Battery Choices... ZINC ???

Carbon Zinc is very old battery technology, it was used in the 1800's!  They are certainly cheaper as they don't have nearly the capacity of Alkaline batteries.  They're obviously not rechargeable either.  Finally, they have a propensity to leak, look for the many pictures of old Lionel stuff with the battery powered horn, those were carbon-zinc batteries.

If you want a solid battery in AA format, Energizer Ultimate Lithium. I have yet to have one leak through safe and normal use. Decent capacity compared to a standard alkaline.

Be warned. They are expensive...

Longer life doesn't even begin to tell the story!  How about at least seven times as long!  Here's one of many comparison tests.  The best of eight Alkaline batteries lasted 30 minutes, and the worst of the Lithium batteries lasted 211 minutes!

Lithium Ion AA's is all I buy. My son burns through them playing Xbox on a regular basis. A couple of sets in the charger keep him happy.

Bob

Not only that, their broad temperature stability range means less chance of leakage if you left them in storage.

I'd rather throw away a 15-20$ set of batteries than an irreplaceable remote!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Longer life doesn't even begin to tell the story!  How about at least seven times as long!  Here's one of many comparison tests.  The best of eight Alkaline batteries lasted 30 minutes, and the worst of the Lithium batteries lasted 211 minutes!

Lifespan at 800mAh?  That's really drainin' the old mustard from 'em!    Or maybe not?  

What size cells were you using?

Not my test, but they were AA batteries in the test.

Lithium vs Alkaline – MyBroadband battery test

I thought maybe that was a fairly high draw rate for alkaline batteries.  And the article confirmed that.

Thanks!

I just use NiMH batteries and recharge them. 

Like Gene said. I have two sets and swap them about once a month.

For anyone using Duracell alkaline batteries, in the past few years they seem to be more prone to leaking than other brands when they reach the end of their life.  Be careful to remove/replace them promptly. I have a lot of Duracell batteries on hand, but once they're gone I'll be using something else.  I tried some Amazon batteries and they seem pretty good and very reasonable.

Dale

I've had too many Duracell Batteries leak to ever think of using them again. Forget about any warranty claim that Duracell makes. I call them one time about something that they ruined from  their leaking batteries.  Their response was that their batteries don't leak, that the ones I had must be counterfeit. I told them they were purchased at Walmart. They told me to take my issue to Walmart then. Never Again.

My Two cents worth.  Alkali batteries seem to leak worst than zinc and when they leak in a Magna aluminum flash light it is lost.  Alkali will provide more amp/hours than zinc.  But if the item is little used zinc will last years and leak less.  A good use is for smoke detectors 9v that are just for stand by.  I have quit buying alkali batteries and buy cheap zinc batteries at Dollar General in large packages.

The rechargeable NiMh are the best in my experience.  They do cost more but last years, hold charge a long, long time and NEVER have leaked on me, some are 10 years old.  The best ones by far are Panasonic eneloope pro which cost more than most but are worth it for camera batteries.  I dislike non removable camera batteries and specific batteries for just a one brand of camera or train engine too.   eneloopes perform better than there rated " min 2450 mAh" for AA.  NiMh are only about 1.2 v.  Other brands are good and less costly for lesser demands.  I use my years older NiMh batteries for when a better than zinc battery is needed, like my battery operated camera car with an X-10 TV camera.

Charlie

FYI, Costco brand batteries are apparently Duracell batteries in different clothing, and they leak as well.  I will also no longer be buying Costco batteries as they've destroyed too many pieces of equipment!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

FYI, Costco brand batteries are apparently Duracell batteries in different clothing, and they leak as well.  I will also no longer be buying Costco batteries as they've destroyed too many pieces of equipment!

I can confirm that the costco/kirkland alkalines are horrid leakers when depleted.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

FYI, Costco brand batteries are apparently Duracell batteries in different clothing, and they leak as well.  I will also no longer be buying Costco batteries as they've destroyed too many pieces of equipment!

I had the same problems with Ikea batteries leaking.

My go-to battery from now on is the Energizer brand, they seem to do better with not leaking when depleted.

Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries, eventually another choice.  Best Power storage to weight ratio.  Used in camera, cell phones, small computers, some of the more exclusive electric vehicles,  etc.  These batteries are used in the model airplane hobby.   There are additional safety concerns with these batteries.   

We had done a discussion on these batteries. 

gunrunnerjohn posted:

...They're obviously not rechargeable either...

My brother & I in the late 60's had the Ideal Motoriffic sets with several cars, and they ate up a lot of batteries. My father bought one of these:



a Fedtro brand charger and we charged a lot of Eveready & Ray-O-Vac AA cells to keep those cars running!

Based on experience, I concur with the above comments regarding leaky & non-leaky brands.

I have 4 remotes (so several grandkids can run layout at once) and have 6 sets of NiMH.  I often use the screen light.  No problems. This is the route I recommend (NiMH, not having grandkids run trains---but what's a grandpa for if you can't run his trains?).

I did have 2 sets of Ray-o-vc 15-minute rechargeables, but after 16 years (honest!) they were starting to be unable to hold a charge for long).  No longer available.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Not my test, but they were AA batteries in the test.

Lithium vs Alkaline – MyBroadband battery test

Did anyone notice what domain this test originated in. South Africa, Interesting web site I spent two hours browsing it. Their de-funding humanities and putting their education $ into science and tech.   Hopefully they will discover even better battery tech.             j

I wonder if crystallic fusion cells leak? :-)

Have to get one from Buzz when Zurg hasn’t stollen them all.

(Inside Disney Park Joke)