JemR
Newly Enlightened
Thank's Shadowww :thumbsup:. That's clarified what I half thought.
Akaline Battery Leakage/Usage Poll (Part 2)
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Thank's Shadowww :thumbsup:. That's clarified what I half thought.
I just found a 2010 duracell AAA that leaked in a cheap LED light that I forgot about. Luckily a little vinegar and a Qtip and a fingernail file cleaned up the mess and polished the spring. The problem is the alkaline substance almost always takes the plating off whatever it coats essentially making at times some of them needing polishing/sanding in the future.
Sub_Umbra
Flashlight Enthusiast
Emphasis mine.
From:
http://www.medicbatteries.com/duracell-procell-battery-duracell-procell-batteries
Identical? If "...A fresh Duracell Procell battery is typically charged a bit higher (a fresh 9V Procell battery is typically at 9.5 volts or higher) than the Duracell Coppertop..." how can they be identical if one is charged "...a bit higher..." than the other? If these guys are right, it's the SPECS that are identical, not the batteries. Mysterioso.
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JemR
Newly Enlightened
Very interesting stuff, Sub Umbra. I have just read the linked page a few times, and I don't really know what to make of it at all. Confusing marketing I think. I'm still not sure if they "believe it or not" that the batteries perform differently. Different clothes and different names, Yes. But are they produced the same or not, it's not really clear. Then the part you highlighted. "...is typically charged a bit higher...". I may be wrong. But I take the word "typically", in that context, to mean most but not all. Similar to "usually". Which would make it a little odd. As on that they would think to have a battery with the voltage you wish is a bit of a lucky dip.
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From old Maglites to remote controls to battery operated clocks, I've had alkaline batteries leak. In fact, the Maglite was toast, I just couldn't open it at all.
Although it would be nice to espouse the advantage of nimh (eneloop) to family members, the reality is my siblings have young children who tend to pry open anything and everything. Also, my siblings unfortunately can't be bothered to recharge, so they just keep on buying alkaline batts. Ahh well.
Although it would be nice to espouse the advantage of nimh (eneloop) to family members, the reality is my siblings have young children who tend to pry open anything and everything. Also, my siblings unfortunately can't be bothered to recharge, so they just keep on buying alkaline batts. Ahh well.
n3eg
Newly Enlightened
I am holding an AA alkaline. The warning says: "Battery may leak chemicals if opened, recharged, installed backwards, exposed to fire, or mixed with other battery types." No mention at all of overdischarging. Of course, when all your devices are run flat, and all your devices have 3 cells, you will have that 1 in 3 leakage rate. The average noob doesn't know this, and therefore blames the batteries for leaking rather than running flat.
Of course, there were always those yellow and blue Ray-O-Leak batteries from our childhood, where every one of our toys had at least one brown battery contact...that green paper tape made a nice electrolyte wick.
I have also seen batteries of every type leak except for lithium, and that's probably because they are in paranoid protection circuits.
Of course, there were always those yellow and blue Ray-O-Leak batteries from our childhood, where every one of our toys had at least one brown battery contact...that green paper tape made a nice electrolyte wick.
I have also seen batteries of every type leak except for lithium, and that's probably because they are in paranoid protection circuits.
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My family has energizer rechargable batteries, something tells me they are not exactly ready for another rechargable battery experience. The energizer batteries sit there unused and I now see packs of alkaline batteries around. Considering my very bad experience with energizer rechargables.... If i had that experience again without doing the research I probably wouldn't want rechargable batteries again either!
So many things take batteries that are easily forgotten about, even in a house without kids there is still so much, even worse if you have kids.
Heck after a disaster with my thermostat where it shut off one day in the middle of winter I realized the thermostat takes AA batteries and I didn't even know it had batteries in it. I am lucky those thermostat batteries didn't leak!
Bullzeyebill
Flashaholic
I voted paranoid re Alkaline usage though I still use them and monitor them closely. A set of them ruined one of my light meters (LM631) awhile back, and I tried Eneloops in a new one, but they did not last long voltage wise, so I went back to Alkalines, but I do monitor then very closely.
Bill
Bill
I thought a leaky AA destroyed my Nitecore D30, and vinegar did nothing to help. Finally I bought a small tube of Deoxit. After one application, the light would turn on and after a second, a few weeks later the light worked normally. Now I run it on one 14500 and a dummy cell. No more alkys for me.
So far it appears about 1/3 of the participants in the poll haven't had a lot of problems with alkalines leaking (1 in 100+). I wish I was in that 1/3 as I recently found a cheap 3AA task force LED light had a damaged switch from a leaky rayovac battery. Luckily I had parts left from another of the lights that was dropped and broken I swapped out the whole spring/switch/boot assembly. I won't bother worrying about it as the lights cost me about $4 each and only 1 of about 4 I have in service was damaged. The odd thing is two of the lights are outdoors one in the garage and one in the car and neither of those have had leakage it is the one in the house that had not experienced 110 degree heat (or more in the case of the car).
I found some alkalines that have leaked in some of my dads old stuff generic no name brand and threw away a D cell rayovac that once leaked in my 3D dorcy LED light. I would clean it once a month or two and was using it in a 1D energizer accent lantern but got tired of cleaning it more and more often even if it still had almost 1.5v to it. I will try and bump this thread once a month till the poll expires on Jan 1. I am hoping for 100 people to participate fully in it I think last count it was 77 so far.
I've never heard of anyone having leak problems with energizer lithiums primary AA/AAA batteries.
I just bought a few of these select brand 9v alkalines and one of 4 of them was leaking. I also have a duracell 9v dated 2010 I never used that is swelling up inside and the voltage has dropped to 8.4v. Alkaline 9v batteries have gotten to the point of insanity in price sometimes $3.50 EACH in a 2 pack ($7 at Walmart for Duracells). The problem is I have to have them because the smoke detector uses them in this rental place. I bought these awhile back because they were 2/$1 and 3 out of 4 were good. The advantage of 9v is they are double sealed so leaks tend to cause minimal damage compared so single cell alkaline packaging. Perhaps they need to reduce the capacity of alkalines 10% and double package them to contain leaks better.
On another note.... 56 people have properly chosen from my percentage leakage in the survey. There is 2 months left I am hoping to get 100 people to participate in that section but I have a feeling that isn't going to happen by January 1st.
On another note.... 56 people have properly chosen from my percentage leakage in the survey. There is 2 months left I am hoping to get 100 people to participate in that section but I have a feeling that isn't going to happen by January 1st.
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Less than a month for this poll to expire, I hope people don't have too many battery leaks over the holidays to ruin brand new gadgets and toys. I was looking at a thrift store and found a nice external flash for really cheap but when I opened it up to see the batteries in it the energizers had leaked ruining one of the contact plates on the battery hatch.
Remember to check your alkaline batteries in devices often.
Remember to check your alkaline batteries in devices often.
I have seen a leaky "energizer titanium" battery, however it was placed in a 4 battery device with regular alkalines so the cells were mixed. That is definitely a no no. I don't know what formula energizer titanium is, the energizer battery with the orange writing.
I've had Energizer Titanium leak before for no reason at all they were not abused by me and still measured 1.5v
I use many more Eneloop now, but over the years have used many hundreds of alkaline from various brands (CVS, RiteAid, Walgreens, etc. But most all Made in USA) Honestly I have seen evidence of leak but most were long beyond expire date and completely dead/forgotten. In normal usage my leak rate has been on order of 1-2%. So filled the survey according. They are still used in wall clocks, remotes, thermometers, weather station, some toys, etc. Moderate to heavy use stuff all has eneloop now.
According to the poll statistics so far you are falling right in the average between 1-4%.
AIRASSAULT18B
Newly Enlightened
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My wife forgot to take her usual EDC light on a trip once. So she went to the local WALMART & bought a mini led maglight that comes with Duracells. In less then two weeks on her trip the light would not come on any more so I checked it & the batteries leaked so much it had welded the batteries to the tube. No she did not leave it on. I called Duracell & the sent a check for the light & new batteries. By the way I contacted Maglight & they said that was new stock so age was not the problem. I have had several devices ruined over the yrs prior to the advent of the new NIMH rechareables. I will not use them in anything of high value & only keep a supply for emergency backup.
