Leaky Durcells ?

[Yorkie]

I don't usually leave batteries in things that I don't regularly use, but I saw some white powder on a shelf on which I display various transistor radios, and on closer examination, noted that it was coming from the battery cover of a small plastic cased radio in which I must have inadvertently left the cells. I opened the radio, and luckily, though the two Duracells  had corroded, they hadn't damaged the battery contacts or any other part of the radio.

In fairness, the expiry date on the cells was March 1997 - 18 years ago and they may have been in the radio for years before that date.  But that said, Duracell state that they guarantee that they'll replace any equipment damaged by leaking cells, and as far as I can see, make no stipulation are to expiry date or time limit: 

http://www.duracell.com/en-us/guarantee

They do have a 'get out of jail' clause though, in that they state 'at our option':

Quote:

8-<

"Duracell guarantees its batteries against defects in materials and workmanship. Should any device be damaged due to a battery defect, we will repair or replace it at our option. Leaking battery and damaged device must be provided as proof of claim. Duracell may deny claims of damage caused by misuse or modification of the batteries or device".

8-<

I guess that after 18 years after the expiry date, one could hardly claim 'defective materials or workmanship'.

I'm surprised that given the long expiry dates, they don't clearly stipulate that the guarantee is only applicable 'up to the date of expiry'.

[Murphyv310]

I've seen many Duracell batteries leak well within their sell by date. I've not used them for a while though, now buy 40 Procell batteries from CPC at a time, not as good a capacity but for a little over a fiver far better value and they never leak!

[ppppenguin]

I thought Procell was simply Duracell with industrial branding. Otherwise identical.

[Alan Douglas]

Even new cells can leak, but on the other hand we used industrial D cells to make large battery packs where I worked, and I never saw one leak the whole time I was there, which would be hundreds and hundreds of cells.

Some years ago I know someone had a Simpson 260 VOM damaged by a leaky cell. He sent it to (I believe it was) Eveready and they actually bought him a new 260 for several hundred dollars. I wouldn't count on that happening often though.

[Terry]

I bought 100 from Maplin at a reasonable price but they were terrible! None of them leaked but I was having trouble with short life in a radio I was using a lot and assumed that the radio was at fault but never got a round tuit before the wireless doorbell died after a few weeks.

When I slapped a meter across the 3 cells, a got about a volt! Checking further showed the individual cells to be 1.2V, 1.1V and -1.2V - that's right, one had discharged completely and become reverse charged!

They went back to Maplin for a refund ...

I now use Kodak branded cells from Poundland - six for a pound. They're always marked up as a special - buy 4, get 2 free - but they've been selling them like that for years! Other pound shops also sell them but only in the four-packs ...

I've never had one leak and the current batch have an expiry date of 2025, so I'm happy with that!

[boater sam]

Never had much success with Duracells, I find them no better than others either for life or resisting leaks.

My personal recommendation would be for "GP" batteries. I have found them to be long life and never had a leaker. Some of my older ones are over 10 years old.

[pwdrive]

Problem with batteries these days is the number of fakes around...

Lawrence.

[Refugee]

You are right about the fakes. Pound shop batteries do appear to be as good as any others these days.

[Terry]

I recall someone did some extensive life testing of AA alkaline cells 2 or 3 years ago.

There were two tests, one with a very high current drain and the other at a more modest level.

Overall, the differences were small across the range but, for sheer endurance, Duracell came out on top - but only by a few minutes ...

When price was taken into consideration, pound shop batteries scooped the pool!

[jimmc101]

This site Terry?

http://www.batteryshowdown.com/

Jim