help against leaky batteries

[mcl2u]

I now have a collection of flashlights that use alkaline batteries. I remember a few years ago that i had a maglite that was ruined by leaky batteries so i don't want to have that happen again. Should i keep the batteries seperate. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the lights. Any thoughts.

 

[Flying Turtle]

My only advice would be to check the batts occasionally if you are like me and try to squeeze all the juice from them. I've recently had three batteries to leak slightly in my Dorcy 1AA while trying to drain them down to nothing. You might want to keep good batts in your best/favorite lights and just use a lesser light for battery draining.

Geoff

 

[jayflash]

I'll second FT's advice - check em often. I wonder if there's a liquid plastic, paint, or other very thin coating that might help minimize damage from the caustic leaking? Might it help to swab some silicone or teflon on the interior of the battery tube? Any chemists here, or knowledgeable CPFers with ideas?

 

[KevinL]

I haven't found any way to ChemKote my larger Mags against battery damage, even though I did post a question about it earlier. Numerous alternatives were suggested though I feel the most practical, if you can given the internal diameter of the light and the size of the batteries, is to shrinkwrap it. Failing that, clear kitchen wrap (Glad/Saran) might help.

Note that these methods are not 100%, they will prevent leaks to the side but the topmost and bottom-most cells may still leak out of the top/bottom. It could however make the difference between cleaning out the light or having to chainsaw it open (suggested here on CPF as a means of 'destructive recovery' /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif)

I sent one set of batteries back to one company inside the Mag, which I'd tried to remove and failed miserably. They were kind enough to replace the light and send me a report of their findings. I liked the second line: "One cell was removed from the flashlight with EXTREME difficulty". I wonder if a chainsaw was involved.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

 

[Blackbeagle]

Some thoughts and suggestions:

Change the batteries on your birthday, Christmas, New Years... basically choose a day and change them yearly. Rarely do brand new batteries leak. Use the "old" ones for something else like toys, radios...

Storage is a real big issue too. Lots of leakage problems occur when the batteries get sucked down. I have a Palm that had a malfunction - keeps turning on by itself. It tended to keep resulting in battery leakage until I put it out of its misery. Anything that may cause the light to turn on may cause this to happen - i.e. light rolling around in a tool box presses up against something and switches on.

Alkalines are just that - alkaline. Flushing with vinegar removes the chemical deposits. (If you can get the battery out.) That's the way I kept cleaning up the Palm.

Coatings - the main problem removing the batteries isn't that they leaked chemicals - it is that they swelled and you have mechanical friction. If you coated the inside barrel with something like silicone or teflon, I suspect the chemicals would mix and maybe wash it away or that the mechanical friction would still be an issue. I don't think it would do too much good.

That said and you have a stuck situation, try removing everything possible - end caps, heads... FREEZE the body (if metal) and while still cold take it out and use a heat gun to heat the metal body - hopefully the batteries have shrunk from the cold and you'll get some clearance.

 

[Techmedic]

I removed a leaky C cell by using a power drill to drive a self-tapping #10x2" sheet metal screw into the battery's butt. Applied vise-grips (with the barrel in a vise) and yanked it out. Another way is to screw into the battery a steel strap and winch it out. An old broom handle with sandpaper applied (facing out) removed the corrosion inside the barrel.

I have an excel spreadsheet that I mark up every six months when I check the batteries. DO check them often.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

In any D cell light (I do this to 3D and above) you can use 1" PVC Plastic Pipe cut to the correct length and run an extra C cell.