For a long time now I've used nothing but the industrial versions of Duracells. They used to be marketed as Industrial by Duracell and now as Procell.
I have no complaints. Just checked my store of new batteries, quite a range of sizes and ages -no leakers !
Checked the batteries in my Fluke 89IV DMM (4 x AA), hard to tell - the Procells in it might have been leaking but the terminals have been corroded a long time ago (its 25 years or more old) by some rubbish batteries. I changed the Procells any way.
My Fluke 84III is powered by an Industrial 9V which has a best before date of 2020. It isn't leaking but has some black goo on it from the decomposing black foam rubber installed by Fluke.
But I can offer a valuable research resource to the curious.
I used to buy coffee which came in large glass jars which were too nice to throw away. When I moved to my present location in SW Scotland more than 16 years ago it became harder to get rid of dead primary cells so I took to storing them in the coffee jars and somehow I've never got round to getting rid of them. So I have a collection of getting on for 500 dead batteries, mostly alkaline, mostly AA, many different makes and in various stages of decomposition.
If anyone would care to collect them from SW Scotland (for obvious reasons they can't be posted) and do the necessary sorting and analysis, I should be pleased to see the back of them.
MK

On Sep 7, 2024, at 04:19, Richard Knoppow via groups.io <dickburk@...> wrote:

? I don't think Duracell is the worst at the moment. They removed the product from the market for several months and came back with a much improved one. Maybe two years ago. I stopped using Duracell and Kirkland batteries when I discovered many leaking cells and found brand new batteries leaking in their packages. When they announced the problem was fixed I bought some to test them. So far, pretty good. I have had leakage problems in the past but nothing like what was happening with Duracell. The appearance of the cells is different. The leaking AA cells had two little dimples on the bottom, new ones do not. I think they realized their business was being ruined and put forth an earnest effort to correct it. The problem is that its much harder to overcome a bad reputation than to create a good one to begin with.

On 9/6/2024 11:47 PM, Froggie the Gremlin wrote:
Duracell is now the worst, ALL leak badly and ruin electronics.
We switched to Amazon brands, and check the type and reviews before purchasing
The Panasonic NiMh rechargeable are OK, though costly and low capacity.
The damages of leak's are usually easy to clean with Q tips, water, isopropyl alcohol, or vinegar, baking soda and small wire brushes.

--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
SKCC 19998

Thanks very much for that information, Richard. I had long ago written off Duracells as equipment-destroying junk. I'll give them another go. I'll just have to remember "no dimples, no leak."
-- Tom

?? I don't think Duracell is the worst at the moment. They removed the product from the market for several months and came back with a much improved one.? {snip} The leaking AA cells had two little dimples on the bottom, new ones do not.

Duracell is now the worst, ALL leak badly and ruin electronics.
We switched to Amazon brands, and check the type and reviews before purchasing
The Panasonic NiMh rechargeable are OK, though costly and low capacity.
The damages of leak's are usually easy to clean with Q tips, water, isopropyl alcohol, or vinegar, baking soda and small wire brushes.

On Sep 7, 2024, at 12:46?AM, Chuck Harris via groups.io <cfharris@...> wrote:

?Back in the days of yor, a carbon-zinc cell was a zinc
can, wrapped in paper, and filled with sawdust and sal
ammoniac electrolyte, and finally a zinc electrode.

The carbon rod electrode was surrounded by a manganese
compound that improved the discharge capacity of the
cell.

When the zinc can was consumed, it etched through and
the ammonium salt solution leaked all over things.

When the heavy duty carbon-zinc cells were created, they
had the zinc can inside of a steel can that was lined
with an absorbant paper, and plastic seal. They rarely
leaked.

If you are younger than 60, you might never have seen
the old style, except for possibly some old Burgess
No.6 "ignition cells". Really big things that ran the
buzzer type of ignition coils on Model T Fords, and other
ancient cars.

-Chuck Harris

On Fri, 6 Sep 2024 15:02:55 -0700 "Andrew Hakman"
<andrew.hakman@...> wrote:
So I was obviously wrong about my comment that Zinc Carbon batteries
don't leak, and I did some "research" (aka found my box of dead
batteries, took some pictures, and used google translate). The super
light batteries that don't leak that come with remotes I was thinking
of are Manganese batteries apparently, and they are marked "DRY
BATTERY" on them. It's quite possible that I've never actually seen a
Zinc Carbon battery in real life, as these are the ones I always
thought were Zinc Carbon. I know some people say the Zinc Carbon are
marked "Heavy Duty" as this one is, and I jumped to the wrong
conclusion.

[image: battery1.jpg]
[image: battery2.jpg]


On Fri, Sep 6, 2024 at 1:00?PM Adrian Godwin via groups.io <artgodwin=
[email protected]> wrote:

I have a 3D maglite that was badly corroded by energisers (though,
I'm not sure if UK energisers are the same as US ones). After
cleaning it out iot wasn't too bad, just some roughness on the
internal surface. The corrosion was in the middle and hadn't
reached the switch or cap.

I replaced with Nicad obtained somewhere cheaply (but new, decent
industrial ones, probably intended for emergency light backup).
This would have resulted in dim light but I also replaced the bulb
with an LED one with a switching regulator making it insensitive to
low batteries. The result is pretty good.

Another way to get around low voltage cells is the batteriser boost
regulator. They don't extend battery life anywhere near as long as
claimed and aren't very useful for modern devices that can tolerate
low voltage, but they will bring nicads/NiMH up to alkaline levels,
useful for fussy older devices. The downside is they will try to
suck every joule out of the cell - not the best way to look after
rechargeables. I believe they now have a version that cuts out at
NiMH end voltage.

For PP3s, there are some lipo-based versions with a USB C charging
port. These give full 9V, unlike earlier NiMH which were low
voltage (though some had 7 cells instead of 6 to compensate). I've
got a couple of these lithium ones and am so far pleased with them
but haven't done a long-term test.

Attachments:
battery1.jpg:
/g/HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment/attachment/146808/0
battery2.jpg:
/g/HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment/attachment/146808/1

On Sep 7, 2024, at 12:34?AM, Chuck Harris via groups.io <cfharris@...> wrote:

?If a lithium primary cell were to leak, there would be a
lot of heat, a great expulsion of hydrogen and oxygen,
as well as CO2 gases, and possibly an explosion.

Lithium and water vapor make for an exciting time, special
effort must be made to make sure that cannot happen.

Do, however think about that, when you put your lithium
secondary cell powered devices on say, your couch, or a
stack of newspapers, while they are being charged or
discharged.

-Chuck Harris

On Fri, 06 Sep 2024 06:10:38 -0700 "Ed Marciniak" <edr10000@...>
wrote:
While my sample size isn’t insanely huge, over the last 25 years I’ve
never seen an Energizer lithium AA,AAA or 9V leak. I’ve never seen a
lithium 9V in any other brand leak either.