The 2008 Battery Challenge!

We use lots of batteries in our house just as I'm sure most families do. With three young children you can just imagine the amount of items that need batteries. I was asked to conduct a series of tests to determine which brand gives you more bang for your buck! Let's the look at the products and the batteries that will be tested.We have a pair of Night Vision Goggles, A Home Depot Drill and The Grand Central Station Geo Trax Train Set! The kids were losing their minds over the toys. No problem finding product testers over here. We also received brand new unopened packs of Rayovac, Duracell and Energizer triple A and double A batteries.After we were able to pry the toys away from the children my wonderful husband (who is an engineer) set up testing stations. We have had so much fun conducting our own test. The first set of batteries up for the challenge are the Energizer batteries.
As you can see we put a cable tie around the lever of the drill so that it would run continuously. My husband built the track in a circle for the train engine. Those glowing blue lights in a circle are the night vision goggles that are on. We agreed that we would run the toys for 4 hours each. We put the same batteries in each toy and started them all at the same time. These toys ran from 7:35pm - 11:35pm. The only issue we had is that the Geo Trax does have a timer and will shut off by itself. We moved the track to our office where I could use the control to turn it back on. They ran strong for the full 4 hours.

The plan is to test the batteries until they die. Stay tuned for Day 2 of the great 2008 Battery Challenge for more results.