AAA Batteries and Tinfoil

And now for another edition of the Pinterest Test, fail series! Recently, I found a post on Pinterest that if you put tinfoil and AAA batteries where AA batteries go, it'll work. Naturally, I had to give this method a try.

Photo from Pinterest

So, I took the well-working AA batteries out of my computer mouse and tried it. This is what the back of the mouse looks like when the batteries are working - see the little tiny green light above the green "on" switch? If the batteries are dead that won't light up. My mouse was obviously a good device to try this on since there's a tell-tale sign as to whether or not it will work.

I got a bit of tin foil, wrapped the AAA batteries up and stuffed them as best I could into the mouse; being sure that the batteries, the foil and the connector thingamajig were all touching. No success.

Next, I tried using one AA battery and one AAA battery with foil - just for kicks. Again, to no avail.

No tiny, happy green light here...

So, I went back to my good ol' standby, ever faithful (until they die) AA batteries. And my mouse purred back to life. That's kinda of an odd sentence...a mouse purring...anyway...

As far as I can tell, for this average gal, this is a fail. Maybe if I invested a ridiculous amount of time I may have gotten it to work, but I am not lacking that much in AA batteries and I'm fairly certain they aren't that much cheaper when you consider the amount of time you have to put in to making the batteries work - that is, if it could actually work. So...there's my two cents. Stick with the AA batteries - less hassle and works like a charm.

As an added treat, because I didn't give you any cool new trick to try - check out the post that this idea came from - there are other ideas on there that I know work wonders, so you could have some fun looking at that, if nothing else. Check it out here.

UPDATE: A friend of mine, posted this comment, so I thought I'd share: As an expert on the subject of using the wrong size batteries in things (my D cell mag-lite is currently powered by AAAs and duct tape) I can say that your failure is likely a result of a short circuit in your tin-foiling. The batteries are most likely wired in series on the mouse interior, which means the foil on the + side should not be touching one another in your solution. Your second attempt (with one AA and one AAA) was more likely to work in this case, but since it did not, I can only speculate that the foil was touching the metal at the top the slot of the opposite battery, creating the same short circuit. Get some tape into the mix, to isolate the connections, and you'll probably have more success.

So, I stand corrected. I may have to try this method - but in the meantime, I will be content to just use my good ol' AA batteries.