Public Service Announcement
For rechargeables (usually all NiMH these days, regardless of company),
Don't use the chargers made by the same companies as the batteries. IE,
don't use either Energizer or Duracell chargers, any model even the ones
touted as better / more intelligent. They all kill the batteries
prematurely.
Get a LaCrosse BC-1000 or Opus BCT-3100 or similar.
The lacross is best for nimh AA and AAA
The opus handles more sizes and chemistries of batteries, but has a fan.
--
bkw
On 4/28/20 5:00 PM, Joshua O'Keefe wrote:
I've started to go "off" the Costco Duracells as well, for similar
reasons. I recently had leakage suddenly appear multiple times in
recent history. I don't know if they have changed their manufacturing
processes or if it's just the grade of battery that Costco is sourcing
from them, but I've transitioned even more things on the cheap little
NiMH cells from IKEA -- I had them in the mix for years -- and the
important stuff (M102!) is on the Panasonic eneloops.
I have never had a NiMH cell leak, although they do fail eventually.
On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 12:41 PM Kevin Becker <ke...@kevinbecker.org
<mailto:ke...@kevinbecker.org>> wrote:
That’s interesting. I had a bad battery leakage issue recently. It
was in an Apple Magic Trackpad and was so bad I could not get the
battery cover unscrewed at all. I broke the glass trying and so I
just threw the whole thing out. I don’t know for sure if it was
Costco Duracells but we often buy those so most likely it was.
> On Apr 28, 2020, at 3:36 PM, Jim Anderson <jim.ander...@kpu.ca
<mailto:jim.ander...@kpu.ca>> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> multimeter and all but a few of them were near dead. After returning
>> them to Costco, I obtained a fresh pack of AA duracell's and
tested them
>> before putting them into the machine.
>> [...]
>> As a 46 year old, this is the first time I've ever bought
batteries from
>> such a major manufacturer of batteries that were already dead. So
>> bazaar, but now I know to test them. Sheesh.
>
> Just a remark about batteries (catching up on list messages that
are kind of old, as I've been kind of burned out working on my
computer from home all day):
>
> I've had really poor results with leakage from the big Duracell
packs from Costco, particularly the AA cells, over a span of many
years. I never used to have big problems with batteries leaking but
I can't even tell you how many things I've found with substantial
leakage and corrosion from these cells, even when they have not
reached their 'use before' date.
>
> I don't have conclusive evidence of this, but it seems to me that
the devices most prone to experiencing leaking batteries were those
with strong spring tension - I have an analog wall clock which takes
a single AA cell and keeps a vice-like grip on the battery, and it
used to be leaking every year even though the battery was still
working fine. The gaskets just don't seem to be able to take the
pressure. Having said that, I have had other devices with weaker
battery compartment springs experience leakage too, it just feels
like it happens more frequently in things with strong springs.
>
> I'm not sure if the problem is with all modern Duracell AA cells
in general, or just the ones Costco sells, but I've since given up
and switched to Energizer which I try to buy in 20-packs at my local
drugstore whenever I spot them on sale. Not quite as good a price
per cell as the Costco packs but Energizer does at least have an
explicit warranty against damage caused by leakage, and I've had
good success with them thusfar.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> jim
>
--
bkw
