I'm activating my zinc air batteries 24 hours ahead--MUCH BETTER!

Posted by rindsight @rindsight, Jul 7, 2023

Hello all, I've been using hearing aids over 40 years and I was always careful to peel off the sticker and wait five minutes as I was always told. Just lately I was curious and took a voltmeter reading on two fresh rayovac 312 batteries after the 5 minutes I got 1 volt or less! Nevertheless I put them in my aids figuring the voltage would continue to climb as I used the aids. Nope. Two days later I rechecked and the voltage never came above 1.3 and even on day four, 1.33.

I activated a new pair of 312 batteries a day ahead of time of changing day and spot-checked the voltage. It took ONE WHOLE DAY--a full 24 hours-- for the voltage to come up to 1.4, and only then did I insert them into my aids. The sound quality throughout the 6 days of this cycle was greatly improved.

So what gives with this five minute rule? I'm sticking to my own 24 activation period because I proved it worked with my trusty voltmeter. Hope this improves all of your lives!

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decabea | @decabea | Jul 8, 2023

How interesting. I have worn hearing aids for many years and was never told to wait before inserting batteries. I will try both wait periods and see if I notice a difference. Do you change the batteries on a schedule or rather when they signal?

rindsight | @rindsight | Jul 8, 2023

IMO set up your own schedule to change batteries the day before you hear the beeps because by that time the sound quality is deteriorated in quality and volume. When I owned hearing aids that used 13's I was able to go 7 days.
With my new ones that use 312's I was going 6 days but lately the quality of batteries seems to decreasing across the brands so I'm down to 5 days. -OP