On Tue, 17 Nov 2020 09:10:11 -0500, "J.B. Wood"
wrote:
Has anyone
had a similar problem? Thanks for your time and comment. Sincerely,
Oh yes, many times. I have a fairly large number of alkaline battery
powered devices. Around 1995, alkaline batteries were reformulated to
remove lead from the "stabilizer" that kept the batteries from
leaking. Since then, 5 to 10 years is about the average shelf life
before they begin leaking. These died in the box after about 8 years:
http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/crud/Kirkland-AAA-leak.jpg
Instead of alkaline, try substituting a lithium (not a lithium ion)
cell. These are more expensive, have a much longer shelf life, and
don't leak. The AA cells, this should work with 20 year life:
https://www.energizer.com/batteries/energizer-ultimate-lithium-batteries
For the D cell, just use a 1x AA to D cell adapter:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/353243622867
The down sides of using lithium is the cost and that they are not
rechargeable. For a VOM/DVM, a few extra dollars over a 20 year
operating life is negligible. Just do it.
You can also substitute LiIon or NiMH cells, but these require some
compromises. The LiIon cell is a nominal 3.6V with a maximum of 4V.
Plug 4x 14500 LiIon cells into a device made for 4x 14500 alkaline
cells and your RCA VOM will blow up. You can try running the VOM on
2x 14500 LiIon cells if the design will handle running on 8V instead
of 6V. Or, you can install some series diodes in the VOM to drop the
voltage to 6V. For the D cell, I wouldn't bother as the required 2.5v
drop will be a major waste of power.
You can also use NiMH cells, which are approximately the correct
voltage. The problem here is the cheap cells have a high self
discharge rate and will need to be recharged quite often. Fortunately,
there are plenty of LSD (low self discharge) NiMH cells available,
such as Eneloop. For the D cell, use the previously mentioned AA to D
adapter.
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558