On Thu, 2 Apr 2020 17:20:52 +0100, newshound
wrote:

On 02/04/2020 18:42, Nick Odell wrote:
On Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:34:25 -0300, Nick Odell
wrote:

One AA cell has suddenly turned grey underneath the transparent
printed sleeve and it looks like a powdery coating has formed there.

Under normal circumstances I would just throw it away but these are
not normal circumstances (I´m about 8000 miles away from my stash of
spare batteries and over here I´m not allowed out to buy any more) so
I´d like to keep using it for as long as it holds a charge if it is
safe to do so and it will not ruin my equipment.

Any thoughts about whether this might be just corrosion on the outside
of the can or might it be leaking chemicals or is something else
happening?

Thanks!

Nick

Seems to be going okay so far....

https://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/w...jpg?&width=640


Ooops!


(Thanks to everyone for your replies. Appreciated.)

Nick

I think Pamela is right, it is a leak and on its way out but in your
circumstances I would probably keep going. The sleeves seem pretty
robust. I don't think it is likely to overhead and blow up like a
Lithium Ion.

How valuable is the kit, and do you stop earning if you stop using it?

If it is a preamp for a guitar active pickup (say) then the worst
consequences of failure might be corrosion and a requirement to replace
the battery box. Hard to see how it would destroy a guitar but it might
wipe out something more compact, say a radio mic.

Is "over here" somewhere that you can't even order stuff online? Can you
get "ordinary" AA's? Assuming it is in a multi battery rig then the
"extra" 0.3 volts if you replace just one is unlikely to fry anything.

Not able to order anything on line. Even in the best of times on-line
ordering still meant on-foot collecting which at the moment we are not
allowed to do. Even so NiMh cells are comparatively expensive so I
guess I will have to use supermarket alkalines if I have too many NiMh
failures. I do not forsee any problems there - unlike the time I
destroyed a perfectly good film camera by putting rechargeables in the
compartment clearly labeled "use alkaline cells only." I told uk.d-i-y
about that at the time.

"Over here" is Buenos Aires, Argentina where I will probably be for
the next few months. Apart from the pocket SW Receiver (3x AA) and the
electric shaver (2x AA) it is mainly photographic equipment, including
a medium format film camera which uses 8x AA cells in the motor drive.
I have had to take a different spin on photography: since us over-65s
are not allowed out of the house under any circumstances, instead of
stuff like wandering around railway sidings photographing old trains,
it has become a matter of trying to find new and interesting ways of
looking at whatever I can see from the balcony.

Thanks for all the advice,

Nick