Tag: batteries

July 31, 2024 – I Am Starting To Get Angry

July 31, 2024 /

Something has definitely changed. It could be that this company stopped making batteries in the US in 2016. I suspect that the components to make them have gotten cheaper/flimsier/worse. This was a battery that I took out of my weather center next to one of my computers in the basement.

Maybe it just feels good to complain. But this really pisses me off when alkaline batteries do this. It also seems like it is more normal than less at this point. This is the reason I have started switching over to rechargeable batteries. My strategy has been to replace them as the alkalines die. Hopefully, it is not too late.

The failures seem to be more prevalent with batteries in use in the basement. All the remote controls, decorations and things that get cast off or forgotten seem to have a much higher degree of failure than upstairs. It still happens when the climate is more controlled but it also seems to be less frequent. This leads me to believe that the problem is with a seal that contracts too much due to temperature.

As you know, not all of my relationships with alkaline batteries is bad. As I wrote in 2021, I have a working set of batteries from 30 years ago. These batteries are in a bicycle head lamp. The have been in my garage since I moved 20 years ago. So they have been subject to near freezing temperature up to 120 degrees with no ill effect. In true transparency, I dont think that I have checked on them since that article. So, a follow-up is due.

Funny thing, I probably should start checking my topics before I start writing. As I was searching for the link to my 30 year batteries, I ran across something I previously wrote. Turns out, I also wrote about batteries failing in 2021. So, shame on me for not checking previously if you remember that one.

My experiment. With rechargeables has been less than stellar. They are advertised as as holding 90% charge after a year but I have ran into dead batteries in less than six months. The Panasonic Enloops I chose to go with take several hours to charge on my charger. The also don’t seem to last as long. I have gone through multiple sets this year in my remote hygrometer sensor. While less than perfect, I am anticipating that they are not going to ruin my devices.

End Your Programming Routine: No matter what, I am going forward with rechargeable batteries. I can no longer trust the major battery brands for alkaline batteries. Remember when they were $8 for 4 and now they are going for $20 for 48 at Costco. There is no way that cost savings is just in volume.

January 12, 2022 – Up Your Complexity and Cost with Electric Bikes

January 12, 2022 /

My son is at the age where he is too young to drive and doesn’t want to walk. He has been an avid bike rider to school since he started middle school, about five years ago. Last semester we rewarded his straight A’s with an electric bike.

Now me… I am old fashioned. I don’t want any additional complexity on a bicycle. That is the point. My son want’s to electrify his 1969 Cougar. Maybe the new generation of car people will find originally restored not appealing or valuable? I think it is a mistake, nevertheless I told him it is his car.

This bike is heavy, it is almost 60 pounds. It is also designed to used with electric assist. That being said, it is very difficult to pedal without the motor working. Last week, it stopped working at least consistently. What I know, which is not much is that replacement parts are difficult to find, bicycle shops are out of sorts with this technology and anything on the drivetrain is proprietary and expensive. This leads to the odds of getting help as low. We are going to have to figure this one out ourselves.

We bought the bike used, so we do not know the origins or the complete history. Apparently, it is only sold on Amazon which makes getting help more difficult. I was able to reach out to the broker, but they are primarily interested in a warranty resolution, which I think we are beyond at this point. Here is what I think I know to date.

  • The charger is working
  • The battery seems to put out the right voltage
  • The switch sometimes works and sometimes does not.

Ultimately, I was hoping to find a bad solder joint or something loose. The switch is mounted to the board on the bottom with the two red wires. I cant see anything obvious from this angle and to get to it, I will need to entirely disassemble the battery. I am pretty sure that the problem is with the switch in that it works intermittently.

Here is my logic. A new battery unit is $250 which would integrate a switch and battery. However, I can cut the wires and bypass the built in switch with a new switch and mitigate the problem for $5. The worst case scenario is that it doesn’t work and I am out $5 plus the time. But, I would lay odds on the problem being the integrated switch. Further, The chances of me getting a replacement switch (or board) that works in the OEM configuration are extremely low. So, I don’t think I want to tear the battery apart for low probability fix.

I am going to give the manufacturer some of these details and we will see if they come through with any technical help. I am not holding my breath.

End Your Programming Routine: There are sometimes problems in life that we are going to have a difficult time handing over to someone else to solve. This happens to be one of them. I suppose I could just buy the new battery unit and solve the problem with money, but then I could just buy a new bike too. Truth be told, the battery could be rebuilt as well by identifying the bad cell and replacing it in the pack. Today I am point out the proper solution is to isolate the problem and then target a specific fix. This will likely be a video coming up.

December 7, 2021 – In Contrast to Yesterday…

December 7, 2021 /

I have an experiment going on. I got this bicycle light for Christmas in 1994. I got the batteries for this light at the same time. Guess what, they still work. That is 27 years later, functioning alkaline batteries.  I like to check the light every couple of years to see if it is still working.  

This is not getting any sort of preferential treatment.  The light has been in the unheated/uninsulated garage since 2005. I am pretty sure they were in my garage in South Carolina for three years and in another garage for two previous years.  While the batteries are not getting the more extreme cold, it it a few degrees above ambient.

There has been a lot of life that has occurred in this time period.  I was doing some thinking over that course of time.

  • 14 vehicles
  • 9 cell phones
  • 6 PCs
  • 5 dogs
  • 3 houses
  • 2 children
  • 1 Bachelor’s Degree
  • 1 Marriage

I purchased my first bicycle in 1992.  I took it to school with me and it got stolen in May 1994.  So, during the summer of 1994 I purchased a replacement.  This light was to comply with night riding law on my new bicycle.  It was my only mode of transportation at the time.  

As a kid, batteries were scarce.  Usually we would get some at Christmas or a birthday with the gift but that was it.  We were on our own after that.  We might buy a four pack with our own money but this was why I largely listened to the radio on my Walkman and not tapes because it was a lot more efficient on battery power.  My boombox stereo never had batteries because it was too expensive to feed it 6, D cell batteries and we didn’t have them in the first place.  Remote control cars sat idle.  Any batteries we did have were moved between devices at the point of use.

This is the reason why I still have the batteries in my bicycle light because I was saving them until I really needed them and then I forgot about the bike and the light.  It is also why I get frustrated when my kids run through a set of batteries every two or three days on the X-box controller.  They have no appreciation for what always having batteries available means.

I have no real explanation what makes this situation different.  I have some theories however and the stem to prior manufacturing techniques.  Yesterday, I was saying that it seemed liked batteries rarely leaked.  I know that batteries have become significantly more prevalent than 25 years ago.  That has driven increased capacity demand which means new machines that don’t work as well as the original.  The other possibility was a tweak in chemistry or materials that make them more susceptible to failure.

When we lived in Lancaster, SC Duracell had a plant that made 2.3 billion AA annually and employed 1200 people.  That plant closed in 2019 and now those batteries are made elsewhere (LaGrange, GA).  So, we know there is a least one recent change.  When we lived there, my mind said that brand loyalty was supporting the local community.

From my research, I found that Radio Shack batteries were largely made by Enercell the parent company of Energizer/Eveready.  The documentation gets lost a little in the mid-1990s and now no one cares so I didn’t find  any smoking guns.  My traditional view held that Energizers failed at a higher rate than Duracell.  Plus, Costco sells a deeply discounted value pack which is convenient.  So my recent preference has been Duracell. As a value brand, I have not had the same problems Panasonic, that may warrant some more investigation as my frustration with the two American consumer brands is shaky at best.

End Your Programming Routine:  I am not correlating everything old is better, even in the battery arena.  The cordless tools of 1994 cannot hold a candle to the tools purchased today.  I think that reduced cost and the proliferation of batteries have lowered customer expectations.  Let’s be honest, most consumer electronics are disposable and a ruined battery is a chance to upgrade.  I have said many times ‘buy once, cry once’ so I really don’t appreciate when my CCrane portable radio is ruined because of some leaking batteries.

December 6, 2021 – What Is Wrong with Batteries?

December 6, 2021 /

It am starting out with anecdotal observation. It seems to me that say 20 years ago, batteries rarely failed. It also seems like today batteries nearly always fail. When I say fail, I mean that batteries leak and frequently ruin the device in which they are placed.

I use to believe when batteries were treated poorly for instance left in a hot vehicle for years, those were the cases where we would see a battery failure.  I can understand that.  I now deliberately keep batteries out of devices unless I am going to routinely use them.  You can see from the photo above that the battery in question was well within expiration date and kept at room temperature (below).

What you are seeing is my weather center display that is plugged in on the kitchen counter and has batteries for power back-up for things like the clock setup.  It is less than two years old.  That also means that the batteries have been in place less than two years.

Batteries that are labelled as ‘alkaline’ mean that the overall chemistry of the battery is basic or a pH higher than 7.  This is different than the chemistry of a car battery which uses sulfuric acid with a pH lower than 7.  Why does that matter?  If you are going to salvage the device, you need to neutralize the reaction in the right direction. 

Looking at the chemistry of the situation, the leaking battery forms potassium hydroxide which then reacts with carbon dioxide to form a crystal of potassium carbonate.  That then reacts with the plating on the terminals.  You must first stop the reaction.  Use an acid like vinegar to clean the corrosion of the terminal.  Then, neutralize acid with a base like baking soda.

Hopefully, the device is still salvageable at this point.  I have even gone to the point of filing terminals to try and get a new conductive surface with mixed results.  The only reason I even checked this was because my time was off and I unplugged the device to reset the time and date.  

There may be more to this story.  I am debating about calling the guarantee number because I am upset about so many battery failures.  I also have a remarkable situation as well that I might talk about this week.  Suffice to say, the weather center that this replaced was ruined by leaking batteries.  Remote controls, portable radios, LED lights and flashlights are all things I can think of off the top of my head that have been ruin in the last couple of years due to leaking batteries.

End Your Programming Routine: I also used to believe that brand and cost mattered.  It seemed like I had consistent failure with one brand over the other.  I also thought that paying more for batteries was less likely for failure.  I do not hold that belief anymore.  Like I said at the beginning, the only safe way to protect your devices is keep the batteries out of them unless you are using them.