Assault By Battery

Batteries.  The ubiquitous little power sources in nearly everything we use.  Today, the most common are by far the lead-acid batteries in cars, the lithium-ion cells found in tablets and cell phones, and the Alkaline batteries as are commonly used in everything from flashlights to portable radios.  Each has their advantages and disadvantages….their “pluses and minuses” if you will.  (sorry, I know I should stop….)

This story today, will be short….no long discussion of battery chemistry and why certain types are used in certain applications and such.  I’d like to write that, as I have plenty of knowledge and experience on the subject as the result of years of study, tinkering, and observing……but….not today….today I am gonna vent and rant, but just a little.

For years, the standard battery we had for small portable devices was the LeClanche cell — the carbon-zinc type with a paste electrolyte that is usually called a “dry cell”…It worked well enough….although the shelf life was sometimes not long enough and all too often one would find that the batteries in the flashlight were dead.  Worse still, sometimes they would leak and cause damage to the device they were installed in.  Makers went to some degree of effort to make batteries that were more leak resistant than their predecessors and gradually made necessary advances.

Today, when I encounter vintage electronics I often find the old standard dry cells inside……and….if the unit had been kept away from high humidity……these cells were often intact and while certainly dead they did not leak and so there was not an extra mess to clean up and restore.  As a result, I have a very nice little collection of vintage batteries from the 1940’s through the 1960’s that display nicely alongside the vintage electronics they once powered.

The more recent alkaline types that are sold today have much greater power density and a much longer shelf life than the old carbon-zinc batteries.  So much better that they have pretty much taken over the market.  It is hard to find real carbon-zinc D cells today.

But…..I am finding that they also seem to leak.  A lot.  Maybe I am wrong, as I certainly have no scientific data to back up this assertion–at least not yet.  What I do have, however, is anecdotal experience.  I encounter a LOT of old electronic gear…much of it battery powered……I also own several varieties of flashlights–some old, some new……..AND….what I have been seeing…..is LOTS of dead alkaline batteries that are LEAKING!  This creates damage that is sometimes irreparable….and in any case, a real pain in the butt to clean up.

When my trusty Mag-light was found dead in my toolbox I thought, “No worries…just drop in some new batteries and go.”  WRONG.  The cells had leaked.  Worse yet, one of them had swelled up and become bound inside of the heavy machined aluminum housing.  No, I did not throw it away–as I am not a mere consumer.  I removed the swollen cell, cleaned everything….and still have this light to use.  But it took what seemed like hours to repair!  Just extracting the swollen cell was a test of patience.

Worst of all, I am seeing more of this.  At first I chalked it up to the fact that I tinker with such things and so it is more likely that I will encounter the bad with the good.  However, I have mentioned this to a few others and they are noticing some of the same things.  “New” batteries–Leaking!

Then….just last week, I opened up a vintage Simpson model 303 Vacuum Tube Voltmeter.  A VTVM is useful because of its very high input impedance–it won’t excessively load the circuit under test, which makes them a great tool for setting bias voltages on tube amplifiers and other similar tasks.  These meters require an internal reference cell and often employ a C or D cell for the purpose.  So….THANKFULLY….I found that the one inside of this meter was NOT leaking!  Yay!  Costly and time consuming repairs averted!  I can install a new battery and tune it up for use or resale.  The battery that was in it was an old Ray-O-Vac “sealed in steel” battery with a leak-proof warranty.  No warranty claim here…..it did its job….and now that battery can get added to my little vintage battery display when I return home.  That’s the good.

Now for the bad.  Another meter, a Triplett 630 in this case…..very similar to the famous Simpson 260 multimeter.  The 630 uses two voltage sources in it for its resistance measuring bridge circuit, one of them is a now obsolete 30v battery….the other, a standard D cell.  These provide the test current for the various ranges for resistance measurements.  On this meter, the 30v was the old Eveready #413…….no longer easy to find, but possible to replicate with some creative wiring of other common cells.  And…it was intact….no leaks.  It too gets a spot in the collection!

The other battery in the meter–the common D cell, however…..was leaking and beginning to swell up!  WTF?!!???

Again, it was the modern alkaline that was found leaking and not the old carbon-zinc battery…….and this time, unlike all the other times I have encountered a leaky battery….both types were inside of the same housing and therefore stored under the exact same conditions.  Well.  That is the sort of thing I find curious…..and irritating.  It may be worthy of some further study and controlled experiments on my part.

In any event, check your batteries often and perhaps make a habit of replacing them at a regular interval even if they still work, lest you have a battery commit an assault on your device.