On 20/07/2019 8:30 am, Dave Platt wrote:
In article ,
wrote:
On Friday, 19 July 2019 18:39:51 UTC+1, wrote:

I opened a new package of Kirkland brand AA batteries but when I put
them in the device I got the flashing LED mesage of low voltage. Out
of 6 batteries 3 were bad. Measuring the voltages one battery measured
.82 volts, another 1.1 volts, and a third one measured -87 mV.
Negative? Really? Yeah, I thought that too. But I made sure the meter
leads were correctly placed. So I guess something weird is happenening
to these batteries while they are sitting in the package.

I've had some with small negative v too. No idea what the chemistry is that's making that happen.

As for brands, most are much the same. ZnC and alkaline certainly aren't, but otherwise they're not a lot
different. All are liable to leak when flat. ZnC sometimes leak when half flat.

A decade ago, I was happily buying the Kirkland-brand AAs from Costco,
getting good in-service lifetime and no problems to speak of.

A few years ago, something changed. I began to find their AAs
starting to leak, while still fully charged (never put into service),
while still in the original storage box or shrink-wrap package, well
before their labeled "use by" date.

I don't know whether they changed suppliers, or whether their old
supplier's quality fell through the floor... but the result was the
same. I've stopped buying the Kirkland batteries.




Seems to be the same with all brands now, must be they have found a
cheaper way to produce.