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For anyone who still has devices with old AA, AAA, C, D, or 9V type batteries in it I highly recommend you move over to the USB chargable Li-ion type of the same format.
Most of those devices dont work with traditional rechargable batteries like NiMH because the voltage is a bit lower. Even if they do work they tend to last only a short period of time because as they discharge the voltage drops even further. So your device will often die even with 70% of charge still in those batteries.
With the newer USB rechargeable Li-ion type batteries of the same form factor, however, you have a drop-in replacement that doesnt have those issues. They basically are a LI-ion battery with a built in charger but more importantly with a DC-Dc converter to keep the voltage fixed at the desired voltage (1.5V or 9V) for the entire life of the battery. So they work in any device that they can fit in and lasts a long time as they deliver 100% of their power before cutting out (at which point it drops from 1.5V directly to about 0V).
The only downside is if your device reports a battery percentage then it will report 100% battery right up until it hits 0.
Anyway I replaced all my devices with batteries like this and they last longer than regular batteries in some cases (especially with 9V)... so I am sold!
@mur2501 Use pencils, it wont be caked in chemicals that way either. The easiest way I found to get them out of pencils is to expose the graphite on both ends then hook a voltage onto it. Crank it up until the pencil starts smoking, leave it like that for a minute or two, turn it off, let it cool down then the graphite will slide right out.
This is Mur 
@freemo
That's also good
Though seeing the price of the lithium batteries here I don't think anyone gonna switch to it 
@mur2501 I'm not so sure.. most people have very few devices that need them.. 20$ - 60$ will likely cover all your devices. I'd say thats more than worth it since it means you never buy another battery again, your devices last forever, and now you've made them rechargable.
@freemo
Indian consumers don't really plan much when it comes to this things, as batteries would only be used in wall clock and remote controllers so they would just go with the cheapest option. Actually a peculiarity of Indians is that we will invest more in stuffs which will showoff our wealth to others rather then tye stuffs which increases efficiency, reliability or quality of life. This is the main reason why Indian weddings are so lavish and costly.
@mur2501 Fair, I certainly cant speak for the average consumer. Only to what is a "smart" buy in this case.
+bonifartius 𒂼𒄄
@freemo just get the refills for mechanical pencils? not as spectacular though :D
i'll try out those batteries, i have a cheap wildlife camera which requires 8 × AA..
@bonifartius mechanical pencils have very thin graphite. Not very useful for most applications.
Though I will say electrically burning thin graphite from mechanical pencis is one of the more fun things to do. They glow insanely bright, dont catch fire, and just evaporate into CO2. So makes for a fun show :)
@freemo i think they are also made in "normal" pencil thickness, but i'll for sure will try lighting up one of the thin ones now :D
@bonifartius I have never seen a mechanical pencil with a particularly thick lead on it. In fact I dont think that would work too well since it wouldn't create a sharp point without sharpening, which you cant do for a mech pencil.
@freemo, there actually are, and you do need to sharpen them, but the sound is much nicer and you can eat the byproduct (well technically you can also eat wood but it tastes terrible). They’re more useful for artistic drawing I think.
Cc: @bonifartius
@freemo What kinds of devices were you thinking? 🤔😌
My TV remote has double A's, I think.
@bespectacled239 TV remote that takes double A (AA) is perfect for it. Other than remotes, fire alarms, and the odd device here and there you probably dont own too many things that need it anyway. I use mine in calculators, DMM and my voice recorder as well.
@freemo Please note T ranges of lion bats and use them only if they are befit in your climate.
@nm0i yea, certainly dont want this powered a outdoor light or something in the middle of a hot desert.
@freemo Another disadvantage is the noise from the DC/DC converter, which can upset sensitive circuits. Most devices are probably okay, though.
@niconiconi yea as long as you arent using it in an o-scope or some sort of audio device you are probably fine.. even then an oscope or audio device may filter it out or shield from it.
@freemo Another issue with this advice is about devices that require certain voltage to operate.
Many so called 1.5v lion packs don't push more than 1.2v. While it is fine for many devices, it might be not sufficient for others, as they expect alcaline bats to start from 1.6v.
This is a consumer note, though, there are lion bats that fit the voltage.
@nm0i every liion AA and AAA battery I have seen is built to delivery exactly 1.5V, they use DC-DC converters. A liion cell by itself is 3.7V so any liion AA or AAA **must** used a DC-DC. I cant imagine why any 1.2V liion would even exist, if they are using a DC-DC they would of course set it at the optimal voltage.
My guess is that you are confusing Liion with NiMH which has a cell voltage of 1.2V and does have the problem you suggest. But as far as I know, no this isnt a problem with liion.
@freemo
But how will I extract graphite then?