Test Equipment battery management.

[aargee]

Just wondering how others manage their battery powered equipment to stop battery leakage due to either shelf life expiry, etc.
I nearly lost one of my Fluke meters due to leakage...

[SkyMaster]

I created a list of everything I own that is battery powered, including my test equipment.

Every three months, I go through the list and I check everything.

I synchronize my check with the change of season, this is my way to remember to do it.


It is a boring task to do, but I have had battery leakage in the past and that destroyed and damaged several devices. I suppose that within three months if there is a leakage it will be so small as not to damage anything.

And yes, I have seen brand name alkaline cell leaks before the end of their shelf life.

[Muttley Snickers]

I agree with SkyMaster, you have to keep tabs on gear.

Isolation Switches for me, simple, reliable and easy.

It can be a pain to re-install batteries on some equipment, I put a rocker switch on the underside of a Tektronix Telescout TS100 which was driving me nuts. On another meter I used an alarm reed switch on the inside of the unit and a magnet on Velcro on the outside so as to keep the unit in original condition. On other meters I only put the batteries in when the unit will be used, sounds ridiculous but I have never had a battery leakage problem on my good meters, cheap shitty meters that I use day to day on the other hand can suffer in corrosive pain for all I care. ( good excuse to put them in the bin where they probably belong )

 

Muttley

[HighVoltage]

I have the feeling lately that batteries got worse in regards to leakage protection.
In some of my older Philips Scopes, the original batteries are now 15 years old and have no problems.
On some scopes I exchanged the batteries a couple of years ago in to new Duracell batteries
and they have leaked already.
There was even a time, when Duracell offered the free replacement of equipment, if their batteries leaked
and caused damage. - Not anymore.

It seems, we can not rely on the quality of batteries anymore.
And may be we have to have an audit schedule to check them on a regular basis.

[Muttley Snickers]

And it's not just your run of the mill batteries either.

I remember once having to open an alarm panel with an angle grinder, the lid had welded itself to the cabinet. I wish I had photo's to show what the inside of the panel looked like after the battery leaked. ( still have nightmares ) PS: Wasn't one of our systems.

And watch out for UPS batteries, I used two Newton Power 7.2 ah 12 volt in my office UPS 1000 VA, and months later got horrific headaches when on the computer.Fortunately we had a power out and the UPS died without warning, I immediately checked it and found the carpet all wet around it, both batteries had leaked and destroyed the surrounding carpet, toxic gases as well. First and last time for Newton Batteries.

I now have shallow plastic containers under all UPS's and also only use Yuasa batteries (5 year warranty )

Muttley

[VK5RC]

I only leave batteries in equipment I use every week; stuff that is put away in a cupboard has no batteries inside. If rechargeable they are in a zip lok bag labelled with the name of the gear. Quite a bit of Ham gear has batteries!
Bit of a pain having to reinstall them but has saved me quite a bit of money in batteries (disposable), knackered equipment (and frustration).

[aargee]

I've got a bad feeling about this. Certainly, batteries don't seem to last intact the way they used to.
So, every three months opening up my gear with those plastix screws to check the battery is not leaking. Next thing I have are the screws biting on nothing because the threads have worn out.
Then it being another chunk of time gone checking batteries that *should* not leak, that should die a death without spewing a chemical factory inside my gear.

Are there stats on reliable batteries that don't leak, aside from Eveready-Duracell that seem to? Maybe Panasonic? Sony? Varta?

[Muttley Snickers]

To aargee,

I have only seen it in gear that is either poorly maintained, or more so in gear that has current draw in the off state.

The Fluke 189 and 187 are good examples, currently discussed in another thread. Devices with onboard clocks are generally the worst offenders.

You can readily eliminate the problem by sending all your gear to me, only a good fiend would offer you this.... 
 

Muttley

[doctormord]

You may try Li+ batteries, they normally got a shelf life of 10+ years. (Avail at 1.5 AA or 9V)

[aargee]

Yes, I agree Muttley, only a good fiend would make such an offer! 

I guess vigilance is the way to go.

Doctormord: True, I can't say I've ever seen a leaking Li battery.

[HighVoltage]

You may try Li+ batteries, they normally got a shelf life of 10+ years. (Avail at 1.5 AA or 9V)

Very true.
They are still expensive but keep us out of trouble in the long run.

[doctormord]

 Well, to my experience, batteries run flat just by self-discharge, not by current drain. (In measurement instruments)

So Li+ is the way to go. For sure, they're more expensive, but shelf life is 2-3 times of an alkaline. (Used them in a laser scope rifle, never ran flat)