Author Topic: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh  (Read 11017 times)

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Online BravoVTopic starter

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YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« on: April 22, 2017, 09:05:49 pm »
Friend gave me a sealed Energizer alkaline batteries just for giggle, as he knows me as a fanatic Eneloop users and never allowed any Alkaline AA or AAA cells to touch my electronics.

Even though its not very fresh, maybe it was kept for few years, but he assured me it was stored in dry and stable temperature and about 25 or 26C throughout the years, and I believe him as he does collect lots of expensive camera bodies and lenses in temp & humidity controlled box, so he aware of this matter.

Its the Energizer brand that is sold here locally, and the price basically higher than local brand's Alkaline, but yet its well known for leak even unused. And worst is, at the package its printed (translated) ... Power SEAL Technology ... with Locked Power Up to 10 YEARS !"  :palm:

Enough said, just let the attached photo below speaks for it self, just watch the expiry date and the manufacturing origin.

Also this post is a reminder if you use alkaline, its time for to check them in your expensive gadgets.


PS : Also the same crap, that were ruining my Fluke 287 few years ago when I bought it as they were came installed in it, and this photo was shot at 2013, just watch the expiry date too -> Rotten Energizer Alkaline cells in 2013 ruined Fluke 287 contacts :rant:

« Last Edit: April 22, 2017, 09:15:45 pm by BravoV »
 

Offline Vtile

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2017, 09:34:25 pm »
Well if you hook those particular models and brand to the 500mA contant current load and unload it to 0.7 volts you will notice it might have some other aspects also than leaking, that might make you hrmpf. well you can quess (I did for AAA).
 

Offline Red Squirrel

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2017, 09:35:16 pm »
Wow that's kinda bad.  Though 25C does seem quite high if it's a continuous temp.    But that's probably within spec so should still not be an issue. 

Makes me realize I need to organize my batteries better, and preferably in plastic containers.  Lot of them are just loose in a cabinet.  I find there are certain things that just won't take rechargeables as the voltage is too low so I keep alkalines around too. I think those are a use case where a batterizer might actually work.  :-DD 
 

Online BravoVTopic starter

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2017, 09:45:07 pm »
Well if you hook those particular models and brand to the 500mA contant current load and unload it to 0.7 volts you will notice it might have some other aspects also than leaking, that might make you hrmpf. well you can quess (I did for AAA).

Yes, I did that at those bastards that ruined my 287 few years ago.  >:(

They're unused or not drained, yet leaked, and they still can give you power.

Here comes the danger, the voltage reading especially unloaded or very lightly loaded maybe by the low power auxiliary voltage reading circuit only, not the main load, sometimes can mislead that user thought its still fresh and skip the physical inspection, so becareful.


Online BravoVTopic starter

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2017, 09:59:29 pm »
Wow that's kinda bad.  Though 25C does seem quite high if it's a continuous temp.    But that's probably within spec so should still not be an issue. 

It must not be an issue at all, as these were sold "legally" here, imported by legal Energizer representative office. Also its not like they're new here, I've seen this brand sold for decades here.

It is a tropical country, their pink bunny loving battery designers/engineers should have known and aware about this climate thing, aren't they ?  ::)

Offline Electro Detective

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2017, 11:48:51 pm »
My first reply comment posting on EEVblog.

First up, variable 300 to 400 degree warm greetings to all fellow solder iron wielding Ladies and Gentleman on EEVblog :)

----------

FWiW the leaking battery plague has actually gone my way recently in a weird positive direction.

I could afford to buy 6 unloved quality used meters (assorted Flukes and a Kyoritsu) for less than the price of 1 new meter because you guessed it, all had severe battery leakage problems, and once pointed out, the store manager/staff keen to let them go dirt cheap (heavy markdown loss) with no warranty of course.

The retail take is they are worth next to nothing in that state to the shop, just return hassles, refunds and complaints, and or would have been binned in the future as damaged or NRV stock.
The deal was I take them as is for parts, oh yeah   8)

------------------

And what an MESS   :palm:  those self nuked Enerjizzzer batteries made, the (expletive) cr*p was everywhere on the boards, in powder and fluid form, over, under and around components, blah blah... 

Took an entire day to disassemble the lot and sort them out, featuring rubber gloves and old clothing all the way.

LOL, the Fluke 289 had a double whammy on it, the dreaded supercRapacitor on the board was a bit crusty too but scrubbed up ok with some alco. I'll have to get that sucker out one day once I source what to put in that won't leak, or kill the board in the process, so I'll let sleeping dogs lie for now. 


All the meters amazingly work great now  :-DMM   :-DMM   :-DMM   and up to perfect spec, even with severely corroded battery contacts that are now clean bare metal but do the job fine with no contact resistance issues. 


I would suggest that people check/inspect their battery gadgets every 3 months and have their unused meters parked face up so that if the batteries do leak, it may not get to the board easily. 


Thanks Eveready, saved me a bundle on meters I could never afford, keep up the ummm.. good work!     :-+


 

Offline SeanB

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2017, 11:57:02 am »
I have some of that batch, and am using them slowly in wall clocks, as there them leaking is not too much of a worry, on a wall clock that costs less than the pack of 8 cells did. Also have some in remote controls, so will have to remember to pull all of them open and check for leaking cells there, but most are now using AAA cells though, and those die a lot faster.
 

Offline Kuro

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2017, 02:39:06 pm »
All Alkalines seem affected these days, Varta, Energizer, Duracell, GP... Any chance there's a chemical compound that's polluted and they all buy from the same supplier? Or environmental rules that made them swap out a chemical for another, with these results? Or just plain greed (drop quality until customers' dissatisfaction grows to the point it would eat profits)?

A shame standard battery development has ground to a halt, no new tech on the horizon.

BTW, would it make a difference in what position you store alkalines i.e. lying down or standing upright?
The universe is made of protons, neutrons, electrons and morons - March for Science 2017
 

Offline tablatronix

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2017, 04:59:46 pm »
I thought it was just me, had several devices including my apple mouse, and fluke network analyzer almost ruined last month. Haven't seen a leaked battery in a decade before that. Will never buy energizers or duracell again.
 
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Offline HighVoltage

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2017, 05:37:46 pm »
I just had a couple Duracell AA batteries ruin my calculator that was not used in years. My fault, because I did not check on the batteries at all.

So, what is the best AA brand that will definitely not leak ?
There are 3 kinds of people in this world, those who can count and those who can not.
 

Offline edpalmer42

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2017, 07:45:07 pm »
I just had a couple Duracell AA batteries ruin my calculator that was not used in years. My fault, because I did not check on the batteries at all.

So, what is the best AA brand that will definitely not leak ?

There's no such thing as a consumer-grade leakproof alkaline battery.  All you can do is get one that's less likely to leak.  Even that is a moving target because I'm sure that the manufacturers are continuously tweaking their seals to make their products more robust.  If you forget about the batteries and leave them for years they will leak.

I have a big box of slightly used AA cells that were rescued from a battery recycling bin some years ago.  In the 'best before 2014' cells, I've got Duracell, Rayovac, Maxell, Panasonic, but no Eveready or Energizer.  In the 'best before 2015' cells, I've got all of the above plus lots of Energizer and Energizer Industrial.  I store them with the bottoms visible so that I can see when they start to get furry and pull them out before they make a mess. 

Looks like the only sure things in life are death, taxes, and leaky batteries.   ::)

Ed
 

Offline mcinque

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2017, 08:57:13 pm »
So, what is the best AA brand that will definitely not leak ?
Lithium technlogy (Enegizer/Varta Lithium)?
 

Offline Kilrah

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #12 on: April 24, 2017, 09:45:34 pm »
Energizer actually now guarantees their MAX batteries won't leak for 2 years after they're depleted and replace your device if they do.
http://www.energizer.com/about-batteries/battery-leakage

So you should defnitely contact them, pretty funny to have unused ones already rotten. Counterfeits?

And indeed Lithium ones do not suffer from corrosion problems.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2017, 09:47:49 pm by Kilrah »
 

Offline amyk

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #13 on: April 25, 2017, 02:51:44 am »
Do I see vent holes and bottom indents? Those don't look like the Energizers I've seen... but then again, I haven't looked at an AA closely for years...

...and this post I've found suggests the bottom indent is actually an Eveready:

http://goughlui.com/2016/12/19/great-aa-alkaline-battery-test-pt-4-cell-physical-characteristics/
 

Offline t_ryner

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2017, 03:15:56 am »
:palm:self nuked Enerjizzzer batteries
:-DD
 

Offline helius

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #15 on: April 25, 2017, 03:18:07 am »
...and this post I've found suggests the bottom indent is actually an Eveready:
Energizer and Everready are made by the same company. One has the marching rabbit mascot and the other has a black cat. The Everready brand is used for zinc carbon cells and industrial batteries.
 

Offline t_ryner

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #16 on: April 25, 2017, 03:19:54 am »
Those seem bootleg, as that packaging is not familiar looking.
 

Offline edpalmer42

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2017, 04:08:02 am »
...and this post I've found suggests the bottom indent is actually an Eveready:
Energizer and Everready are made by the same company. One has the marching rabbit mascot and the other has a black cat. The Everready brand is used for zinc carbon cells and industrial batteries.

No, I bought Eveready NiMh and alkaline batteries within the last year or two at retail stores (Target Canada & Canadian Tire, respectively).  Both have the black cat/number 9 logo.  Before I saw them, I would have agreed with you.

As for Energizer vs. Eveready, if memory serves, it started out as Eveready Energizer.  When it became so popular, it was spun off into a seperate company/division/whatever.

Ed
 

Offline SkyMaster

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #18 on: April 25, 2017, 04:15:30 am »
Those seem bootleg, as that packaging is not familiar looking.

Europe and Asia often have different battery packaging than North America.

 :)
 

Offline edpalmer42

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #19 on: April 25, 2017, 04:17:44 am »
Those seem bootleg, as that packaging is not familiar looking.

Where's the pink bunny??  Is that character not used in the far east?  http://www.energizer.ca/

Ed
 

Offline Gary350z

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #20 on: April 25, 2017, 07:08:33 am »
and am using them slowly in wall clocks...

That's not going to work. I had two wall clocks destroyed by alkalines. And the clocks were still running. :wtf:
 

Offline Jwalling

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #21 on: April 25, 2017, 11:08:19 am »
Energizer actually now guarantees their MAX batteries won't leak for 2 years after they're depleted and replace your device if they do.
http://www.energizer.com/about-batteries/battery-leakage

So you should defnitely contact them, pretty funny to have unused ones already rotten. Counterfeits?

And indeed Lithium ones do not suffer from corrosion problems.

The Lithium batteries that came with Agilent 34970A mainframes say otherwise. I've seen ones that leaked in these and had eaten away a trace or two.
I can't remember the maker of the battery...  free_electron has seen this as well.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-34970a-errors-740-741-747-748/msg613607/#msg613607

Sometimes, when you de-solder them, you'll get a BANG! when the stuff gets heated up.

Jay

System error. Strike any user to continue.
 

Offline mcinque

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #22 on: April 25, 2017, 11:23:55 am »
I've seen ones that leaked in these and had eaten away a trace or two.
How old they were? Years? Decades?
 

Offline Jwalling

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #23 on: April 25, 2017, 01:30:49 pm »
I've seen ones that leaked in these and had eaten away a trace or two.
How old they were? Years? Decades?

Probably a decade or a bit more IIRC.
Jay

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Offline james_s

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Re: YARA - Yet Another Rotten Alkalines ... sigh
« Reply #24 on: April 25, 2017, 07:03:17 pm »
I've heard it suggested that alkaline batteries got a lot more leaky when they went to mercury-free formulations. That does seem like a reasonable hypothesis since that roughly coincides with the era of batteries I first started to notice a large uptick in the number of leaky batteries. I can't point to a specific brand but I've had batteries of all types leak, occasionally new in the package, sometimes even before the "best before" date. Duracell, Energizer, Kirkland, they all seem to leak. AA seems to leak more often than C or D but that may just be because they're so much more common. These days I use Eneloop in most things and cheaper Amazon LSD NiMH in stuff like clocks, remotes, and other infrequently used stuff. NiMH seems fairly robust, I haven't had one leak yet, even a couple of "9V" (8.4V actually) LSD batteries I got from Harbor Freight, I've used them in my Fluke 87 for years.
 


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