Weirdly I always feel a sense of personal failure when I find leaked batteries in a piece of equipment.

What frustrates me are the push button contact switches used in everything. Instead of completely cutting out the power, too many devices have a slow trickle current which mean that for NiMH you can easily drain them beyond what you should. Every battery powered device should have a SPST switch which completely isolates and would prevent a lot of cells leaking.

I've had many devices (including a Fluke non-contact voltage tester) damaged or ruined by leaking Duracell batteries, and I take advantage of every opportunity to complain about them. Thank you for providing such an opportunity.

At 68 years old I remember when batteries came with a guarantee that said they would replaced anything damaged by a ruptured cell. Great tips Clive!

Probably a good idea. I've lost several maglite flash lights to leaky cells. I put them up for a few years and come back to a solid mass of alkaline residue.

I've had unused Corrodacells (er, I mean _Duracells_ ) leak less than half way to their 'use by' date while still sitting unused in their original packaging. In my experience, they have gotten markedly worse as far as leakage goes over the past 10-15 years or so - I suspect it's a combination of chemistry changes due to environmental regulations and cost optimization by the bean counters. I rarely if ever saw leakage in the 80s-90s, but since 2000 it's been downhill at an alarming rate. I've been switching as much as possible to NiMH since being turned on to Eneloops on a photography forum around 2009-ish, and have yet to see one of them leak.

Oh, forgot to mention, you can get usb-chargeable Li-ion cells, that put out a flat 1.5V. It's a 14430 cell with charger/converter board that fills it out to a 14500/AA form-factor. As mentioned, a flat 1.5V for things that don't fare too well on 1.2V from NiMH, but the drawback being that they suddenly and unexpectedly drop dead without warning once they're spent. No big deal, just pop it out and recharge, and it's good to go again.

Duracell cells have the most insane leakage that i ever seen. Literally the circuitry destroyers by excellence.

I've found the trick to using rechargeable is getting a nice charger that can keep at least a dozen batteries topped off and ready to go. Get an expensive charger that handles at least double the number of batteries you need charged, and is smart enough that you can leave the batteries in there and not worry about over-charging. The enemy is laziness, so you've got to make grabbing a rechargeable even easier than unwrapping plastic container of fresh alkalines.

Would be very interested in more (rechargeable) battery content, Clive. Especially analysis of different brands. Always wondered how some of the better-reviewed cheap brands compare to the more expensive premium ones. EDIT 12/28/21: While I'm here, you know what I wish? I wish someone would make a cell with a hard plastic casing of some kind. I've had some rechargeable Duracells for a while, and the cheap, thin wrapping on all of them is frayed and coming apart. I question how much longer they'll be safe to use for, even if the cells themselves are technically okay.

I recently rescued a Micronta 22-207 volt-ohm meter (circa 1970s) from the local rubbish tip shop. I was dreading the potential battery leakage all over the internals. Luckily for me, the Radio Shack "steel clad" (gold/red/white branding) carbon zinc batteries that were left inside did not leak! The 9V battery measured 2.58V, and the 1.5V battery measured 1.18V on my digital meter.

I bought an Atari SuperPong console from Ebay recently. When I got it I realized that it was heavier than expected. I was ready to find a huge mess inside, but instead found 4 perfect 1980s vintage Rayovac batteries. The only problem is that I didn't get to see if they would still honor their no leak guarantee!

For devices that sit around a lot but get used regularly (like Multimeters) I have switched to the Energizer Lithium primary cells. They are more expensive, but for those specific cases they last forever and have not leaked on me so far. For all other devices, the alkaline batteries get taken out and stored in little ziploc-bags next to them. If a device comes from the factory with "heavy duty" zinc-carbon batteries those go into the trash immediately. The lithium batteries alre also great for things like outdoor RF temperature sensors, as they don't crap out in lower temperatures. With the lithium AAAs the thing lasts over 2 years, with alkaline AAAs I loose connection and have to change out the battery after 9 Months.

Had the same meter and the same leak. There's a hole in the inner battery compartment where the spring contacts go through and the liquid leaked onto the circuit board. I noticed because the continuity buzzer failed and found the corroded traces were everywhere. Way too much to repair, including destroyed vias and traces going under components. I bought a bigger brother to the 210 and the first thing I did was to take it apart and hot glue the exact same holes in the battery compartment. Hopefully that'll save me another $60...

That's a very good point. I've switched over to almost exclusively HiMH batteries but from a battery cost point of view it was hard to justify. If you include the cost of devices damaged by leaking alkaline cells though it's easier to make the case for a switch. Personally, I'd like to see kids toys come with AA NiMH batteries rather than the battery packs. The lack of standardization in the battery packs must cause so much waste.

When Duracell killed my prize possession SRL camera I cried. They tricked me by still working while they were leaking. I tried shorting many battery brands with a 1k resistor to try and find the best and worst but the batteries refused to leak. In the end I realised that when you buy new tech with batteries included, that may stay on the shelf for years before being sold, they always include GP batteries - so now that is all I buy, and so far, so good! (However Energizer have a no leak guarantee on some batteries)

There was a time in Australia about 30 years ago when Duracell batteries never leaked, and so were my go to. However over the last 10 years I’ve found they leak.

The #1 biggest reason I haven't swapped to using NiMH for more is that I can't seem to communicate the differences between batteries to my wife and kids. Too many years of just grabbing a cell from the drawer and tossing the old ones means I've lost a great many rechargeable cells by now.

I haven’t seen a leaking battery in years, other than some in an old camera which I bought recently, which had probably been in there fore many years. The old standard zinc carbon cells, such as the blue EverReady U2, with the zinc case were a different matter, but that was back in the ‘60s. I have mainly changed to rechargeables, but that’s mainly due to cost and much reduced toxic waste.

Duracell batteries that I’ve bought in the past have often leaked well before their expiration date. The worst thing is the company tried to imply that the cells had not been kept at optimal temperature and storage conditions even when they refunded the purchase price. A good number of the unused batteries were leaking inside the packet! I’m very wary of alkaline cells now and check them regularly. Good advice in the video Clive.

Alkaline batteries were a huge improvement over the old carbon zinc flashlight batteries. I have bought primarily Duracell batteries (the copper top) for a number of years. I have noticed a sharp decline in their resistance to leaking somewhere during the past 5 to 7 years. I have had Duracell batteries leak in the packaging, long before their stated expiration date. I think that Duracell is just a trademark name they put on the batteries, & they are actually made by some Chinese companies, who are probably the lowest bidder.

I've loved NiMH in the 90s and early 2000s, they were great. Never had a leak, I still have some that I can recharge and they work. BUT the 1.2v is a real problem. Most electronics now do flag 1.2v as too low. It's unfortunate. I've had so many Alkaline batteries leak prematurely, often after only a year. What a waste.

I've used alkaline batteries for years without any leakage issues - until the last 3 or 4 years. I doubt it's an inherent flaw in the design but cost-cutting by the manufacturers to drive the price down. They are certainly very, very much cheaper than they used to be. But so are NiMH batteries. Now, use those in all my equipment.

Hey clive, it has been a couple of years since I've discontinued the use of alkaline batteries in every gadget around the house that uses AA or AAA batteries for the very same reason, replaced them with low self discharge NiMh rechargeables and so far its been great. NiMh battery last for years in remote controls, needs to be topped off once in about 16 months, I've got 10 year old Varta NiMh cells still going strong.

NiCd batteries are still used in aircraft and helicopters with turbine engines. The NiCd batteries can supply the massive current required to crank the engine up to several thousand RPM so that they can light off once jet fuel is introduced. They are then recharged once the engine starts, and the starter is switched to generator mode.

I've had a dozen unused brand new Duracell alkaline batteries start leaking in their package. They are complete rubbish anymore. They weren't like this in the past.

I heard my battery leak ! In the quiet of the night, I heard a very faint , very high pitched buzz , which sounded like a mosquito . After searching around for the source discovered it was coming from my radio . Opened up battery compartment to find it was the battery singing and just starting to leak fluid . It must have been the gas build up escaping like a mini jet .radio saved easily because it had only just started .It was too high a freq for my wife to hear . Ps every leaking battery recently has been a Duracell with me. They used to be much better

If a battery leaks in your electronic device, use a small brush (a toothbrush will suffice) to rub vinegar on the contacts and rinse away the battery acid, and then again to rinse a little with water. It's amazing how well it works. It leaves no trace of damage or acid. I've saved many a device this way.

With alkaline batteries, originally they contained a small amount of mercury, this helped to stabilise the chemical reactions in the battery, it's only when this stopped being added, for the usual 'environmental' reasons, probably around 20 years ago, that the leakage problems started. The worst brand is The Kodak branded ones from Poundland, they can often leak while still in the packaging, years before the expiry date, I don't buy those anymore. Panasonic & Varta seem to be the best for not leaking & Lidl's own brand Aerocells too.

With rechargeable batteries a good charger is a must, one that individually monitors the cells and has good control circuitry. Selectable or moderate charge current is best. There are so many poor quality ones around, with very basic design, often charging batteries in pairs.

My most expensive Duracell leak was in the wireless thermostat for the central heating. Unfixable and £120 for a replacement. The batteries leaked over the summer when the heating wasn't required so I didn't notice. I'm not sure about built in and prismatic Lithiums. I have had quite a few swell up in units not being used, one physically breaking the OLED display in a Sony MP3 player. Last month I discovered a five year old LIDL power bank with a distinct bulge in the middle. That had literally never been used apart from testing it on the day I bought it. Doing some research they are more likely to cause an emergency than be useful in one.

Yes, I have a bunch of older gear with remotes, I was dismayed at the number of bad batteries in them, all Alkaline. Luckily I managed to recover them all, but it took quite a bit of time. Sadly a lot of remotes want 1.5v, you can get 1.5v rechargables, well you could at one point, they seem to have vanished, they were very expensive. I think you just need to treat batties like a cars oil change, just check them and swap them out as required. I just double checked all mine, all good. Thanks for the heads up, as always great content.

Gotta say I agree Clive. I just bought another 12 Eneloops ("Boxing Day' Sale, 30% off retail) to add to the growing collection. Some of my '80s and '90s audio gear remotes are near irreplaceable and it only took one alkaline leak to convince me to go all Eneloop.

Had to repair many pinball machine boards that suffered many years of so called non-leak Alkaline batteries installed, spreading toxic corrosion on every trace in a confine space. So glad when nvram became available.

Good point . The oldest working NiCd batteries I have are 2x 6v cells that came with a NOS Gen2 tank night vision periscope, they are dated 1984 and still charge up and work fine, they didn't even leak.

Once upon a time we had "heavy duty" cells which I guess were zinc-carbon. They leaked all the time and alkaline batteries were the upgrade. Alkaline batteries *never* leaked. It's amazing to see that they're now the ones with the reputation for leaking. I guess the problem was never the chemistry and just the margins and the engineering them down to a price. Duracell used to be a premium brand that lasted longer and never leaked -- now it's a bit of a zombie brand that's licensed and manufactured cheaply and is notorious for leaking. It would be interesting to see a disassembly of batteries from different decades and brands with measurements of the thickness of the layers. Fwiw Duracell will warranty their batteries including paying for damage caused to electronics from them leaking.

As someone heading for a leaky, crusty future, I'm not ready to retire either!

I have phased out alkalines to "disposable" applications where I don't want someone walking off with a rechargeable cell. Everything else is NiMH or LiFePO4 (3.2v per cell nominal) with spacers for the stuff that needs the higher voltage. Also - and this isn't a huge secret - IKEA's "LADDA" brand cells are rebadged Eneloops, sold much cheaper. ;)

Lately I've been using 1.5v rechargeable lithium AAs in devices that are voltage critical. They use a voltage regulator to provide 1.5v until capacity is around 10%, then they switch to 1.2v to trigger low voltage alerts.

I noticed that the leakiest batteries are those inside trickle usage devices. For example, my zigbee lock, which pings often and uses tiny amounts of charge nearly every hour as well as locking/unlocking, made new batteries leak. Same with various mice/keyboards that are Bluetooth, and therefore, check in with the computer often. However, TV remotes almost never leak, bc most remotes use no charge until a button is pressed.

Honestly, I've never had a problem with Energizer batteries, always had problems with Duracell batteries

First off, thanks for covering this topic. Your viewership reach might just kick off the revolution needed to fix this problem. Growing up in the 70s and 80s I can state with absolute authority that I recall only a handful of leaky alkaline batteries. Since 2010 I would say 50% of all AA and AAA batteries that I've purchased have leaked. I switched to slow internal discharge NiMH for most things but some devices still need the higher voltage to work properly or long enough. We need designers to rethink operating voltage to more closely match NiMH voltages and we'd be in great shape for the switch. Given the MCU shift from 5v to 3.3V and down to 1.8 or 1.2V this should be easy enough to accomplish. A campaign for the environment and against the wasteful Alkaline battery might just do it.

This video reminds me why I started watching your content all those years ago - it was your video about calculating battery capacity using a pocket watch!

Having lived in Florida I always kept a hurricane kit in the closet. There's nothing more aggravating than taking out the flashlight or radio only to find death crust all over the battery compartment. And good luck finding batteries in the stores with a storm approaching. You have to change all the cells out every year just to be safe.

When I was working in HI, the lab had a rule that batteries had to be removed before putting away anything. I assume something about the climate made leaking worse, or maybe just the corrosion caused by leakage was worse. It was rather annoying, but less annoying than having to clean crusty battery good out.

When alkaline cells started replacing zinc/carbon in the 1970s, one of the selling points was that they didn't leak like the old zinc/carbon ones did. And I don't recall leaking alkalines in the early years. I wonder why they leak nowadays - did the battery chemistry change?

I think you have a good point here. I've had to toss or clean several old devices lately because they had a leaky alkaline in it. But I just found a travel alarm clock yesterday that I hadn't used in years that was still working. I opened it up, and it had eneloops in it.

I had this happen in my TV remote. Standard Duracell, with a year before expiration. You just convinced me to get rid of them

I'm with you on this. I use NiHM cells for _almost_ everything these days. The exceptions are a few crappy devices that really seem to dislike the 1.2V nominal voltage

I too recently noticed a sharp increase in the number of leaky Duracells & the like, I put it down to cheap fakes. A friend recently gave me an old Avo 8 multimeter which he hadn't used for years. It came complete with an orange EverReady HP2 battery. I remember these from my schooldays in the 70s. This one has no leaks and still measures 1.49V! NiMH is way forward. All my remote controls and other seldom-used items have NiMH cells now (except the old Avo lol!), should have done it years ago before losing too many to battery cancer.

I have had replace many hundreds of dollars of electronic products because of leaky alkaline batteries. Thanks Clive. Happy New Year.

I think they've been leaking more in the last few years than I can remember. I just don't recall alkaline cells leaking very often many years ago.

I still use alkalines in many things. I found some things, like the clocks I've got that self-set using the wireless signal tend to go badly wrong when the voltage drops below about 1.3V. Also I've got a few cheap bluetooth computer mice that take two AAs each and they start acting up when the voltage dips a bit. Other than that I love rechargeables. I use them in everything I can.

In their early days Duracell used to offer compensation if their batteries leaked but I am pretty sure they no longer do this. In the 1950s we used to test batteries for Duracell whilst potholing. Great long lasting batteries BUT they ran down very abruptly which could leave you in complete darkness if you found yourself in a long tricky section. We quickly relegated them to extreme emergency use only!

This info is greatly appreciated as I never thought of this possibly to utilise the newer type of batteries, and immediately changed all that I could so I have no more worries about some of my meters.

Yes it's almost 2022 and batteries still utterly suck, but we have to consider the benefits of this situation. By colluding, monopolizing and stifling battery technology, profits have been kept so mind-blowingly high that a select set of folk who you and I will never meet are able to live a life of absolute luxury, never have to wait in line, and always are pampered and waited upon due to sheer excess wealth.

There's some odd devices that seem to work better with alkaline batteries and their higher voltage. A relative of mine runs a trailcam in the forest nearby and we noticed that rechargeable batteries make the video capture start too late, to the point that most videos were nothing or at most half a second of a tail going out of frame. Switched to alkaline batteries, and just like that the problem was fixed, video capture now triggered as soon as an animal was in frame.

Excellent info that I needed to hear about! Had several instances lately where the alkalines leaked in my equipment, and it seems the equipment's never the same after corrosion sets in

I've gotten into the (painful) process of installing batteries before I use a piece of equipment, then removing them when I am done after having too many battery leaks. The plus side of this method is I can (and do) always check the battery before I install it so I am "sure" it shouldn't go flat when I am hanging by my rear end in some awkward situation when using said piece of equipment.

Classic.. What timing. Ive just started switching out Alkaline batteries for NiMH batteries in all my devices after discovering a leaking battery (caught it in time), that wasnt past its due date, and was purchased new not that long ago. Some devices complain of low battery, but the % they report never drops for a long time... I even replaced the Alkalines in my PinBall machine with them a year ago. Still going strong (one day, Ill do the memory mod so it doesnt need battery backup)...

Agreed, I took your advice from a video a couple of years ago and swapped out all my AA powered stuff to the LADDA/Panasonic NiMH chemistry. It was a bit more expensive initially, but with a good quality multi chemistry charger, I really think it was the best move battery wise I made. Don't really have many primary cell powered items any more, just a multimeter, beard trimmer, and a linear PCM sound recorder. Been using them for 2 years now no issues. The sound recorder does show low battery at 80% discharge, but I can live with that and it functions perfectly fine otherwise.

Absolutely right. I’ve lost count of how many flashlights and other electronics I’ve had to discard and replace due to leaking alkaline batteries

Yea, I've noticed that, too. I have been keeping batteries in their packaging until needed, and purchasing off brands. They all still leak, but if they aren't in the device, then no harm done. I've also noticed a pattern, that they tend to leak sooner when installed. I have some theories on that phenomenon, but have no way to test it. I go through a lot of batteries in my line of work, so they are constantly being changed out, and it's not a problem for those devices. I will be making the rounds on all the battery powered things today, though.

I'm a big fan of Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloop NiMH rechargeable AA+AAA batteries. I've been using them almost exclusively for over 10 years in all sorts of devices with no issues. The package on the most recent batch claimed they would hold 70% of their charge for *up to* 10 years and can be recharged *up to* 2100 times, pretty crazy stats!

Totally agree with you. I can remember the old Zinc battery days and the leaks we had with them mmmm. Then we were introduced to "Leakproof Battery's' all our troubles would be over. How wrong we were, wonder what went wrong with that statement. Thanks for the update.

Vinegar and a cotton bud are my solution to finding a leaked alkaline cell. Just apply the Vinegar soaked cotton bud to the affected area and watch it 'fizz'. When the fizzing has died down and the affected area (usually the metal battery contact) cleaned up - clean up with water, again applied with a cotton bud. Needles to say, restrict Vinegar and water to the affected areas and ensure they don't impinge onto other electronic areas.

I completely agree. In years past when I would go to get a a certain piece of test equipment out to use only to see that the batteries had been left in it and leaked.

There has been loads of electronic devices thrown away because leaky batteries ruined them. Many items from my childhood were put in storage only to find out years later no one took the batteries out and they were pretty much all trash.

Yes, I have had similar experiences. For many things I now use Eneloop batteries, most of mine are about 6 years old and still going. For more serious stuff, like expensive multimeters, I have long been using Energizer Industrial batteries. So far none of the industrial batteries have leaked, and I have run some long, slow leakeage tests.

Thanks Clive 👍. But, see what you've done now is compelled me to go through the entire house and workshop replacing every alkaline cell. I may be gone some time 🙄😂

Thank you! I bought this exact meter a few months back and the last thing I want is to have to clean it out. It’s a really good meter.

Good to hear. I've been having trouble lately with Energizers going and leaking if I forget about them for any amount of time, and honestly was ecstatic to find Duracells over the holidays since finding any other brand here seems to be neigh impossible. But I'll have to keep in mind to consider getting some new NiMH batteries after I'm through those. Much as you've suggested, I've never had an issue with the ones I have, except one: They're like 15 years old and only hold a charge for a day or two now!

Just found a couple of leaky cells myself as I went through some things that had not been used the last ten years (actually looking for my abandoned set of NiMHs and their charger). The worst one was a Duracell in a Garmin GPS, that one left a mark. I've also come across a couple of leaky Energizers in a LED string and the indoor unit of a thermometer. I've hardly seen any leaks in all the cheap supermarket brand cells I have laying around - thinking they may be somewhat less densely packed than the fancy ones, thus more room for the contents to expand. I also came across a bunch of cheap "ABC Alkaline" cells that expired around 2015, no leak and still in the mid green sector on my tester.

It is all true. I have been telling my followers of vintage battery toys for years to never leave a battery in the toys when not in use. All alkaline batteries will leak given time. Back in the 1950's and 1960's it was the carbon base batteries that leaked and took the life of many a vintage toy. Even button cell batteries leak given time. Many of my vintage robot toys "there are over 4600 of them in the Robothut" have a value way over the price of my best test equipment in my shop, so I have to make sure the batteries are accounted for after a video play time. So many good bots have been damaged by these batteries. But just the other day I played with a 35 year old robot toy that has built in Nicad batteries and was surprised to find that they still took a charge and worked ! Amazing. Great video Clive.

I’ve been buying eneloops for stuff as the occasion arises. Im glad to hear I’m not crazy because I have found modern alkalines to be a lot more predisposed to leaking than I recall from the 80’s and 90’s.

Glad you got the meter running again. Sadly, I’ve got a pretty well-populated photo album on my iPhone devoted to my own casualties of the alkaline wars (Duracell has been the worst. In fact, I’ve stopped buying Duracell completely because of their high leak rate). Even more sadly, many of our casualties have been precious Hallmark “light & sound” Christmas ornaments that aren’t made to be opened for repair. Fortunately, I’ve also gotten really good at cleaning up and repairing the damage… First I open the device (I’ll find a way in, even if it’s slightly destructive) because electrolyte often leaks inside and if ignored will continue to corrode. Then I thoroughly neutralize any electrolyte with cotton swabs dipped in 9% acetic acid, aka “canning vinegar” (regular vinegar is usually 5%). Then I neutralize the acid with a thin baking soda and water paste. Then I thoroughly rinse everything that is rinsable with 91% or higher isopropyl alcohol (be careful as some solvents will damage plastics). I’ll usually file, sand or Dremel the battery contacts and “tin” them with a fresh solder surface. I automatically replace any affected wires because electrolyte is usually drawn up into them under the insulation by capillary action and will continue to corrode the wire later. Then I resolder any bad connections and replace any discrete components that were damaged. I’ve got access to better chemicals but usually stick to good old fashioned vinegar, baking soda and isopropyl alcohol. Alkaline batteries have high power output, so I still like them for many tasks. For emergency type devices I’ll store the batteries next to the device in zip-lock bags. Just don’t forget to remove them before you store your device-unless you want more repairs added to your already lengthy to-do (honey-do) list.

Guess I'm going to have to move to NIMH cells for most of my gear.

Oh my, one's favorite white or green crusty delight after opening a battery compartment. So much joy in cleaning it all up. Then hoping the device will work again if it hasn't reached to far inside to ruin components.

For a hobby musik band I've got 9 V blocks again. They use it in wireless headphones, defective guitar devices and that sort of thing. But also rechargeable blocks. The NI-MH is available with the voltages 7.2 volts, 8.4 volts or 9.6 volts. I got them the 9.6 volt variant, which also stores the charge longer. In addition, the battery empty indicator comes on at 7 volts. A full accumulator has always been enough for the entire performance so far.

I caught some Duracells leaking just yesterday; fortunately I discovered the leak in time to avoid damage to the flash-light they were installed in. I was already buying more and more rechargeable cells and more and more chargers, yesterday's annoying failure will just speed things up.

I wasn't even aware alkaline cells could leak like this. On the bright side, the leakage does appear to be potassium hydroxide which reacts with CO2 in the air to form potassium carbonate.

I have recently come the same realisation too. I bought some IKEA LADDA 2450mAh batteries, charged them up and I've been using them in old film cameras with no ill effects. I've heard these can be quite sensitive as they rely on the voltage for the exposure readings, but so far I've not had any noticeable impact. I also purchased the AAA batteries for my remote controls, no problems there either and it is refreshing not to produce so much waste from disposables.

Please could you do a deep-dive series into battery technology along these lines? I really enjoyed this, thank you Clive.

Get yourself a nice charger for NiMH batteries and about double the number you need, and you're in business for anything that needs them. The spares are there for immediate need, and by the time you should need a fresh set, the previous ones have long been charged and put back in storage. They're actually pretty good these days for most uses. You can get high capacity or low self-discharge (they put lithium to shame on capacity/volume, but get shamed back on power out/in). I have a 4-Cell unit with per-cell management, discharge, discharge-refresh, charge, and a test function all in one, with cycle-through readouts for current, voltage, capacity, etc. When I get a dead cell I put it in and set it to discharge so I get a full cycle out of it and then it goes as normal. If I find an iffy one I discharge-refresh it and see if it's still good. Out of a set of two in a wireless handset, one was good, the other was dead. With a dumber charger I would not know that.

I had not heard of the low self discharge NiMH batteries, just ordered a pack of them and will see how they last in things like remotes and clocks that used to be a pain because of having to recharge them every month or 2 with the older type NiMH cells I have for camera flashes and other high current devices. The Tenergy Centura seem to be reviewed about equal to Eneloops so I'll be trying those out. Also why am I not surprised the leaky ones were Duracell, I gave up on that brand many years ago and switched to Energizer, haven't had a leak since I switched. But the holding company that owns Duracell seems to be buying up all the other battery brands out there so won't be long until they all suck.

Great video. I oftened wondered why we are still using alkalines as I have had many leak and used to think it was just the cheap brands. I got rid of my rechargable NIMH batteries for the discharge reason when I moved countries in 2013 but now I'm back in Australia I might look into them again. Thanks.

Camera flashes is one use where there is a performance difference but only in an edge case of quickly repeatedly firing the flash at higher power levels. The impact is how quickly the flash can recycle and be ready to fire again. In a move to address this, Nikon made an optional battery door for their SB 800 which allowed using 5 NiMH batteries to achieve the recycle times of 4 alkaline

Leak o matics duracell

it seems alkalines have gotten terrible in the last 10-15 years. I think it's them reformulating the chemicals to make them more green, and I suspect the mercury that used to be included did some kind of hydrogen adsorption. Without that, now the hydrogen can build up and cause them to leak. The cost of NiMh is a bit higher than alkalines, but it isn't as much of a difference as it used to be, and tends to be a lot less than the cost of replacing a device that gets destroyed by leaking alkalines. I have tried to move everything to nimh also for this reason.

Thank you Clive for saving my baby UNI-T. After watching this video i went and checked my UNI-T and guess what!! A quick job with the cotton buds and white vinegar, and we are back in action.

I could not agree more, old TV remotes, and portable radios, I find are great for this, you finally get around to changing the batteries and its covered all the in sides of the battery compartment and the contacts. The worse batteries I find for this are the cheap pound shop ones, like that Kodak one you had. I have to say I now try and use rechargeable batteries when ever I can.

Personally I gave up on 'expensive' alkaline batteries several years ago as I found Duracell and Ever Ready far more prone to leakage than cheap 'chain store / Made in China' batteries. OK, so the cheap batteries don't last for years but, they don't leak either in a 1~2 year timespan. It's far less inconvenient to change a battery than change a meter, particularly when you find the battery contacts were only 'corrosion resistant' and not a stainless steel The cheap yellow Chinese meter you used in many early video's had batteries that lasted about a year of almost daily use which for a $5.00 meter was fine with me

I’ve found more problems with devices using NI-MH AAA batteries than AA batteries especially childrens toys. Many devices seem to take AAA batteries when they should really be using AA batteries as they simply don’t last with the smaller cell. I’ve also noticed a heavy switch to li-ion in devices that really should use AA/AAA batteries, some wireless overear headphones, torches and even electric toothbrushes. Many devices I would argue Li-Ion is overkill for and reduces the life. I still have my MP3 player from the mid 00’s that uses AAA while the one with the built in li-ion is long dead

Glad you shared this. I've been replacing alkaline batteries with rechargeable ones over the last year for pretty much everything except things like clocks. There's one issue I recently found with NiMh batteries: the slightly lower voltages makes them unsuitable for Christmas LED lights. They appear very dim and after only a few days seem to be flat while they aren't. Had to use alkaline batteries in those to make them shine properly!

This is why I’ve tried to keep the habit of removing the batteries from electronics when I’m not using them, then putting batteries in them when I need to use them. It’s a bit of a pain.

I'm old enough to remember what alkaline batteries replaced. It was a significant improvement at the time, but their time has passed it seems. A person is foolish for using them in anything critical like a prepper radio or flashlight for instance or an expensive meter. A much better option is the Everready Lithium cells. Very long shelf life and higher capacity with little chance of leakage makes them a much better choice. The only drawback at this time is price. As technology advances, we will likely find better and cheaper cells.

I've had similar adventures with alkaline batteries in my cheap pocket multimeter: DVM810. I also hated how fast it burned through batteries too, on top of that 12V 23A battery is rather pricey. One day I was so fed up with it that I drilled a hole in the bottom of the meter, wired an XT30 to the outside and repurposed an old Ni-MH 7S battery pack to use with the multimeter (8S would've been nicer, but I was using them for something else). The only issue is that the pack is a tad bigger than the meter itself, but I don't mind: still better than a battery tray.

Wholehearted agree. I recently had to clean out an electric clock because the recently inserted (I think it was August or September) Duracell Ultra Power (with leakage protection) AA cell that was powering it, with a "Best Before" date of March 2025, had decided to vomit up its stomach contents. Honestly, I had only put that cell in the clock because I'm trying to use up the spare alkaline cells I have so I can get rid of them. But it does make me question, whether it better to just send them to be recycled without using them (I don't like wasting), or use them but risk having more leakage issues.

Recently went to Ikea and grabbed a ton of their rechargeable batteries, they work like a charm

The biggest problem with rechargable cells is the lack of low discharge protection in battery driven devices. They are all designed to squeeze even the last bit out of the battery and NiMh cells dont like that. Especially in low power devices... The battery can sit for long times at very low charge wich destroys the cell over time. And the worst part is, you dont even realize it, because there is still enough voltage to run the device.