Reliability of batteries and their damage to equipment
 

Over the years working as a service tech I have seen a great deal of electronic equipment destroyed/damaged by leaking batteries.

Because of that, I have not used the ordinary carbon/zinc type of battery for years. Instead, I use either Ni-MH batteries, or whenever voltage sensitive items are used, I use Alkaline batteries. Lately, I have found two cases of an Alkaline battery leaking. In all my years of servicing these are the only cases that I have ever heard of. I wonder if the manufacturers of batteries are doing something to lower the cost of production.

When standing in the check-out line at the local $2.00 shop, I frequently see cheap zinc/carbon batteries on the hangers, that are clearly bloated and having an internal hemorrhage. The acidic discharge of these batteries does not have to contact the equipment to do damage, the fumes alone are enough to do great damage.

I advise all collectors, enthusiasts, to not leave batteries in their equipment, unless inspected weekly. Even the precaution of using Alkaline batteries can no longer be considered as fail safe insurance.

Now to further my theory, note, I said theory, not theorem, I am posting photographs of 1. A leaking Alkaline battery, 2. A couple of 80 year old batteries from one of my coffin radios. The C batteries are still providing voltage and current after all this time. (Tested with a 20,000 ohm per volt meter) which is harder on the batteries than a grid circuit of some valves.

Anyway, have a look at the photographs. I welcome your thoughts on this subject.

Wayne End of part 1

Wouldn't you know they'd be Duracells. Those are the only brand of alkalines that I've ever witnessed to leak.
Have seen them corrode up like that and to also leak a green alkaline jelly.

part 2

I have experienced leaking alkaline batteries for decades. In fact, I think they leak more often than other types. The "heavy duty" ones, they may be leak-resistant, but I never buy them. I have not seen a carbon-zinc battery for sale for years.

Interesting coincidence that I removed two sets of leaking Duracell Alkalines today, one from a CD player the other from a remote control.

One pair had an expiration date of 2015, Neither device was seriously damaged.

I just checked all my remotes, all Duracell's with 2009, 2014 and 2016 exp dates and they are all fine.
I think the problem occurs when the batteries are dead and remain in the device, dead ones corrode.

I bought a huge pack of AA Enercell Alkalines from Radio Shack a few months ago when they had them on sale for $10, hope they hold up.

I've had my best luck (and life) from Panasonic brand batteries.

Great.. another thing for me to be paranoid about. LOL!
I've had problems with leaking alkaline batteries the last few years. In my case.. they were all Ray-O-Vac, and figured it was limited to that brand and to never buy them again. I'll have to do better on checking the other brands I have at home.

Were they as bad as these? Expired in 2009, picture from 2008. I've seen the same destructive leakage from Energizers too.

I've found that alkaline cells that have been subjected to a high current drain first use cycle, but which have plenty of remaining punch left are highly susceptible to becoming leakers before very long.
What they will leak is a clear liquid that isn't nearly as corrosive as the magunga which used to leak from zinc carbon cells.

Vast majority I've seen have been in low current remote controls, just sitting too long usually. What' bad is when they leak in a Mag Lite-type flashlight and corrode the threads so you can't get it apart. Trapped gasses will slowly eat away the aluminum coating on the reflector. A slow agonizing death to a flashlight.

...

I have found alkalines to leak badly sometimes even before they are run down. I have a calculator that I use at work every day and I noticed a little alkaline battery corrosion on one of the terminals. Check your batteries often and never leave them in anything unused. In fact, maybe I will remove the alkaline batteries from my CCRadio 2 that I run exclusively off of AC. I would hate for anything to happen to that. In my expensive pocket flashlight, I use AA lithium cells. They are expensive but don't seem to leak and they last a while.

Pinball machines!

Some pinballs use 3 AA batteries for their CMOS ram backup. Operators usually knew about them...homeowners that have machines...don't. Usually when I customer calls us about a problem...chances are the batteries are 10 to 15 years past date and destroyed the board. I mean...I've had boards I've had to throw away because the battery damage was so severe it could not be repaired.

I've seen every brand of alkaline do this...usually long past expiration. Super heavy dutys I've seen split a seam..but rarely ever cause corrosion damage.

Sent from my SPH-M910 using Tapatalk

Thank you for reminding me. I need to check my Firepower machine.

This is a huge problem now. I first noticed it when I was doing sound for a show and the duracel 9 volt exploded in the wireless mic. Then I noticed the bottoms were blowing out on duracel batteries while they were in the package.
All of them seem to leak now.
I have a feeling its due to China or the no mercury thing.
I have moved into rechargeables and Li ion where I can.

I once for some reason opened a working remotes compartment to find the battery leaking fluid.:yikes: I imediatly pulled the batteries and washed the compartment out before it was damaged too much.

Seen some 80's duracells a couple years back that looked a lot worse than anything posted yet.

It is really impressive that those 80 year old C supply batteries are still good!

Back in ancient times flashlight cells of different sizes didn't have metal jackets, but were in a printed cardboard sleeve that you could push the cell out of! My Dad gave me a black and chrome EverReady penlight when I was 4 years old and of course I left the battery of two AA cells in it and they leaked leaving the flashlight plugged. At that time before 1950 or so RayOVac was I believe the only "sealed in steel" cell and guaranteed leakproof or they'd replace your flashlight. I think Burgess D cells may have been also in steel, when I got into radio in the early fifties. I remember seeing lots of the older carbon zinc cells leaking, but then ran across this no-leak anomaly which sits on my desk.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...adyCell004.jpg

I've seen the most leakage issues with Energizers, although I've had some Duracells leak too. I've never had any Ray-O-Vac leak, although I don't have as many of that brand in service. In years past, I've had Duracells that were over 20 years old and still showed a full charge, and no leakage. I get the impression that battery makers have cheapened up the product in the last few years.

I've had AA Ray-O-Vac's leak in (and screw up) my digital home thermostat...smoke detector.. AND DVD remote. Will never ever buy that brand again. (and all batteries leaked before the "best if used by" date)

I reckon the battery makers are now at the mercy of the 'green'/environmental advocacy groups.
Brands which I frequently use are Energizer and Everready...I have a few nice mag-lites and one had a bad leak which rotted the spring in the base... I was able to obtain a new part luckily for around 9 bucks in a local junk shop.
The leakiest ones I've encountered have been Duracells too. Starting to see a trend.
And it's ironic since, growing up, we ONLY bought Duracell and yes they were a high-quality product from what I recall.

Back then (well, when I grew up anyway) Duracell was a Mallory product, and I remember them being the best available at the time.
These days I don't see much difference between brands. I see just about all of them leaking, usually when I dig out someones remote control that has been in a drawer since 1995 and it still has the first set of batteries in it. I rarely see good batteries leak, but it seems the chemistry changes when they are dead. (Imagine that!)

Just yesterday, I dug out a Canon T-50 film SLR and my old Bearcat scanner. The alkalines in the Canon and the Ni-Cads in the Bearcat have both leaked, and now I gotta find how to get them out and clean up the mess.
:rant:
Ooh. I can get in touch with Eveready for the Energizers in the camera. Their warranty says they'll repair or replace anything that is damaged by a battery of theirs that leaks. Should be interesting as the T-50 has been out of production since 1989. :smoke:

Call me crazy, but I use Ultimate Lithium's from Energizer. Not only do they, in my Apple Magic Mouse, last a crap ton longer, but they NEVER seem to leak.

In this mouse, a Alkaline battery is lucky to last a couple weeks. On Ultimate Lithiums, it lasts several months.

That's really neat - I didn't know they were called "D" cells so early. How do the top and bottom of the cell look?

I've noticed a lot more leakage from alkalines compared to a few years ago. Most recently it was with an early 60s GE transistor radio that uses D cells. For some reason I pulled the battery cover and it was a mass of corrosion. They weren't dead and the radio would still work if I jostled the cells. I had ignored the warnings in that case and installed a hodgepodge of cells, I think a mix of Duracell and some Radio Schlocks.

around the early 90s my father bought a rechargeable G.E. wallmounted unit with slots for C, AA, AAA, and D cells and the batteries were branded G.E. as well. Black case cells with cursive blue GE symbols. That set-up lasted many years and I just got rid of it all a few years ago. We had to replace the AAs since they got the hardest use. I remember it was a big deal when he bought the system because it wasn't cheap.

Ni-cads gas off when they get old too. My IVIE spectrum analyzer was a victim of it's internal batteries! I use Ni MH now for rechargeables.

I had excellent results from the Energizer "E2 Titanium AA" cells. I put a pair in my HVAC thermostat in 2001 and kinda forgot it has batteries in it until last summer. Expecting to see some leakage I took it off the wall and all was clean. Tested the battery voltage and they still had about 1.4V per battery. They had an expiration date in 2007. I think I got my moneys worth! Seems they quit making those when I tried to find more.

BTW I've had NiMH leak too.

Why do the makers insist on putting corrosive crap in batteries anyway? :scratch2: :dammit: :D

I use NiMH batteries in a 2-meter amateur radio transceiver as well. Its first set of batteries was, IIRC, four NiCads, but they never leaked or otherwise made a mess in the battery compartment -- they just got old and to the point where they wouldn't hold a charge any longer. That's when I bought a set of four NiMH cells, and never looked back. Those batteries are much better than NiCads because, among other things, they do not have the "memory" effect NC batteries have, so one can recharge NiMH cells whenever they get weak -- no waiting for the batteries to go almost completely dead, as with NiCads. The memory effect in the latter is the phenomenon by which a NC battery, if charged before it is completely dead, will charge only to a certain point, then will not take any further charging.

I have used NC batteries in my portable ham gear for years, but since discovering NiMH cells and being very pleased with their performance, as I said earlier, I will not go back to the former. A four-cell battery pack I use with another handheld I own also has NiMH cells, but it doesn't get much use for reasons better gone into in the Amateur Radio forum. That NiMH pack, however, to the best of my knowledge, still works, and well.

I wonder if NiCad cells are still being manufactured today, or are all rechargeable batteries sold in the US now NiMH cells or packs? I would think, considering the fact that NiMH cells have no memory effect and can have higher current output than NC batteries, the former have pretty much if not totally replaced the latter in most high-current applications such as two-way radios, TV remotes, flashlights, any motorized device, et al.

I generally replace old NiCads with NiMH too, but some NiCad chargers won't charge NiMH properly. Maybe not up to a full charge, or the trickle charge current might be too high for NiMH.

MaxHifi asked....Here's the top of the 1945 EverReady. The metal cap on top of the positive carbon has EverReady stamped into the metal around the periphery. The top seal around that is some kind of hard black composition. The bottom of the cell is the actual zinc cylinder and is just a dull gray color. The DVM says it still has about 0.1 volt of potential.

My uncle who was in radio in the late twenties and thirties as a kid said he would round up old No. 6 "dead" dry cells, punch holes in the top, and submerge them in a bucket of water overnight. They would come back enough to be useful for a while strung together to light up some 01A's. I have some of his old tubes and equipment.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...adyCell002.jpg

I had the same problem with "new" batteries leaking a little while ago - made a video of it: http://youtu.be/Exv61hUTblA

Like everybody else I have seen plenty of leaking alkaline and zinc carbon cells. Since they are normally user accessible, as long as you are careful to not leave batteries in equipment the problem is manageable.

The more serious issue is NiCad cells and batteries. I collect old computer gear and the first thing I do now is open them up and remove the NiCad batteries as they are VERY corrosive when they start gassing. The problem is these batteries were soldered in as they were expected to last the life of the equipment. 1980's TV's, some test equipment and anything else that relies on battery backed up memory is at risk. A lot of 1990's era computer equipment is now scrap due to severe damage caused by gassy NiCads.

So far I haven't seen any problems with old Lithium cells as used in later computers and old Apple Macs. I still pull the cells whenever I can though as a precaution.

Another one, from a radio controlled clock that just quit working, took off the wall and discovered a mess. Cleaned it up, put in a new battery and all OK.

Boy, does this hit close to home. We all now have lots of battery operated equipment. You just can't avoid it. I have a Nikon Speedlight that my daughter gave to me for the Nikon digital camera. I had installed Eveready Energizer batteries in it. It started to act flaky so I checked the batteries. They had leaked all inside of the device. And still, they had over a year left on the expiry date. Now, the expensive flash is ruined and Eveready could care less. I suspect that the batteries are being purchased "Off Shore" and are just junk. I will never use Energizers again...

I have had 4 of my Mag-Lite flashlights ruined by duracell batteries. The Mag-Lite + swelled battery combo has been well griped about all over the 'net. There is such a small gap between the batteries and the side wall, when they swell the least bit, they get stuck. If they swell alot, they get VERY stuck, heh. I have had to drill a hole through the batteries, and make a corkscrew out of a thick coat hanger and thread it through the battery and pull like a slide hammer until it comes out. All of these batteries swelled before they were totally dead. The flashlights still lit, just kinda dim. These weren't just drawer flashlights either, these were flashlights I used daily for work. Something has definitely changed where these batteries swell and leak before they are even dead!

I seriously doubt that your Speedlight is actually ruined. Have you tried cleaning the battery contacts? My best guess is when the Energizers leaked they just deposited a lot of electrolyte on the terminals. The only way I can imagine your light could be truly ruined or destroyed is if the electrolyte remained on the terminals for an extended length of time; this of course will corrode and eventually eat away the contacts. Get to the terminals in time, however, and you may have a good chance of salvaging the flash unit.

I bought a digital multimeter several years ago; when it arrived here at my apartment (I had bought the meter from Amateur Electronic Supply in Milwaukee and had been delivered here via UPS), it wouldn't work. I took it back to the store (a local branch of AES some 15 miles from me) and was told the internal battery (don't recall what type of cell) was dead; in fact, it had leaked in its compartment.

I picked out another, better meter, signed the warranty forms, and brought it home. Not five minutes worth of trouble with the new meter since; in fact, it still has its original 9-volt battery which is still going strong, but for how much longer is anyone's guess. I am not sure of the make of the battery in that meter (I think it may be Eveready, and maybe an Energizer at that), but if it is an offshore brand I just might replace it on general principles.

There is no telling these days where any kind of battery may have been made. Just because the battery has the Energizer name and logo on it does not necessarily or in fact mean they are true Eveready Energizers; in fact, the chances are good they are offshore garbage with the Eveready name hastily slapped on them.

I've had good luck reviving the maglite bottom(neg) spring with light sandpaper and isopropyl.
Thats crazy how some can swell inside the shaft and get stuck!

I went and looked at a vacuum tube voltmeter today at the local auction house(pre online auction viewing). One look and I walked away. The poor thing had corrosion seeping out all around the bottom case seam. I don't even want to know what it looks like inside. I also recently was given a TV tuner sub that's all messed up from someone leaving the batteries in it. :sigh: