Poor mans lathe DRO's

[mklotz]

Electronics are wonderful but I am moving back to full mechanical. While I change all my batteries at the same time once a year I am phasing out electronic everything. There is much more peace of mind with a dormant mechanical instrument resting in a drawer. You can’t say the same thing for anything electrical. I can’t tell you how many devices have been ruined by Duracell batteries. They are complete crap. It took a while and the loss of some lovely tools but I finally caught on. I will never buy a Duracell anything. The company was purchased a few years ago and downgraded their manufacturing.

I'm sure there are poorly made batteries but so far I haven't been able to single out a manufacturer. I've had several flashlights ruined by leaking Duracells as well as other name brands of batteries. I've never had a leaking Japanese battery but that might be coincidental.

I have dozens of devices that use "coin" batteries (e.g. CR2016, CR2032) and I never have had a leaker. Is it the chemistry or the case construction that makes these so device-friendly?

[mwmansfield]

I'm sure there are poorly made batteries but so far I haven't been able to single out a manufacturer. I've had several flashlights ruined by leaking Duracells as well as other name brands of batteries. I've never had a leaking Japanese battery but that might be coincidental.

I have dozens of devices that use "coin" batteries (e.g. CR2016, CR2032) and I never have had a leaker. Is it the chemistry or the case construction that makes these so device-friendly?

Duracell changed to an off shore manufacturer and the batteries were changed and the change is that the can that the battery is assembled in is reversed. Instead of the negative being the bottom of the can and case of the battery, they have made the positive the bottom of the can and put a seal and negative end cap on the battery. There are several brands that went to this method of manufacturing and it don't work very well at all as most leak, even brand new in the packaging! I have went through everything I have Duracell batteries in and almost all were leaking (I live at 6500 ft above sea level). The AAA and AA seem to be the worst for me but that was the most sizes I use. The date codes make no difference as all Duracell batteries are now made this way and most all will leak, especially if any pressure builds up in the cell due to altitude or anything that causes a pressure to develope in the cell.
There are some great technical articles that can be found by Googling defective leaking batteries or such. Googling leaking Duracell batteries will probably bring up what you are looking for and will explain better what the exact problem is. Hope this helps and hope you don't have any Duracell batteries in any of your expensive equipment. If you do, you better find another brand that has the positive end of the battery sealed rather than the seal on the negative end. I have thrown away several hundred dollars worth of batteries and some equipment that had the electrolyte leaked out and had got under the IC's on the citcuit boards and caused unrepairable damage to the instrument.
Duracell is happy to replace the batteries with the exact same type and some may be leaking when you receive the replacements.
Good luck with getting Duracell to replace any equipment that their leaking batteries have damaged or destroyed.
I purchased a set of Duracell flashlights of the aluminum MAG type that were LED and very bright and had a flashing mode on them to scare someone away supposedly(?). I bought these at one of the large box stores that requires a yearly membership. One used D cells, one used C cells. Of the two sets of these flashlights I purchased, all but one would not work, I opened them up and all had leaking Duracell batteries in them, 1 I couldn't even get working as it had eat all the tracks from the circuit board that had a IC, few other components and the large LED array. The aluminum tubes were etched from the leaking batteries which was sealed to the outside air supposedly as they were supposed to be waterproof. I took back the set that I couldn't even get working and got my money back. They made a remark that they had almost all returned that had been sold.