Once upon a time, reviving a dead TV remote meant scavenging my home for a pair of AAA batteries.
First, I’d search the catchall tray in the entryway. Then, I’d try looking in the bathroom cabinet next to the bottle of Tylenol. If all else failed, I’d rifle through the kitchen junk drawer and find a few batteries among a collection of loose change, old lip balms, and dried-up Sharpies.
Long story short, batteries were never easy to find. But that changed four years ago, when my stepdad gifted me the most dad-coded present of all time, the Battery Daddy.
Initially, I was skeptical that I would ever use it—and fully in denial that I really needed it—but this handy battery organizer has earned a permanent spot in my home, eliminating the stress of finding batteries when I need them most.
Clearly, my stepdad was on to something, and long gone are the days of my stealing batteries from other electronics or stubbing my toe during a blackout.
This battery organizer can store up to 180 batteries.
I tell my loved ones exactly what I want on special occasions. So when my stepdad went off-script by giving me the Battery Daddy for my birthday, I was a little perplexed. But after hearing my dad gush nonstop about his beloved purchase (as dads do) and how it made organizing and finding batteries a walk in the park, I began to understand the allure of having a battery-dedicated organizer.
As my dad’s instinct would have it, he was right. Keeping my batteries in one place has made my junk drawer a little less chaotic—and made my life a little easier—for the past four years.
The Battery Daddy is essentially a two-sided plastic briefcase with clear locking lids and slots that can hold up to 180 batteries of various types, including AA, AAA, C, D, and 9V batteries plus 12 button cells. Small cubbies keep everything in its place and make finding what I need quick and easy.
The transparent case allows me to quickly peer inside to track my inventory and locate batteries without having to rummage through the entire container. My stepdad says this is particularly helpful during hurricane season in South Florida, when he frequently checks to see if he’s stocked up in case of an outage.
The Battery Daddy has a sturdy handle that makes taking it on the go fuss-free. I can easily pack it up for a camping trip or transport it from the storage closet to the countertop. Its profile is slender enough, at about 3 inches thick, to fit in a kitchen drawer, and at just over 8 inches tall, it can slide upright between items on a shelf.
One of my favorite features is the included battery tester, which helps me check the power levels and avoid prematurely chucking batteries with life left to give. When replacing my TV remote batteries, I check both before swapping them out to confirm that they haven’t unevenly powered the device and potentially have some juice left.
Aesthetics and convenience aside, storing batteries in a battery organizer is also safer than keeping them loose in a bag or other container, as I once did.
Senior staff writer Sarah Witman, who reports on batteries and charging accessories for Wirecutter, says that exposed terminals on batteries can potentially short-circuit and start a fire if they come into contact with one another. This is why Sarah recommends always keeping loose batteries in plastic battery storage boxes separated by dividers, much like the Battery Daddy.
Sarah also recommends grouping batteries by the pack in which they came. “It’s not good to mix a new pack of batteries with an older batch, because they’ll die at different times,” she says. As such, I’m going to start lining up batteries from the same pack in one column or row in my Battery Daddy to help distinguish the new batches from the old.
One downside of the Battery Daddy is that it’s clunky (about the size of a cereal box when laid on its side), and it gets noticeably heavier the more batteries you stash in it. However, the company also sells other, more compact versions: the Battery Daddy Smart, which can hold up to 150 batteries at a time, and the Battery Daddy Lantern, a two-in-one lamp and battery organizer that can hold up to 42 batteries.
If you love the concept of a Battery Daddy–like organizer but prefer rechargeable batteries, Sarah recommends the EBL Black Batteries Box. “This sturdy plastic briefcase is packed with a dozen of our favorite rechargeable batteries, eight AA and four AAA, as well as four handy battery adapters—two C and two D adapters, which can turn any AA battery into a C or D battery—and a compatible charger,” she notes. The EBL box also comes with a reliable battery charger.
After four years of lugging the Battery Daddy around, I’ve found that it’s still as reliable as ever and looks as good as new; last fall it even survived a cross-country move without chipping or cracking. To my surprise, it has made swapping out batteries and keeping them organized an enjoyable experience. And although there are other ways to store batteries, this one has proven to be the most convenient and orderly method I’ve tried.
Despite this being the ultimate dad gift—and certainly not what I was expecting for my birthday that year—my stepdad got it right. I didn’t know I needed the Battery Daddy then, and now I couldn’t live without it. Whether you’re shopping for your pops or looking to spruce up your abysmal junk drawer, the Battery Daddy might pleasantly surprise you or a loved one, too.
This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder.
