Everything you say is true.

I worked at Mallory back when Duracell was their brand name for cells (Mallory also made other components like pots).? I worked in R&D on lithium sulfur dioxide primary cells like used in the military BA-5590 batteries.

Back then they had manufacturing plants in NC and I worked in North Tarrytown NY.? Their HQ was nearby in Tarrytown, just over the line from Irvington.

Everyone there took great pride in their cells which at the time were considered among, if not the, best made in the world.? Special attention was paid to the seals to prevent leakage and damage to devices (they even had a warranty they honored).? The idea was to build the best possible product and consumers would pay the slight premium for the added performance and freedom from damaging leaks. Significant customer goodwill had been built over decades.

When the company was bought the other component manufacturing was shut down to concentrate on cells as that was where the profit was. Understandable and justifiable as the times were changing.

But the aim of the "suits" is to monetize customer goodwill into improved quarterly results, "shareholder value."? This is done by moving more money into marketing and cutting costs in manufacturing.? Any money spent in engineering is to drive out costs not improve the product.? Over time the quality is pushed so far down that the old reputation of the brand is the main force driving sales and products become overpriced crap.

What we are left with is but a hollow shell of what was once a proud, solid product.

This will happen to any company taken over by suits aka bean counters.

Do not allow Duracells into your house.

Peter



On 9/5/2024 7:32 AM, Glenn Little via groups.io wrote:

Look at Duracell.
Another suit problem.
Prior to being bought by Proctor and Gamble, they had a very good product with a good reputation.
Now the batteries leak in the packaging prior to installation in a product.
I now will not allow Duracell batteries in my house.

Glenn

On 9/4/2024 4:21 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:

On September 4, 2024 2:48:59 PM "Harold Foster"<halfoster@...> wrote:

Somebody should have let them know that this happened...

I am fairly sure that *someone* got an earful over it as the person affected is not one, I've been told, to mince words when they are irritated.? The thing is, I'm afraid, that the one hearing it is also one of the ones whom is somewhat responsible for the original treatment that they received - a typical manager that has risen to their level of incompetence. And I think that it's very true that as mentioned previously in the thread Keysight's Powers-that-Be are, as is becoming typical of such corporations, much more focused on the immediate profits (and resultant bonuses) and not so much on the future financial health of the company (AKA: A Future Person's Problem.)? To me, though, Keysight is relying on their name (or, more accurately, HP's reputation) to keep generating sales when they really have no competitive or innovative products to justify that - other than the 3458A of course.? And Fluke just came out with what could very much be a reasonable alternative to that legend.? HP was a truly innovative and legendary company that was a product of the views and integrity of Bill and Dave (as was Howard Vollum's Tektronix) but can only not be considered a textbook example of "Suicide by Suits."

?? And now Boeing, with actual deaths involved.? I was thinking maybe now people would sit up and take notice of the suit problem.? But apparently not.

?? They absolve themselves of any responsibility for this behavior by saying "It's just business".

???????????????????????? -Dave

--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA

--?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Glenn Little??????????????? ARRL Technical Specialist?? QCWA? LM 28417
Amateur Callsign:? WB4UIVwb4uiv@...??? AMSAT LM 2178
QTH:? Goose Creek, SC USA (EM92xx)? USSVI, FRA, NRA-LM??? ARRL TAPR
"It is not the class of license that the Amateur holds but the class
of the Amateur that holds the license"

? Same here; Duracells are "remove on sight" around here.

? I swore by them all my life, until they started destroying things.

? But that's ok, because...."it's just business".

? No.? It's greedy scumbag behavior that should've been beaten out of these people with a belt by their parents.

????????????? -Dave

On 9/5/24 07:32, Glenn Little wrote:

Look at Duracell.
Another suit problem.
Prior to being bought by Proctor and Gamble, they had a very good product with a good reputation.
Now the batteries leak in the packaging prior to installation in a product.
I now will not allow Duracell batteries in my house.

Glenn

On 9/4/2024 4:21 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:

On September 4, 2024 2:48:59 PM "Harold Foster"<halfoster@...>? wrote:

Somebody should have let them know that this happened...

I am fairly sure that *someone* got an earful over it as the person affected is not one, I've been told, to mince words when they are irritated.? The thing is, I'm afraid, that the one hearing it is also one of the ones whom is somewhat responsible for the original treatment that they received - a typical manager that has risen to their level of incompetence. And I think that it's very true that as mentioned previously in the thread Keysight's Powers-that-Be are, as is becoming typical of such corporations, much more focused on the immediate profits (and resultant bonuses) and not so much on the future financial health of the company (AKA: A Future Person's Problem.)? To me, though, Keysight is relying on their name (or, more accurately, HP's reputation) to keep generating sales when they really have no competitive or innovative products to justify that - other than the 3458A of course.? And Fluke just came out with what could very much be a reasonable alternative to that legend.? HP was a truly innovative and legendary company that was a product of the views and integrity of Bill and Dave (as was Howard Vollum's Tektronix) but can only not be considered a textbook example of "Suicide by Suits."

?? And now Boeing, with actual deaths involved.? I was thinking maybe now people would sit up and take notice of the suit problem.? But apparently not.

?? They absolve themselves of any responsibility for this behavior by saying "It's just business".

???????????????????????? -Dave

--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Glenn Little??????????????? ARRL Technical Specialist?? QCWA? LM 28417
Amateur Callsign:? WB4UIVwb4uiv@...???? AMSAT LM 2178
QTH:? Goose Creek, SC USA (EM92xx)? USSVI, FRA, NRA-LM??? ARRL TAPR
"It is not the class of license that the Amateur holds but the class
of the Amateur that holds the license"

Burgess batteries

On Sep 5, 2024, at 09:52, Radu Bogdan Dicher via groups.io <vondicher@...> wrote:

?

As long as we're on this topic, what are some battery brands that peeps here would swear by??

I used to stick to Duracells, but you're confirming what I've also seen - a ton load of leakages. I'm tired of ruined units and messy cleanups.?

I've recently bought a big box of AC Delcos, and they've been good this far. But not enough time yet to really tell.?

To be clear, I'm thinking of garden variety batteries, like alkaline?and such.?

Radu.?

On Thu, Sep 5, 2024 at 6:01?AM Peter Gottlieb via <hpnpilot=[email protected]> wrote:

On 9/5/2024 8:54 AM, greenboxmaven via wrote:
> Burgess batteries

That's a really good question. Around 2016 or so I started to find devices in which I had Duracell batteries long-term (Garmin GPS, Kestrel weather meter, etc.) ruined by leaking batteries, something I had never experienced during decades of using Duracells. My limited research into the problem revealed that the change in management at what was Mallory was the likely root cause of the problem. So, like others, I banned Duracells from my home and started trying other brands. Supposedly Eveready batteries were "better", so I used those for awhile, until I had several leak. Lately, (and I hate to write this) I've been using Amazon-branded AAs, AAAs and 9 volt batteries and have not had a single leak-related failure over the past five or so years.
DaveD
KC0WJN
Thanks for all the fish.
==============================
All spelling mistakes are the responsibilty of the reader (Rick Renz, STK, ca. 1994)
==============================

On Sep 5, 2024, at 09:52, Radu Bogdan Dicher via groups.io <vondicher@...> wrote:

?
As long as we're on this topic, what are some battery brands that peeps here would swear by?

I used to stick to Duracells, but you're confirming what I've also seen - a ton load of leakages. I'm tired of ruined units and messy cleanups.

I've recently bought a big box of AC Delcos, and they've been good this far. But not enough time yet to really tell.

To be clear, I'm thinking of garden variety batteries, like alkaline?and such.
Radu.

On Thu, Sep 5, 2024 at 6:01?AM Peter Gottlieb via groups.io <> <hpnpilot@... <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:


<>


On 9/5/2024 8:54 AM, greenboxmaven via groups.io
<> wrote:
> Burgess batteries

The Alkaline cell leakage problem in premtium brands like Duracell and Energiser is not entirely down to cost cutting by the manufacturers. The root cause was the mandated (rightly) elimination of Mercury by governments. It turned out that the small amount of Hg alloed the re-absorbsion of hydrogen generated by the cell even when not suppling current. This lead to a period of production of cells the were prone to leakage. They now seem to have fixed the chemistry and more recent cells don't suffer this problem.
Robert.

The Alkaline cell leakage problem in premtium brands like Duracell and
Energiser is not entirely down to cost cutting by the manufacturers.
The root cause was the mandated (rightly) elimination of Mercury by
governments. It turned out that the small amount of Hg alloed the
re-absorbsion of hydrogen generated by the cell even when not suppling
current. This lead to a period of production of cells the were prone
to leakage. They now seem to have fixed the chemistry and more recent
cells don't suffer this problem.
Robert.

You believe currently manufactured Duracell AA and AAA cells now no longer leak? Does anyone have any evidence to support that? What is the current experience? I'd like to believe that...

Best wishes,

Larry McDavid W6FUB
Anaheim, California (SE of Los Angeles, near Disneyland)

On 9/5/2024 7:57 AM, Robert G8RPI via groups.io wrote:

The Alkaline cell leakage problem in premtium brands like Duracell and Energiser is not entirely down to cost cutting by the manufacturers. The root cause was the mandated (rightly) elimination of Mercury by governments. It turned out that the small amount of Hg alloed the re-absorbsion of hydrogen generated by the cell even when not suppling current. This lead to a period of production of cells the were prone to leakage. They now seem to have fixed the chemistry and more recent cells don't suffer this problem.
Robert.