@acb@mastodon.social I've always assumed that things that "require" X many batteries of X type are depending on all batteries to complete the circuit, not to mention the specific voltages of certain types of batteries. If that is true there's probably a way around it and that's probably what they did -- it's probably more components though and therefore more costly (although, to be fair, it's probably pennies on the dollar per hundred units or whatever).

@acb I had no idea about this concept and now I am intrigued. It seems like this type of design could work in a lot of other systems, not just machines and computers. Like, say, society or infrastructure or even housing. Hmmmm… thanks!

@acb Admittedly, the flashlight will shine with the same intensity whether you run it with a single AA or a single AAA battery.

It just won't shine as long.

That said, a 1.5V bulb isn't that bright; which is why usually you have multiple batteries in series.

@acb Here's an idea - use one D battery. That's even fewer!

@acb hi my name is graceful degradation

@acb Panasonic has a flashlight that will work with one D, C, AA, or AAA battery.

https://panasonic.jp/flashlight/products/anybattery.html

@acb Feels a lot like the stuff we routinely do in programming, because when we don't there's a crash to desktop and customers start demanding refunds.