I've had batteries from pretty much every major brand leak, but I've noted a higher % and 'fresher' leaks with duracell, mostly AAs. I don't buy them anymore.

Every time I have personally seen a failure, or read of it, it has been a Duracell. Leakers have taken out a refrigerant leak detector and recently an Olight. I have three electronic torque wrenches that are half a grand apiece and use Energizers. I still check the lesser-used ones every so often.

As mentioned above, I've had several brand new unopened packs of Duracells leak in the package.
. The most recent was earlier this year.

I wouldn't put alkaline batteries in anything I value that doesn't burn through them extremely quickly so they don't have time to leak or create the fuzzy white buildup. Lithium, Ni-mh, Ni-cad only for my expensive electronics.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
They're junk.

^^^^^^^
This. Absolutely.

Recently found some leaking that had an expiration date 2 years in the future.

I've been using Amazon Basics Alkaline batteries and so far so good. Duracell used to be my go-to but after reading on other forums and my personal experience of losing a Maglight to them that changed.

I used to swear by Duracell, now I swear at them. They never used to leak after sitting a bit, but over the last two years they’ve trashed at least three stashed backup flashlights. Most of those were before expiration dates!

I switched to Eveready with no issues.

I went to Duracell years ago (from Energizer) because they never leaked. Now Duracell leaks like crazy and I have switched back to Energizer for now.

I have a bunch of Eneloops in remote controls and things that stay at home, but I still use disposables in things I fly with because of paranoia about lithium batteries at various security checks in other countries.

For the devices that have had batteries leak, I use a fine abrasive buffing cloth (like steel wool without the wool) on the corroded contacts and then polish with Flitz. Seems to work OK.

Just in case folks don't know, if Duracell's leak and ruin what they're in before the expiration date they'll make good on it. We had a weather station worth a few hundred that Duracell's toasted so I called them up. They had me send it in for them to look at. It was a few years old and no longer available so they sent a check for a comparable station.

Yes, they are crap. Every pack I've bought had multiple leak. Energizer is better but still have a few that leak. Surprisingly, I've had none leak with Amazon Basics batteries.

I have learned the hard way about alkaline batteries off-gassing and breaking open. I now try to use only rechargeable batteries using only the alkalines in flashlights that use up those batteries fast.

I echo all the above about crap Duracells. I also have had whole blister packs of AA from Costco leak before the pack is even opened. Have had numerous occasions where Duracells have leaked while installed in items. Just a couple of weeks ago I installed three new Duracells in a fireplace remote. I happened to notice that the remote was getting hot. I took the batteries out and one of the three was so hot the outer cover started peeling away. I left that battery on my desk thinking that I should send a photo of it into Duracell. Two or three days later while sitting at my desk, the damn think exploded and sprewed acid out onto my desk.

On a side note, I have lost a couple of large Mag lights to bad batteries. The last one a few weeks ago, a five D cell Mag light, I decided to try and fix it even though two of the batteries were basically welded into the tube. I tried the popular drive a lag screw into the battery and pull technique and that wouldn't budge the batteries so found out from you tube how to take the light apart completely and was able to drive the batteries out from one end to the other and clean the tube with a small wire brush and sandpaper. I Purchased a LED conversion kit while I had it apart and the light is back working great. So it is possible to salvage Mag lights with leaking batteries with some effort.

quote:

Originally posted by beltfed21:
I used to swear by Duracell, now I swear at them.

Been a while since I last posted my Duracell story.

Years ago, I was talking with a man I greatly respected, about batteries. Before retiring, he had owned a business that sold electric/ electronic components to various government agencies, including batteries. His experience was that Duracell batteries lasted so much longer and were more reliable than other brands, and he had such faith in them that that was the only brand he stocked.

Based on his faith in the brand, Duracells were all I ever bought, and for over 20 years I had nothing but positive performance from them.

Even trusting the brand, I've just never felt comfortable leaving batteries in expensive electronics or crucial devices that weren't used on an almost daily basis, so my personal practice was to remove batts from electronics before storing them.

Bought an Aimpoint, lightly used, tested it with the Duracell batts it came from the factory with, and after verifying perfect working order, I removed the batts and stored them in the foam storage cuttouts for them in the Aimpoint factory box and stowed the box in a closet shelf.

A couple years later I decided to sell the unit and once the buyer committed to the deal I decided to re-verify that the unit worked. I pulled the batts out of the foam and found both had a tiny amount of leakage and slightly stained the bottom of the foam. I was scrambling around to find a local retailer that sold those types of batts, finally found one of the last Radio Shacks in town that had some, and the unit worked fine with the new ones. I explained to the buyer what happened and what I had done to rectify the problem. They were a little leary about completing the deal, but were satisfied once they verified for themselves that the unit was in good shape and worked.

Glad I didn't store the batts in that Aimpoint.

I trusted them enough to rely on their batteries for 20+ years, but quality has obviously declined, so no more Duracells for me.

Interesting thread. I’ve always used Duracell batteries and still do, but after reading this thread, I’m not sure I will continue to use Duracell. I use rechargeable batteries in all my flashlights, but while reading this thread I remembered an old trail cam that I never liked and had not used it in a long time. I was going to give it to a friend, but wanted to put fresh batteries in first. I opened it to find that all the Duracell batteries has leaked and destroyed the trail cam. It’s sometime difficult to find batteries other than Duracell around here, and now I know why. They ain’t what they used to be. One has to wonder how a company can get away with selling junk that destroys peoples electronic gadgets.

The date on the battery has nothing to do with leakage. If you put alkaline batteries in a flashlight or other device, you should open it on a regular basis to ventilate and to check for corrosion or leakage. If you leave the batteries in an enclosed space, given enough time, they will leak or corrode.

A battery that has not reached it's "expiration date" is no more or less prone to leakage or corrosion. The "expiration date" has nothing to do with it.

I use Duracell and energizer batteries in my work flashlights and headsets; I have. Duracell in a 1200 dollar work headset right now, with no concern at all.

I also change my batteries regularly such that leakage isn't an issue. If you put alkaline batteries in a device and leave them there, its up to you to check them regularly; if you don't, and they leak, it's poor maintenance. Don't blame the battery.

The ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) in the V-Tail used six (or was it eight?) D-cell batteries.

The ELT is a radio transmitter that is activated automatically in a crash and transmits a signal on the "MayDay" frequency, that is used by receivers in Search and Rescue aircraft.

Per government regs, the only batteries that were approved in this particular model of ELT, were Duracell alkaline D-cells.

The batteries were checked during each 100-hour and / or annual inspection of the airplane.

I used Duracell alkalines in everything for decades and never had any problems with them, up until maybe 10 years ago. Then I started seeing occasional leakage. Then it became more frequent. I've had more than one electronic gadget ruined by them. A couple years ago I finally tossed all the Duracells I had left and replaced them with Everreadys. No more problems since, though nowadays I use mostly lithium batteries.

In the past I had a lot of leaking issues with Ray-O-Vac alkaline products and would only buy Duracell because they never leaked.

Well in the past two years that is no longer the case as I've had several Duracell AA's leak and ruin what they were in! Currently I'm having good luck with Eveready Energizers when I want an alkaline battery, but as others have already suggested, I started making the transition to rechargeables quite a while back and have been completely satisfied!

Duraleaks.

Yeah they are absolute garbage these days. Worst brand you can buy.

Ive been through hundreds of Amazon basics batteries in the past several years without any leaks. Price is right, good performance, no leaks.