wrote:
On Jan 1, 12:23 pm, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 08:53:32 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:
Happened to try a seldom-used tv remote control last night, dead.
opened it up, one 2013 AA Energizer battery was fine, the other was
dead and leaking.
That's a standard magnesium dioxide and zinc alkaline battery. Rated
shelf life is 7 years, so it should have lasted. Weird.

How it failed:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2002-01/1011285710.Eg.r.html

Some marginal drivel with some interesting stuff mixed in:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?171520-Leaking-alk...

Energizer alkaline batteries:
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/alkaline_appman.pdf

I stupidly thought that the date on batterries was
how long they were supposed to last if they were not used - shelf
life.
Humor me and insert an amps guesser in series with the batteries on
the remote. Does it draw any current in standby? Any chance that
someone put something on top of the remote and pressed one of the
buttons for an extended period? Measure the current the remote draws
when you punch a button and estimate the battery life (2A-hr) assuming
continuous accidental operation.

Another anecdote for the collection. My palatial office building
includes a maintenance closet, where we store several emergency
flashlights. It's a random assortment of alkaline D cells in mostly
plastic flashlights with incandescent bulbs. The batteries will first
swell and then leak after about a year, even if not used. It doesn't
seem to matter what brand of battery, they always leak. This has been
going on for about 20 years. My guess(tm) is that one of the volatile
cleaning chemicals stored in the closet is attacking the batteries. We
put all but one flashlight inside zip loc bags to see if that helps.
Too soon to tell as it's only been about 3 months.

Since the battery was not used more than a few minutes since it was
put in the remote a couple of years ago, and had been in an air-
conditioned and heated room in the house for its entire time since I
brought it home from the store, I thought that it was safe to leave it
in the remote without having to periodically check for leakage.
Has anyone been using spray cleaner on the remote or nearby? That's
my guess(tm) as to the culprit.

Fortunately, the leakage was minor and because of the physical
position of the remote, the leakage went onto the inside of the back
cover and did not get into the electronics in the remote.
I had the not so bright idea of wrapping my batteries in cellophane
wrap when installed in devices that I care about (Geiger counters,
instruments, test equipment, emergency radios, GPS, etc). The problem
was that the batteries usually leak from the end terminal area, which
cannot be covered with cellophane wrap. Oops. My next attempt will
probably be to add a sponge at both ends of the battery (with a hole
in the center for the connection). The plan is to localize the
damage, not prevent it. Maybe seal the battery compartment.

Just thought I would post it here as a reminder not to assume anything
about battery life.
There should be a warranty on the batteries.
http://www.energizerbatteries.com/WarrantyInformation.pdf
Ugh... 1 year.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

See my reply to John, I wish I had seen some leakage (current that is,
not chemical).

It's hard to get excited about one anecdote with unknown conditions.
I think the most plausible explanation so far is that the remote
got stuck between the cushions or somebody laid something on it long
enough to run it down. And sometimes batteries just fail.

If it's seldom used and the standby current is zero, there's no reason
for the battery to have failed...other than battery failure...which happens.