GarageBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Okay..out of the 16 AAAs from various batches of RadioShack Alkys, about 5 have burst on me in various things (one just sitting there) Any LESS likely to do so?
Thanks!
Thanks!
LESS leak prone Alkys?
- Thread starter GarageBoy
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VidPro
Flashlight Enthusiast
more often the Cause is more important than the battery, reverse charge.
a bunch of batts in series, then one dies in that series, and the battery powered item continues to operate.
or they were dead, and left in there.
kirklands are pretty reliable for the low price that they have, but every alkaline has the ability to leak.
get ones as fresh new as you can, instead of stuff that doesnt have a fast store turnover, or a store that doesnt rotate properly.
and change them before they die (as if that was possible).
note: rechargable ni-mhys like some good LSD cells are way better sealed, reusable, and rechargable.
rechargable alkalines even, are better sealed than the throwaways, although they are not great rechargables.
a bunch of batts in series, then one dies in that series, and the battery powered item continues to operate.
or they were dead, and left in there.
kirklands are pretty reliable for the low price that they have, but every alkaline has the ability to leak.
get ones as fresh new as you can, instead of stuff that doesnt have a fast store turnover, or a store that doesnt rotate properly.
and change them before they die (as if that was possible).
note: rechargable ni-mhys like some good LSD cells are way better sealed, reusable, and rechargable.
rechargable alkalines even, are better sealed than the throwaways, although they are not great rechargables.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Comparing leak reports between AA and AAA I have the impression that AAA may be more prone to leaking... :thinking:
Illum
Flashaholic
oddly enough I find that zinc carbon cells are less likely to leaking compared to AAs...wasn't that supposed to be other way around or has AAs been going down hill these days:shakehead
BlueBeam22
*Super Flashaholic*
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I have had many alkaline batteries, and some of them leaked once they got old.
The only brand I have used that has never leaked is DURACELL, I have a lot of Duracell batteries, and I have never had problems with them.
The only brand I have used that has never leaked is DURACELL, I have a lot of Duracell batteries, and I have never had problems with them.
Yoda4561
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've had good luck with rayovac's maximum alkalines. Duracells aren't bad but I've had a few leak on me and it's been a while since I've bought any. Energizers and other brands I've had not much luck with, ruined a few cheap lights with them back in the day.
jayflash
Flashlight Enthusiast
They ALL leak, including the most expensive brands; it's only a matter of time.
Another problem with all brands is unequal cell capacity and sudden death failure of new cells. Often, one cell out of four, installed in a light or other item, will fail way before the others.
My estimate is that 10 - 20% of AA & AAA alkies are bad out of the box, although not all of them leak.
Another problem with all brands is unequal cell capacity and sudden death failure of new cells. Often, one cell out of four, installed in a light or other item, will fail way before the others.
My estimate is that 10 - 20% of AA & AAA alkies are bad out of the box, although not all of them leak.
Gunnerboy
Enlightened
ALL alkaline cells will leak when DEAD and left in the light for a long periods.
Just leave yourself a reminder to turn ON the stored light once a week or so. Remove and or replace the cells immediately if they're dead.
Just leave yourself a reminder to turn ON the stored light once a week or so. Remove and or replace the cells immediately if they're dead.
Juggernaut
Flashlight Enthusiast
It seems that users experiences widely varying results with different battery brands as far as leaking goes I'd suggest using what every gives you the best results. As for me, it seems like every time I load up Duracell's batteries in a light or any thing they leak:thinking:! They have leak in many flashlights and destroyed many, many R/C cars when I was a kid:shakehead. I have had energizer AA and AAA leak once or twice before, but their D batteries have never gave me any problems "yet". I have never "That I can remember" had RayOvac batteries leak " though I never used them much" and as odd as it seems I have never experienced a zinc carbon battery leak!? In fact my grandmother gave me this old lantern "which I found was produced in the 1920-30 era" and it had what appeared to be original batteries in it and they were as dry as could be! Even after sitting around for probably 80 years
! Sadly I was only like 7 back then and must have thrown away the batteries. Stupid me 
I wish I had kept them, they had pictures of an Indian head on the side. Any one know anything about them?
! Sadly I was only like 7 back then and must have thrown away the batteries. Stupid me I wish I had kept them, they had pictures of an Indian head on the side. Any one know anything about them?GarageBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
So theres no telling?
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
No telling, really.
I have not seen a cell leak in years and that includes a variety of brands.
For all I know, when people get leaky cells it's because they were shipped across the country by truck in the summer and reached 130F during transport or storage. Or they were left in a device that was accidentally switched on. Or something like that.
I have not seen a cell leak in years and that includes a variety of brands.
For all I know, when people get leaky cells it's because they were shipped across the country by truck in the summer and reached 130F during transport or storage. Or they were left in a device that was accidentally switched on. Or something like that.
Herein I date myself...
I remember when Alkaline cells first came on the market. I believe the first brand was the "Mallory Duracell" -- as I recall, the battery itself was the full size of the cell, which is to say, there wasn't a sheetmetal wrapper around it -- the label was a thin plastic stick-on sheet rolled around the cell.
One of the selling points for these new, expensive cells (in addition to longer shelf life, longer life when in use, higher output), was that you could recharge them.
That's right -- the advertising suggested recharging them.
And, it worked great. I had one or two sets that I used for pretty much the whole life of my cassete recorder (also "new technology" back then) -- I'd use 'em up, recharge 'em, and use 'em again.
They lasted a long time, and never leaked.
I don't think this feature helped sell batteries, though. People would buy a set, and then... well, why keep buying more, if you could just recharge the ones you had? Throwing away a perfectly good battery, just because it was dead? When all you needed to do was to recharge it?
So, somewhere along the line, they started putting the "caution: world may end if battery is recharged" type warnings on them. But, as I recall, they were still able to be recharged without too much grief.
Then, they really got their act together. The greenies gave them the perfect pretext -- they went "mercury-free" and bragged about it on every cell. Gee, "mercury free" -- how wonderful. I mean, think of all the people who refused to buy alkaline batteries because they had a trace amount of mercury in them, they... oh, that's right -- no one even knew there was a trace amount of mercury in Alkaline batteries, until they announced that they'd redesigned the cells to get rid of it.
It seemed to me that they'd done something else, too. The redesign of the batteries accomplished something truly wonderful -- it enabled technology to take a giant leap backward, to march in lockstep with marketing.
Finally, those dire warnings of battery leakage if recharged... suddenly, they were true!
A typical alkaline cell seems to use a small fraction of its potential "goodness" -- and, with a mild recharge, will be as good as new (the charge up quite quickly -- SO quickly that my suspicion is that they're not actually "recharging", but more along the lines of "catching their breath" to enable them to keep using the juice still UNUSED in the electrolyte).
The thing is, you charge, and they leak. And since there's a LOT of unused goodness in 'em, they can leak a LOT.
If you charge them at a very low rate, some of them won't leak (or, some of them won't leak "right away").
I am of the belief that the alkaline batteries we use today, could be built in such a way as to allow really fantastic recharge/reuse capability -- but I am also of the belief that the current design is sort of a "short fuse" design -- look at 'em the wrong way, and they bleed out.
Oh, well, not much I can do about it. (Other than use NiMH wherever I can.)
I remember when Alkaline cells first came on the market. I believe the first brand was the "Mallory Duracell" -- as I recall, the battery itself was the full size of the cell, which is to say, there wasn't a sheetmetal wrapper around it -- the label was a thin plastic stick-on sheet rolled around the cell.
One of the selling points for these new, expensive cells (in addition to longer shelf life, longer life when in use, higher output), was that you could recharge them.
That's right -- the advertising suggested recharging them.
And, it worked great. I had one or two sets that I used for pretty much the whole life of my cassete recorder (also "new technology" back then) -- I'd use 'em up, recharge 'em, and use 'em again.
They lasted a long time, and never leaked.
I don't think this feature helped sell batteries, though. People would buy a set, and then... well, why keep buying more, if you could just recharge the ones you had? Throwing away a perfectly good battery, just because it was dead? When all you needed to do was to recharge it?
So, somewhere along the line, they started putting the "caution: world may end if battery is recharged" type warnings on them. But, as I recall, they were still able to be recharged without too much grief.
Then, they really got their act together. The greenies gave them the perfect pretext -- they went "mercury-free" and bragged about it on every cell. Gee, "mercury free" -- how wonderful. I mean, think of all the people who refused to buy alkaline batteries because they had a trace amount of mercury in them, they... oh, that's right -- no one even knew there was a trace amount of mercury in Alkaline batteries, until they announced that they'd redesigned the cells to get rid of it.
It seemed to me that they'd done something else, too. The redesign of the batteries accomplished something truly wonderful -- it enabled technology to take a giant leap backward, to march in lockstep with marketing.
Finally, those dire warnings of battery leakage if recharged... suddenly, they were true!
A typical alkaline cell seems to use a small fraction of its potential "goodness" -- and, with a mild recharge, will be as good as new (the charge up quite quickly -- SO quickly that my suspicion is that they're not actually "recharging", but more along the lines of "catching their breath" to enable them to keep using the juice still UNUSED in the electrolyte).
The thing is, you charge, and they leak. And since there's a LOT of unused goodness in 'em, they can leak a LOT.
If you charge them at a very low rate, some of them won't leak (or, some of them won't leak "right away").
I am of the belief that the alkaline batteries we use today, could be built in such a way as to allow really fantastic recharge/reuse capability -- but I am also of the belief that the current design is sort of a "short fuse" design -- look at 'em the wrong way, and they bleed out.
Oh, well, not much I can do about it. (Other than use NiMH wherever I can.)
yekim
Enlightened
I have had good luck with Kirkland batteries and Duracells, and bad luck with Energizers, though I am willing to bet, considering the variety of experiences here, that there is probably a greater variance in leak proneness between different plants and/or lot numbers than there is between brands.
