The capacitor that wasn't

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I dug this out of some dirt while weed eating and thought hey cool it's a capacitor

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Like maybe someone got mad at a TV when their kicker missed a field goal or tried to recreate Wendy O's flaming school bus through a wall of TVs 

But now it looks like a battery

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True story I have an elderly customer she had a Toyota hybrid SUV said it was a great car had it like 12 years but anyway it ended up getting totaled she was unhurt but told me about a hundred times she was so glad it didn't catch on fire like the big batteries or whatever.
Anyhow I believed her but it didn't really sink in I was like yeah ok yeah good thing 
About a month later I was mowing this guy's grass he's a young buck really good guy but a wild man I'm making a pass and hit something with my mower a loud thump it stops the engine I start cussing and pull it back....and there's a small fire   
So I'm trying to wrap my head around this wondering ok maybe the blade sparked and ignited the dry grass...yeah kind of a long shot but who knows .... meanwhile I see some strange debris where the fire 🔥 is 

About that time he runs out and says "oh wow you found my phone" and says him and his gf were fighting and drinking and she had thrown it out into the yard 

So I went back and told that lady wow now I know what you meant 

[J M Fahey]

It IS a battery.
Does it take charge?
Use a 12 V supply and charge this through a 50-100 ohm resistor.

[g1]

Yes, it's rechargeable lithium type like you find in modern cordless drill battery packs etc.  Many batteries in series or series-parallel arrangements to make a 18V or 24V battery pack.
They used to use Ni-Cad type for all the rechargeable stuff, but they are using lithium-ion types more and more, which is where you get the fire hazards.  "Don't park your e-bike inside!" etc.

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Omg......          


So I spent like an hour soldering leads to the battery no matter what the battery had like an anti solder force field around it and the solder buggers clinging to the iron     
Then I kept getting this sticky green scum so I kept scraping and cleaning

Somehow by miracle I got two leads to stick and now I cant believe what I'm seeing


   

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The whole time I thought well no way it's holding any charge but the deal here is if you guys tell me to do something I have to do it

WOW

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Illuminati confirmed 

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[Kaz Kylheku]

The battery was likely "recycled into the weeds" by someone who found the run-time degraded, not because it was totally dead.

I have a phone with a battery that charges it and powers it well enough to use, except you have to do that twice a day even though it's mostly on standby.

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Yes sir thanks I was actually in a pickle 🥒 driving to work wondering what exactly is the difference between a capacitor and a battery?!?!

I'm gonna have to think about it
They both charge up and have polarity at the terminals



Edit: one possible clue is a capacitor is not gonna supply a steady voltage or current for any length of time and requires constant recharging

[J M Fahey]

Yes sir thanks I was actually in a pickle 🥒 driving to work wondering what exactly is the difference between a capacitor and a battery?!?!

I'm gonna have to think about it
They both charge up and have polarity at the terminals



Edit: one possible clue is a capacitor is not gonna supply a steady voltage or current for any length of time and requires constant recharging

A capacitor will charge to any voltage you apply, batteries have a built-in "fixed" voltage which comes from a chemical reaction.

Also in principle most capacitors are bipolar, batteries are always single polarity.