9V battery for rarely used thermometer and wire detector?

[batteryfever111]

I have an iFixit infrared thermometer, and Bosch wire and pipe detector, both works with 9V batteries.

I only use them 2-3x times a year, the rest of the time they sit unused.

Each time I want to use them, I discover the 9V battery is dead.
So I lose a day to go out to buy batteries, and spend again 5 Euro for using the device a few times.

How could I improve on this?

Any thoughts on the below alternatives?

1. Keep an unopened 9V alkaline always ready in the box.

• I wonder how long 9V batteries will keep good in unopened packaging?

It can be that I don't use it for a year, then they perish, I guess, even if unopened.

2. Use rechargeably 9V batteries.
Iinconvenience I need to charge them up probably before use.
And I am afraid they will die anyway, so instead of wasting money on alkalines, I am wasting money on rechargeable cells.

• How long the rechargeables will survive so little use?

3. Lithion 9V batteries

• Will 9V Lithium batteries last really 10 years in the device? Occasional use for a couple of times a year at max.
• Maybe if I remove them from the device they last longer?

4. Remove batteries from the device

• Shall I remove the batteries from the device anyway, or it doesn't matter?

If I remove, shall I store it in a plastic bag or something, or I can just toss them into the box?

I went through the forums, and I found a couple of posts about 9V for smoke detectors, and alarms, or microphones in church, but those are all a bit different type of use.

Any insight welcome!

 

[turbodog]

It's unusual for batteries to be dead in that short length of time. Are they being stored at high temperatures? Are you sure they are not accidentally being turned on from bumping/impacts/etc?

Otherwise, I would remove the battery and place it in a ziploc bag to prevent terminals shorting out.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I would store alkaleaks in a bag myself as they can leak. If the device is draining batteries no sense in leaving ANY battery in it at all when not in use. You could buy a lithium 9v battery and store it separate with no issues but likely the money could be spent on other things and a bagged battery used. I have some cheap multimeters and I buy heavy duty batteries for it because I keep leaving them on and drain them dead and HD batteries cost about $1 vs $4 for an alkaleak 9v. Forget nimh unless you are already using 9v nimh the cost of them plus a charger is not a good investment for light to no use and most nimh 9v aren't LSD and will likely need to be recharged before rare use.
Storing alkaleaks in anything these days is tempting them to spew their guts.

 

[batteryfever111]

Thanks for the tips. If I understand correctly "Heavy duty" batteries [don't leak. Update:] do leak.
They provide less power, and maybe they are a good option for intermittent - low power use?

I would buy batteries at Nkon.nl, a Lithium 9V costs now €6.75. Which is fine if stays good for long.

I will store the batteries in a plastic bag then, next to the device.
I never thought about that to be important, but then I see it is useful both for keeping the charge and avoiding the leaks.

 

[turbodog]

My comment about a bag was mainly to avoid shorting the terminals together, a problem only 9v batteries have. Otherwise, you see to use the devices often enough to catch a leak before it starts. I don't usually see charged/viable batteries leaking, only discharged ones.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Thanks for the tips. If I understand correctly "Heavy duty" batteries don't leak.
They provide less power, and maybe they are a good option for intermittent - low power use?

I would buy batteries at Nkon.nl, a Lithium 9V costs now €6.75. Which is fine if stays good for long.

I will store the batteries in a plastic bag then, next to the device.
I never thought about that to be important, but then I see it is useful both for keeping the charge and avoiding the leaks.

HD batteries DO leak, I just use them because I have a half dozen Harbor Freight DMMs that cost me nothing and putting a $4 alkaleak battery in them when a 99 cent HD battery will do and leak about the same saves me money.
If you buy lithium batteries you don't need to take them out unless the device has parasitic drain to it as the chance of leakage is essentially zero.

 

[batteryfever111]

@Lynx_Arc Thanks for the notice.

Then I will defineatly go with the Lithium batteries.

Because it is only one battery, in a device that I use sporadically and consume little (thermomemter, wire detector) the price doesn't matter so much, compared to the piece of mind.

The Energiser 9V Lithium batteries are advertised with 10 yaers shelf life, even if half of it is ture, that is good enough for me.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

@Lynx_Arc Thanks for the notice.

Then I will defineatly go with the Lithium batteries.

Because it is only one battery, in a device that I use sporadically and consume little (thermomemter, wire detector) the price doesn't matter so much, compared to the piece of mind.

The Energiser 9V Lithium batteries are advertised with 10 yaers shelf life, even if half of it is ture, that is good enough for me.

You may get more than 10 years shelf life. I use only lithium primaries in my outdoor thermometers but I cannot afford to put them in everything I use yet so I put them in stuff I use that are the most expensive and hardest to replace and/or repair.

 

[Dave_H]

I have an iFixit infrared thermometer, and Bosch wire and pipe detector, both works with 9V batteries.

I only use them 2-3x times a year, the rest of the time they sit unused.

Each time I want to use them, I discover the 9V battery is dead.
So I lose a day to go out to buy batteries, and spend again 5 Euro for using the device a few times.

How could I improve on this?

Have you been able to measure off-state leakage current?

My small kitchen scale (actually a postage scale) seems to run its 9v down in a number of months; so I unclip the battery and turn it around in the battery space so the terminals don't short. It's a bit of a pain to open it up and connect the battery, but it doesn't get used all that often. I have 9v NiMH but pointless to leave one connected, and have it run down, including by its self-discharge.

Not sure why I have this issue, can barely measure any off leakage (microamps). Perhaps it's intermittent, maybe in warmer conditions.

It would be extremely rare to see a 9v alkaline leak outwardly, in my experience; have never seen this in decades. I run them down to below 3v in small LED devices such as clip-on lights, after coming out of smoke detectors and DMMs.


Dave

 

[Lynx_Arc]

9V batteries have so low mah that it doesn't take much to run them down. I think they run about 200-300mah so in 2 months (60 days).
If you take 300mah (0.3A) and divide it by 1440 hours (60 days) it comes out to be 0.000208A or 208uA drain to "kill it".