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Dreadful modern batteries

OK -I hit the part about Lithiums not leaking because of dry chemistry awhile back -that was immediately followed by the sound of me beatin feet for the big box store and spendin 30 bucks on AA's and AAA for my remotes -will now follow this thread for awhile to see if a consensus develops in favor of particular charger/rechargeable Lithium battery. I keep original remotes around for easier programing of oddball features and use my semi-smart multi-device remotes for day to day use. This has caught me with dead and leaking alkaline's a number of times over the years. Care less with a remote if the battery goes just plain dead - but really don't want it leaking.
 
Although Lithium may have been mentioned, the specific rechargeable batteries being discussed here are all NiMH (Nickel-metal hydride).

Li-ion (Lithium-ion) rechargeable cells require a specific type of charger that is designed to provide staged charging, with the first stage being constant current (CC) and the second being constant voltage (CV); these for a single cell - multiple cells in series require an initial balancing stage between CC and CV. Failing this, there be dragons. Thankfully, the battery industry has seen fit to not make these the same size/format as HR6 AA or HR03 AAA.
 

Fascinating video from Dave on EEVBlog regarding a leaking Duracell 9V battery. I really wasn’t expecting what was inside it (6xAAAA batteries!).

PS I’ve still not figured out what to do with 9V batteries yet so still have alkaline ones in some very nice kit (my Fluke multimeter, sound meters, guitar tuners etc). I’m not bothered about smoke alarms, they are cheap enough just to replace if a battery leaks, but I would like to find a non-leak solution for the nice stuff. I’m tempted just to buy lithium batteries as its all low-draw stuff, but any other suggestions?
 
Several decades ago I purchased an Eveready heavy duty rubber torch, put two Duracell D type cells in, and very soon they leaked and destroyed the torch. The cells had a guarantee that if they leaked and damaged an appliance, that and the cells would be replaced. Duracell asked for the torch to be returned, they reported back to me of faulty seals in the cells. They provided a payment so that I could buy a replacement torch and cells and cover my postage.

I have not had a problem with Poundland Alkaline cells, I think Big Clive reckoned that they had a good capacity.

As for 9V (PP3 size) batteries, I use Aldi or Lidl ones, no problems so far, some are more than 10 years old.
 
I’ve never had a 9V battery fail, it’s always multiple 1.5V batteries in series that leak for me, which I assume is due to one dying and then ending up being reverse-charged by the others in the device. I was therefore worried to see Dave unearth this construction in the Duracell 9V. Have 9V batteries always been made this way? I guess they have another level of sealing as the six smaller cells are sealed again in an outer case, but even so I’m a bit nervous having one in a £300+ Fluke multimeter!
 
I really wasn’t expecting what was inside it (6xAAAA batteries!).

Any particular chemical reaction used as a battery can only ever produce a specific voltage - hence 12V lead-acid accumulators are actually 6 x 2V cells in series. Making a single cell bigger just gives it higher current/power. Even now, you see stacks of buton cells in things like torches for the same reason.

I thought that every kid pulled dud batteries apart?

Anything used routinely here gets a rechargeable set and has done for something like 30 years. I have never had one leak but can recall the odd one that starts to go powdery under the outer shrink-sleeve label.

I must be very lucky - I don't recall having a battery leak, ever, but presumably must have at some stage.
 
I’ve never had a 9V battery fail, it’s always multiple 1.5V batteries in series that leak for me, which I assume is due to one dying and then ending up being reverse-charged by the others in the device. I was therefore worried to see Dave unearth this construction in the Duracell 9V. Have 9V batteries always been made this way? I guess they have another level of sealing as the six smaller cells are sealed again in an outer case, but even so I’m a bit nervous having one in a £300+ Fluke multimeter!
Correctly speaking the 9V is a battery of cells whilst a 1.5V is a cell. I used to use B122 22.5V batteries (long and thin) in my constant current test source and a 90V HT battery in portable valve radios. The only battery to leak was the 3V LT just two large cells wired together. In those days cells weren't sealed and the Zinc case had a paper sleeve. I used to cycle 3 sets of U2 cells for my portable radio as the resting period extended their life. I've just chucked out a mini maglite as the HP16s had totally corroded the whole thing. I miss the old grid bias battery (PP10?) that had multiple cells with plug sockets at 1.5V increments. They were filled with pitch and don't recall them leaking. Very useful when experimenting as a kid.

Cheers,

DV
 
Any particular chemical reaction used as a battery can only ever produce a specific voltage - hence 12V lead-acid accumulators are actually 6 x 2V cells in series. Making a single cell bigger just gives it higher current/power. Even now, you see stacks of buton cells in things like torches for the same reason.

I thought that every kid pulled dud batteries apart?

Anything used routinely here gets a rechargeable set and has done for something like 30 years. I have never had one leak but can recall the odd one that starts to go powdery under the outer shrink-sleeve label.

I must be very lucky - I don't recall having a battery leak, ever, but presumably must have at some stage.
A 12V accumulator is actually 13.2V fully charges and each cell is 2.2V. When I first started work at 15 the works master clock was driven by a cupboard full of wet Leclanche cells all wired in series. These were largish glass pots with a central porous clay pot containing the Graphite positive electrode buried in Manganese Dioxide depolariser and a solid Zinc negative electode. The pot was filled with Ammonium Chloride solution.

My fave are NiFe cells as they will withstand serious abuse and can be relied upon under severe conditions Only 1.2V per cell under load though.

The 15V B154 used in my Avometer Model 8 is difficult and expensive (around £10) to source so I use 5 cheap Li button cells in a plastic tube and a home made spring to fill the space so as to fit in the meter.

Cheers,

DV
 
Just to briefly update this thread:

The mass replacement with Panasonic Eneloop and Ikea rechargables (same thing) for all my AA and AAA devices has worked perfectly so far, not even needed to recharge anything yet. Definitely worth doing. I just wish they made 9V and larger type C and D 1.5V batteries as I’ve some kit that uses them (smoke alarms and the multimeter for the former, some vintage Yamaha and Casio keyboards for the latter).

It occurred to me to check any kit I have with little button cells, e.g. LR43 etc as disappointingly much of this is alkaline and therefore crap. I checked my cheap Chinese stylus balance and both power cells were showing distinct signs (damp, tarnish of the battery itself) though thankfully hadn’t yet got to the stage of corroding the terminals of the device.

25164498516_da045ce342_c.jpg


If your stylus balance looks anything like this, and a great many do as it is widely rebranded, then its batteries are likely either leaking or at least thinking about it. Don’t trust it even if it is still working perfectly (mine was).

A quick google implies the SR43 and 386 are non-alkaline (silver oxide) equivalents so I’ll go shopping for some later.

PS The more commonly found CR2032 coin cell are lithium so should be fine.
 
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Tony, just put a slip of paper between battery and terminal in any device you use less than monthly. I do this with all my devices, never had a battery leak as a result.

Done this way they should be good for five years of neglect.
 
PP3 and D cells are getting hard to find. We use an optical toll tag transponder in Malaysia that eats the PP3s and this is going to be a pain soon
My gas hob uses a D cell to power the igniter.
 
I tend to use rechargeable batteries and have good results with most but especially Eneloop which used to be a Sanyo product but are now Panasonic. Are rechargeable batteries less prone to these problems as so far I have yet to discover one that has done a ‘Duracell’?

I agree rechargeable AAs etc the way to go they have decent capacities these days. But I also have a torch that should take 3 AAAs but the body will take an 18650 rechargeable lithium with a bit of padding I salvaged from an old notebook that used banks of them in its battery pack. By the way a good charger for many types incl the 18650 is the Nitecore i2 ( there is 4 cell version but I understand not so good), quite cheap at about £10 or so

The only time I bought some Duracells was that they have a known voltage at new of about 1.65V to test my cheap voltmeter against ( was way out)
 
I came across this thread looking for recommended battery manufacturers: I am looking for decent CR2430 batteries as the latest replacements only seem to last for a couple of weeks rather than months ( in a watchman oil tank alarm) while their predecessors used to last for months or indeed years.
The manufacturer stipulates Varta which seemed great in the past but not recently. Being woken by a false alarm in the small hours is a real pita. Has anyone tried the supposedly Swiss made Renata batteries or has any other recommendations please?
 
I use Duracell batteries in various radio microphones and have never had any problems at all.
I used an Energiser once and it didn’t last as long and was slightly leaking when I removed it.
 


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