Leaking Batteries

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A month or so ago one of our quartz clocks stopped and when I changed the battery, found it to be leaking. There was quite a bit of corrosion and it took quite a bit of effort to clean it up.

A few weeks ago we were travelling and (even though they were still running) took our "good" watches to a master watchmaker known to us to put new batteries in them. He said it's a good idea to do that after about 4 years even if the watch is still running, and within a year if it stops.

So I started looking at our other remotes, clocks, etc having batteries. I found a number of leaking batteries, some outside the best before dates, but many within. All in all I found 8 or 10 leaking batteries. If anything, the brand name batteries were the worst performers.

So - it would be a good idea to check all your batteries. I'm also going to remove the batteries from unused controls until I want to use them.
 
Lithium ones or Eneloops come to rescue, have yet to see one leaking. Made in Japan Maxell alkalines used to be sold on Amazon, no more. Those were non-leaking for some reasons. US-made batteries are no better than Chicoms in this regard.
 
Originally Posted by Y_K
Lithium ones or Eneloops come to rescue, have yet to see one leaking.


^ This.

I don't put alkaline batteries in things I care about.
 
A little vinegar is good for cleaning up the corrosion. My wife has a ton of Xmas decorations and often leaves the batteries in after they die. Then, next season I'm tasked with cleaning things up. She's vowed to stop her ways.
 
Originally Posted by Y_K
Lithium ones or Eneloops come to rescue, have yet to see one leaking. Made in Japan Maxell alkalines used to be sold on Amazon, no more. Those were non-leaking for some reasons. US-made batteries are no better than Chicoms in this regard.


I started buying eneloops in 2011 and I haven't had one fail yet. I just tested some of the older ones and they still have 1875 to 1925 mAh capacity!!!
 
Eneloops here, too. I bought a cheapish smart-charger to prevent over/under-charging, too.

For the kids toys, which sometimes take D batteries, I have adapters. As he loses interest in a new toy and wants to play with an old toy, I swap batteries.

I don't even know how many batteries I have. I just swap out alkalines as soon as they're dead and buy more Eneloops when I need them.

As a side note, my LED lanterns take four D batteries, so the adapter I use for the kids' toys double as adapters for the lanterns.
 
Originally Posted by ecotourist
A month or so ago one of our quartz clocks stopped and when I changed the battery, found it to be leaking. There was quite a bit of corrosion and it took quite a bit of effort to clean it up.

A few weeks ago we were travelling and (even though they were still running) took our "good" watches to a master watchmaker known to us to put new batteries in them. He said it's a good idea to do that after about 4 years even if the watch is still running, and within a year if it stops.

So I started looking at our other remotes, clocks, etc having batteries. I found a number of leaking batteries, some outside the best before dates, but many within. All in all I found 8 or 10 leaking batteries. If anything, the brand name batteries were the worst performers.

So - it would be a good idea to check all your batteries. I'm also going to remove the batteries from unused controls until I want to use them.


What brand were the leaking ones?
 
Originally Posted by Leo99
A little vinegar is good for cleaning up the corrosion. My wife has a ton of Xmas decorations and often leaves the batteries in after they die. Then, next season I'm tasked with cleaning things up. She's vowed to stop her ways.


Vinegar is an acid, I would think it would be best to use something to counteract what I assume is acid in the battery. With a pH above 7.
 
Originally Posted by Leo99
A little vinegar is good for cleaning up the corrosion. My wife has a ton of Xmas decorations and often leaves the batteries in after they die. Then, next season I'm tasked with cleaning things up. She's vowed to stop her ways.

I stumbled on this tip about a month ago and had a chance to try it out on a quartz clock at Mom's -- it worked like a charm.

In this case, Ray-O-Vac batteries and the "best by" date was December 2019. They used to be my go-to battery when Energizers started leaking for me, but now they're just as bad.
 
Originally Posted by opus1
In this case, Ray-O-Vac batteries and the "best by" date was December 2019. They used to be my go-to battery when Energizers started leaking for me, but now they're just as bad.


Energizer owns Rayovac now.
 
I have gone back to using zinc-carbon batteries in my low-draw devices (like remote controls) because of this problem.
 
From what I've heard, a lot of the batteries sold on Amazon are either fake or cheaply made.

The Eneloops and Panasonic batteries are top notch.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
From what I've heard, a lot of the batteries sold on Amazon are either fake or cheaply made.

The Eneloops and Panasonic batteries are top notch.
The Panasonic/Sanyo Eneloops are THE most commonly counterfeited batteries.
 
Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by PimTac
From what I've heard, a lot of the batteries sold on Amazon are either fake or cheaply made.

The Eneloops and Panasonic batteries are top notch.
The Panasonic/Sanyo Eneloops are THE most commonly counterfeited batteries.




Yes, online such as Amazon. Good luck finding them in a store though.
 
Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by PimTac
From what I've heard, a lot of the batteries sold on Amazon are either fake or cheaply made.

The Eneloops and Panasonic batteries are top notch.
The Panasonic/Sanyo Eneloops are THE most commonly counterfeited batteries.


While some dislike Walmart for how they treat their employees, I think they go to great lengths to make sure what they get product wise are the real McCoy.

Amazon could work harder in this area.

I had to buy some batteries on Amazon for a smart home sensor and felt that some of the listings were counterfeit. The reviews had some people say the batteries came in baggies with no other individual packaging.
 
Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by PimTac
From what I've heard, a lot of the batteries sold on Amazon are either fake or cheaply made.

The Eneloops and Panasonic batteries are top notch.
The Panasonic/Sanyo Eneloops are THE most commonly counterfeited batteries.


I check all of mine as soon as they come in. I never remember all of the tricks, so I Google how to do it each time. One thing I haven't been doing is a weight test (I don't have a kitchen scale) nor the capacity check when they first arrive. I'm not good about checking voltage, either; I usually just toss them on the charger to top-off and then use them for what I need them for. They usually do take some charge, even though they come pre-charged.

Even still, I wonder if some counterfeiters have gotten good enough to nearly identically simulate the read deal.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by Leo99
A little vinegar is good for cleaning up the corrosion. My wife has a ton of Xmas decorations and often leaves the batteries in after they die. Then, next season I'm tasked with cleaning things up. She's vowed to stop her ways.


Vinegar is an acid, I would think it would be best to use something to counteract what I assume is acid in the battery. With a pH above 7.



You're thinking correctly but household batteries like AA, C, D are alkaline batteries. Alkaline is a base. Need an acid to counteract the base that is leaking from the battery.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
What brand were the leaking ones?

I've kept most of them for recycling so I'll go over them and do a little report. Been busy all day today and it's getting pretty late, so not tonight..
 
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