Batteries and Soda Lids

I found two life hacks this week that really excited me. The first hack involves an interesting way to use fast-food soda cup lids while the second involves using incompatible batteries to power household objects. They are both neat tricks. But did they actually work when I tested them out? Read on to find out.

Soda Cup Lid as Coaster:

This life hack blew my mind when I first found out about it. Picture a soda cup lid that you would get from a fast-food restaurant. Okay, enough of that. Now look at the picture of a soda cup lid below.  

Have you ever wondered about the odd shape of the fountain drink cup lid? Notice the millimeter-deep indentation circling around the inside of the lid. Have you ever wondered why that is there? I myself had never really given it a second thought.

This life hack says that if you flip the lid over you can place the cup into the indentation and use it as a cup holder. So, I tried it out on a Wendy’s cup. It worked!

 

 

The cup fit right into the lid and made for a lovely cup holder. The lid remained on the bottom of the cup even as I held it up into the air. I don’t know how commonly known this is but I certainly never knew about it.

 

Using AAA Batteries in the place of AA Batteries:

I initially thought this next hack would be really cool to test out. Too often I find myself in dire need of AA batteries only to check my hallway closet and find nothing but AAA batteries. But what if I could use those AAA batteries on a remote controller that only takes AA’s?

This life hack would certainly be worth trying out.

The hack says that you can use AAA batteries in the place of AA batteries by placing tin foil on the negative end of the AAA battery. First I tried it on my TV remote. No luck. I thought maybe I hadn’t added enough tin foil.

 

So, I added a bit more foil and guess what? A light on the remote flashed for half a second when I tried to change the channel. After that? Nothing.

Then I tried the same thing with my Xbox 360 controller. I put AAA batteries where the AA’s would go and added tin foil to the negative ends. I locked the batteries in place and pushed the power button. Still nothing.

 

I was really determined to get this one to work. I tried more and less amounts of foil and even attempted this hack with two different flashlights. Unfortunately, all my efforts came back as failures. I’m sad to say that this life hack was a fail.

 

What did you think of this weeks tested life hacks? Do you want to try out the lid hack next time you go to McDonalds? Leave a comment and let me know.

Check out some of the other life hacks I've tested in the blog archive on the side and stay tuned for even more hacks right here on Life Hack Lab.