Products > Test Equipment
How do you protect your handheld meters from battery leakage?
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Traceless:

--- Quote from: alm on September 18, 2022, 12:40:55 pm ---But I believe lithium AA batteries have an initial voltage of 1.7 V. I'm not sure if all equipment can deal with this.

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I haven't used non-rechargable lithium batteries yet, but according to their spec they deliver 1.5V just like their alkaline counterparts. They are expensive though, but especially in more expensive test gear spending a few more bucks on a batteries seems to be reasonable considering the cost of the equipment it may damage (like Daves Fluke 3000 that was recently killed by Energizer alkalines, I still wonder if @EEVBlog tried to get a replacement under the Energizer no-leak warrranty. They honored the warranty for one of my devices, but that was considerably cheaper than the fluke - I'd really be interested to see what happens when they have to replace expensive gear).

Energizer claims that it would be impossible for their Lithium batteries to leak:

--- Code: ---Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ Batteries are GUARANTEED NOT TO LEAK. Due to advanced technology, Ultimate lithium™ batteries will not leak under normal consumer usage. If you believe that you have a leaking Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ battery, contact 1-800-383-7323 for return instructions.
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Vincent:
I'm one of those peasants who just takes the batteries out of something whenever said something isn't used for a while.  :P

I'll assume the question is more specifically about a particular choice of batteries that may prevent leakage or make it less likely. In that regard I go carbon-zinc. In my now-almost-ancient Mastercraft 52-0052-2 multimeter (a rebranded Colluck HH2205L), even a carbon-zinc 9V battery lasts plenty of time. They probably leak if discharged deep enough but in this specific case the battery is out way before it reaches that point so leaks are very unlikely to happen.

Plus carbon-zincs are so cheap, and in the case of 1.5V cells I've got graphite rods I can use for other purposes once extracted and cleaned.  :-+
robert.rozee:

--- Quote from: Vincent on September 18, 2022, 01:30:00 pm ---I'll assume the question is more specifically about a particular choice of batteries that may prevent leakage or make it less likely. In that regard I go carbon-zinc   [...]   Plus carbon-zincs are so cheap, and in the case of 1.5V cells I've got graphite rods I can use for other purposes once extracted and cleaned.  :-+

--- End quote ---

you beat me (by a few minutes) to mentioning carbon-zinc.

an interesting ad i happened across, looking for the cheapest source of carbon-zinc cells in NZ:
https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/eveready-carbon-zinc-battery-aa-pack-of-50/p/349581

while less than 50 cents each, also noteworthy is the writing on the package, "Leak Resistance Guaranteed":



this suggests the manufacturer is well aware that other battery technologies DO leak!


cheers,
rob   :-)
alm:

--- Quote from: AVGresponding on September 18, 2022, 12:51:03 pm ---Also there's no need to pay the exorbitant premium for eneloops, Turnigy are just as good and a fair bit cheaper.

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Yep, I can't comment on Turnigy specifically, but there are several brands of good low-self-discharge NiMH batteries.


--- Quote from: AVGresponding on September 18, 2022, 12:51:03 pm ---Ni-MH are not always fine for use in DMMs, there are cases where the voltage is too low and causes the low voltage shutoff too soon, iirc the 121GW is such a case (though I'm happy to be corrected if it isn't).

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I don't own a 121GW. I see both reports of NiMH batteries having problems in the 121GW, and people saying it works fine. Maybe there was a firmware update?


--- Quote from: Traceless on September 18, 2022, 01:08:42 pm ---I haven't used non-rechargable lithium batteries yet, but according to their spec they deliver 1.5V just like their alkaline counterparts.

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The initial voltage is higher than 1.5V and can cause problems in some devices, like the 121GW ;).


--- Quote from: Traceless on September 18, 2022, 01:08:42 pm ---Energizer claims that it would be impossible for their Lithium batteries to leak:

--- Code: ---Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ Batteries are GUARANTEED NOT TO LEAK. Due to advanced technology, Ultimate lithium™ batteries will not leak under normal consumer usage. If you believe that you have a leaking Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ battery, contact 1-800-383-7323 for return instructions.
--- End code ---

--- End quote ---
That's not saying it's impossible, it just says it will not leak under whatever they deem normal usage, and that they will reimburse you if they do leak. Is that very different from what they say about alkaline batteries?
wraper:
Carbon-zinc batteries leak just as bad as alkalines. It's just that currently alkalines are more prevalent now so you see them leaking more often.
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