Anyone else having problems with Duracell batteries? (2023 Update)

From some of my devices, I am taking out Duracell batteries that I had installed back in 2003 and 2004 with no problems; yes, they used to be that good. I normally mark dates on the batteries with a black marker. The thing is, Duracell is not going back to be close to any of my devices. After replacing the older batteries, new Duracell batteries with power left in them, and within months of installation, have been leaking. So far the crappy Duracells have ruined the following items for me, both at home (h) and in the office (o); the prices for the damaged items are approximate to what they cost:

2 Small adding/printing Canon calculators (o) $15 both 1 TI-89 Calculator (h) $150 2 300g x0.01 g jewelry scales (o) $20 both 1 Craftsman Engine Analyzer (h) $130 or so 1 Gilmour Garden Watering Timer (h) $38 2 "9 LED" flashlights (h) $6 both 1 2D cell Maglite Flashlight (h) $35 1 3D cell Maglite Flashlight (o) $45 1 2AA cell Maglite flashlight (mom's) $20 1 Analog Multimeter (h) $20 1 Garmin GPS12 (h) $150 1 Remote for HDTV top set box (h) $40 for the box and remote

In most cases, the devices stopped working not because the batteries were dead, but because the leak had corroded and ruined the device's battery contacts.

The batteries affected are AA, AAA, D and 9V types. A couple of 9V batteries, with less than one year of installed in smoke detectors, were replaced as soon as the detectors began beeping. Those batteries were swollen and had open seams. About a month ago, I took one from a smoke detector dated 2004.

The defective batteries have come from different large size packs bought both at BJ's club or local reputable retailers.

I wonder why Consumer Reports continues to say that Duracell Batteries are good. Are they blind? Is Duracell selling the crappy batteries in the south east US only?

Thanks for paying attention to my rant.

Reply to
AS
Loading thread data ...

I had a fairly new Mini Maglite LED light destroyed by swelling and oozing Duracell AA cells just recently. I've switched over to Ray-o-vac in bulk packs from Amazon figuring that, if I'm going to taking chances, I'd rather pay less. So far none of the 'cheap' cells or batteries has given me a problem.

Reply to
John McGaw

Is it possible you might have been sold counterfeits?

Reply to
John Varela

I thought the counterfeight parties are prosecuted viciously by the feds and/or by the states in the US. Is that no longer the case?

(Having had an encounter with a vicious customs official on the US entry in january 2011 myself I wonder if all that energy is focused in the right places now)

Reply to
AD

Just recently I bought two large quanty packages of each battery by Duracel either from Home Depot or Lowes (November 2015). I put new batteries int o my blood pressure monitor and it would not operate due to "low battery". I proceeded to check all of the batteries which I had bought and every o ne of them was showing a meter rating of "yellow" or poor on my battery tes ter. This was AA, AAA, C and D batteries. All too weak to operate anyt hing. Am having to take about 50 assorted batteries back to Home Depot or Lowes to get my money back. Bought 3 C batteries yesterday (also Durac ell) from Dollar General Store and once again those were testing as "deplet ed" in the yellow meter range. Usually new batteries show charge in "High Green " zone on my meter. Pretty sure it is not my meter because as I said the batteries do not operate enough to function on the blood pressure meter. I think Duracell has sent out a massive batch of sub-standard bat teries. Am switching to Everready for now. Thought they would have had a quality control check to prohibit such a massive failure in their new bat teries sent to store. GPTDesign

Reply to
gptrealty

wrote

I wonder how many AA's it would take to run my car.

Reply to
Howard Lester

Howard Lester:

If it's a Prius the number is about 168, depending on model. 28 "modules" X 6 AA's per module.

Reply to
Davoud

"Davoud" wrote

And then I wonder how far I would get -- about 150 feet before they're exhausted? :-)

Reply to
Howard Lester

Howard Lester:

Davoud:

Howard again:

I don't recall the distance. "Not very far" is a reasonable statement, but it is considerably more than 150 feet. But the traction battery doesn't have to get one very far, just away from the red light, where demand for petrol is high. Then the petrol engine starts and begins to recharge the batteries. Friction braking and engine braking for the next red light adds further charge. In 2006 Toyota promised me 45 mpg for my Prius. Nine years later I'm getting between 44 and 47 mpg, depending on a various factors. I rarely drive in heavy city traffic, but I can easily get over 50 mpg if I do.

Reply to
Davoud

"Davoud" wrote

Well, I was considering the amp-hour rating of an alkaline AA, not the Prius' "official" bank of rechargeable batteries. So I was figuring that they'd last about 150 feet worth when powering the car on their own. Is that still a pessimistic figure?

Reply to
Howard Lester

Reply to
unique9801

Just had to return a package of AAA battery's purchased at Costco. After examining the battery's, seems that the positive end of the battery, (the little stub) was about 1 cm short to make proper contact. They wouldn't work in 3 devices.

Reply to
unique9801

They are also selling them in Australia, just ruined my Seiko Concise Oxfor d Dictionary device. Also, Duracell Ultra with POWERCHECK showed me a new A ND unused pack did not have the power when checked whilst using their POWER CHECK (Really Dumb). I have had problems with Duracell batteries not lastin g for several years and shall stop buying them in the future.

Reply to
kpm

Duracell batteries are made in plants around the world. I only buy those made in "north america" - USA, Canada, and Mexico and I have not had problems. I've seen south american batteries on the " discount market" that appeared to have leaked in the packing. Where are these "defective" duracells made???

Reply to
clare

Interestingly, the online FAQ section for our Moultrie M-40 Game Camera

-- which we have set up to record the squirrels, raccoons, deer, and occasional bear or bobcat moving through our yard -- and uses eight AA batteries says 'We recommend using Energizer Alkaline or Lithium batteries. Do not use rechargeable batteries, off brand batteries, or batteries labeled ?long lasting?.'

I, too, have had leakage problems with Duracells.

Also, I might point out that cut-rate retailers may be selling imported Duracell knock-offs, not the real thing. I have had two experiences with counterfeit products on eBay, a supposedly Nikon camera remote and a name-brand SD card.

Good information on detecting counterfeit products can be found at

formatting link
and other websites.

I complained about the counterfeit Nikon remote to eBay; the seller simply dropped out, started a new account, and is still listing the remotes. Buyer beware!

Reply to
Ben Jammin

I suspect long lasting means lower maxixum current draw or constant load capacity over perhaps a shorter time. Your camera expects a minimum current draw but a longer lasting battery (same chemistry as others) means it would have to produce less current. A long-lasting battery may not be able to handle the load now or maintain capacity for that load later (i.e., they get weak quickly). A long-lasting battery is not a high-draw battery. I can use alkalines in my camera and get so many pictures before the flash won't work (won't recharge), or I can buy their high drain capacity batteries that cost a LOT more and get a LOT more pictures from my camera. I could try to use rechargeable batteries in the camera and get even less pics than the typical alkalines but I can recharge them; however, that means getting cut short on my picture shooting session or having to use multiple sets of rechargeables.

Although Duracell likes to rely on their brand name along with their marketing to convince you they are the better product, their is little difference between same-chemistry batteries. They trademark and try to keep secret their formulation but, in the industry, the base formulae are well known. You can buy really cheap alkaline batteries and get really short lifespan, too. I've found Northern Tool and other non-national brands gave me as long a lifespan as Duracell or Energizer, so you need to see which no-name brands hang around in the stores for years to show they have endurance in sales. You don't want to buy some we-cheat-em-and-how flighty brand that disappears in a couple months (when the stock runs out).

formatting link
Never heard of Eneloop brand. Never seen it in the stores (but then I don't visit camera shops). They were shortsighted to use the same color of blue in their graph but look at the following chart. Some of those batteries don't just get hot to the touch but are burning to the touch. Remember that this is for a photographer that is trying to take pics as fast as the battery allows. Don't know at what rate your outdoor camera uses since I suspect it shoots based on motion detection or at periodic intervals.

Also, since this camera is outdoors, lithium won't be a good choice. High summer temperatures will reduce lifespan and cold winter temperatures will severely reduce capacity (what load the battery can handle). Instead of lithium for my solar path and solar floodlights, I use NiMH but I'm lucky to get 2 years out of them (with the last year having the solar lights go off much earlier), so I replace them each spring. In cameras, alkalines start strong but quickly fade in capacity while NiMH discharge more steadily (longer) than single-use batteries. The downside is NiMH need recharging to keep them performing. They lose

1% capacity per day when idle. They need to be recharged every 1 to 2 months. Don't know how your game camera charges its batteries, if at all, since the point is portability so you'll have to schedule regular maintenance to swap out the NiMHs so you can recharge them at home. For solar lights, they're getting cycled every day. Does your game camera have a solar charger so you don't have to keep revisiting the camera to swap out batteries? For the rate of shooting I suspect for a game camera, a solar charger would probably be sufficient to replenish the capacity.

"Late in life" NiMHs become less predictable regarding capacity. Not sure how long that is but I'd probably replace them every 2 years if in constant use. There are hybrid NiMHs (pre-charged, ready-to-use, low self-discharge) variants. Those have a lower self-discharge rate: standard NiMHs lose 40% of stored energy in a month (when idle) and full empty after 2 months and why you have to recharge them more often versus pre-charged NiMHs that lose 10-25% per month so maintanence (to recharge) is longer. However, pre-charged NiMHs has a lower capacity than standard NiMHs. For example, at a wedding, you'll get more shoots from a standard NiMH than from a pre-charged NiMH.

I found a site (don't remember it now) that described the differences in bubble packaging for Sony and other brand coin cell batteries. Lots of counterfeits are sold at eBay. You can tell by the packaging which are genuine and which are fake; however, that doesn't stop the counterfeiter from using photos of the genuine product to sell their fakeware.

formatting link
(click on a photo to show an enlarged view) That's another site that shows the difference in genuine and fake Sony batteries. On eBay, I'd find blister packs that were missing the raised bubble over the product ID area (what the site says is the PET Blister Face). The counterfeiters go cheap on the packaging and the raised bubble means more expense in material and equipment. The logos on the front were mispositioned, too. The sellers rarely show you a pic of the backside of the packaging. If they do, sometimes what they claim is the shelf life expiration date doesn't match their pic (and a good excuse to e-mail them to check responsiveness).

Tis one of the reasons that I lean to sales that are "free shipping". The cost of the sale includes the shipping cost instead of separately. If there is a problem with the product (wrong product, not working, fake) and the seller agrees to refund or eBay intercedes and decides to issue their own refund, the shipping to me is included in the refund (but I pay shipping back unless the seller never responds and eBay issues the refund means the product does not have to be returned). If shipping is a separate charge, the refund is only for the price of the product, not for the original shipping cost. With free shipping, I get a full refund. With separate shipping, I get a partial refund.

If you have any questions about a product, like what expiration date is printed on the product being sold, not the product pictured in the auction, then send off an e-mail (via eBay's messaging) to the seller. If you're not sure from their feedback score about the seller, come up with any germaine inquiry. That will tell you if the seller is responsive. A non-responsive seller means you can forget dealing with them about wrong, missing, or damaged products and returns. They won't respond to you later if they won't respond now.

That's why it is important to see how many total sales the seller has accumulated and their score as a result of those sales. Unless the seller is dealing in a one-off sale, and they are presenting themself as an e-tailer using eBay, then they should have LOTS of sales and their score should be high. When checking their score (feedback), check if the negatives are spread out or bunched up. Sometimes a seller has a momentary problem so they get a bunch of negatives in a month. Also read the negatives. Some are from buyers who order the wrong item and then bitch the seller didn't deliver what they actually wanted, or the buyer is trying to cajole a free item from the seller with negative feedback, or the buyer doesn't understand how to use the product, or the buyer didn't bother to read the auction description, like not noticing the seller is in China so it can take 45 days for delivery mostly due to excessively long delays by customs.

If you know the seller did a nymshift at eBay, did you report it?

Reply to
VanguardLH

Thanks for your lengthy and thoughful comments. Always good conversations on alt.autos.subaru; makes me think Subaru owners are generally smart, eclectic, and happy to share.

Reply to
Ben Jammin

For years I have been telling people about leaking Duracell batteries whene ver the subject comes up. Today I pulled out an unopened package of 24 bat teries that were guaranteed for 7 years. They were stored in a dresser dra wer where the temperature would range from 62 to 72 degrees. The date of t he batteries are March 2017...so they are 9 months past the exploration dat e. 16 of the 24 batteries have huge leakage that covers the entire bottoms. (The package smells of battery acid.) Duracell refused to do anything sin ce they were expired.

Reply to
fallout4

It is happening with me also and has let to a loss for remote mouse keyboard wall clock alrm clock and many more

Reply to
dhairyamgoel

+1
Reply to
Wade Garrett

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.