A little webbing suggests that most Duracell, Eveready, and Energizer batteries are made in China.
Whirlpool is now Maytag, Kitchen Aid, Sanyo, and a few other brands. Last time I bought a dishwasher, the sales guy said it didn't much matter which I bought, they all came from the same factory in China.
For quantity things like batteries and appliances and tools, it's import or die.
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John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
lunatic fringe electronics
Good to hear from someone who knows what he's doing and can advise. What's your personal brand/model selection for a protected 14500 that...
Actually has a under voltage protection and not just PTC short protection.
Isn't 52.5mm long and will fit in the battery holder without busting it.
Doesn't have multiple layers of thick shrink wrap so the diameter is small enough to fit in devices that have a 'tube' construction, like a flashlight.
Has a positive nub that's long enough and small enough diameter to get past the plastic bumper they put in the device to inhibit cell reversal.
Has a reasonable capacity specification at currents you're likely to want.
Doesn't have "fire" anywhere in the brand name. All the *fire cells I have weigh considerably less than real cells, have a capacity that's well below a 'normal' capacity spec and not anywhere near their 'overstated' capacity.
Comes from a reliable vendor so you can evaluate one, then get more with expectation that it will be the same design.
Were they genuine Duracell batteries from a trusted source? (I presume thy must have been if they reimbursed you)
I have seen plenty of fake copper top "Durace11" packaged batteries that on closer inspection are elaborate (Russian?) forgeries. They tend to be on sale in market stalls and elsewhere (along with real ones).
I am pretty sure I have had the odd genuine Duracell leak too - but only when they have been discharged and left in something for a looong time.
Budget zinc carbon cells are much worse for leakage (and I still do use them in cheap things that have low current but need the voltage).
My favorite cell for digital cameras was the nickel-zinc cell that flopped a few years ago.
Rechargeable, 1.6V per cell, NiMH-like impedance. I only got about
25 cycles from them, but that was more than enough to make them a bargain compared to alkalines. As a bonus, digital cameras would actually run off the darn things, too.
I have no idea about all of today's many brands of LiIon 14500's. ISTM that fitting a 3.6V cell into an alkaline's spot is inherently hazardous, so I prefer NiMH. But, if you really want to, the flashlight afficianados over at Candlepowerforums.com would have all the latest.
I understand that. However, what puzzled me was that some leaked without being discharged at all. Even more puzzling is that some from the same pack were still fine and at 1.53V while others were caked in leakage.
I expect batteries that aren't drawn current from not to leak. Having to remove batteries from everything kind of defeats the purpose of a battery. Then the equipment is not ready in a power outage, for example. Or won't come on automatically when it is supposed to.
I haven't seen zinc-carbon batteries in years, if not decades.
So Energizer is less prone to leakage? James suggested Panasonic which would mean there'd be two brands to switch to. Duracell Coppertop was not cheap though.
They were. They wanted numbers from the batteries. Also, they were bought at Costco which does not sell counterfeit stuff.
I had none so far, ever. Now I had lots, which makes me wonder whether something changed or there was a ;roduction problem. They aren't saying but they do reimburse.
The last Zinc-Carbon cell I had was as a teenager and that was decades ago.
Thanks to all of you. I got two hints to try other brands, Panasonic and Energizer. Will do that.
Just for the record, I do not want to diss Duracell here. They behaved ethically correct and reimbursed for the damage. It's just that I sometimes need such batteries in more expensive stuff and don't want to take a chance should there be a production or engineering issue.
Same problem in my old Nikon Coolpix. I found that regular NiMH last longest, followed by Eneloop-NiMH which last a little less but which I now use because then the camera batteries aren't self-discharging much.
Surprisingly, they aren't. All of my leakers were made in the US but distributed from a site in Quebec. Which is why all the lettering on them is in French.
He probably didn't know much about washers. For example, many are made in South Korea and many in Mexico.
Says "Fabrique aux E.U." on my Duracell batteries (not European Union, Etats Unis for United States). If you guys have Coppertop batteries there take a peek.
I'll add another vote for Panasonic. I have run several of them into the ground without problems. Other varieties have leaked in the same kit.
The suggestion of NiMH isn't a bad one if the kit will run on them.
I have toyed with the idea of a 3v LiIon cell and a dummy cell pair in some of the kit I have that just won't run on NiMH (or rather it will but only for a day before declaring the battery voltage inadequate)
The alkaline leakage problem seems to be worst in very low power devices that are operating continuously in the fractions of a milliamp range. (or things left with the batteries in for a very long time)
I'm inclined to agree that things do seem to have taken a turn for the worse where leaking alkaline batteries are concerned. It isn't helped by low current devices that suck every last bit of juice out of them and are still working OK when the battery is almost stone dead and leaking. My mains power monitor is bad for doing this - one has been wrecked.
They are still available in cheap jack shops here and are ideal as throw aways for sacrificial use in battery powered waymark lighting in the village to light the footpath after a late evening event.
3 cells @ 2Ah is more than enough to power a 1W LED for 4-6 hours.
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