Community discussions

[statwood]

So Chris-K, then what IS the corrosive crud that has oozed into so many folks' remote controls on this forum? 

[Chris-K]

I've seen corrosion from alkaline batteries

Nope. What you seen is alkaline battery breakdown, which is not the corrosive gel acid that happens to regular zinc carbon batteriesis, but a totally inert white powder that has never ever caused corrosion to equipment. Never! My offer still stands if you ever see a peice if equipment damaged by an alkaline battery. It's impossible

[Chris-K]

So Chris-K, then what IS the corrosive crud that has oozed into so many folks' remote controls on this forum?

The only corrosive crud that can possibly "ooze" is gel acid that wrecks equipment when the idiots put cheap zinc batteries in, if they stick to alkaline they can leave it in their draw for 10 years and just brush out the inert white powder and carry on 

[j58]

Duracell Batteries can DO leak

These are only some of the latest victims of battery rupture. First pic is Duracell AAs that were in a small ethernet to wireless gateway for about 7 months. Blue gel is oozing out of one of them and the battery contacts in the device were completely gone. I have lost several LED flashlights and a truckload of remotes for everything from  DVRs to AC units. All Duracell AAs or AAAs.

My experience for years has been that if you left a set of batteries in a device that got stored for several years, then yes, don't be surprised to find this problem when you finally open it up. But in the last 6 or 7 years, something has changed. It doesn't appear to be related to inactivity (at least for me). This morning I opened up a battery powered corkscrew (which gets regular use! 😉) that we've had for about 11 months, and there was the familiar bluish corrosion and white powder (manganese dioxide?) This was one of the rare survivors.

[atc98092]

I opened up a flashlight that's been in my garage unused for years. The batteries were severely corroded, and it's tough to tell if they had leaked or just the usual alkaline residue. But they were Eveready, not Duracell. So there's no reason to point a finger specifically at Duracell. ALL batteries can leak under the right/wrong conditions. 

[John1952]

Yes, I can see that happening on batteries sitting out in the garage for years (how many years?)especially if exposed to severe hot or cold regardless of brand or type. But for month's without temp extremes, unless microwaves created internal heating or accelerated local electrolysis within battery; and military is using such for many projects especially for weather wind jetstream control, methane gas destruction using microwaves. Also have periodic capacitor failures for a 2-3 week duration which prevents my ceiling fan from running on slow speed and then magically starts working again all summer and then in the fall repeats the action, and unexplained burnt refrigerant in my refrigerant testing manifold hoses  that are hanging in my garage. It was r-22 which is a methane based gas.

[John1952]

don't expect anything from here except to find out if this was or is currently a problem that has started with duracell or caused by some outside phenomenon which has also affected various appliances, and electronically controlled equipment especially using capacitors or batteries in there circuits such as directed or accidentally reflected microwave energy or rf energy causing accelerated deterioration of internal components. 5 g is now here although the problems have gradually increased over the last 8 years. Might be they are just trash components in the first place.

[John1952]

My theory is the fact that more microwaves and rf transmissions abound around us and can create a local action scenario within batteries and capacitors, anything with electrolytes. In batteries this will cause a rapid discharge, in capacitors it would cause temporary or permanent changes in the electrolyte or plates causing the capacitor to change values. Now with HAARP and doppler radar in proximity to an area of concern, this could happen much more frequently especially since they had to go to digital tv for interference problems in 2009. Many more ionospheric heaters have been set up since 1991 in Alaska and are located around the globe. On top of that now we have more cell phone towers each having it's own effect on other electronics especially older that have not been properly shielded from this new onslaught.

[John1952]

Curious, just where abouts is your weather station located. It might not be exposed to the same conditions we experience in Louisiana

[atc98092]

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@John1952 wrote:

Curious, just where abouts is your weather station located. It might not be exposed to the same conditions we experience in Louisiana

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I'm in a suburb of Seattle. We don't see a lot of sub-freezing weather, nor super hot muggy either.