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Originally Posted by carboy Long back, someone had told me that alkaline batteries are not suitable for all devices & some kinds of devices many be better off Zinc carbon batteries (our old Eveready batteries). For e.g. low power devices & low current drain devices may be best served with a Zinc carbon battery.
So I was wondering if this is true & if it is, where should old style batteries be used - for e.g. TV or Dish Box remotes, AC remotes, wall clocks, wireless mouse, torches - which of these devices are ones which are better off with old style batteries, if at all? |
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Originally Posted by carboy What about a wireless mouse, a wall clock etc? Which is better for these? |
I am not aware of a good reason why good alkalines won't be better suited for any of these devices. In fact, to me there is no good reason to buy Carbon-Zinc cells at all, apart from their lower cost, -- and even that shouldn't be a factor for members of this forum.
If we're concerned about the environment, we should realize that good alkalines would mean lesser number of cells tossed in the trash bin over a given period of time.
Alkalines have a higher energy density, and better-made ones have a shelf life of ~10 years. So, even at ~3x the cost of Carbon-Zincs, they should easily repay their cost over time, even for low-drain devices. They are just fine for clocks, remotes and so on.
Logitech even rate their wireless mice for upto 18 months and wireless keyboards for upto 36 months with alkalines
which they recommend, and even supply a set of them out-of-the-box with their new devices.
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Originally Posted by dragonfire ... I have been wondering why I have to change those Duracell batteries in the clock every 8-10 months while the old 10 rupee batteries used to go on for years. |
I suspect it has more to do with the quality of the cells sold in the Indian market rather than being a shortcoming of the alkaline technology.
I used to get ~1 year out of Carbon-Zincs in my clocks years back (never seen them "go on for years" though). The current ones tend to last just 6 months or so! I suspect in order to hide price increase, the manufactures cut down on the capacity of the current cells. But of course, they are exempt from social concerns like the environment!
About Duracells, -- I've used excellent ones in the USA. However, pretty much every single one out of a bunch of Duracell Canada cells leaked on me much before their expiration dates! Since then I've never purchased the brand again, -- and I don't trust their Indian version to start with.
The Indian Eveready cells (even the Union-Carbide ones) of any kind have been known to me to be particulary prone to leakage. I'd purchased a set of their best alkalines (Ultima) for my BP monitor a couple of years back, and one out of four leaked after a year or so! The other 3 (partially exhausted ones) are still fine though, and one is running fine in a clock for > 6 months now. I'm not going back to Eveready ever again. I've replaced the
Ultimas with a set of Panasonic eVolta cells (Japan) which are running fine so far.
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Originally Posted by Jaguar I have pretty much shifted to rechargeable Eneloop batteries for all these. While I don't monitor the longevity of the charge, I have not seen any degradation in the performance of any of these devices. But recently, when I went to get a wall clock repaired, the technician specifically called out to only use regular Eveready batteries and not the powerful Duracell or rechargeables. |
Was the technician able to explain why?
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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom I had the same experience! But I have been buying mainly Duracell for everything for decades. Including clocks.
What do our electrical engineers have to say, please? All I know is that Duracell and Eveready/etc are both 1.5v, whereas the rechargables tend to be slightly less. |
The discharge curves of the primary cells (alkalines or Carbon-Zincs) fall off gradually over their lifespan, and most devices can handle voltages down to 1.1 V or so. The rechargeables' (NiMH or NiCads) discharge curves stay pretty much flat around ~ 1.2 V over their usable life before falling off steeply (requiring a recharge). So the rechargeables should serve just fine for most use cases. I have a large bunch of NiMH (including Eneloops) and NiCads lying around, and keep using them in all kinds of devices that take them, including cameras, flashes, clocks, remotes, torches and so on without any problem.
The point to note is that for low-drain usages they are not cost-effective. -- At ~25x the cost of a Carbon-Zinc cells, it would probably take a decade to break even if used solely in low-drain devices. I just happen to have them around for other, more critical purposes. So...
And I need to toss very few cells to the trash bin (the rechargables do wear out too, after years of use).
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