Contact Enhancer, Battery Mfr

QUESTION 1: I have several devices that have battery (alkaline AA or AAA) contacts that regularly get resistive. Opening the device and spinning the batteries usually solves it but only for a day or so.

What is available to coat the device contacts to prevent the constant opening and battery spinning ?

These contacts are usually way down inside the device and are not all that easy to get to.

QUESTION 2: is there a AA and AAA battery that is less likely to leak all over and destroy my devices ? Yeah I know, take the batteries out BUT not always remembered ! So please do not annoy me with that recommendations.

I have brand new, never used AA and AAA batteries that leaked. These are many years before the printed good by date. What total crap. I have no-name batteries that never leak. The one that leak are Duracell and Costco brand name batteries.

QUESTION 3: Now that contacts have been destroyed by leaking batteries, what is the best procedure to get the contacts working again? The contacts are deep inside and I cannot take the device apart. I cannot buy a new device because in some cases they are not available or are now too expensive to buy.

Reply to
BatteryUser
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In my home, Duracell is permanently prohibited. I have had too many devices destroyed by leaking Duracell batteries.

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David E. Ross 
 
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Reply to
David E. Ross

I've had them all leak. The solution is to keep batteries fresh. If we have a power outage and flashlights get used, I change all the batteries, whether they need it or not. Remotes get their batteries changed at least once a year and other devices are left without batteries in them or, sometimes, a slip of paper between the contact and the battery. Alkalines leak when they're discharged, so don't let that happen. BTW, Duracells are about all I use anymore. They're somewhat cheaper than Everready's and just as good.

Reply to
krw

I'm not aware of anything; IME, tinning with solder is often beneficial, but of course not practical if they're inaccessible.

Automotive use sometimes uses some sort of jelly-like substance around the battery terminals - my memory's telling me Vaseline or petroleum jelly (are those the same thing?), but my memory needs needs a new battery ... (-:

I don't _think_ I've ever had a rechargeable cell leak, at least anything corrosive - at least not since NiMHs. (Of which I now only buy the ones that hold their charge: they tend to only be available in about

80% the capacity [2.5 rather than 2.9 Ah for AA, 3/4 rather than 1 Ah for AAA], but I don't have to worry about whether they're charged when I need them.)

As someone else has said, alkalines leak when discharged. (I've had zinc ones go off even when unused, but even if I had a need for primary cells, I don't think I'd buy zinc.)

The one time I've seen actual capacities quoted for primary cells (in a Farnell catalogue: that's the same company as something beginning with H in the US), Duracells _were_ the highest capacity, but only by about

10%; given the amount of advertising they do, which you usually pay for in the price, I'd not normally buy them - if I had to buy primary cells, I'd buy own-brand (but alkalines), since the variation isn't great.

If unavailable, i. e. obsolete, you have nothing to lose guarantee-wise by breaking into the device.

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J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/
Reply to
J. P. Gilliver (John)

So now you let other brands leak in your devices?

One good thing about Duracell is their guarantee. I had a radio controlled clock that was ruined by leaking Duracells and they sent me a $100 check to cover the cost! All I had to do was call.

I'm pretty sure the batteries didn't run down before they leaked as I would have noticed the clock wasn't working.

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Rick C
Reply to
rickman

There is much misinformation floating about the concept of 'dielectric greases' as 'dielectric' implies non-conducting rather than conducting.

There is a problem with conducting greases, because you would need for the metal in the grease to match the metal in the contacts or there will be more problem rather than less.

Somewhat interesting article here

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Dielectric Grease vs Conductive Grease

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Mike Easter
Reply to
Mike Easter

What has happened is that the alkaline electrolyte (potassium hydroxide) attacks the tin or chrome plating on the spring connectors. The connectors are made from spring steel, plated with copper, nickel and either chrome or tin (if it needs to be soldered). Oxides of these metals make for lousy electrical connections.

The problem is that you're not going to improve the connection between steel (rust) and the battery terminal (stainless steel) with any kind of "contact enhancer" or magic elixir. Even replating the spring clips doesn't help if there is a liquid electrolyte or caustic agent present. The trick is to keep the contacts dry so that there's no electrolysis possible. That's unlikely with unsealed portable devices. I've had some luck spot welding small squares of stainless steel shim stock onto the spring terminals, but that requires total disassembly of the device, which is not always possible or convenient. It also hardens the spring steel, causing the spring eventually break.

My experience with various "dielectric greases" and "contact enhancers" have been dismal. Most do an excellent job of trapping small amounts of electrolyte in the grease so that it can continue to do damage. The best I've been able to do is seal the alkaline battery with thin RTV at the junction of the battery contacts and the case. That also plugs up the overpressure valve. Fortunately, alkaline batteries only belch gas at EOL (end of life) which is a tolerable indication that it's time to replace the cells.

I have a few suggestions on how to minimize the damage caused by alkaline batteries, but in the end, the only solution is to avoid using alkaline batteries. I've been switching to LSD (low self discharge) NiMH cells such as Eneloop, and LiIon where possible. I've had the older type of NiMH cells leak. However, Eneloops can be made to leak, usually by overcharging: None of my LiIon cells have leaked yet. If your device will handle NiMH cells, do it. If your device can handle LiIon, even better.

Unfortunately, that won't help if your battery contacts have already had the tin or chrome contact layers removed by corrosion. Replacing the contacts might be possible. Repairing them with replating is too much work. Spot welding or soldering some pieces of metal to the sprint clip is ugly, but does work. Leaving the corroded contact metal exposed, especially if the battery compartment hasn't been thoroughly cleaned is guaranteed to recreate your intermittent connection problem.

All the alkalines I've used leak. Some leak in the original packaging. Other alkalines perfer to leak where they can do the most damage:

That's also been my experience. Oddly, Costco Kirkland batteries didn't leak very much and had a much longer shelf life until after Costco started putting highly visible expiration dates on their bubble pack packages. My conspiracy theory is that they did something to REDUCE the shelf life of their cells.

I tried to answer that under your first question. Basically, you either provide a better connection by replacing, replating, or augmenting the contacts, or you'll have continuous bad connections. If you want a short cut, try welding nickel strips to the terminals of your battery and bypass the spring contacts completely. It will be rather awkward having to weld nickel strips onto your alkaline batteries when they are replaced, but that's the price of not having to replace the spring contacts. Switching to LSD NiMH will help reduce the leaks, but won't fix the intermittent connection problem.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Same here. Duracell = rubbish.

There are also a little bigger than the correct size for AA and will jam in some devices that will take any other AA battery without problems.

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Brian Gregory (in the UK). 
To email me please remove all the letter vee from my email address.
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Reply to
Brian Gregory

The LSD NiMH from Aldidl and 7dayshop are a tad big - IME they go in but can be difficult to get out where they slide in axially. Eneloop are OK for size, but I don't know if the other 'good' makes are.

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Peter. 
The gods will stay away  
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Reply to
PeterC

The idea isn't that the grease is conductive (it's not), rather than it will aid in creating a "gas-tight" contact, reducing oxidation. The contacts wipe through the grease but it piles up around the contacts, keeping air and water from the contacts.

Reply to
krw

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote on 6/4/2017 11:54 AM:

Yes, they are the same thing. I've heard of that being slathered over the starting battery terminals, but I wouldn't use it on anything else, at least not any electronics. On a car battery the protection is from the unavoidable small amount of battery acid leaked in operation. Other places in the car don't have that problem and you don't want petroleum jelly melting into stuff where you didn't intend it.

I think you will find Duracells are priced competatively if you shop around. Here Costco has good prices on Duracells, but they have their own brand which is even cheaper. A number of reviews have been done and they show the Costco brand to be just as good as the Duracells and in fact, the found tiny dimples on the Costco brand cells that are only found on a type of Duracell (one that isn't their cheapest cells).

Reviews (tests) have shown the Sunshine brand from Dollar Tree (a store where "Everything is a Dollar") are just as good as well and even cheaper than the Costco brand at 4 for $1.

Costco has great prices on hearing aid batteries too. Cheaper than any other prices I have found.

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Rick C
Reply to
rickman

Because they look the same, and may even be made in the same factory, doesn't mean they are the same.

The warranty is worth something, though I've only used it once.

Not surprising. This is the sort of thing shopping clubs are good at.

Reply to
krw

And that's your answer.

Back in the 70s, Ford USA used to pump their electrical under hood connecti ons chock full with a brownish thin grease (like lithium only not white). Not only air tight and moisture proof, but water proof as well.

The metals *will* make contact through any weight grease you can get betwee n the battery and the contact, but will deny air and moisture from the cont acts.

As for damaged contacts, the best solution is to remove, strip, and replate them. Of course, this is more work than most items deserve. What I do is run a wire brush on a Dremel and remove as much crap and remaining plating as I can. Add good flux and flow solder onto the contact. The solder plat ing will work fine for the most part as long as you keep a bit of grease be tween it and the battery.

Reply to
ohger1s

silver, or nickel is probably your best bet, could be tricky to apply.

Energiser has $10000 product damage guarantee, won't save your device but will replace it.

yeah, Duracell are poor quality.

Best procedure is take it apart, clean throughly and replace the contacts. see you-tube for dissassembly instructions.

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

So you are saying that brand new batteries that still have many years left on their printed cover are at end of life ?

I thought that Durcell stopped with the warranty protection. It leaks in an expensive gizmo and that is that.

I will try Panasonic batteries next buy.

Reply to
BatteryUser

BatteryUser wrote on 6/6/2017 4:59 PM:

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It is still in place. It may not be as easy to use as it was. When I made my claim I just called them and they asked me the expiration date on the battery. They sent me a check for $100. Now the web page says you need to ship the batteries and product to them.

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Rick C
Reply to
rickman

When you start out a post with "so you are saying...", it would be good to include something of what was said.

Just change them often and *never* leave a dead battery in any appliance. If it's something that's only used occasionally, like an emergency flashlight, replace the batteries after every use.

Reply to
krw

I guess you mean this: The expiration data on the package is 2014. I took the photo in Oct

2016, 2.8 years after the batteries expired. I don't recall when I bought the batteries, but based on my typical consumption rate of AA and AAA alkalines, I would guess 2009. I would expect that such batteries should gracefully lose some percentage of their rated capacity after the expiration date, and not belch electrolyte all over the package and whatever they're powering.

Note that this problem is not unique or unusual: Read through the first few reader comments on Duracell and Kirkland batteries.

It's my understanding that the warranty is still in place, but that it's more difficult to obtain compensation for damage.

I guess you didn't read my rant upon which you're commenting. I don't think you're going to find any alkaline battery, from any manufacturer, that does not leak. I suggest you switch to rechargeable LSD NiMH, which also leak, but leak less. Or, if possible, but devices powered by LiIon batteries, which leak and self discharge even less than NiMH and alkaline.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Everything here is about right. Use Duracell or Rayovac for the warranty. Duracell will be a little hard to execute.

Do not leave batteries in a device.

I've never used dialectic grease on battery contacts. Your best defense is keeping them clean and dry.

I just experienced my weirdest failure of a drugstore branded (CVS) battery. The negative contact domed inward in a Maglite flashlight. The most stupidest failure ever.

Rust and oxides don;t conduct well. Sorry.

This stuff:

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isn't anywhere near cheap, but it does enhance contacts

Dialectic grease keeps the water out. Keeping the leaking battery insides away is more difficult.

Reply to
Ron D.

Jeff Liebermann wrote on 6/6/2017 11:31 PM:

I'm surprised that you would not see the problem here. If you bought milk with an expiration date of Tuesday, would you complain that the milk went sour on the Friday after? Batteries contain corrosive chemicals and are guarantied to leak if you let them sit long enough. Two years past expiration date doesn't sound like a lot, but you can't say it is the battery's fault.

BTW, if you check around you will find dated alkaline batteries are typically dated for a 10 year shelf life. So you likely bought that pack in

2004 or 2005. The article you cite talks about 2024 dated batteries and the article date is 2014.

I see a lot of applesauce. "Duracell "AA" and "AAA" alkaline batteries consistently leak at a 20 - 30% failure rate from packages no older than 4 months." So if I buy a pack of 48 cells, I should see leakage in 10 of them in 4 months? I've never seen a Kirkland cell leak and I've bought some half dozen packs, not counting the 9 volt batteries.

I think the only way to tell is to try. Did you contact Duracell about any leaking cells?

The issue is not leakage, but premature leakage. I've had two devices impacted by leaking alkaline batteries. One was clearly not left in a device past it's date because it was a clock that ran until the battery failed and the cell was dated so Duracell paid for it. I don't recall the other so much. It was a much less expensive item and the battery was a Rayovac. Their warranty required the return of the clock to them for examination and possible repair.

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Rick C
Reply to
rickman

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