Rosewill Alkaline Battery Charger

I bought this at newegg.com which is my favorite tech website for goodies. Probably not the place most prepper types would look to go for what might become an essential item for preps and my living on the cheap homestead. The Rosewill Model #: RGD-CT505 Alkaline battery charger purchase price was $27.99. Regular price is close to $40 but it almost always on sale. That is pretty expensive for a battery charger but this one not only recharges NiMH batteries but also does Alkaline. I ordered it and less than 12 hours later, the next morning; it went on sale for $9.99. Fortunately, Newegg has a good price protection guarantee. For $9.99 with free shipping it is a steal. That is roughly the price of a couple 4-packs of Duracells. Any price you get it for probably will pay off in short order. Even at full cost, it will save you money eventually.

You have to read the manual! Follow the manual. Yes, guys this means you! The LED lights mean something and the only place to see this is the manual and red and green led lights mean something different that you might think. You should not use it with old batteries. They suggest that you use it with brand name batteries not with the free batteries you get with items. Duracell and Energizer worked pretty well in my tests but I had just as much luck with lesser known brands as well. I had my MP3 player which uses AAA use a Duracell and played all night on the charge and still had plenty of juice for the next night as well.

The negatives are few. It only recharges AA and AAA batteries. It will not out of the box charge C or D. Some ingenious person decided to use alligator clips and magnets to charge C and D batteries. I really don’t have too much use for those types so I don’t typically use too many so I probably will just use AA and AAA which run my MP3 and flashlights and radios.

There have been some reviews of leaking batteries. I have not had those problems but it is probably a pretty good idea to keep an eye on them. I would not put this in your $1000 DSLR camera but for low drain and cheap accessories, it will save money almost instantly. I have not had a problem with any leakage. I also did not try to push the batteries that were obviously dead. You can if it is flashing green, put it on another charger and allow the battery to charge for a few minutes then put it on the alkaline charger. The Rosewill seems to have a problem with the use of completely discharged batteries.

So a $10 charger that probably saved me at least that in a few days, it can’t get any better right? Oh of course it could. I work at a large mid-western university which has several battery recycling bins. I grab some used alkaline batteries and then return them for final recycling when they cannot be recharged anymore. So other than the actual amount of energy it takes to charge, my batteries are free. I have seen quite a few of these battery recycling boxes across the town I live in so that can be an option for you as well. It is pretty good on power as well. It only uses a scant 0.4 watts when not charging and only 1.2 watts when charging according to my meter. This would be good to hook to a solar power source.

In conclusion, it is a good charger but not great. It should pay for itself in short order if you do not expect too much from it. I personally love it but also accept its limitations as well. I have been running it almost non-stop for over a month and it still works as well as when I first plugged it in.

The Practical Homestead Book Review

The Practical Homestead
by Paul Heiney
Published by DK Books
www.dk.com

The Practical Homestead by Paul Heiney, Published by DK Books is probably the worst volume I have ever seen by anybody in the Homesteading, Prep/Survivalist genre. It is nicely done as all DK books are, with lots of pictures and glossy type pages in its 192 page softcover bindings.
So if it looks so nice and is well presented, where does it go wrong? Starting on the front cover. It states that it is the “The backyard handbook for growing food, raising animals & nurturing your land.” If a person used this book as a handbook for creating a homestead, I would imagine all the animals would die and the person would starve. Similar books by this publisher are ok overview books. They also tend to be European based as all the pictures tend to look to be from across the Atlantic.
Upon further review, I found that this book was previously sold twelve years previous as Country Life. This is a much more suitable title. I can see that they wanted to jump on the Homestead bandwagon and sell a freshened up book but this misleads a potential buyer that this book is something that it is not. Country Life explains the book a lot better. It is a nice overview of a small/family farming operation. It has very little to do with a backyard, unless you live on acres of land and even then, is not the handbook it says it is.
The only thing keeping this from being a total failure for those who might be reading my blog is that it is nicely done. I suggest only picking it up at a library as it will not be a huge help on the homestead.
Prepping on the Cheap Grade: D-

Welcome to Prepping on the Cheap!

Welcome to the first article on Prepping the Cheap. I intend to use this to write about the cheaper way of living, prepping, surviving and homesteading. There are lots of articles out there on spending tons of money on the latest tactical gear. While worthwhile and in some instances very cool, it is not always the best for the job. Part of what I will try to cover is when to spend money on good durable items and when you can get by with cheaper options. This is for all the folks who are either cheap or have to be based on their circumstances. This is the type of information will present cheap ways of preparing for the future no matter what happens. We will be reviewing cheap products that simply work well. We will be looking at when it makes sense to purchase more expensive but durable items that will last forever. We also will be looking at making your own supplies and skills and products that our grandparents and their parents used.
Prepping on the Cheap. Living cheaply, whether you need to or not.