Ever have an alkaline leak in a single cell device?

[reppans]

I'm wondering if alkalines get an overly bad rep on the leaking thing. If people put half the care and monitoring into an alkaline, as they do with a lithium primary, or Li-ion, perhaps an Alk would never leak.

I'm curious if the primary cause of a leaking Alkaline is a reverse charge situation - the same thing that causes Lithium primaries to explode. From my understanding (and I'm not an expert) when using batts in a multi-cell series configuration, one cell will always drain faster than the other(s). Continuing to run the device will eventually drive the weakest cell so low as to actually reverse its polarity, and it starts charging in reverse. The greater the cell imbalance, the greater the power and potential for an explosion (lithium primary) or violent leak (alkaline). Even if the device is not being used, parasitic drain and self-discharge will eventually do the same thing, although I believe Alks are much more sensitive to minor reverse charges.

So if you were to only use an alkaline in single cell config (let's skip the low lumens argument for now), as many advise for Lithium and Li-ion, thereby removing the potential for reverse charging, would the device be safe from leaking?

Now like many others, I've seen dozens of Alks leak, but as I think about it, most AA devices are multi-cell and I know were mine neglected, ie, run down until they are dead, dead. So I just took a walk around my house looking for all the single cell AA devices and inspected their battery compartments. They were mostly all decade(s) old wall clocks or travel alarms, and interestingly, all had pristine battery compartments with no evidence of leaking.... and I know batts in these device would have been run to dead.... every time.

So how about you guys.. ever had a Alk leak in a single cell device?

 

[alpg88]

i had alkalines leak in their blister pack, without any load.

 

[NCF8710]

Yes! I had an alkaline AAA leak in a Maglight Solitaire and ruin it. I've said it before and I'll say it again.....never use alkalines in any valuable device. As alpg88 observed, I have also seen alkaline cells leak in their blister pack.

 

[SaraAB87]

I buy a lot of second hand stuff and almost everything that has an alkaline sitting in it, the batteries are a leaky mess. So yes I have seen single cell devices with leaky batteries too. I have also seen unused alkalines leak as well.

 

[Illum]

Most leaks I've seen are in clocks..

Lost a couple E01s like this, anytime you try to "drain" the last 500mV out of an alkaline cell this may occur. Some are defective out of the box, I have seen duracells leaking while still on walmart's pegs. Certain chemistries, like carbon zinc "heavy duty" cells actually uses the cell case as the catalyst... such that leaking is a normal behavior when the case is corroded through.

 

[PCC]

I believe that alkaline will eventually leak over time, hence the leaking batteries that are still in the package. I also believe that alkaline batteries will leak when the voltage drops too low as I've seen fairly new cells (within a year of production) leak when used in a cut-down Mini-Mag using a Nite Ize 3-LED drop-in which will drain a battery to less than 0.5V.

 

[s.urfer]

i had alkalines leak in their blister pack, without any load.

Me too.

 

[Isaiah6113]

Oh yes, an energizer. Not the cell's fault though, I had been recharging it for the past year in my MH-401FS. It was an experiment of sorts, started by my not realizing I'd placed an alkaline in my charger. When I saw it had recharged, even within specs, it at first unnerved me, then amused me. So I kept recharging it when it ran down. Eventually leaked in my tv remote. Nothing earth-shattering, just wiped out the controller and recycled the cell.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I don't think there is any logic that can predict what makes an alkaline battery leak, but instead there are conditions that encourage them to leak. It is like some batteries in some batches are predisposed to leakage more than others, while others won't leak no matter what you do to them. I have found the following to increase leakage:
draining a cell to nothing
reversing a cell
stressing a cell by putting it under a very heavy load (heat)
storing cells in the sunlight or in an overly hot environment
dropping them on a hard surface

Now none of these abusive situations will automatically make a cell leak but the odds increase dramatically when they do occur.
I had an alkaline energizer 1AA leak recently in a 1AA cheap husky LED light when I left it on and it drained the battery dead and the battery was used to begin with. I have a poll about alkaline leakage in the battery section that emphasizes alkalines do indeed leak more than some realize, enough to be concerned and even perhaps paranoid about them used in devices unattended.

 

[Norm]

i had alkalines leak in their blister pack, without any load.

Another one to that list.

Norm

 

[Lite_me]

Another one to that list.

Norm

Me three. ...or is that 4.

 

[reppans]

Well, crap... guess I got that one wrong!!!

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Well, crap... guess I got that one wrong!!!

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?338882-Akaline-Battery-Leakage-Usage-Poll-%28Part-2%29

 

[hopkins]

Maybe it was the freezing temps that got to a spare pack of D cells in the car. One of them leaked in the blister pack.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Maybe it was the freezing temps that got to a spare pack of D cells in the car. One of them leaked in the blister pack.

It's possible as I think temp extremes can affect the inner seals of batteries somehow but I've have alkalines in cars at 10 below zero all winter with no issues and then had them leak when the temps never got below freezing or much above 100 there is just no telling what makes them leak other than perhaps manufacturers wanting to save 3 cents a battery on construction perhaps.

 

[hank]

I keep alkalines in the earthquake cache, and out of a few dozen there are always a few that have leaked and corroded in their unopened blister packs before the sell-by date. That's indoors, dry storage.

I've also had at one time or another every size of alkaline leak in flashlights, transistor radios, and other devices.

I'm old enough to remember when alkalines were the exciting new batteries --- replacing the old carbon-zinc cells (still around), which had a fragile carbon rod down the center that would break sometimes if you dropped the battery a few feet onto a carpet.

I sure wish I could get primary (Energizer) Lithium C and D cells, for the earthquake cache and keeping in cold weather locations.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I keep alkalines in the earthquake cache, and out of a few dozen there are always a few that have leaked and corroded in their unopened blister packs before the sell-by date. That's indoors, dry storage.

I've also had at one time or another every size of alkaline leak in flashlights, transistor radios, and other devices.

I'm old enough to remember when alkalines were the exciting new batteries --- replacing the old carbon-zinc cells (still around), which had a fragile carbon rod down the center that would break sometimes if you dropped the battery a few feet onto a carpet.

I sure wish I could get primary (Energizer) Lithium C and D cells, for the earthquake cache and keeping in cold weather locations.

I don't see the pricing of such cells if made low enough to encourage sales of them to profit energizer. I think however if there is still a good market for C/D cells when energizers patent on lithium primaries runs out we could see rayovac or duracell or someone try to bring them to market. The fact that Sanyo hasn't made a real LSD nimh C/D eneloop cell shows the weakness of the domestic market for such batteries in their eyes.

 

[rookiedaddy]

i had alkalines leak in their blister pack, without any load.

Me too.

Another one to that list.

Norm

Me three. ...or is that 4.

and... here's mine...

this was taken in early 2010, before the expiry date... :sick2:

 

[flame2000]

I'll never used alkaline ever again. They are like babies, they leak anytime without warning! I've had alarm clocks(single cell) and remote control damaged due to alkaline leaked.

 

[SaraAB87]

Some weeks I may see up to 10-15 leaky alkalines in a single day when going through the stuff I buy. That is very bad. It's just impossible to watch every device that contains batteries. Sometimes you can even see the corrosion leaking from something before buying it, I don't buy those items.

I am not sure but I saw a device with 4 cells , 3 energizer alkaline. 1 energizer titanium. The titanium leaked too . But the cells were mixed so maybe it doesn't count as unusual.