Re: Anyone else having problems with Duracell batteries?

Marko <[email protected]> wrote:

> If bought batteries at a 'bargain' store, you may have the same
> problem that I had with the batteries that came with my 4 new smoke
> detectors.  At a casual glance they looked like regular Duracells. 
> HOWEVER, they are marked "Duracell OEM", "Not for Retail Sale", and
> "Made in China"... There were 8 batteries installed 2 years ago with
> 2025 shelf-dates, in detectors that run mainly on 120 VAC.  When 1
> unit started beeping, I checked them all and found 6 of them still
> measured nearly 1.6 volts, while 2 of them (25%) were leaking at BOTH
> ends...  I will never buy Chinese batteries again.

Nothing to do with being made in China.  All to do with the manufacture
specifications relayed to to the plant on how to produce the product.
The same plant can make crappy and excellent stuff.  They have to
produce per spec from whomever contracts them.

If the batteries were lithium (highly likely for smoke detectors), they
were made in China.  How are you going to buy more lithium batteries
without them made in China?  You won't.  Australia, Chile, and China are
the largest lithium producing countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_lithium_production

However, most lithium batteries are manufactured in China (two-thirds of
the global supply).

It isn't where the product was made.  It was who mandated the specs for
manufacture.  For example, Duracell requires a thinner and more runny
paste than, say, Energizer.  When there is a leak, the runny paste is
easier to leak out, and easier to spread out.  I don't know why Duracell
wants a more runny paste.  

Shelf dates are not use-before dates.  They are how long the battery can
sit UNUSED on a shelf awaiting usage.  Once placed into service, the
shelf date is no longer applicable.  You could buy batteries with a
shelf date of 2035, but if you put them into service now then their
lifetime is measured from now, not until or after 2035.

The smoke detectors you have run on line voltage, but the batteries are
to keep them working during power outages.  However, being on a power
line does not extend their lifetime.  The detection elements inside
still have a life of 8 to 10 years.  Despite being line powered, smoke
detector should get replaced after 10 years.  Some will start beeping
when 8 to 10 years have elapsed which is measured from the manufacture
date, not when the unit was put into service.  The manufacture date
should be printed on a label on the backside of the unit.  Dates were
not always required.  If there is no date, replace the unit since
they've been required to be datestamped for way over 10 years.

Batteries should be replaced every year, not every 8 years.  In fact,
you should put a annual reminder in your calendar to replace all
batteries everywhere in your home, garage, and car.  Unless you consider
a device using a battery as temporary or disposable, you want to replace
its battery every year; else, risk losing the device to battery leakage.
Plus, what good is a device you need now that has a dead battery because
you were too lazy to replace batteries every year?  Although you might
be able to clean the contacts damaged by leakage, they will be in poor
shape afterward, and most times the contacts are tough to reach to clean
thoroughly (which may likely require sanding to completely eliminate the
corrosion).  Leaving any corrosion just to expose the contact area means
the corrosion continues to corrode the contact.  Unless the device is
super cheap, and is considered disposable, the battery is only part of
the cost of replacing the device.  If you don't want to replace the
battery every year, don't leave it in the device, but then you'll have
to install the battery when you want to use the device.  With something
like a smoke detector, you want it in service all the time.  Again, once
you put a battery in a device, it has gone into service, and the shelf
date becomes irrelevant.  

I quit using Duracell a long time ago.  Its paste is too runny, and they
are more likely to leak than Energizer, or even many of the store-brand
batteries.  They advertise having lots of energy, but never claim they
never leak.  Leakage is more likely when batteries have been left in
service, but unused for long periods of time, or if completely drained,
or exposed to extremes in temperatures causing internal pressure that
can burst the seals.  A flashlight in the garage with batteries
installed experiences depths of winter cold and extremes of summer heat
hence more likely to leak than a flashlight in a drawer inside your
house.

For almost all devices that use batteries, I consider them valuable
enough to warrant replacing their batteries once per year.  I bought a
slew of cheapy palm-sized flashlights that I don't care if their
batteries leak (once they are put into service by adding a battery), but
most of my other gear is far more valuable than the cost of a battery,
even over many years of replacing the battery.  Plus, batteries are
chemical, so their energy wanes over time.  I'd rather have a device
that is ready to use when it is needed rather than finding it has a dead
battery to then go hunt or shop for a newer battery to use the device
sometime later than when it was needed.  A flashlight with a dead
battery is worthless in a power outage, and the power outage cannot be
put on hold until I get a new battery for the flashlight.