Let me leap in here to ding Duracell. They used to be my goto battery, but over the past few years (there was a hedge fund takeover, which IME rarely results in improvements to long-standing quality products) they've turned into liabilities - specifically, they are extremely prone to leaking once even a little bit discharged. To this day I open old kit and there can be duracells in there with "use by 2010" or even earlier dates which are fine, yet far newer batteries (e.g. bought in 2016 with expiries in 2022) leak like there's no tomorrow for the buyout team.
Interested to hear of others experiences, or I've just been amazingly unlucky.
I came across this recent youtube comment[1] on why older batteries didn't leak. I don't know if it's correct but sharing it anyway:
>ceptimus 2 weeks ago (edited) >> Old alkaline batteries contained mercury, which made them resistant to leaking. The mercury was there to absorb the hydrogen gas, which builds internal pressure when the battery is used, causing them to leak. Newer alkaline batteries don't have mercury, because it's harmful to the environment when disposed. Unfortunately, the mercury free batteries leak much sooner - many of them long before their 'use by' date, even if you've never used them. Now you've replaced the batteries, you should check the camera more frequently. The modern rechargeable Ni-mh batteries, with a low self-discharge rate, are a good alternative: less likely to leak; but they're only nominally 1.2 Volts per cell instead of 1.5 volts, so some equipment won't work with them.
EDIT... maybe there's more to it than just mercury because some low-effort googling[2] found that law prohibiting it in batteries was 1996 (~25 years ago). That doesn't match the timeline in the video because Alec says his old batteries (that didn't leak) were "use-by-date-2016". So maybe something else was different about the formulation in his Kirkland Signature batteries circa ~2008.
Duracell (the Mallory company) was bought by Dart in 1978, then by KKR in 1988, Gillette in 1996, Procter & Gamble bought Gillette in 2005, and Duracell was spun off and bought by Berkshire Hathaway in 2016. (source: Wikipedia)
The company has been under large-scale finance / conglomerate management for more than 4 decades by now. I don’t think there would have been any immediate change in battery quality circa 2016. Seems just as likely that corner cutting (assuming there is corner cutting; I have no insight) started before changes of ownership.
That possibly explains the mysterious leaking battery problems. I remember that was an issue over twenty five years ago, which taught us not to leave batteries in devices. But then we accepted that they don't leak anymore. Then in the last five years or so, I keep finding gadgets that are destroyed, or almost so, from massive battery leaks. And alkalines don't seem to last very long, even though they are more expensive than they were.
In a past life I worked in the entertainment biz. Duracell ProCells were the go-to battery for important things. Britney Spears' headset would have had a Procell in it. They would all get tested before use and maybe 5 in a thousand were bad and not used. They weren't the absolute best in the world but they were acceptable and cheap enough to use and toss. After a show we would all take the 'used' batteries home and use them until they were actually flat. The only time I ever saw one leak in a device was if it got submerged or very hot. Now, the procell in my pencil-sized flashlight seems to leak after a month. I switched to energizer and, at least in my sample size of one, I haven't seen a leak.
Having worked in video production for a time, my understanding of the intent/marketing of the procell line is that you always use a fresh one for each production. Therefore, they are lower spec than one that might sit in a device for a long time as they're going to be done with their intended life in a few hours, and they're cheaper than the retail cells with better longevity.
I certainly never ran them through the qualifications that the article did.
The places I worked certainly went thought them like water. Every time something like a lav pack or mic came off a performer it got a new procell. There were buckets of them at the end of the day. They never spent much time inside the devices but did come home with us for use in remotes and kids toys.
I understood the procell line to mean that the batteries each got tested for voltage before shipping. 20/30 years ago, for whatever reason, a percentage of consumer batteries would be already dead when they left the factory.
This demystifies something that had puzzled me. I got a nice wireless lav setup and I find it very annoying that they use alkaline cells. I thought rechargeable lithium batteries would be nicer because you can always top them up, but in a more professional setting it may be easier to just use fresh batteries every time. Of course using alkaline cells really annoys me because of the waste. Maybe I should get some good rechargeable AA cells, but I much prefer a device which can just be plugged in to charge without having to remove the cells.
At the pro level you need something that can be turned around in seconds. You dont want to hold up a rock concert or movie shoot because a battery has run flat. A constant flow of alkaline batteries is more reliable than organizing banks of gear-specific rechargeables. If mrs spears' pack died, a man in black would be running on stage with a new procell. Far easier to swap a battery than swap the entire pack integrated into her costume and sound systems.
The entertainment biz is special. They will bring thier own generators to run a rock concert because the power supply at every major stadium is too unreliable. A touring show would rather haul a generator truck (or three) than deal with the specifics of each stadium they visit and risk bad power. Better to spend the money and generate it yourself.
> Far easier to swap a battery than swap the entire pack integrated into her costume and sound systems
How do you get to the pack to change the battery if integrated into her costume? Backstage doesn't work on stage unless it's a quick handoff. Cinderella had to step off stage and manipulate her wardrobe to give access. But she stepped off upstage right. So the audience could see if they had been looking there. So I gave her the "follow me" wave and walked from the wings upstage to the wings downstage, where nothing could be seen from the house. I turned to work, and she wasn't there. She didn't see me give the "follow me" sign. She had her back to the audience and was bent over with her dress over her head in an attempt to give access to the transmitter and battery pack which was in a pouch in a harness she wore, basically it was secured in the small of her back. I checked the audience and they somehow hadn't yet noticed what Cinderella was doing (which was probably illegal given her age) and, in a stage whisper, I screamed her name to get her attention, then gave the sign again. She saw and came over, and was apologizing while I replaced the entire transmitter, batteries and all, without messing with the mic and cord. Funny girl, if she knew I doubt she cared about the peep show she gave as much as concern she had upset me somehow (which is absurd)
It's really only the cord that is difficult to replace, the mics and transmitter/battery packs swap faster than trying to muck around with loose batteries. Even so, it's an off stage operation. If it occurs in the middle of a number, I've walked out to hand a wireless mic to a singer.
Any interaction with the stage during a show means a sprint from the sound booth, under the house, and up to the back stage, and then back afterwards. It's nice when there's a small sound crew, but the audio engineer is expected to deal with it regardless.
Happened for me too. They were very reliable batteries, now even new batteries leak if unused for a few years. They have ruined several remotes that I use sparingly, they should change their name to Ephemeralcell.
Same here, lots of leaks-- some family even has had a drawer full of unexpired Duracells leak. Myself, I've switched over completely to NiMh except when unsupported by the device to remove the change of leaks (Nest x Yale door lock in particular, which detected NiMh as low battery even when 90% of the cell capacity is remaining). AmazonBasics has been bad with leaks too.
Edit: I have a Powerex MH-C980 and that has significantly made using NiMh easier. Before with a bundled Panasonic charger I had to charge everything in pairs, 4 max. The Powerex I can charge 8 cells individually, turbo charge if I'm in a rush, and see how much energy actually was used if something seems to be eating through a lot of batteries.
Just to clarify your point there: Charging batteries as pairs is what kills the rechargeable batteries. There is no way for the charger to keep track of both batteries at the same time so it just charges until both should be done.
If one of them is bad, the charger will kill the other one too. If they are differently charged, it will kill one of the batteries and next time it will kill the other battery. (Kill as in make worse and worse until it finaly doesn't charge at all.)
I have mostly stopped using rechargeable AA and AAA batteries because of the bad quality of the last ones I bought. They took 3-5 charges before dying with a good charger that does all batteries separately.
I have never seen a charger that charges in pairs. Every charger I have ever used or seen has charged each cell individually. Charging in pairs is a terrible idea - the chargers should be returned as unsuitable for purpose.
This is what killed me when I started swapping Alkalines for NiMH in the 00s. Every single charger sold in stores only charged in pairs, and because even then USB was creating a 5V world most things that needed batteries used 3 of them.
Even the charger that Panasonic sold with the Eneloops requires matched pairs.
The other issue being that NiMH seems to top out at AA size. Finding C or D sized rechargeables is basically impossible.
Also, NiMH batteries can reverse charge and ruin themselves. This happens a lot when batteries are in series and the load will continue to run the batteries until 0 voltage. The weakest battery will deplete first but then the other batteries will continue to pump current through until that weak battery reverses polarity and wrecks itself.
Correct, ages ago, I was testing a batch of them and came across several reversed charged ones. At first I thought I must have got my multimeter leads reversed but I found that was not the case.
For a long while I kept them to prove the point to anyone who thought I'd must have lost my ability to distinguish plus from minus.
I just replaced some ~2 year old 9v and AA from various detectors around my house, all rayovac and half were leaking and I had to use some sand paper to clean the terminals. Yeah I know you're supposed to replace once a year but it is what is. Seems from this thread people have seen leakage from many different brands from cheap ones to "duracell"
Completely agree. Duracell batteries have been leaking consistently for me, I've stopped buying them and actively warn others. They have destroyed various remotes, torches and an expensive camera flash after only a few years.
I have a pack of AAA Duracells I just went to open the other day which were "use by 2025" that I purchased just a few weeks ago, and one of the batteries in the middle of the fresh unopened pack was already leaking with one end fully encrusted with corrosion.
The EU has a quality mark "CE" - Conformitè Europëenne. Sometime the font is a bit wonky and it is alleged that CE in that case stands for China Export instead. I imagine that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking#%22China_Export%22 is policed quite carefully.
those are just self-certified, CE is only on the authority of the people who put the label on not on some EU agency. They can be held accountable for not following CE correctly but not having the correct logo is not a problem.
Mmm, I recalled I had Duracell (bought in 2018, expire date 2025) leaked in the battery compartment and I don't use the device. I just assumed the device was on standby mode and been draining the battery for a while which caused the leaking.
That mean I have to be wary of Kirkland AA and AAA Batteries because they are made by Duracell. This is new for me and I'm surprised about Duracell, and I am not surprised about hedge fund/private equity. This is their MO.
Kirkland batteries were very leaky to the point where I didn't even finish using the pack I bought. I was quite dismayed since Kirkland usually has quality products.
Same. I pulled down my dad's old camera from the closet a few years ago and it probably hadn't been used since the 90s so the batteries were dead. Threw in some new Duracell batteries and played with it a bit before putting it away. Opened it a year or two later and the batteries had swelled and leaked everywhere. Had to use a pair of pliers to extract the swollen batteries from the battery compartment. Such a huge pain.
After using Duracell for years for applications where I had to use alkaline, I recently had a set die with major leaks early, basically ruining a nice LED flashlight.
Yup, I hate Duracell batteries with a passion, they leak like a wet sponge and destroy electronics. I have converted most of my batteries to NiMH, but for the few that cannot be rechargeables, I will go out of the way to buy anything but Duracells.
As the article states, NiMH has gotten a lot better, and I now use that nearly everywhere instead of alkaline.
It's nice not having to shop for batteries as often. I plugged in a charger behind the TV and batteries in a drawer under the TV. With the price point for Eneloop and Duracell batteries, you break even once you use a rechargeable for the fourth time.
Part of the reason I have it in the first place is that the Roku 4's abysmal remote control goes through a set of batteries once every three months or so.
Seems like at least the AA size, model LADDA 2450mAh. You can check they're made in Japan. Not sure about the 1900 mAh, or the AAA size model, it might be a different brand.
All 3 are Eneloops, just not the same lines (the 2450's are pros). Also their Tjugo charger is one of those chargers that slowly pulse-charges each cell individually and checks the delta, it's a very overengineered and conservative charger design that won't roast the AAA's and AA's from them. Decent video of teardown of it, though the guy wasn't aware of this style of pulsed-charging and why it's done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG2clNRFz2k
Yep, have the same experience here. Even worse, I have devices which require batteries to be installed for memory retention, so I can't really remove all the alkalines to prevent leakage.
Anecdata, I recently had to replace batteries in several smoke alarms. 3 were Duracells and 2 were Rayovacs. All Duracells were from 2016/2017, i.e. assuming they were installed right away they lasted around 5 years. Rayovacs were from 2010 and 2011, despite both brands being rated for 5 years. It is possible that old Rayovacs were installed around same time as new Duracells and both lasted around same time, still makes for an interesting datapoint.
Just as a bit of feedback, for safety equipment like smoke and CO detectors, standard guidance is to replace the battery at least once a year. (Unless you have an integrated 10 year battery that will last the life of the detector)
If you live in an area that follows Daylight Savings time, doing it then is best so that you remember. Otherwise doing it during the Operation Edith drill for Fire Prevention Week is the next best.
Rayovac was bought out by Energizer not too long ago. They used to have a 10 year no leak guarantee, now they leak in a few months as I've learned the hard way.
I've had exactly the same experience with Duracell - batteries leaking years before their expiration date (sometimes shortly after purchase). I never buy Duracell anymore.
90% of my Duracells from the past decade have leaked and ruined equipment, and all well before expiration date. Ive been now telling my family and friends to avoid at all cost
Interested to hear of others experiences, or I've just been amazingly unlucky.