a little bit by some extra cooling of the battery.

It is possible to add some charge back to a non-rechargable battery, but it is a somewhat complicated and difficult to safely control process. There was a company that produced a charger called Buddy-L in the early 1990s that produced not very great results.

Overall, it's cheaper and safer to use batteries that were designed to be recharged with a proper charger.

Answer 2

Non-rechargeable batteries cannot be recharged, which is why they're called as such. Batteries work through a chemical action and with some combinatons of materials, that chemical action can be reversed and, thus, they're rechargeable.

For the ones whose chemical action is unreversable,it's... well.. unreversable. In the refrigerator or any other location. By sticking non-rechargeable batteries in a charger, it's possible to squeeze just a little more life out of them, but the risk of bursting is a lot higher than the tiny amount of extra life gained.

Answer 3

If you mean putting the charger (with the battery in it) in the frig, to keep the battery from over heating, Gosh, I think I have heard it all now. You can re-charge most any battery, if you know what you are doing. The main problem people have is in over charging them, which causes heat build up and batteries to leak and , in some cases, even explode. When I say "can re-charge" I don't mean "over and over again"!!!
If you know it's full charged open circuit terminal voltage and it's mahr ... that is it's milli-amp-hour rating, and have a current limiting charger set at the correct out put (under load) voltage level, you may well get at least two to three charges out of it. The mah will start to drop off after the second re-charge though and may defeat the purpose.