Tektronix heirloom Maglite - destroyed by Duracell AA - last straw !!

[fcb]

I'll just leave this picture my daughter did of the Duracell Bunny after they destroyed something of hers:

Brilliant!

I have never had problems with GP Ultracells or IKEA cells. I have had problems with Duracells - however I have 30+ years exposure to Duracell product, so it might be a statistical thing.

[Zucca]

Which reminds me to check all my Flukes in the drawer. I saved a Fluke Megger once, the vomit was just starting to come out. 

[Muttley Snickers]

I lost a special edition Pelco-Genex branded Maglite to some crappy Digitor branded alkaline batteries. I got the first battery out easily but whilst drilling out the second one the collector pin got pushed forward and destroyed the bulb contacts.   

[BravoV]

Can feel your pain, enough is enough, and NO SINGLE alkaline in the house now, only NiMh or primary Lithium or Li-Ion allowed.

Shot in 2013, watch the battery's date, and they were still holding charge at that time. 


The damages above cells did at my Fluke 287 ... 


Still in the blister pack with expiry date 2023, and no, they're stored in normal cool room temp all the time. 


And final one, I always wrote down installation date at every battery I installed, and ... I was believing that 9V cells never leaks, I was wrong  , victim, my Fluke 87V. 

[Fungus]

And final one, as I was believing that 9V cells never leaks, I was wrong  , victim, my Fluke 87V. 

They very rarely do. Is that battery one of the "six AAAAs inside it" type or the "stack of square cells" type?

The ones with 6xAAAA inside have a tough time getting the goop all the way to the outside.

The bright side is that 9V battery snaps are really easy to replace. 

[BravoV]

And final one, as I was believing that 9V cells never leaks, I was wrong  , victim, my Fluke 87V. 

They very rarely do. Is that battery one of the "six AAAAs inside it" type or the "stack of square cells" type?

The ones with 6xAAAA inside have a tough time getting the goop all the way to the outside.

The bright side is that 9V battery snaps are really easy to replace. 

Pic speaks thousands words ... teardown (savagely  ) that offending 9V POS.

[eugenenine]

Its funny though, so far duracell has been the least leaky for me (non-rechargeable),  ray-O-vac has been the worst and energizer in the middle out of the big three.

[james_s]

If the logo is only on the head like that Pelco one you can get another plain Maglite easily enough and swap the head over, they're interchangeable.

[Wimberleytech]

Why do 9V batteries never leak?  At least for me, I have never in my lifetime had one leak.

[james_s]

They have a double casing so the leak has to get really bad for it to happen. Most also have fiber top and bottom panels that absorb the leaked electrolyte. Open up your old ones and you'll probably find a lot of them are in fact leaking into the outer casing. It takes very little actual fluid volume to create a nasty corroded mess.

[bd139]

9V batteries do however spontaneously blow up though.

[james_s]

The only time I've ever seen one blow up is when I tried recharging a 9V alkaline to see what would happen.

[dzseki]

One counter example. I acquired an old photo flash a few years ago, and batteries were still fitted in it, they were Varta Alkaline extra long life batteries. I don't know why but I put one aside, and here we have this thread so I can show you.
The battery looks brand new even though the expiration date have passed more than 20 years ago...
To be honest the battery is dead flat, so probably not much chemistry left inside to do the nasty stuff, but it is still a good life time...

[bd139]

Some of the older ones didn't leak at all. This is a good one. Tiny bit of crust but it still worked fine after ~35-40 years when I found it.



That selenium rectifier on the other hand!!! 

[Gyro]

Damn, I used to sell those when I had a Saturday job at Boots as a teenager. SP11 for torches, HP11 for things with motors. Standard leakproof Carbon Zinc.

I still remember the hassle of individually pricing single cylindrical batteries with a price label gun (no multipacks in those days!). 

[bd139]

I remember nicking them from boots 

[bc888]

I'm so over Duracells aka "Duraleaks". Not sure what they did but if they patented the word "Alkaleaks", they'd at least be honest about it. My last Duraleak purchase from Costco started leaking before they were even out of the package. I'd have missed it but my kid caught it, they were returned half used -walkie talkies were ruined. Not sure what they are doing to cause their product to ruin our electronics, but it's horrifying. I've switched to Eneloops and have not seen any damage yet. Cross your fingers.

[BravoV]

They have a double casing so the leak has to get really bad for it to happen. Most also have fiber top and bottom panels that absorb the leaked electrolyte. Open up your old ones and you'll probably find a lot of them are in fact leaking into the outer casing. It takes very little actual fluid volume to create a nasty corroded mess.

In my case at above Panasonic 9V, the corroded battery's snap terminal looks like caused by corrosive gas/vapor that was vented slowly, no leaked liquid mark/stain at all inside. 

[GLouie]

I've gone to lithium "9v" for my Fluke 8060 for these reasons.

[Berni]

Dang and i thought 9V never leaked. Apparently that is not the case then.

Yeah given the double case design i probably had a 9V leak but didn't see it because the outside case contained it all. But i have been phasing out 9V batteries here as i keep buying multimeters and such with AAs because of the superior battery life and the fact i have lots of AAs and AAAs around the house so a spare battery is easy to come by in a pinch. But then i end up buying expensive lithium AAs for my expensive multimeters so im probably not saving any money on batteries.

[bd139]

Put this in google images: 9v battery explode

You’ll never sleep again 

[Fungus]

And final one, as I was believing that 9V cells never leaks, I was wrong  , victim, my Fluke 87V. 

They very rarely do. Is that battery one of the "six AAAAs inside it" type or the "stack of square cells" type?

The ones with 6xAAAA inside have a tough time getting the goop all the way to the outside.

The bright side is that 9V battery snaps are really easy to replace. 

Pic speaks thousands words ... teardown (savagely  ) that offending 9V POS.

Not sure what's going on there, there's no staining at all in the other side of the paper (inside the red circle):

[Fungus]

Why do 9V batteries never leak?  At least for me, I have never in my lifetime had one leak.

They have a double casing so the leak has to get really bad for it to happen. Most also have fiber top and bottom panels that absorb the leaked electrolyte. Open up your old ones and you'll probably find a lot of them are in fact leaking into the outer casing. It takes very little actual fluid volume to create a nasty corroded mess.

Plus the snap contact isn't directly over an inner-battery terminal so it has quite a way to migrate horizontally, too.

All in all much more difficult for the goop to make it to the outside.

In my case at above Panasonic 9V, the corroded battery's snap terminal looks like caused by corrosive gas/vapor that was vented slowly, no leaked liquid mark/stain at all inside. 

Maybe, but I never heard of "corrosive gas" from batteries before. 

[bc888]

I learned this from you guys, but a reminder for anyone who doesn't know or missed it: Deoxit works wonders for restoring contact terminals. (the red contact cleaner -they make a blue version used only to prevent damage, won't clean like the red)

[wasyoungonce]

Just managed to revive my favourite LED inspection torch from leaking duracells.   I tried punching them out...no stuck...."expanded", had to drill them out and take-out the leftover skin.   Cleaned it all up...it just survived.

Never again....went around threw replaced all duracells and threw away new spares.   Duracell's, Never Never Never again!