EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: BeBuLamar on October 03, 2021, 04:34:37 pm
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I have the 189 with new batteries and after a couple of months one of the battery leaked. The others are weak (measured with no load is 1.450V) but the leake one is completely dead. I wonder if it's just a bad battery or I have drain with the meter. I heard that the super capacitor in the 189 could drain the battery. I measured current draw when the meter is off it's 74 microamps. Is this too much? My 289 is about 140 microamps.
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Likely the battery but you need to check the cap anyway while you clean the back cover (both sides) and inspect the pcb. 74uA is nothing but a new 289 was reported at around 45uA when off, could be just the cap they used was slightly better.
1.5v for a AA battery can be good, you need to measure under a small load till you can see mV drain.
What brand and type AA battery was it? What expiry date? What country of origin? Did you mix and match? Those are probably important things to check.
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They are RayOVac AA alkalines. Made in USA (I only buy made in USA AA batteries).
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I measured current draw when the meter is off it's 74 microamps.
That's about right for a 189. :-+
If/when the supercap starts to fail it will be much higher.
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https://toolguyd.com/rant-our-rayovac-batteries-leak-so-much-were-switching-to-duracell/
I wouldn't say Duracell are immune either, but that link may help. I've rarely had problems but I remove batteries so it reduces the risk.
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I have the 189 with new batteries and after a couple of months one of the battery leaked. The others are weak (measured with no load is 1.450V) but the leake one is completely dead. I wonder if it's just a bad battery or I have drain with the meter. I heard that the super capacitor in the 189 could drain the battery. I measured current draw when the meter is off it's 74 microamps. Is this too much? My 289 is about 140 microamps.
I get between 73.3 and 74.8uA, and my 189 works great AFAIK--so I think you're good. Eneloop NiMH AAs work great in the 189 and 289 if you use them regularly. If you need it to sit for months and still be ready, splurge on the Energizer Ultimate Lithium cells for the 189. The 289 will eat them anyway, so I would stick with Eneloops for that. Alkaline AAs of all brands have all been dispatched to hell in my house--and they're not allowed in the door.
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They are RayOVac AA alkalines. Made in USA (I only buy made in USA AA batteries).
I have seen various brands leak before the best before date. Coincidentally, someone asked about RayOVac and Flukes on Oct 1, 2021 at
https://badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=99491
I have Eneloops in my 187.
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Yes I am the one of these people who has had this issue what I do not understand is why these meters need to have a super capacitor in them and be draining the batteries when off what crap is this
I posted this on the badcap forum website but did not know that it was also draining the batteries while being off
My meter is a FC3000
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They are RayOVac AA alkalines. Made in USA (I only buy made in USA AA batteries).
I didn't know that any manufacturer still made batteries in the U.S. ...
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The package says that they are made in USA and I sure hope that this not a LIE
But I have a question for all of the people on this forum
I want to go to li-ion rechargeable 14650 batteries but the question is from what manufacturer because the ones like LG Samsung Panasonic Sanyo do not seem to make this size
And China made batteries are hit and miss in quality
KENTLI Batteries AA 1.5V 3000mWh Li-ion Rechargeable Battery + Charger on EBay for some reason I can not post the website link to them
I have used these in the past But I have fairly good results from the first time I bought them but when I bought them the second time I noticed that they did not last as long on a charge so I do not know if it is quality issue or not
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Yes I am the one of these people who has had this issue what I do not understand is why these meters need to have a super capacitor in them and be draining the batteries when off what crap is this
It's not the supercap that does that, it's the internal real time clock. This meter knows the date and time for timestamping the data logs.
My 187 doesn't have a supercap in it but it still uses 74uA when "off".
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They are RayOVac AA alkalines. Made in USA (I only buy made in USA AA batteries).
I have seen various brands leak before the best before date. Coincidentally, someone asked about RayOVac and Flukes on Oct 1, 2021 at
Made in USA doesn't mean much. The USA is just as capable of making crap products as China is.
A google search for "rayovac leaks" doesn't paint a pretty picture. The real answer is to stop using alkalines. Get some Japanese-made Eneloops instead.
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One factory exclusively makes the best AA/AAA high capacity lsd nimh rechargeable technology (so far), the Takasaki Plant in Gunma, Japan. They make Fujitsu, Panasonic Eneloop, Ikea Ladda amongst others. Some capacities that look similar are made offshore in china, these are lower quality and best avoided. With fakes, old stock and different capacities, vigilance is required.
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I have an update for the complainant that I made to the company
In my complaint I had 4 different items that had batteries leaking in them and because I put batteries in that had different expiration dates they refused my complaint but decided to reimburse me for the touch less kitchen faucet battery operated
Because of customer satisfaction reasons only it is better than nothing however this would not have happened unless I had also filed a complaint with the BBB about this issue and I can this is the only reason they decided to anything
You can read there response at this website post https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=99491&page=7 (https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=99491&page=7)
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Have you seen this old thread? https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fluke-289-meter/msg2741290/#msg2741290 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fluke-289-meter/msg2741290/#msg2741290)
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Rayovac AA batteries leaked twice in my 189 and once in my 289. D battery leaked in my Maglite and stuck inside.
I wrote to Rayovac and they gave me some coupon for new batteries and $50 for the maglite. Still I don't think I would use Rayovac again.
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That post above was me and somehow my user name got change. I would change over to Energizer lithium batteries. Installed new batteries made by Duracell Optimum 1.5 V Alkaline AA never again. This was in 2019 and have 6 meters on Energizer lithium.no problem!
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That post above was me and somehow my user name got change. I would change over to Energizer lithium batteries. Installed new batteries made by Duracell Optimum 1.5 V Alkaline AA never again. This was in 2019 and have 6 meters on Energizer lithium.no problem!
I am concerned because Energizer owned Rayovac and almost all the leaked batteries happened after Energizer took over.
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Energizer lithium. Different chemistry!
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I am sure the battery leaked in my meter was because of defective batteries. In the 289 3 of the cells leaked and the other 3 cells voltages are still slightly higher than 1.5V which tells me that the meter didn't drain the batteries to cause the leak.