Alkaline Battery leak prevention ?

[mcnair55]

I see the most leaks in toys. I think it has to do with parents who forget about the toy and don't take the batteries out or the fact that most toys from my experience drain batteries unevenly aka they will drain one cell almost completely then the other cell will be totally full as if it were new. Some toys also get left turned on which means the batteries will completely drain which is more likely to cause a leak. Because of this I would be extra careful with alkalines and toys.

An excellent posting and with the price of toys these days.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I see the most leaks in toys. I think it has to do with parents who forget about the toy and don't take the batteries out or the fact that most toys from my experience drain batteries unevenly aka they will drain one cell almost completely then the other cell will be totally full as if it were new. Some toys also get left turned on which means the batteries will completely drain which is more likely to cause a leak. Because of this I would be extra careful with alkalines and toys.

If a toy drains cells unevenly, then it's best to remove the batteries in them, whether they're alkalines or rechargeables. You run the risk of reverse-charging a cell, which could harm it.

But if you absolutely have to leave batteries in toys that will be left on and run flat, then I suppose throwing away a rechargeable battery is better than throwing away the toy because of a leaking alkaline.

 

[BillSWPA]

What is it about a device that would cause it to drain a group of cells unevenly, particularly when those cells are used together, usually in series, but possibly in parallel?

I have seen this happen, but am curious about why.

 

[BillSWPA]

Kids toys also see periods of heavy use followed by periods of little use followed by being put in storage. Obviously taking the cells out before putting it in storage is smart but not all of us will remember to do this every time.

When I was starting to buy NiMH to switch from alkaline, I reserved my NiMH for devices costing over $40, using up my supply of alkaline in devices costing less until I used up my supply and acquired enough NiMH. Often the items costing less than $40 would be a kids toy.

 

[mcnair55]

Kids toys also see periods of heavy use followed by periods of little use followed by being put in storage. Obviously taking the cells out before putting it in storage is smart but not all of us will remember to do this every time.

When I was starting to buy NiMH to switch from alkaline, I reserved my NiMH for devices costing over $40, using up my supply of alkaline in devices costing less until I used up my supply and acquired enough NiMH. Often the items costing less than $40 would be a kids toy.

Very small children just switch things on and have no idea about switching stuff off,my daughter suffers from messed up insides often with a 2 and 4 year old in the household.Alkaline are still the cheapest source for power over recharge and can be picked up at every supermarket under the sun and mainly with offers and also at the checkouts so they are in your face.

 

[Phil2015]

I have had energizer alkaline AAA batts in my outside wireless thermometer for 3+yrs now for my weather station and they are still going strong, but I havent checked the batts since installing them.

 

[jkingrph]

I have had energizer alkaline AAA batts in my outside wireless thermometer for 3+yrs now for my weather station and they are still going strong, but I havent checked the batts since installing them.

Same here, but think I will replace them with some energizer lithiums.

 

[mcnair55]

I have had energizer alkaline AAA batts in my outside wireless thermometer for 3+yrs now for my weather station and they are still going strong, but I havent checked the batts since installing them.

Me to and I still get my daily temps so I know they are still working fine.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Me to and I still get my daily temps so I know they are still working fine.

I've seen alkalines leak plenty of times while they're still working. Chances are your alkalines are not leaking (most of the time they don't), but just because they're still working doesn't mean they're still okay. You need to check them regularly if you want to be sure, and don't use them past their expiry date.

 

[BillSWPA]

I've seen alkalines leak plenty of times while they're still working. Chances are your alkalines are not leaking (most of the time they don't), but just because they're still working doesn't mean they're still okay. You need to check them regularly if you want to be sure, and don't use them past their expiry date.

I have seen the same thing.

 

[SaraAB87]

I have specifically seen one battery full and one battery almost completely empty in an rca remote.

I have seen so many toys with corrosion I cannot count, it's such a huge problem it happens almost every time I buy a second hand toy. Some so severely that the leaking actually seeps through the battery compartment onto the back of the toy. This is definitely something parents want to watch out for, especially in toddler and baby toys where ironically I see the most leaks. I would imagine most parents don't want their kids coming in contact with battery acid. I am not an overprotective type I am just saying this is a very real problem that a lot of parents don't think about.

If you can remember I would go through with a battery tester and check every toy every 6 months and replace or recharge everything that is low or discharged. This will help but they could still leak. Check a toy before the kid plays with it, especially if it's a handheld toy they could put in their mouth.

I have stopped buying second hand toys, at least ones that obviously have alkalines in them. I am not buying for kids but I am a toy collector and sometimes I pick up a cheap toy or handheld video game at the thrift for my collection. I have stopped though and for now I will be satisfied with what I have.

 

[Norm]

I would imagine most parents don't want their kids coming in contact with battery acid.

There's no acid in an alkaline battery :

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery

The alkaline battery gets its name because it has an alkaline electrolyte of potassium hydroxide, instead of the acidic ammonium chloride or zinc chloride electrolyte of the zinc-carbon batteries. Other battery systems also use alkaline electrolytes, but they use different active materials for the electrodes.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery#Leaks

Alkaline batteries are prone to leaking potassium hydroxide, a caustic agent that can cause respiratory, eye and skin irritation.[note 2] This can be reduced by not attempting to recharge disposable alkaline cells, not mixing different battery types in the same device, replacing all of the batteries at the same time, storing in a dry place, and removing batteries for storage of devices.

Alkaline battery leak. Is it dangerous?

 

[Kurt_Woloch]

I haven't yet have a device damaged by a leaking alkaline battery. I had some destroyed by leaking cheap zinc-carbon batteries though. Some alkaline batteries did leak, but I just wiped away the powder and/or liquid. In one case I even continued to use the already leaking batteries until empty because they still had juice in them. I just took care of wiping off whatever came out of them regularly. These were an old set of 6 Duracell Ultra "D" cells which I used as an interim solution in the summers of 2009 and 2010 before getting the rechargable LSD's I use now. Those Ultras actually were bought back in 2000 as an emergency for my portable keyboard when I accidentally forgot its power supply at home, but, although they are Ultras, they will only power the keyboard for at most 2-3 hours, using up only 20% of their total energy (while the keyboard can be run on the LSD D cells for up to 8 hours without problems... at least I had it up for over 2 hours without showing any signs of weakness).

I'm actually not very worried about alkaline (or any) batteries leaking. There are also different kind of zinc-carbon batteries with a different chance of leaking. The cheapest ones do leak while the heavy duty type is often more leakproof than alkalines and dries out instead (I think that's why Varta called them "Super dry" at one time). These often come pre-installed in or packaged with remotes.

Most batteries that leaked for me did so in storage, and most of them were way past their expiry date. I also had batteries just break down without leaking although they were not actually used. This could actually explain the different charge state of batteries in one device like a remote... the weaker battery didn't get used more, but its chemistry broke down over the years.

I think the batteries most prone to such break down's are actually 9V's because they are built to deliver a relatively high current despite their small size, with the disadvantage being that they also self-discharge rapidly. I had a Duracell 9V that was barely used self-discharge in about 7 years. I got it when I played at the Christmas party of my company and my own 9V NiCd rechargable didn't last for the duration of the gig in the delay pedal I was using it in.

I do not try to avoid alkaline batteries because of leaking danger, but because of the economics. I did buy an 8-pack some years ago for the transmitter of my RC car because I figured I'd only rarely use it and it would probably last about 8 years at my rate of usage. And in 1999, I bought 10 Daimon alkaline "C" cells for a portable multitrack recorder for making some recordings for the public radio station I was member of back then. I only used them for about 4 field recordings until 2002, after that I stopped doing field recordings, and in 2005 I left the station. Although I didn't use them up, those 10 cells since have all broke down except for one which still powers my kitchen wall clock.

Other than that, I only use those alkaline or zinc-carbon batteries that come with devices. Sometimes, however, if they come with a high-drain device, I immediately replace them with rechargables and put the alkalines into storage (as I have done with my first electric toothbrush).

I never tried Lithium primaries, but I think those could be useful for those devices which don't work properly with the lower voltage of a NiMh battery because, contrary to Alkalines, they stay at nearly 1.5V for most of their life while Alkalines will suffer continuous voltage drop, so in those devices, Lithium primaries may actually achieve a much longer life than alkalines just because of this. However, I don't think I've got any such device in use currently.

 

[magellan]

This is the correct answer. Either Energizer lithium or some flavor of LSD NiMH (Eneloop, Duracell Ion Core, Maha Imedion, Tenergy Centura etc.)

Friends don't let friends use alkalines. Seems that current production is even more likely to leak than ~10 years ago, or maybe we just have more battery operated devices, but I've had a LOT of leakage incidents over the past couple years, and have been slowly eradicating alkalines and moving towards NiMH for everything save for seldom used emergency lights which get lithium (either Energizer AA or else Surefire CR123A.)

I'll second that about the leaks, but wasn't sure it was just me until now.

 

[magellan]

There's no acid in an alkaline battery :

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery



http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery#Leaks



Alkaline battery leak. Is it dangerous?

Great info, Norm, thanks. As I have asthma, this sort of info is even more important for me.

 

[dydx]

@Norm, Thanks....that's the references I was looking for. Appreciate it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery#Leaks

Alkaline battery leak. Is it dangerous?

 

[InHisName]

Kids toys today arent like what they used to be. Used to be "batteries not included", now included with try me ! in the store. I've bought a toy or two Dec 28th and it still worked ! The factory included batteries were unknown chinese alkaleaks. No leaking ones all volts > 1.5, two of four cells were still 1.6+. Now can leave it on and toy goes to sleep for months and battery dosen't go down my much at all. My toys needed 2 or 4 "D"s and were dead by Dec 26 !

The go to sleep feature of Fisher-Price and others for infants and toddler is one great improvement. Maybe as great as LED replacing incandecent flashlight bulbs. I have 20 Duraloops waiting for the wearing out of the orig. batteries, waiting, waiting, waiting......

Two used toys had rust and corrosion that I had to clean up, then it worked. (With some Duraloops)

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I have 20 Duraloops waiting for the wearing out of the orig. batteries, waiting, waiting, waiting......

You don't actually have to wait.

 

[BillSWPA]

There is at least one thread on this forum regarding no-name alkaleaks. If they have a warranty at all, the company may or may not be around to honor it. Duracell and some other well known names will replace items damaged by leaking alkaleaks. So, I give no name cells a lot less time than known quality brands before replacing them with Eneloops.

 

[SaraAB87]

Yeah I have a speak n math that takes like 4 C or D batteries or something ridiculous and lasts 10 hours according to the manual. The toy is basically a glorified calculator so I don't know how it uses that much power (must be a lot of power processing in there or something...)

In comparison a game boy advance lasts 18 hours on 2 AA batteries and a game boy color lasts 10 hours though neither have backlit screen. Leap pads and innotabs can drain 4 AA alkaline in a day though but all the newer ones use rechargables now so that is not a problem.

Most toys just use lights and sounds so those don't drain too badly or hardly at all, it's just a matter of having enough batteries on Christmas morning to supply all the new toys then you probably won't have to change them for a long time. Toys that have movement will drain more, I am sure I went through quite a number of AA's on those battery operated animals ( to the point where I actually sat on Santa's lap one year and asked for batteries and specific kinds too.. I was like 5)