Hey just looking for a little help on some battery issues.I have been using the so called heavy duty batteries for awhile now and have recently heard that although a little more expensive alkaline batteries actualy last longer.Does anyone have any insite on this or experience with alkaline lasting longer?
Alkaline batteries are vastly superior to zinc carbon/zinc chloride (so called "heavy duty" and "general purpose" batteries). For a comparison consider the following typical datasheets for AA cells:
Some things to notice on the datasheets. The regular alkaline cell has over
2.5 times the capacity of the super heavy duty. The internal resistance when fresh is also dramatically superior.Of particular note to me is the chemistry type described on both datasheets is zinc-manganese dioxide. Heavy duty batteries are (as far as I know) supposed to have been made using zinc chloride cell chemistry ("general purpose" using zinc carbon). I'm not sure on this, but Energizer may have stopped producing zinc chloride cells, in favor of making a simple lower capacity alkaline replacement. So... The Eveready super heavy duty cells may actually be superior to other heavy duty batteries which use true zinc chloride chemistry. Does anyone have a datasheet for a real "heavy duty" battery?
From personal experience I have also noticed that so called heavy duty batteries are far more likely than alkaline to leak/corrode and damage your equipment. It is my understanding alkaline cells also have much superior shelf life (lower self discharge). Anyway, the bottom line is don't buy heavy duty batteries. They would have to cost less than a third of the alkalines to even be anywhere near comparable in any kind of economic and practical sense.
Unfortunately, they still do command the lowest possible price, so many "batteries included" electronic devices will provide you with "heavy duty" cells. This is unfortunate. They might as well not include batteries at all considering how bad heavy duty cells really are.
That said, I would highly recommend using NiMH rechargeables for everything but the applications where self discharge or infrequent use basically requires alkalines cells...
What battery : brand, type, size ? and what kind of load ?
Rene
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I don't even see cost an issue here. If you look at grocery store ads, alkalines are almost always on sale. I try not to pay more than 20 cents each for AAs. For example, right now the Pathmark has Rayovac AA size 12 for $1.99. Sorry, if you live in the UK.
Tam
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