Energizer batteries

[grifftech]

Longest lastng

[Gyro]

Purely anecdotal, but I've always found Energizer batteries to be 'Battery most likely to leak unexpectedly'.

[CJay]

Purely anecdotal, but I've always found Energizer batteries to be 'Battery most likely to leak unexpectedly'.

I've lost more equipment to Costco's Kirkland brand than any other battery brand.

[Tandy]

I'm surprised that people still use Alkaline batteries for anything other than very low power applications such as TV remotes and clocks, even then ultra low self discharge NiMH (eneloop type) work really well.

Most of my battery powered equipment came with its own lithium rechargeable otherwise it has NiMH rechargeables. TV remote still has the same Alkaline AA's that were supplied with it 4 years ago. I haven't had to buy any Alkaline batteries for many years now.

[Ian.M]

99% of 'leading brand' batteries are ripoffs.  See http://www.redferret.net/?p=42679
Just about the only widely recognised brand that isn't a ripoff is Kodak Xtralife.

Battery leakage:  I've had similar experiences with Energisers leaking unexpectedly.   
If you are either anally retentive about keeping receipts or are returning an item with a ,manufacturer that has an agreement with the battery manufacturer, and jump through all the administrative hoops, your claim against a battery manufacturer's 'repair or replace' warranty has a fair chance of being successful.  However if you cost your time, return P&P etc. on all except top dollar items you are likely to end up out of pocket + you've been paying over the odds for the warranty cover in the price of the leading brand batteries.  Energiser are allegedly one of the manufacturers less likely to leave the customer feeling happy.

[CJay]

I'm surprised that people still use Alkaline batteries for anything other than very low power applications such as TV remotes and clocks, even then ultra low self discharge NiMH (eneloop type) work really well.

Most of my battery powered equipment came with its own lithium rechargeable otherwise it has NiMH rechargeables. TV remote still has the same Alkaline AA's that were supplied with it 4 years ago. I haven't had to buy any Alkaline batteries for many years now.

I've had alkalines leak in things like remotes too, it doesn't seem to be related to high current draw.

[Ian.M]

Assuming you aren't rabidly green, Eneloops don't make sense for low discharge applications.  You are replacing a 25 cent Alkaline with a  $3 to $4 Eneloop, and assuming the Alkaline lasts a year, your breakeven point is over 12 years away, if the Eneloop even survives that long without leaking, drying out or accidentally getting tossed in the trash when the gadget breaks.

Use of Alkalines in higher drain devices is mostly a matter of convenience.  You typically get more runtime than from a NiMH rechargible, and don't have to tie up capitol in spare sets of batteries and chargers.   Also when travelling you can get your 'fix' at just about any convenience store and in most 3rd word markets without having to tote solar panels, chargers, adaptors etc.

[Tandy]

That's why I said other than very low power applications. However as it is usually cheaper to buy a bulk pack then I tend to use them in remote controls as well. That way if I have something that needs a battery and I don't have any charged ones on hand I can just pull them out of the remote and put the dead ones in the charger.

[CJay]

Assuming you aren't rabidly green, Eneloops don't make sense for low discharge applications.  You are replacing a 25 cent Alkaline with a  $3 to $4 Eneloop, and assuming the Alkaline lasts a year, your breakeven point is over 12 years away, if the Eneloop even survives that long without leaking, drying out or accidentally getting tossed in the trash when the gadget breaks.

Use of Alkalines in higher drain devices is mostly a matter of convenience.  You typically get more runtime than from a NiMH rechargible, and don't have to tie up capitol in spare sets of batteries and chargers.   Also when travelling you can get your 'fix' at just about any convenience store and in most 3rd word markets without having to tote solar panels, chargers, adaptors etc.

Mhmm, that's about it, the only thing I have standard form factor rechargeables for are a pair of cheap PMR handhelds the kids play with, the radios have a charge cradle and my multimeters because I just never seem to have a 9V Block available at three AM in the morning.

Cylindrical alkalines are so cheap it makes no sense to use rechargeables unless you're replacing the cells every couple of days and then the devices would probably benefit from teh higher capacity of the alkalines.

[MrAl]

Hi,

I dont use Energizer Alkalines, but i have used Energizer standard NiMH many times in the past, both AA size and AAA size, and even bought one of their very fast chargers (about 10 to 15 minutes per charge).

I have to say that i hate their rechargeables.  Every one i tried charged but ran down even without use within a couple weeks.  I contacted the company and they sent a coupon for four new ones, so i tried the AAA size.  Same deal.  They are all somewhere in the garbage now.  Gigantic waste of money.
Their 15 minute charger charges the batteries too fast too, so they get very hot which isnt good.  I mailed the company a letter suggesting they provide a 30 minute mode, but they sent the letter back (ha ha) and said they cant accept the letter because they might already have that in the works.  I wont buy anything Energizer anymore, but i guess their AA size Alkalines might be ok if they dont leak.

I dont buy that stuff anymore anyway though as i have turned exclusively to the low self discharge type made by other companies like Kodac and (the now) Panasonic which took over production of Eneloops.  I have had very good luck with these types so i get those, as well as the different type Li-ion 18650 and 14500 sizes.  The charger i use now is only the home made charger i made for myself and others to charge the batteries safely and not too fast so they dont get hot.

Also very bad luck with was the NiZn rechargeables which turned out to be total, total carp (not Energizer though).  These are supposedly 1.6 volt batteries unlike the usual 1.2v or 1.5v alkalines.  Problem was always that they would charge once or twice, then die without warning.  I invested over 30 dollars for the charger and batteries, and even got a free set from the company PowerGenix and still they did not work past one or two charges, using their own build charger.  I have read many complaints now about these, and the rep told me on the phone that the company does not offer them anymore either.  There are other companies that do sell them though, but i'll never buy another one.  That's too bad too because i was hoping to take advantage of that 1.6v nominal voltage for each cell.

There is a chance that Energizer makes the low self discharge type NiMH too now, but i havent checked recently.  If they do they may be ok, but i dont think i'll be bothered with them anymore and stick with the ones that i know work already.

Good luck:
Eneloops, Kodac low self discharge NiMH, Li-ion most except the button cells

Bad luck:
Radio Shack NiMH, Energizer NiMH, PowerGenix NiZn

I dont know if anyone here remembers but back in the 1990's Ray-O-Vac sold rechargeable alkalines or something like that.  They were good for about 20 charges but had a higher terminal voltage similar to alkalines.  I used them a lot.  They dont sell them anymore though.

What else i had to wonder is if the battery production distribution is geographically based, where the better ones go to certain areas and the not as good ones go to other areas.  In this area we seem to either get bad ones or else they dont sell them at all.  For example, stores dont sell Eneloops around here, but they do sell Energizer NiMH's.

[Tandy]

Cylindrical alkalines are so cheap it makes no sense to use rechargeables unless you're replacing the cells every couple of days and then the devices would probably benefit from teh higher capacity of the alkalines.

Quite the opposite in fact, the internal resistance in alkaline batteries makes them a very poor choice in high powered devices. Children's motorised toys for example will typically run for much longer on rechargables.

[CJay]

Cylindrical alkalines are so cheap it makes no sense to use rechargeables unless you're replacing the cells every couple of days and then the devices would probably benefit from teh higher capacity of the alkalines.

Quite the opposite in fact, the internal resistance in alkaline batteries makes them a very poor choice in high powered devices. Children's motorised toys for example will typically run for much longer on rechargables.

Not my impression from my use I have to say but that really is more an impression than quantifiable data, wouldn't like to bet my money on it.

I should probably research or test that at some point...

I know in the long term it makes sense to use rechargeables and environmentally it does as well but the price of alkalines (12 UK pence each for the last bulk pack I bought) and the convenience of being able to grab a pack almost anywhere and any time I may need them makes them a winner for me.

I've not had good luck with rechargeables either, they die because I forget to charge them, they die because I charge them too many times or, the ones that were thrown out by my ex (note, ex) because she didn't realise they were rechargeable.

I do have friends who use them in gear they rely on for their living and one tracks them obsessively, numbered and logged in spreadsheets, might have a chat with him and see what life he gets

[Tandy]

The thing with NiMH rechargeable batteries is (like a lot of things) there huge differences in quality and outright fakes.

Because the average buyer looks at the headline mAH rating there is a competition to have the highest rating. The reality is however that about 2500mAH is about the maximum realistic capacity you can get out of an AA format using NiMH chemistry. Attempts to push it over this limit results in ineffective insulators being used that means the cell takes just a few hours to loose half of its capacity. As a result you could in theory get 2700mAH if you take the battery straight from the charger and run it in a high capacity application for a few hours in the first 50 cycles. However the insulation breaks down after a few charge cycles and often such cells end up failing to charge.

Then you get ridiculous claims like 3600mAH capacity AA Cells, it is just physically impossible to get that energy density into the volume of an AA Cell using NiMH chemistry.

Standard NiMH chemistry cells of a good quality 2500mAH or lower should last at least a couple of months unused before needing to be recharged. If you have an application that is either low power or you need the battery to stay charged while sat unused for several months then the ultra-low self discharge types are the better option. They typically have a 2000mAH or lower capacity but they can easily stay charged for a year.

[djQUAN]

Purely anecdotal, but I've always found Energizer batteries to be 'Battery most likely to leak unexpectedly'.

I've lost more equipment to Costco's Kirkland brand than any other battery brand.

I had nearly all Duracell alkalines leak on my devices when partially used then stored. It still leaked when I took it out and left it on the shelf. Was planning on getting Energizers for my UniT multimeter but read here that they also leak. Found some Kirkland AAAs and put them in and now I read this post. 

[Gary350z]

Please see my post about leaking alkaline batteries, and info on lithium batteries here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/leaking-aa-and-aaa-batteries/

I decided to make it a new topic.
I think I goofed and put it under General Chat instead of here (Other equipment & products), but it seems that your not allowed to move a topic once it's started.

[MarkF]

Purely anecdotal, but I've always found Energizer batteries to be 'Battery most likely to leak unexpectedly'.

I've had the exact same problem with Duracell batteries.  Even when they still have a charge.
Not long ago I had a couple Energizer batteries leak also.
What's up with all these batteries?       

[SteveyG]

Purely anecdotal, but I've always found Energizer batteries to be 'Battery most likely to leak unexpectedly'.

I've lost more equipment to Costco's Kirkland brand than any other battery brand.

I had nearly all Duracell alkalines leak on my devices when partially used then stored. It still leaked when I took it out and left it on the shelf. Was planning on getting Energizers for my UniT multimeter but read here that they also leak. Found some Kirkland AAAs and put them in and now I read this post. 

No issues with Energizer industrial here. Duracells took the life of my RCD tester and various other items 

I now keep a spreadsheet with all the items I care about and strictly replace batteries on a schedule if they don't go flat sooner. Rechargeable batteries are only suitable for a small handful of items I have at home - mainly my flashguns.

[Tandy]

Slightly off topic but i found one of these in an old product today, luckily it hadn't leaked. It dates back from around the mid 80's !

[station240]

I've been buying Varta longlife extra AA batteries, as:
1. Sorta cheap at the local hardware store. (compared to energizer/duracell)
2. Made in Germany, not China.

Not had any leak, or go funny yet.

[KE5FX]

Haven't seen any leakage from Energizer alkaline AAs at all.  Leakage from Duracell alkalines has been very common in my experience over the past several years, and they are no longer allowed in the house as a result.

Both Energizer and Duracell NiMH rechargeables have worked very well for me, on the other hand.  I charge them overnight at C/10, and use C/40 in trickle-charging applications.  They seem to be able to hold their charge for months when treated this way.  (Indistinguishable from Eneloops, in other words.)