This isn’t really an amateur radio story, but it does have a battery in it, so it could be. :)
About six months ago, I noticed that my battery-powered shaver wasn’t holding a charge as well as it used to. Recently, I’ve had to just use it with that AC adapter to shave down my beard properly.
I cracked it open and found that it was powered by a single NiMH, AA cell, very much like the one shown in the photo. The kicker is that it’s not a standard battery, but one with solder tabs.
My first response was to search for it on Amazon, and, of course, there are many choices for this kind of battery. Then, I remembered that we have a Batteries Plus store here in Ann Arbor. I’d had a Kenwood battery pack rebuilt there many years ago, and it seemed reasonably priced. I decided that even though the batteries were pretty cheap on Amazon that I’d buy one of these batteries from Batteries Plus, if it cost less than $10.
I couldn’t find the right battery on the Batteries Plus website, though, which I thought was kind of puzzling. I phoned the store on Thursday morning, explained what I was looking for, and the guy I talked to, said that they would be able to put some tabs on a battery for me. Since I was headed that way to meet some friends for lunch, I said that I would stop by later.
After lunch, I went to the store and showed a different guy what I wanted. He played around on his computer for about ten minutes, then said, “Sorry, we don’t have anything like that.” ARRRRGGH!!! What a complete waste of time.
When I got home, I ordered two batteries with solder tabs from Amazon for $7.50, shipping included because I’m a Prime member. They arrived yesterday, I put one in, and now my shaver is up to full power. And, I’m no longer a Batteries Plus customer.