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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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#1
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Alklaines better than heavy duty batteries
I recently heard that alkalines batteries are much better than heavy
duty batteries.They say that they last longer.Is there truth to this? I have tried to experiment with this and it does seem to be true.Just wondering what you all have to say. |
#2
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Hi!
It has been my informal experience that alkaline batteries work better/last longer in high drain devices like flashlights and radios. In a low, but constant draw device, the heavy duty batteries seem to work nicely and usually last a VERY long time. William |
#3
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William R. Walsh wrote:
Hi! It has been my informal experience that alkaline batteries work better/last longer in high drain devices like flashlights and radios. In a low, but constant draw device, the heavy duty batteries seem to work nicely and usually last a VERY long time. William That's been my experience too. Another thing is that in low drain / low usage applications, like clocks & remote controls, alkalines will leak & damage the device before the battery runs down. The device stops working because the battery contacts became badly corroded from the alkaline electrolyte, which is corrosive. On the other hand, I've never seen a heavy duty or general purpose (Carbon-Zinc) battery leak until after it was completely run down. I've got two VCR remotes running on Radio Shack heavy duty batteries that were installed in 1994. And simple quartz clocks run 1-2 years on a heavy duty AA cell. Alkalines have the advantage though, if the clock has a pendulum (uses an additional solenoid & driver circuit) or a chime, or if a remote is used for heavy channel surfing. Only problem is that the heavy-duty batteries are getting hard to find in normal retail stores. Here, (FL) only the Walgreen's pharmacy chain has them (store brand), and occasionally Wal Mart will get a shipment of RayOVacs, but mail order electronics parts places like MCM & Mouser carry them. Mike WB2ME |
#4
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wrote in message oups.com... William R. Walsh wrote: Hi! It has been my informal experience that alkaline batteries work better/last longer in high drain devices like flashlights and radios. In a low, but constant draw device, the heavy duty batteries seem to work nicely and usually last a VERY long time. William That's been my experience too. Another thing is that in low drain / low usage applications, like clocks & remote controls, alkalines will leak & damage the device before the battery runs down. The device stops working because the battery contacts became badly corroded from the alkaline electrolyte, which is corrosive. I've had alkalines go a very long time without leaking before, but seems like in the last few years they've gotten much worse. I've had quite a few leak recently. |
#5
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Hi!
I haven't noticed an excessive increase in the number of leaky alkaline batteries I've seen recently, but I find it odd that I have a desk drawer full of some that are quite old (and most still do have at least enough power to test a radio) and none of them have leaked...while I have seen some of the newer ones just decide to start leaking. Any more I just take the batteries out before storing something. William |
#6
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William R. Walsh wrote:
Hi! I haven't noticed an excessive increase in the number of leaky alkaline batteries I've seen recently, but I find it odd that I have a desk drawer full of some that are quite old (and most still do have at least enough power to test a radio) and none of them have leaked...while I have seen some of the newer ones just decide to start leaking. Any more I just take the batteries out before storing something. I just yesterday opened up my DMM. I have a couple and when the batteries died a month or so ago, I was surprised, since it has an auto-off feature. I needed some of that particular one's unique capability yesterday, so I cracked the case to change out the Duracell Procells, and at least one of them had leaked. Fortunately, the mess was not too extensive and totally confined to the plastic parts of the battery case. In Duracells defense, I had put in mismatched cells, which I get at work. Wireless mic batteries get changed often, since the cost of batteries is miniscule compared to the cost of a dead mic (Just ask Kelly Clarkson). Consequently, they get changed every chance...not just when they get low. That leaves a bunch of cells laying around which are usually only a quarter depleted. I gather 'em up and match them by open-circuit voltage before I use them. Guess that was a bad idea in this case, huh...? jak William |
#7
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"William R. Walsh" wrote in
news:45IDd.28870$wu4.12360@attbi_s52: Hi! I haven't noticed an excessive increase in the number of leaky alkaline batteries I've seen recently, but I find it odd that I have a desk drawer full of some that are quite old (and most still do have at least enough power to test a radio) and none of them have leaked...while I have seen some of the newer ones just decide to start leaking. Any more I just take the batteries out before storing something. William I've noticed that Duracell alkalines leak,but I have not had any Eveready alkalines leak to date.Nor the Fuji alkalines I bought at Big Lots. -- Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net |
#8
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I recently heard that alkalines batteries are much better than heavy
duty batteries.They say that they last longer.Is there truth to this? I have tried to experiment with this and it does seem to be true.Just wondering what you all have to say. It depends on the application. What are the batteries being used to power? - Reinhart |
#9
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I've been watching these battery threads for a while, and I'm confused.
I am under the impression (from buying batteries and looking at the packages) that the phrase "Heavy Duty" is just advertising hype, and "Heavy Duty Batteries" are just old-fashioned carbon-zinc batteries - which suck compared to almost anything else. That's why Heavy Duty batteries are less than half the price of alkalines, and also the reason that Heavy Duty batteries are what comes pre-installed in cheap electronic devices ("Batteries Included!!!") Am I missing something here? Bill ====================== LASERandDVDfan wrote: I recently heard that alkalines batteries are much better than heavy duty batteries.They say that they last longer.Is there truth to this? I have tried to experiment with this and it does seem to be true.Just wondering what you all have to say. It depends on the application. What are the batteries being used to power? - Reinharte |
#10
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"jakdedert" wrote in message . .. I agree, but many of these exact types of devices (clocks, DVM's etc) specify alkaline batteries...how come, I wonder? Probably figure they'll get less grief. N |
#11
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I just had to clean up *another* leaky alkaline battery the other day, this time in a clock. I used to think the old carbon zinc batteries sucked, but now I'm sold on them for low draw devices, never had one make a leaky mess in such a short time. I agree, but many of these exact types of devices (clocks, DVM's etc) specify alkaline batteries...how come, I wonder? Longer life in theory, in the past I never had a problem, I've had alkalines in clocks last 3 or 4 years before they went dead and never leaked, I think batteries have just gotten lower quality. |
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