Battery Life After Being Dropped?

[JNewell]

What is the impact (pardon the pun ) of dropping a battery? Does it matter what type?

I've noticed (or think I've noticed) that alkalines don't seem to last as long if they are dropped. Is the same true of lithium primaries, like 123A cells? How about rechargeable cells?

If life is shortened, why? (Carbon rod inside the cell breaks?)

 

[MorePower]

Alkaline cells don't have a carbon rod inside, those would be "Heavy Duty", or Zinc-Carbon cells.

Alkaline cells are typically damaged by dropping due to 1 (or more) of 3 things.

1) Zinc gel goes over the top of the separator paper and creates a direct internal short to the cathode.
2) The cathode begins to break up and loses contact with the steel can.
3) The zinc gel loses contact with the negative current collector (looks like a brass nail).

 

[Al Combs]

NiMH cells are also prone to impact damage. I have seen a few threads on people's first hand experience and read that it can drastically reduce a cell's usefulness. Even from just dropping them on the floor. I don't know the exact reason why. Probably some kind of internal shorting that leads to increased self discharge.

NiCads, not so much. I once crashed an RC plane into the roof of a local building at 100 mph. The foam rubber the NiCad cells were packed in did not prevent the formation of 1/4mm dents on the minus end of 2 of the 4 batteries and the shattering of their 4 cell holder. The building's janitor was kind enough to sweep up the remains in a box for me. Never saw a plane in so many little pieces.

After I abandoned my career as a budding pilot, I used that set of 4 - 550mAh AA Sanyo's interchangeably with another set of 4 that never suffered any kind of impact. There was no perceptible difference in the length of run time I got from the 2 sets. They lasted ≈ 15 years after the crash.

 

[TONY M]

I dropped a NIMH cell onto a tiled floor and it now seems to self discharge quicker than the other identical battery paired with it. They have both always been charged and discharged together too. This could of course be coincidence but I don't plan to "drop" any more to do more tests.

 

[Mr Happy]

There is also the short and succinct answer to question 16 of the Eneloop FAQ:

Can dropping the battery cause damage to it?
Yes.
​

Briefly stated with no elaboration as to the details. But probably best to take the advice and avoid dropping your Eneloops.

 

[shadowjk]

I dropped a nicad once from table onto wooden floor. It was completely dead after that..

 

[DM51]

If you drop a Li-Ion cell on the end where the protection circuit is, you will probably damage the circuit and the protection may not work any more. This can be dangerous if your application relies on it.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Well, I just started a duplicate thread based on this same question.

I have a CL1H with an AW 18650 recharcheable li-ion battery, and it broke. It meters about 1.8 volts now, and the light doesn't function at all. Replaced it temporarily with new CR123s and the light works great (which is good news since the light is a lot more $ than a new battery).

I dropped it from waist height onto a hard tile/cement floor. It really surprised me when the light just shut off at impact, and surprised me more that it seems to be the battery.

I don't want to be throwing away expensive rechargeable batteries so I guess I'll just have to be more gentle? Are there batteries that are more resistant to shock/impact that I could use? I use my light very frequently and I'm not particularly gentle with it by necessity. I mean, having a tactical-type flashlight doesn't do me much good if the battery is still fragile... :-/

 

[Bones]

...
I don't want to be throwing away expensive rechargeable batteries so I guess I'll just have to be more gentle? Are there batteries that are more resistant to shock/impact that I could use? I use my light very frequently and I'm not particularly gentle with it by necessity. I mean, having a tactical-type flashlight doesn't do me much good if the battery is still fragile... :-/

Your query has me wondering if the A123 and Emoli cells would be less prone to impact damage.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com ... post2307656

It seems somewhat logical that both the safer chemistry and the lack of a protection circuit would make them more resilient.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

...Are there batteries that are more resistant to shock/impact that I could use? I use my light very frequently and I'm not particularly gentle with it by necessity. I mean, having a tactical-type flashlight doesn't do me much good if the battery is still fragile... :-/

The light also plays a supporting role in this. Some lights only have springs at one end while others 'float' the cell(s) between springs at both ends. I can't help but think that a cell in a light with two springs would tend to take more abuse than it would in a light with a static connection at one end. I've also noticed that in the quest for a shorter overall length it is often the spring travel that is shortened which would also seem to make the inclosed cells more vulnerable to impacts.