Beware of Duracell Battery Leakage

Electronics
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DMS Tribe,

I do not generally use the DMS General category, but this is an issue that has broad implications. I have gone back and forth between Duracell and Energizer for years and both manufacturers have enjoyed either good or mixed reputations at different junctures in their history.

I was lately a Duracell fan, but over the past several years I began noticing that batteries left in my equipment would begin leaking crystal battery meth and the pattern seemed to start centering on Duracell. What is really disturbing is that this would invariably happen YEARS before the expired date stamp shown on the battery which I now consider completely bogus.

Here is the latest example: (I have many others as I save batteries for recycling)

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Notice March 2016 is the expiration stamp, and that is nearly a year away. (probably started leaking in March of this year before I discovered it) The voltage was compromised of course (0.56 V) but the other two Duracells that came from the same batch (also March 2016) have normal voltages and no leakage.

This got me to looking on the Internet to see if my suspicions were confirmed and this is what I found:

Battery technology has been around a WHILE and I find this sort of egregious engineering/manufacturing error to be inexcusable. Perhaps it has been addressed by now, but my largest concern is not losing a few AAs prematurely, but the chemical damage that can be wrought by this problem on your more expensive equipment.

My policy for intermittent use electronics is to take the batteries out when not in use, but for things like flashlights, I am almost obliged to keep them in. Even if you can clean up the mess, in some cases the damage is so bad that the batteries / battery holder gets glued/welded inside of the instrument and can be difficult to extract. Anecdotal stories from Googling “Duracell battery corrosion” turned up similar tales.

Just a reminder that if you have some battery powered devices around (and who doesn’t?) you may want to take the time to inspect and measure the voltage before you discover your device not only has dead batteries, but has been rendered inoperable.

JAG “Duracell - The Sloppy Top Battery” MAN

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I have noticed this same problem with Duracell over the last couple of years and have pointed it out to a few people and they were calling me crazy…I have noticed that Duracell batts. have leaked out a lot in several devices I have.

I quit using them.

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I’ve switched to Lithium primary cells wherever it is used in a device which will be off for long periods, or in a remote control, etc.

They don’t leak, and they are reasonably cost-effective. Far more cost-effective than replacing the TV due to a toasted remote.

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Here’s a little bit of chemistry info about alkaline batteries. When the cell is brand new, it sits at ~1.5-1.6V. As it discharges, it drops in a vaguely linear fashion down to ~0.8V. Once the battery hits 0.8V, it is fully discharged. But that won’t stop you from continuing to draw current from it. Unfortunately, when you continue drawing current from a dead cell, the chemical reaction changes and the chemicals begin outgassing. This inevitably ruptures the cell (there is a safety valve to make sure they just leak and don’t explode), and the alkaline chemicals react with the air to form that white-ish crust we’re all too familiar with.

The takeaway from this is that you can’t let dead cells stay in a device. The instruction manuals of nearly all battery-operated devices warn of this, and it’s for this exact reason. And more pertinently, this is true for any and every brand of alkaline battery. Once it hits 0.8V, you gotta take it out.

Now, I’ve gone through literally thousands of Duracell batteries (in my theatre days, having 35 wireless mics in daily use really chews through batteries). I would cycle the batteries daily, and the semi-dead batteries ended up in this horrifying bucket to be tested and (if still alive) re-used. And I can say that in four years of doing that, I never once had even a single battery leak. But of course, that’s because I was taking dead batteries out of the rotation.

So I don’t know if this lawsuit has merit. My suspicion is that it doesn’t, but I can’t say with any degree of certainty. All I can say is take your batteries out of your devices when they’re dead. Mark your calendar for a yearly “swap all flashlight batteries day.”

Edit for an extra item of note: The “expiration date” on batteries is only valid if the battery hasn’t been used. Once you start using it, all bets are off and its lifetime is entirely determined by the usage.

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I’ve had enough healthy batteries (good voltage, not expired) leak on me in varying circumstances…

  • In numerous maglites (which exert appreciable pressure on cells)
  • In a number of rectangular device battery compartments (which exert a heck of a lot less pressure on cells than maglites)
  • In storage (under no undue pressure)

… that I just don’t use alkaline cells. I suspect that much like how downward price pressure on CFL’s has squeezed quality, the rapidly-declining price of alkaline cells has removed quality from them.

Rather than alkaline I use lithium primary (low-use emergency items such as flashlights) and a combination of standard and low-self-discharge (LSD) NiMH for everything else. The LSD NiMH have such a long standby life that there’s little reason for nearly all of my use cases to bother with alkaline for AAA/AA, which is most of what I use these days.

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Since Lithiums came up, I thought I’d mention some cool aspects I’ve learned from product testing lithium cells:
1 - We never had a leak and the manufacturer claims they lack the mechanism to leak
2 - They can supply tremendous current, up to an amp
3 - They operate at -40C (good for sounding balloons)
4 - During testing, they consistently outperformed their capacity specs.

For the downside,
1 - They can supply enough short circuit current to really fry your electronics (8A for a fresh one)
2 - They have a higher voltage than alkaline, almost 1.7V versus 1.5V

All said, if you’re going in a cave or attempting to survive a vombii apocalypse, these are the batteries for you!

  - Mike,
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You might add to the downside of lithium batteries the fact that they can (and often have) catch fire. The process of charging lithium batteries can produce pure lithium metal, which is highly reactive. An IC chip is supposed to monitor the battery to prevent overcharging.

“International aviation officials are trying to quickly come up with safer packaging for cargo shipments of lithium-ion batteries on passenger planes after U.S. testing confirmed that aircraft fire suppression systems can’t prevent overheated batteries from causing powerful explosions and fires.”

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/US-testing-of-lithium-batteries-alarms-aviation-6237398.php

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I suspect that the market dominance of NiMH has reduced demand for alkaline so much that manufacturers have difficulty making a profit on the latter. I used to love using RayOVac rechargeable alkaline, but now I can find only cheap Chinese brands.

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Note that there is a significant difference chemically between lithium primary batteries and lithium ion secondary (rechargeable) batteries. Unless you cut them open (not easy without a pipe cutter), lithium primary cells are rather difficult to make burn.

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Sure, Li-Ion/Li-Poly cells can energetically self-disassemble. But that’s a rare occurrence and arguably a price you pay for greater energy density.

In the context of our the topic, there are precious few applications where you’ll be inadvertently putting a ~3.7V Li-Ion (i.e. a 14500 cell) in place of a ~1.5V alkaline without making life briefly very exciting for the device in question. Given their rarity and dissimilar appearance to the familiar AA cell, it’s also highly unlikely.

I use protected 18650s for bike lights and some flashlights. I treat them with some care and use a quality Li-Ion charger. It’s a heck of a lot more economical than going through stacks of 123A’s.

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Actually, 14500 cells are great for intentionally overvolting things. Nerf guns in particular were fun.

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Doesn’t a Alkaline battery have internal current draw? Wouldn’t there still be a little current draw even if it was not in a device, sitting on the shelf?

What is the crystal stuff made of? Is it similar to the crystals you can make by adding ammonia to charcoal? Is it safe to touch with bare hands? What’s the best way of cleaning contacts that have been corroded by the leakage?

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I KNEW this would “precipitate” (bad pun) some interesting and informative posts.

First, I use several different types of batteries for different applications including alkaline, lithium, rechargeable NiMh and I even some old NiCads for light duty / non-critical applications.

I still use alkalines in bulk because they are just more cost effective than lithiums for reasons I will outline in the next paragraph (I now routinely buy AAs and AAAs in 20 packs) and I usually rotate through them fast enough that it isn’t an issue.

But lithiums have greater power density and last longer so that makes up for the cost?

Not necessarily.

Once in a while I have an instrument that I fail to power down and it will eventually drain all of the batteries no matter what the composition. A few weeks ago I had an irritating experience with two meters that both turned themselves on by accident while in my equipment bag and when I went to power up, I found that between the two of them during inter-coital discharge, they ate up 10 AAs. And I had just used them a few days before. Now think of how much more expensive that incident would have been if I had used lithium. It also happened at a very inconvenient time, but I always carry a bulk of spares. (which is cheaper if they are alkalines)

And I can say that in four years of doing that, I never once had even a single battery leak. But of course, that’s because I was taking dead batteries out of the rotation.

Exactly. You have a set maintenance routine on a given group of battery powered devices and that makes all the difference.

So I don’t know if this lawsuit has merit. My suspicion is that it doesn’t, but I can’t say with any degree of certainty.

Well I can as I have a bagful of corroded Duracells that would disagree with your position:

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This is my current batch of depleted batteries that I take to recycle along with CFLs and printer cartridges. Everything on the RIGHT side is simply drained and has no signs of leakage; notice that I have a variety of brands and sizes with a lot of Energizers and Duracells.

Lined up to the LEFT are 12 batteries that show leakage - out of that batch, 8 (or in other words 75 %) of them are Duracells. (in a higher resolution photo, the expiration date on 3 of them can be observed to be Oct 2018) The remaining 3 are Energizers plus 1 off brand.

While this is not a comprehensive or controlled study, it looks pretty damning to me.

Furthermore, the lawsuit is predicated on the fact that Duracell misled consumers that the batteries will not leak for 10 years.

“On each of the Duracell Batteries, Defendants placed a date ten years in the future to affirmatively represent the date that the battery is guaranteed not to fail,” the Duracell Batteries class action lawsuit states. “Nowhere on the packaging of the Duracell Batteries is the disclosure that the batteries may leak when used in a normal and expected manner,” it adds.

Edit for an extra item of note: The “expiration date” on batteries is only valid if the battery hasn’t been used. Once you start using it, all bets are off and its lifetime is entirely determined by the usage.

While you are technically correct, that does not excuse a poorly manufactured battery and while I am not a big fan of lawsuits, Duracell should have covered their ass and stated that during normal use leakage could occur. The average consumer is not well versed in electrochemistry or battery science.

All I can say is take your batteries out of your devices when they’re dead. Mark your calendar for a yearly “swap all flashlight batteries day.”

That was essentially what I said as well, except you should test them at any opportunity where you are unsure of the age of the batteries or power level left. This is why my digital voltmeter sits in the same drawer as my battery storage area.

Just a reminder that if you have some battery powered devices around you may want to take the time to inspect and measure the voltage before you discover your device not only has dead batteries, but has been rendered inoperable.

Furthermore, I suggest removing them altogether if you are not going to use the device for awhile. Also, my threshold for replacing a battery is if it falls below 1.3 V for a 1.5 V device. Or below 7.5 V for a 9 V.

Here’s a little bit of chemistry info about alkaline batteries.

BTW Sean, I appreciated your excellent and concise treatise on alkalines - I was unaware of the linear discharge curve down to 0.8 V.

The takeaway from this is that you can’t let dead cells stay in a device.

Agreed, but a lot of devices get forgotten in the back of a drawer and you don’t always know what kind of parasitic drain may be taking place in everything electronic you own.

I suspect that much like how downward price pressure on CFL’s has squeezed quality, the rapidly-declining price of alkaline cells has removed quality from them.

A reasonable supposition.

low-self-discharge (LSD) NiMH for everything else. The LSD NiMH have such a long standby life that there’s little reason for nearly all of my use cases to bother with alkaline for AAA/AA, which is most of what I use these days.

Erik, that sounds like an avenue worth investigating.

Note that there is a significant difference chemically between lithium primary batteries and lithium ion secondary (rechargeable) batteries. Unless you cut them open (not easy without a pipe cutter), lithium primary cells are rather difficult to make burn.

Another excellent point, Sean.

Doesn’t a Alkaline battery have internal current draw? Wouldn’t there still be a little current draw even if it was not in a device, sitting on the shelf?

Mitch, all batteries have an internal resistance factor to them, but passive discharge only occurs through either parasitic draw from a device they are installed in, electrochemical changes over periods of time, and possibly low level current leakage paths depending on how they are stored.

A great example of this is dirty car batteries - put a multimeter on the positive electrode and the negative on the plastic casing. Unless the battery is pristine, you will see a parasitic voltage as a car battery can discharge itself between the posts because of the slightly moist grime that allows a path for current flow.

What is the crystal stuff made of?

Potassium hydroxide or KOH.

ammonia to charcoal

Not quite. The crystal garden phenomena you are referring to produces NaCl (sodium chloride) as the delicate formation - salt is part of the ingredients in growing these.

Is it safe to touch with bare hands?

KOH is a corrosive alkaline agent, but the type in batteries is a lower concentration so brief contact will not hurt if you wash your hands right after; just don’t rub it in your eyes or season your food with it.

What’s the best way of cleaning contacts that have been corroded by the leakage?

I have heard of using hydrogen peroxide or vinegar to clean the white crap out, but vinegar may not play well with delicate electronics. For cleaning the contacts themselves, I spray some Liquid Wrench or WD-40 on a brass bristled brush and scrub. Don’t spray the lubricant on the device itself as you could get it inside of sensitive membrane plastics/rubber and cause issues like sticky buttons or chemical decomposition.

My takeaway from this discussion is that I think I will revisit some of my battery choices and see if I can cut back on my alkaline battery dependence.

Good thoughts and discussion, guys!

JAG “I Keep Going and Going and Going…” MAN

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For what this is worth, and clearly, I rely on batteries much less than most of the folks on this thread, but…
I decided many years ago to try to save the “shipping plastics” that come in many battery operated devices which include the batteries to prevent the battery from being “installed” during shipping/sitting for sale. Then, each time you’re done using your device, re-install said plastic to prevent your device from sitting with the batteries in contact. If you lost your shipping plastics, they’re easily duplicated with stiff plastic and a xacto knife. 9v are harder to do, but especially if your devices use end-to-end batteries (AA, AAA, C, D), all you need do is insert a sliver of plastic between the last one and its contact and blam-o, battery disconnect. Or, if it’s easier, you can insert the plastic between two cells (i.e. cut a slot in the cover where 2 cells touch to insert the tab). In the specific instance of equipment becoming self-enacted during transport, something like this might be just the ticket.
Of course, you do actually have to DO IT, which is usually my downfall…

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Wow you answered a lot of my battery related questions, thanks for explaining all that!

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To add to all of the above, I’ve observed and reported - and received coupons from Duracell to replace - entire packs of unused batteries in which the majority had begun to leak well before their alleged stale date. These were Duracell D cells stored next to our two emergency lamps that I don’t keep cells in unless we’re looking at a probable power outage due to an approaching hurricane. I’ve also had the same thing happen with Rayovac alkalines. Several years ago, I blogged the recipe for how to extract heavily corroded D cells from the body of a MagLite after having successfully performed that task. The bottom line from that project, for most people, is that it’s more work to undo the damage than the cost of a new light is worth.

I will also note that yesterday, while looking for something at Lowe’s, I spotted an Energizer display on which they proudly proclaim that their current ones don’t leak. I might have to try some and see. I know that random samples of Duracells dated for 2026 and prior all have leaked for me, some of them while still in the sealed packs, with the D cells having the worst score for that overall.

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I find it easier to remove all batteries and put them in a zip loc bag next to the device. Especially if the item being powered is over 10.00

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Wow. The second serious necro bump for this thread.

Unfortunately a critical mass of the original participants are pretty decisively gone.

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Erik, was thinking the same thing. Huge necro-bumps.

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My hump, my hump, my hump…my lovely necro bumps.