Alklaines better than heavy duty batteries

[[email protected]]

I recently heard that alkalines batteries are much better than heavy
duty batteries.They say that they last longer.Is there truth to this? I
have tried to experiment with this and it does seem to be true.Just
wondering what you all have to say.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

It has been my informal experience that alkaline batteries work better/last
longer in high drain devices like flashlights and radios. In a low, but
constant draw device, the heavy duty batteries seem to work nicely and
usually last a VERY long time.

William

 

[[email protected]]

Hi!

It has been my informal experience that alkaline batteries work better/last
longer in high drain devices like flashlights and radios. In a low, but
constant draw device, the heavy duty batteries seem to work nicely and
usually last a VERY long time.

William

That's been my experience too. Another thing is that in low drain /
low usage applications, like clocks & remote controls, alkalines will
leak & damage the device before the battery runs down. The device stops

working because the battery contacts became badly corroded from the
alkaline electrolyte, which is corrosive.

On the other hand, I've never seen a heavy duty or general purpose
(Carbon-Zinc) battery leak until after it was completely run down.
I've got two VCR remotes running on Radio Shack heavy duty batteries
that were installed in 1994. And simple quartz clocks run 1-2 years
on a heavy duty AA cell.

Alkalines have the advantage though, if the clock has a pendulum
(uses an additional solenoid & driver circuit) or a chime, or if a
remote is used for heavy channel surfing.

Only problem is that the heavy-duty batteries are getting hard to find
in normal retail stores. Here, (FL) only the Walgreen's pharmacy chain
has them (store brand), and occasionally Wal Mart will get a shipment
of RayOVacs, but mail order electronics parts places like MCM & Mouser
carry them.

Mike
WB2ME

 

[James Sweet]

That's been my experience too. Another thing is that in low drain /
low usage applications, like clocks & remote controls, alkalines will
leak & damage the device before the battery runs down. The device stops

working because the battery contacts became badly corroded from the
alkaline electrolyte, which is corrosive.

I've had alkalines go a very long time without leaking before, but seems
like in the last few years they've gotten much worse. I've had quite a few
leak recently.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

I haven't noticed an excessive increase in the number of leaky alkaline
batteries I've seen recently, but I find it odd that I have a desk drawer
full of some that are quite old (and most still do have at least enough
power to test a radio) and none of them have leaked...while I have seen some
of the newer ones just decide to start leaking.

Any more I just take the batteries out before storing something.

William

 

[jakdedert]

Hi!

I haven't noticed an excessive increase in the number of leaky
alkaline batteries I've seen recently, but I find it odd that I have
a desk drawer full of some that are quite old (and most still do have
at least enough power to test a radio) and none of them have
leaked...while I have seen some of the newer ones just decide to
start leaking.

Any more I just take the batteries out before storing something.

I just yesterday opened up my DMM. I have a couple and when the batteries
died a month or so ago, I was surprised, since it has an auto-off feature.
I needed some of that particular one's unique capability yesterday, so I
cracked the case to change out the Duracell Procells, and at least one of
them had leaked.

Fortunately, the mess was not too extensive and totally confined to the
plastic parts of the battery case. In Duracells defense, I had put in
mismatched cells, which I get at work. Wireless mic batteries get changed
often, since the cost of batteries is miniscule compared to the cost of a
dead mic (Just ask Kelly Clarkson). Consequently, they get changed every
chance...not just when they get low. That leaves a bunch of cells laying
around which are usually only a quarter depleted. I gather 'em up and match
them by open-circuit voltage before I use them.

Guess that was a bad idea in this case, huh...?

jak

 

[Jim Yanik]

Hi!

I haven't noticed an excessive increase in the number of leaky
alkaline batteries I've seen recently, but I find it odd that I have a
desk drawer full of some that are quite old (and most still do have at
least enough power to test a radio) and none of them have
leaked...while I have seen some of the newer ones just decide to start
leaking.

Any more I just take the batteries out before storing something.

William

I've noticed that Duracell alkalines leak,but I have not had any Eveready
alkalines leak to date.Nor the Fuji alkalines I bought at Big Lots.

 

[LASERandDVDfan]

I recently heard that alkalines batteries are much better than heavy

duty batteries.They say that they last longer.Is there truth to this? I
have tried to experiment with this and it does seem to be true.Just
wondering what you all have to say.

It depends on the application. What are the batteries being used to power? -
Reinhart

 

[Bill Jeffrey]

I've been watching these battery threads for a while, and I'm confused.
I am under the impression (from buying batteries and looking at the
packages) that the phrase "Heavy Duty" is just advertising hype, and
"Heavy Duty Batteries" are just old-fashioned carbon-zinc batteries -
which suck compared to almost anything else. That's why Heavy Duty
batteries are less than half the price of alkalines, and also the reason
that Heavy Duty batteries are what comes pre-installed in cheap
electronic devices ("Batteries Included!!!")

Am I missing something here?

Bill
======================

 

[NSM]

| I've been watching these battery threads for a while, and I'm confused.
| I am under the impression (from buying batteries and looking at the
| packages) that the phrase "Heavy Duty" is just advertising hype, and
| "Heavy Duty Batteries" are just old-fashioned carbon-zinc batteries -
| which suck compared to almost anything else. That's why Heavy Duty
| batteries are less than half the price of alkalines, and also the reason
| that Heavy Duty batteries are what comes pre-installed in cheap
| electronic devices ("Batteries Included!!!")

You've pretty much got it. In fact, I buy my carbon-zinc batteries at the
dollar store. They're fine for light, long duty, clocks, remote controls
etc. Alkalines are better for heavier tasks, cameras, CD players,
flashlights etc.

N

 

[James Sweet]

| I've been watching these battery threads for a while, and I'm confused.
| I am under the impression (from buying batteries and looking at the
| packages) that the phrase "Heavy Duty" is just advertising hype, and
| "Heavy Duty Batteries" are just old-fashioned carbon-zinc batteries -
| which suck compared to almost anything else. That's why Heavy Duty
| batteries are less than half the price of alkalines, and also the reason
| that Heavy Duty batteries are what comes pre-installed in cheap
| electronic devices ("Batteries Included!!!")

You've pretty much got it. In fact, I buy my carbon-zinc batteries at the
dollar store. They're fine for light, long duty, clocks, remote controls
etc. Alkalines are better for heavier tasks, cameras, CD players,
flashlights etc.

I just had to clean up *another* leaky alkaline battery the other day, this
time in a clock. I used to think the old carbon zinc batteries sucked, but
now I'm sold on them for low draw devices, never had one make a leaky mess
in such a short time.

 

[jakdedert]

I just had to clean up *another* leaky alkaline battery the other
day, this time in a clock. I used to think the old carbon zinc
batteries sucked, but now I'm sold on them for low draw devices,
never had one make a leaky mess in such a short time.

I agree, but many of these exact types of devices (clocks, DVM's etc)
specify alkaline batteries...how come, I wonder?

jak

 

[Jim Yanik]

I just had to clean up *another* leaky alkaline battery the other day,
this time in a clock. I used to think the old carbon zinc batteries
sucked, but now I'm sold on them for low draw devices, never had one
make a leaky mess in such a short time.

What brand?
My experience is that Duracells leak more than Eveready alkalines.

 

[NSM]

I agree, but many of these exact types of devices (clocks, DVM's etc)
specify alkaline batteries...how come, I wonder?

Probably figure they'll get less grief.

N

 

[James Sweet]

I agree, but many of these exact types of devices (clocks, DVM's etc)
specify alkaline batteries...how come, I wonder?

Longer life in theory, in the past I never had a problem, I've had alkalines
in clocks last 3 or 4 years before they went dead and never leaked, I think
batteries have just gotten lower quality.

 

[James Sweet]

What brand?
My experience is that Duracells leak more than Eveready alkalines.

This one was some generic OEM thing, but I've had alkalines of most of the
major brands leak in the past few years including Duracell and Energizer.
Dunno if it's still true but Duracell used to consistantly last much longer
than Energizer in heavy-draw applications, in fact most of the cheap generic
stuff lasted longer than Energizer as well.

 

[NSM]

Longer life in theory, in the past I never had a problem, I've had alkalines
in clocks last 3 or 4 years before they went dead and never leaked, I think
batteries have just gotten lower quality.

Chinese made these days. Not the mark of quality.

N

 

[Jim Yanik]

This one was some generic OEM thing, but I've had alkalines of most of
the major brands leak in the past few years including Duracell and
Energizer. Dunno if it's still true but Duracell used to consistantly
last much longer than Energizer in heavy-draw applications, in fact
most of the cheap generic stuff lasted longer than Energizer as well.

But you were talking about low-draw,long term usage,like in remote
controls.I stopped using Duracells after they kept leaking,and I have not
experienced any Eveready cells leaking yet.

 

[H. Dziardziel]

| I've been watching these battery threads for a while, and I'm confused.
| I am under the impression (from buying batteries and looking at the
| packages) that the phrase "Heavy Duty" is just advertising hype, and
| "Heavy Duty Batteries" are just old-fashioned carbon-zinc batteries -
| which suck compared to almost anything else. That's why Heavy Duty
| batteries are less than half the price of alkalines, and also the reason
| that Heavy Duty batteries are what comes pre-installed in cheap
| electronic devices ("Batteries Included!!!")

You've pretty much got it. In fact, I buy my carbon-zinc batteries at the
dollar store. They're fine for light, long duty, clocks, remote controls
etc. Alkalines are better for heavier tasks, cameras, CD players,
flashlights etc.

N

http://electrochem.cwru.edu/ed/encycl/art-b02-batt-nonr.htm
Excerpted quote:
Zinc chloride "Heavy-Duty" cells
It had been known since the 1890's that a battery like a Leclanche
cell could be made without the ammonium-chloride salt and only
zinc chloride for the salt in the electrolyte. However such a cell
did not provide as much service or life after storage with the
materials available until around 1960. At this time European and
Japanese companies began to employ cell constructions that were
very much better sealed to keep air out and moisture in the cells.
In addition superior pastes or polymer blends were developed for
coating on paper. These could withstand the more acidic
zinc-chloride solution better than the earlier cereal pastes. This
coated paper as a separator allowed the zinc-chloride cell to
provide much higher service, especially with synthetic manganese
dioxides, than previously seen. In addition it was found that the
zinc-chloride cell with these separators could be made without any
mercury added to the zinc anode cans and still provide
satisfactory service both when new and after long shelf storage.
This made this cell chemistry much more attractive to meet ever
more strict commercial expectations and standards for high
performance and for proper disposal of the batteries.
Unquote

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/battery/industrial/images/pdf/carbon.pdf
Real heavy duty dry cells from quality manufacturers are steel
clad and last longer than the cheap plastic covered which leak
almost as soon as bought.. But good quality alkalines are still
usually the best buy.